Around the world, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and agents that target mRNAs have been introduced as novel diagnostic markers and therapeutic approaches, respectively, in cancer. MiRNA-486-5p is a candidate regulator of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) in silico, and the downregulation of PTEN in cervical cancer is not consistent with its mutation, which suggests that PTEN may be subjected to post-transcription modification moderated by miRNAs. Here, we aimed to explore whether miR-486-5p is a regulator in the development of cervical cancer through the PI3K/Akt pathway by targeting PTEN. The expression level of miR-486-5p in human cervical cancer serum and tissues were analyzed through quantitative RT-PCR. Human cervical cancer cell lines HeLa and SiHa were selected to explore the effects of miR-486-5p downregulated or overexpression on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, respectively. Moreover, we observed the effect of miR-486-5p downregulated on tumorigenesis using HeLa cell in vivo. Besides, the relationship between miR-486-5p and PTEN were determined by dual luciferase reporter gene assay. Compared to control subjects, miR-486-5p was significantly overexpressed in cervical cancer patients’ serum and tissues. Suppression of miR-486-5p expression significantly inhibited HeLa cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion, as well as tumor growth in nude mice, while miR-486-5p overexpression stimulated SiHa cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion. We also confirmed that miR-486-5p directly targeted the 3′-untranslated region of the tumor-suppressor gene PTEN, inhibiting its expression, and that overexpression of miR-486-5p activated the PI3K/Akt pathway. We conclude that miR-486-5p stimulates cell proliferation, migration, and invasion through inhibition of PTEN expression and activation of the oncogenic PI3K/Akt pathway in cervical cancer. Our findings implicate serum miR-486-5p as a novel molecular biomarker that may provide effective approaches to both diagnosis and treatment in cervical cancer.

Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role in immune rejection in solid organ transplantation. To mitigate human NK cell activation in xenotransplantation, introducing inhibitory ligands on xenografts via genetic engineering of pigs may protect the graft from human NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity and ultimately improve xenograft survival. In this study, non-classical HLA class I molecules HLA-E and HLA-G were introduced in an immortalized porcine liver endothelial cell line with disruption of five genes (GGTA1, CMAH, β4galNT2, SLA-I α chain, and β-2 microglobulin) encoding three major carbohydrate xenoantigens (αGal, Neu5Gc, and Sda) and swine leukocyte antigen class I (SLA-I) molecules. Expression of HLA-E and/or HLA-G on pig cells were confirmed by flow cytometry. Endogenous HLA-G molecules as well as exogenous HLA-G VL9 peptide could dramatically enhance HLA-E expression on transfected pig cells. We found that co-expression of HLA-E and HLA-G on porcine cells led to a significant reduction in human NK cell activation compared to the cells expressing HLA-E or HLA-G alone and the parental cell line. NK cell activation was assessed by analysis of CD107a expression in CD3^-CD56⁺ population gated from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. CD107a is a sensitive marker of NK cell activation and correlates with NK cell degranulation and cytotoxicity. HLA-E and/or HLA-G on pig cells did not show reactivity to human sera IgG and IgM antibodies. This in vitro study demonstrated that co-expression of HLA-E and HLA-G on genetically modified porcine endothelial cells provided a superior inhibition in human xenoreactive NK cells, which may guide further genetic engineering of pigs to prevent human NK cell mediated rejection.

De novo germline mutations (DNMs) are the rarest genetic variants proven to cause a considerable number of sporadic genetic diseases, such as autism spectrum disorders, epileptic encephalopathy, schizophrenia, congenital heart disease, type 1 diabetes, and hearing loss. However, it is difficult to accurately assess the cause of DNMs and identify disease-causing genes from the considerable number of DNMs in probands. A common method to this problem is to identify genes that harbor significantly more DNMs than expected by chance, with accurate background DNM rate (DNMR) required. Therefore, in this study, we developed a novel database named mirDNMR for the collection of gene-centered background DNMRs obtained from different methods and population variation data. The database has the following functions: (i) browse and search the background DNMRs of each gene predicted by four different methods, including GC content (DNMR-GC), sequence context (DNMR-SC), multiple factors (DNMR-MF) and local DNA methylation level (DNMR-DM); (ii) search variant frequencies in publicly available databases, including ExAC, ESP6500, UK10K, 1000G and dbSNP and (iii) investigate the DNM burden to prioritize candidate genes based on the four background DNMRs using three statistical methods (TADA, Binomial and Poisson test). As a case study, we successfully employed our database in candidate gene prioritization for a sporadic complex disease: intellectual disability. In conclusion, mirDNMR (https://www.wzgenomics.cn/mirdnmr/) can be widely used to identify the genetic basis of sporadic genetic diseases.

KCNQ1 has been identified as a susceptibility gene of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Asian populations through genome-wide association studies. However, studies on the association between gene polymorphism of KCNQ1 and T2DM complications remain unclear. To further analyze the association between different alleles at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2237892 within KCNQ1 and TD2M and its complications, we conducted a case-control study in a Chinese Han population. The C allele of rs2237892 variant contributed to susceptibility to T2DM (odds ratio [OR], 1.45; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20–1.75). Genotypes CT (OR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.24–3.15) and CC (OR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.57–3.95) were associated with an increased risk of T2DM. Multivariate regression analysis was performed with adjustment of age, gender, and body mass index. We found that systolic blood pressure (P = 0.015), prevalence of hypertension (P = 0.037), and risk of macrovascular disease (OR, 2.10; CI, 1.00–4.45) were significantly higher in subjects with the CC genotype than in the combined population with genotype either CT or TT. Therefore, our data support that KCNQ1 is associated with an increased risk for T2DM and might contribute to the higher incidence of hypertension and macrovascular complications in patients with T2DM carrying the risk allele C though it needs further to be confirmed in a larger population.

MMP‐21 is a newly identified member of the matrix metalloproteinase family and has been reported to regulate both embryonic development and tumor progression. However, the roles of MMP‐21 in hemofiltrate C–C chemokine (HCC) remain largely unclear. In this study, we used western blot, qPCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) to determine the upregulation of MMP‐21 in HCC tissues, and showed that the increase in MMP‐21 was associated with vascular invasion and poor prognosis. Although changing levels of MMP‐21 in HCC cell lines had no significant effect on cell migration or invasion abilities in in vitro transwell tests, both IHC analysis and in vivo mouse models proved that upregulated MMP‐21 promoted metastasis. Functional enrichments of MMP‐21 using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data suggested that MMP‐21 might regulate metastasis via macrophages. Further experiments proved that MMP‐21 enhanced macrophage recruitment by increasing CCL‐14 levels and promoted M2‐type polarization of macrophage by elevating the expression of CSF‐1 and FGF‐1. Taken together, this study revealed that MMP‐21 controlled the tumor microenvironment remodeling and functional regulation of macrophages to regulate HCC metastasis.