Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer‑related mortality worldwide. Non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common pathological subtype of lung cancer and is associated with low 5‑year overall survival rates. Therefore, novel and effective chemotherapeutic drugs are urgently required for improving the survival outcomes of patients with lung cancer. Cyclovirobuxine D (CVB‑D) is a natural steroidal alkaloid, used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Several studies have also demonstrated the antitumor effects of CVB‑D. Therefore, in the present study, the therapeutic effects of CVB‑D in lung cancer and the underlying mechanisms were investigated using the in vivo xenograft model of NSCLC in nude mice and in vitro experiments with the NSCLC cell lines. Bioinformatics analyses of RNA‑sequencing data, and cell‑based functional assays demonstrated that CVB‑D treatment significantly inhibited in vitro and in vivo NSCLC cell proliferation, survival, invasion, migration, angiogenesis, epithelial‑to‑mesenchymal transition and G₂/M phase cell cycle. CVB‑D exerted its antitumor effects by inhibiting the KIF11‑CDK1‑CDC25C‑cyclinB1 G₂/M phase transition regulatory oncogenic network and the NF‑κB/JNK signaling pathway. CVB‑D treatment significantly reduced the sizes and weights and malignancy of xenograft NSCLC tumors in the nude mice. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that CVB‑D inhibited the growth and progression of NSCLC cells by inhibiting the KIF11‑CDK1‑CDC25C‑CyclinB1 G₂/M phase transition regulatory network and the NF‑κB/JNK signaling pathway. Therefore, CVB‑D is a promising drug for the treatment of NSCLC patients.

Cinnamaldehyde (CA) is the main component extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine cinnamon. Recent studies revealed that CA has antiviral and anti-tumor effects. However, the effect and mechanism of CA on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) through whole transcriptome sequencing integrated analysis have not been systematically investigated. In this study, whole transcriptome sequencing was used to identify differentially expressed messenger RNAs (mRNAs), micro RNAs (miRNAs), and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that were influenced by CA and screen regulatory pathways. The results showed that CA significantly inhibited proliferation, invasion, and migration, whereas it induced the apoptosis of NSCLC cells. CA inhibited tumor growth in vivo. Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis revealed that these differentially expressed mRNAs were potentially implicated in the CA-suppressing malignant phenotypes of NSCLC. According to the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) hypothesis, a ceRNA network was constructed, including 13 mRNAs, 6 miRNAs, and 11 lncRNAs. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis of the 13 mRNAs in the ceRNA network showed that suppressors of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1), BTG anti-proliferation factor 2 (BTG2), and Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) were significantly enriched in the JAK/STAT signaling pathway, RNA degradation, and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway related to cancer. These findings indicated that SOCS1, BTG2, and BTK play an essential role in CA against NSCLC. Meanwhile, based on the ceRNA network, three lncRNAs (long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1504 [LINC01504], LINC01783, and THUMPD3 antisense RNA 1 [THUMPD3-AS1]) and three miRNAs (has-miR-155-5p, has-miR-7-5p, and has-miR-425-5p) associated with SOCS1, BTG2, and BTK may be important in CA against NSCLC. Taken together, the present study demonstrated the activity of CA against lung cancer and its potential use as a therapeutic agent.

FAT atypical cadherin 1 (FAT1) belongs to the cadherin superfamily and has been reported to regulate cell‑cell adhesion and other cell behaviors, suggesting its pivotal roles in human cancers. We previously identified FAT1 as one of the significant mutant genes in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). In the present study, the knockdown of FAT1 expression in YSE2 and Colo680N cell lines was carried out by lentivirus, and we found that knockdown of FAT1 led to acceleration of cell migration and invasion. Furthermore, we detected the cell adhesive force and cell elasticity force by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and found that the suppression of endogenous expression of FAT1 led to a decrease in the cell adhesive force and increase in the cell elasticity force compared with the control groups. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that FAT1 altered cellular mechanical properties leading to deregulation of cell migration and invasion of ESCC, which may be a novel target for ESCC therapy.

Polyamine biosynthesis is an essential metabolic pathway for cell growth and differentiation in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Fragile-site associated tumour suppressor (FATS) is a novel gene involved in cancer. The results of our previous study showed that FATS-mediated polyubiquitination of p53 promotes the activation of p53 in response to DNA damage; however, little is known about the role of FATS in metabolic reprogramming in NSCLC. In the present study, FATS was observed to be significantly downregulated in NSCLC tissues compared with paired adjacent normal tissues and was associated with the survival of NSCLC patients. We further showed that the presence of the tumour suppressor FATS in NSCLC cells led to apoptosis by inducing pro-death autophagy. In addition, FATS was shown to function as a suppressor of polyamine biosynthesis by inhibiting ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) at the protein and mRNA levels, which was partially dependent on oestrogen receptor (ER). Furthermore, FATS was observed to bind to ERβ and translocate to the cytosol, leading to ODC degradation. The findings of our study demonstrate that FATS plays important roles in polyamine metabolism in NSCLC and provides a new perspective for NSCLC progression.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the most prevalent primary malignant esophageal tumor in China and has a poor prognosis, but lacks effective diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Through single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA), we conducted immune genomic analysis based on 28 immune features using transcriptomic data from 155 ESCC cases. We established of two ESCC subtypes characterized by high and low immune profiles, and 352 differentially expressed immune genes were identified between the two subtypes. Performed with univariate and multivariate Cox regression, a novel prognostic prediction model was developed based on three immune-related genes (MAP3K8, SECTM1, IGLV7-43), which has been identified as a relatively accurate, independent, and specific prognostic risk model for ESCC patients in different ESCC cohorts. Furthermore, SECTM1 was upregulated in ESCC tissues and associated with adverse clinical outcomes. In cell experiments, overexpression of SECTM1 effectively promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ESCC cells, while SECTM1 knockdown significantly inhibited these cellular processes. Furthermore, its overexpression promoted macrophage polarization towards the M2-like phenotype and promoted the migration of M2-like macrophage cells and C-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 5 (CCL5) was the key mediator in the pro-cancer effect of SECTM1. In a Conclusion, our study established a prognostic prediction model based on immune-related gene signature, which provided a reliable prognostic tool for ESCC and identified SECTM1 as a potential biomarker in ESCC.