As a disease with extremely complex molecular mechanisms, many deregulated miRNAs have been identified in colon cancer. Few studies have been performed by using Ingenuity Pathways Analysis (IPA) to predict miRNAs specifically expressed in colon cancer. A characteristic microRNA-target network of colon cancer was explored using IPA. Then the clinical significance of miR-19b-3p was evaluated in 211 colon cancer patients. The roles of miR-19b-3p and its candidate target gene, SMAD4, in colon cancer progression were examined both in vitro and in vivo. Bioinformatics analysis showed that 15 microRNAs screened by IPA were significantly correlated with malignant biological behaviors of colon cancer. miR-19b-3p was the most significantly upregulated candidate based on the validation experiment using 211 colon cancer samples. High expression of miR-19b-3p was significantly associated with high N stage (P < 0.001), high AJCC stage (P < 0.001), poor histologic grade (P = 0.032), frequent venous and lymphatic invasion (P = 0.027), and liver metastasis (P < 0.001). Survival analysis revealed that miR-19b-3p was an independent prognostic factor associated with colon cancer patient’s overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). miR-19b-3p promoted proliferation and chemoresistance of colon cancer cells, but had no effect on invasion in vitro, along with tumorigenesis in vivo. In addition, we confirmed that miR-19b-3p mediates resistance to oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy via SMAD4. Our findings demonstrate the role of miR-19b-3p-SMAD4 axis in colon cancer progression, which may become a potential therapeutic target against chemotherapy resistance.

5-Fluorouracil (5FU)-based adjuvant therapy is the first-line therapy for treating stage II and III colon cancer after surgery. However, its therapeutic efficacy is limited because of chemoresistance, especially in deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) colon cancer. Here, we first used laser capture microdissection to obtain purified cells from four dMMR and four proficient mismatch repair (pMMR) colon cancer tissues. Second, microRNA (miRNA) microarray chips were used to identify miRNAs that are differentially expressed between these two classes of tumors. Third, we analyzed their differential expression by qRT-PCR in a panel of 5-FU-resistant colon cancer cell lines. We identified that miR-1290 was one of the most upregulated miRNAs in both dMMR colon cancer tissues and 5-FU-resistant cells. We also found that miR-1290 was positively correlated with dMMR status and predicted poor prognosis in stage II and III colon cancer patients who received 5-FU-based chemotherapy. Furthermore, we demonstrated that inhibition of the expression of miR-1290 enhanced sensitivity to 5-FU treatment in vitro and in tumor xenografts in vivo by direct targeting hMSH2. Our study indicates that miR-1290 may become a promising biomarker of dMMR colon cancer and predicts the prognosis of stage II and III patients who receive 5-FU-based adjuvant therapy.

The chromatin-remodeling enzyme BRG1 promotes colon cancer progression via positive regulation of WNT3A The chromatin-remodeling enzyme BRG1 promotes colon cancer progression via positive regulation of WNT3A

The initial dose of tacrolimus after liver transplantation (LT) is critical for rapidly achieving the steady state of the drug concentration, minimizing the potential adverse reactions and warranting long-term patient prognosis. We aimed to develop and validate a genotype-guided model for determining personalized initial dose of tacrolimus. By combining pharmacokinetic modeling, pharmacogenomic analysis and multiple statistical methods, we developed a genotype-guided model to predict individualized tacrolimus initial dose after LT in the discovery (n = 150) and validation cohorts (n = 97) respectively. This model was further validated in a prospective, randomized and single-blind clinical trial from August, 2021 to February, 2022 (n = 40, ChiCTR2100050288). Our model included donor's and recipient's genotypes, recipient's weight and total bilirubin, which achieved an area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC of ROC) of 0.88 and 0.79 in the discovery and validation cohorts, respectively. We found that patients who were given tacrolimus within the recommended concentration range (RCR) (4–10 ng/mL), the new-onset metabolic syndromes are lower, especially for new-onset diabetes (p = 0.043). In the clinical trial, compared to those in experience-based (EB) group, patients in the model-based (MB) group were more likely to achieving the RCR (75% vs 40%, p = 0.025) with a more variable individualized dose (0.023–0.096 mg/kg/day vs 0.045–0.057 mg/kg/day). Moreover, significantly fewer medication adjustments were required for the MB group than the EB group (2.75 ± 2.01 vs 6.05 ± 3.35, p = 0.001). Our genotype-based model significantly improved the initial dosing accuracy of tacrolimus and reduced the number of medication adjustments, which are critical for improving the prognosis of LT patients. National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shanghai three-year action plan, National Science and Technology Major Project of China.

Emerging evidence shows that exocytosis plays a key role in tumor development and metastasis. Secernin-1 (SCRN1) is a novel regulator of exocytosis. Our previous work identified SCRN1 as a tumor-associated gene by bioinformatics analysis of transcriptomes. In this study, we demonstrated the aberrant overexpression of SCRN1 at mRNA and protein level in colon cancer. We also revealed that overexpression of SCRN1 was significantly associated with the tumor development and poor prognosis. Experimentsin vitrovalidated that SCRN1 may promote cancer cell proliferation and secretion of matrix metalloproteinase-2/9 (MMP-2/9) proteins to accelerate tumor progression.