BACKGROUND: Bortezomib has preclinical and clinical in B‐cell lymphomas, both alone and in combination with other agents. A phase 1 evaluation was conducted of bortezomib with rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R‐CHOP) in patients with untreated diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) or mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). METHODS: Twenty patients (16 with DLBCL and 4 with MCL) with a median age of 66 years (range, 29‐84 years) were enrolled. Eleven subjects (55%) had an elevated lactate dehydrogenase level, and 10 patients (50%) had International Prognostic Index scores of 3 to 5. Standard R‐CHOP was administered on a 21‐day cycle for 6 cycles, with 1 of 3 dose levels of bortezomib (0.7 mg/m2 [n = 4 patients], 1.0 mg/m2 [n = 9 patients], or 1.3 mg/m2 [n = 7 patients]) administered on Days 1 and 4 of each cycle. RESULTS: The maximum tolerated dose of bortezomib with R‐CHOP was not reached, and the 1.3‐mg/m2 dose level had acceptable tolerability. A dose‐limiting toxicity (pulmonary) was only observed in 1 patient receiving 1.0 mg/m2 of bortezomib. Neuropathy occurred in 13 patients (65%), but was mostly grade 1 (45%) and reached grade 3 in only 1 patient (all toxicities were graded using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 3.0). Grade 4 hematologic toxicity occurred in 7 patients (35%). Of 19 evaluable patients, all responded, with 18 (95%) cases of complete response/complete response unconfirmed achieved and 1 (5%) partial response reported. At a median follow‐up of 56 months, overall survival at 4 years was 75% and progression‐free survival was 58%. CONCLUSIONS: Bortezomib at a dose of 1.3 mg/m2 twice per cycle can be added to R‐CHOP chemotherapy with acceptable toxicity. Multi‐institutional and cooperative group follow‐up studies of this regimen are currently ongoing. Cancer 2010. © 2010 American Cancer Society.

Frequently overexpressed linc-UBC1 physically associates with PRC2 complex, and acts as a negative prognostic factor for lymph node metastasis and survival in bladder cancer.

Abstract. The long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) urothelial carcinoma associated 1 (UCA1) is an oncogenic lncRNA in bladder cancer, and its upregulation is associated with enhanced cell invasion. However, the underlying mechanism remains to be elucidated. The present study demonstrated that UCA1 was positively associated with cell invasion ability and promoted epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of bladder cancer cells by inducing high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1). Furthermore, bioinformatics and luciferase reporter assays demonstrated binding sites of the tumor suppressive miR-143 within UCA1 and the 3'untranslated region of HMGB1. UCA1 negatively regulated miR-143 expression in a dose-dependent manner in bladder cancer cells. In addition, UCA1 and HMGB1 were upregulated and miR-143 was downregulated in bladder cancer specimens. Overall, the data suggested that UCA1 may promote the invasion and EMT of bladder cancer cells by regulating the miR-143/HMGB1 pathway, which exhibits an important regulatory role in the pathology of bladder cancer.

Many studies have demonstrated that upregulation of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) antisense non-coding RNA in the INK4 locus (ANRIL) plays an oncogenic role in various tumors, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The aim of this study is to explore the effect of ANRIL in NPC progression and cisplatin (DDP)-induced cytotoxicity. The results showed that ANRIL was highly expressed and let-7a was downregulated in NPC tissues and cells. Luciferase assay revealed that ANRIL could negatively regulate miR-let-7a expression. ANRIL knockdown inhibited NPC cell proliferation and induced apoptosis, while anti-let-7a reversed these effects. Combination treatment of si-ANRIL and DDP led to a lower viability, a more DNA strand breaks damage and a higher comet tail length compared with any single treatment, whereas let-7a inhibitor abolished these effects. Furthermore, depletion of ANRIL exacerbated DDP-induced cytotoxicity in NPC cells in vivo. Taken together, these data indicated that knockdown of ANRIL represses tumorigenicity and enhances DDP-induced cytotoxicity via regulating microRNA let-7a in NPC cells, providing a promising therapeutic strategy for NPC patients.

13-Methyltetradecanoic acid (13-MTD), a saturated branched-chain fatty acid purified from soy fermentation products, induces apoptosis in human cancer cells. We investigated the inhibitory effects and mechanism of action of 13-MTD on T-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (T-NHL) cell lines both in vitro and in vivo. Growth inhibition in response to 13-MTD was evaluated by the cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay in three T-NHL cell lines (Jurkat, Hut78, EL4 cells). Flow cytometry analyses were used to monitor the cell cycle and apoptosis. Proteins involved in 13-MTD-induced apoptosis were examined in Jurkat cells by western blotting. We found that 13-MTD inhibited proliferation and induced the apoptosis of T-NHL cell lines. 13-MTD treatment also induced a concentration-dependent arrest of Jurkat cells in the G1-phase. During 13-MTD-induced apoptosis in Jurkat cells, the cleavage of caspase-3 and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP, a caspase enzymolysis product) were detected after incubation for 2 h, and increased after extending the incubation time. However, there was no change in the expression of Bcl-2 or c-myc proteins. The appearance of apoptotic Jurkat cells was accompanied by the inhibition of AKT and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) phosphorylation. In addition, 13-MTD could also effectively inhibit the growth of T-NHL tumors in vivo in a xenograft model. The tumor inhibition rate in the experimental group was 40%. These data indicate that 13-MTD inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis through the down-regulation of AKT phosphorylation followed by caspase activation, which may provide a new approach for treating T-cell lymphomas.