Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a lethal fibrotic lung disease. The role of lncRNAs in multiple diseases has been confirmed, but the role and mechanism of lncRNA zinc finger antisense 1 (ZFAS1) in the progression of PF need to be elucidated further. Here, we found that lncRNA ZFAS1 was upregulated in bleomycin (BLM)-induced PF rats lung tissues and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-treated HFL1 cells, and positively correlated with the expression of solute carrier family 38 member 1 (SLC38A1), which is an important regulator of lipid peroxidation. Moreover, knockdown of lncRNA ZFAS1 significantly alleviated TGF-β1-induced fibroblast activation, inflammation and lipid peroxidation. In vivo experiments showed that inhibition of lncRNA ZFAS1 abolished BLM-induced lipid peroxidation and PF development. Mechanistically, silencing of lncRNA ZFAS1 attenuated ferroptosis and PF progression by lncRNA ZFAS1 acting as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) and sponging miR-150-5p to downregulate SLC38A1 expression. Collectively, our studies demonstrated the role of the lncRNA ZFAS1/miR-150-5p/SLC38A1 axis in the progression of PF, and may provide a new biomarker for the treatment of PF patients.

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Objective: Our objective was to conduct a meta-analysis to investigate the clinicopathological features and prognostic value of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in patients with urothelial carcinoma (UC). Materials and methods: Twenty-seven studies with 4,032 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Pooled ORs and 95% CIs were used to examine the associations between clinical factors and PD-L1 expression. HRs and 95% CIs were extracted from eligible studies. Heterogeneity was evaluated using the chi-squared-based Q test and I 2 statistic. Results: Expression of PD-L1 on tumor cells (TCs) was associated with muscle-invasive disease (OR=3.67, 95% CI: 2.53–5.33), and inversely associated with the history of intravesical bacilli Calmette-Guerin therapy (OR=0.39, 95% CI: 0.18–0.82) in bladder cancer patients. PD-L1 expression on TCs was associated with worse overall survival (HR=2.06, 95% CI: 1.38–3.06) in patients with organ-confined bladder cancer. PD-L1 expression in patients with UC was significantly related to better objective response rate after PD-1/PD-L1 antibody treatment. Conclusions: Expression of PD-L1 on TCs was associated with muscle-invasive disease in patients with bladder cancer. Patients with PD-L1-positive UC had a significantly better response to PD-1/PD-L1 targeted treatment.

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