Natural silicate materials, including zeolite clinoptilolite, have been shown to exhibit diverse biological activities and have been used successfully as a vaccine adjuvant and for the treatment of diarrhea. We report a novel use of finely ground clinoptilolite as a potential adjuvant in anticancer therapy. Clinoptilolite treatment of mice and dogs suffering from a variety of tumor types led to improvement in the overall health status, prolongation of life-span, and decrease in tumors size. Local application of clinoptilolite to skin cancers of dogs effectively reduced tumor formation and growth. In addition, toxicology studies on mice and rats demonstrated that the treatment does not have negative effects. In vitro tissue culture studies showed that finely ground clinoptilolite inhibits protein kinase B (c-Akt), induces expression of p21WAF1/CIP1 and p27KIP1 tumor suppressor proteins, and blocks cell growth in several cancer cell lines. These data indicate that clinoptilolite treatment might affect cancer growth by attenuating survival signals and inducing tumor suppressor genes in treated cells.

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SUMMARY Altered energy metabolism is a cancer hallmark as malignant cells tailor their metabolic pathways to meet their energy requirements. Glucose and glutamine are the major nutrients that fuel cellular metabolism and the pathways utilizing these nutrients are often altered in cancer. Here, we show that the long ncRNA CCAT2, located at the 8q24 amplicon on cancer risk associated rs6983267 SNP, regulates cancer metabolism in vitro and in vivo, in an allele-specific manner by binding the Cleavage Factor I (CFIm) complex with distinct affinities for the two subunits (CFIm25 and CFIm68). The CCAT2 interaction with the CFIm complex fine-tunes the alternative splicing of Glutaminase (GLS) by selecting the poly(A) site in intron 14 of the precursor mRNA. These findings uncover a complex, allele-specific regulatory mechanism of cancer metabolism orchestrated by alleles of a long ncRNA.

Cytokines produced in the tumour microenvironment have an important role in cancer pathogenesis. Altered cytokine expression may result in increased susceptibility to and/or poor prognosis in certain cancers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of interleukin (IL)-8 and IL-10 on sporadic colon cancer development and progression. In our study, a statistically significant increase in IL-8 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression and decrease in IL-10 mRNA expression in tumour tissue compared with normal mucous tissue was observed (P = 0.003; P = 1.3 x 10(-9)). No association was found between IL-8 -251 A/T genotypes and IL-8 mRNA expression in tumour and corresponding normal mucous tissue, as well as susceptibility to sporadic colon cancer. Positive immunohistochemical IL-8 staining was more frequent in moderately and poorly differentiated tumours compared with well-differentiated tumours (P = 0.024). Finally, IL-8 significantly stimulated invasion of HT-29 cells in vitro (P = 0.000172). Significant association of IL-10 -1082 A/G, -819 T/C and -592 A/C genotypes and IL-10 mRNA expression in tumour tissue was observed (P = 0.022; P = 0.013; P = 0.02). Significant association of -819 T/C and -592 A/C genotypes and IL-10 mRNA expression in corresponding normal mucous tissue was observed (P = 0.01; P = 0.04) as well. IL-10 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) promoter genotypes associated with low IL-10 mRNA expression (-819 TT; -592 AA) were also associated with increased risk of sporadic colon cancer compared with high-expression genotypes [odds ratio, 5.53; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.53-20.1; odds ratio, 4.07; 95% CI, 1.28-12.96]. Positive IL-10 immunohistochemical reaction was more frequent in well-differentiated and moderately differentiated tumours compared with poorly differentiated tumours (P = 0.036). In Dukes' C tumours, positive IL-10 immunohistochemical reaction was less frequent compared with Dukes' A and B tumours (P = 0.023). Taken together, our results point to possible tumour promoting role of IL-8 and potential protective role of IL-10 in sporadic colon cancer.

ObjectiveTo investigate the function of a novel primate-specific long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), named FLANC, based on its genomic location (co-localised with a pyknon motif), and to characterise its potential as a biomarker and therapeutic target.DesignFLANC expression was analysed in 349 tumours from four cohorts and correlated to clinical data. In a series of multiple in vitro and in vivo models and molecular analyses, we characterised the fundamental biological roles of this lncRNA. We further explored the therapeutic potential of targeting FLANC in a mouse model of colorectal cancer (CRC) metastases.ResultsFLANC, a primate-specific lncRNA feebly expressed in normal colon cells, was significantly upregulated in cancer cells compared with normal colon samples in two independent cohorts. High levels of FLANC were associated with poor survival in two additional independent CRC patient cohorts. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that the modulation of FLANC expression influenced cellular growth, apoptosis, migration, angiogenesis and metastases formation ability of CRC cells. In vivo pharmacological targeting of FLANC by administration of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine nanoparticles loaded with a specific small interfering RNA, induced significant decrease in metastases, without evident tissue toxicity or pro-inflammatory effects. Mechanistically, FLANC upregulated and prolonged the half-life of phosphorylated STAT3, inducing the overexpression of VEGFA, a key regulator of angiogenesis.ConclusionsBased on our findings, we discovered, FLANC as a novel primate-specific lncRNA that is highly upregulated in CRC cells and regulates metastases formation. Targeting primate-specific transcripts such as FLANC may represent a novel and low toxic therapeutic strategy for the treatment of patients.