Transmembrane (TMEM)-176A and 176B proteins belong to the MS4A family of proteins whose function in the immune system remains unclear. TMEM176A transcripts were previously shown to be elevated in liver cancer or kidney tissue with proteinuria, while marked changes in TMEM176B transcripts have been found in tolerated tissue allografts and neoplastic fibroblasts. To study the functional relationship between human TMEM176A and 176B and their putative link to cancer, we used polymerase chain reaction and biochemical assays. Here, we show that TMEM176A and 176B are widely expressed in all human tissues examined. Co-immunoprecipitation of heterologously expressed TMEM176A and 176B revealed direct physical interaction. To determine the relevance of such interaction to cancer pathology, we analyzed biopsied tissue samples from a variety of normal and cancer tissues. Our data reveal that human TMEM176A and 176B protein levels are significantly elevated in lymphoma, but not in normal tissues. The protein levels of TMEM176A are also significantly increased in lung carcinoma. Finally, analysis of the protein expression ratio of TMEM176A over 176B showed significant differences between normal and cancer tissues of the breast, lymph, skin, and liver, which indicates that both TMEM proteins could be potential useful markers for certain human cancers.

BackgroundRecent advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) have provided new methods for preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) of human embryos from in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. However, there is still limited information about clinical applications of NGS in IVF and PGS (IVF-PGS) treatments. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of NGS screening on clinical pregnancy and implantation outcomes for PGS patients in comparison to array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) screening.MethodsThis study was performed in two phases. Phase I study evaluated the accuracy of NGS for aneuploidy screening in comparison to aCGH. Whole-genome amplification (WGA) products (n = 164) derived from previous IVF-PGS cycles (n = 38) were retrospectively analyzed with NGS. The NGS results were then compared with those of aCGH. Phase II study further compared clinical pregnancy and implantation outcomes between NGS and aCGH for IVF-PGS patients. A total of 172 patients at mean age 35.2 ± 3.5 years were randomized into two groups: 1) NGS (Group A): patients (n = 86) had embryos screened with NGS and 2) aCGH (Group B): patients (n = 86) had embryos screened with aCGH. For both groups, blastocysts were vitrified after trophectoderm biopsy. One to two euploid blastocysts were thawed and transferred to individual patients primarily based on the PGS results. Ongoing pregnancy and implantation rates were compared between the two study groups.ResultsNGS detected all types of aneuploidies of human blastocysts accurately and provided a 100 % 24-chromosome diagnosis consistency with the highly validated aCGH method. Moreover, NGS screening identified euploid blastocysts for transfer and resulted in similarly high ongoing pregnancy rates for PGS patients compared to aCGH screening (74.7 % vs. 69.2 %, respectively, p >0.05). The observed implantation rates were also comparable between the NGS and aCGH groups (70.5 % vs. 66.2 %, respectively, p >0.05).ConclusionsWhile NGS screening has been recently introduced to assist IVF patients, this is the first randomized clinical study on the efficiency of NGS for preimplantation genetic screening in comparison to aCGH. With the observed high accuracy of 24-chromosome diagnosis and the resulting high ongoing pregnancy and implantation rates, NGS has demonstrated an efficient, robust high-throughput technology for PGS.

The immune system plays a role in the fight against cancer, but it has also been found to promote cancer proliferation. Two transmembrane (TMEM) proteins, TMEM176A and 176B, were reported to play a role in the immune cell function. Recent reports showed that TMEM176A mRNA transcripts are highly elevated in liver cancer or kidney proteinuria, while increased TMEM176B mRNA transcripts are detected in tolerated tissue allografts. We set out to determine the functional relationship between TMEM176A and 176B, as well as to provide any direct evidence that one or both proteins are linked to cancer pathology. Real‐time QPCR revealed a diverse mRNA expression pattern for TMEM176A and 176B. Co‐immunoprecipitation showed that both proteins physically interact. TMEM176A and 176B protein expression analysis showed significant elevation in lymphoma compared to normal non‐cancerous tissues. In lung cancer, the protein levels of TMEM176A were also significantly increased. Interestingly, the protein expression ratio of TMEM176A over TMEM176B, revealed significant differences between normal and cancer tissues of the breast, lymph, skin, and liver. Our findings indicate that TMEM176A and 176B proteins physically interact, and that the protein level of TMEM176B is intimately linked to that of TMEM176A protein in distinct cancer tissues.

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