Cancer Biology

StereoSiTE: A framework to spatially and quantitatively profile the cellular neighborhood organized iTME

1. Xing Liu
2. Chi Qu
3. Chuandong Liu
4. Na Zhu
5. Huaqiang Huang
6. Fei Teng
7. Caili Huang
8. Bingying Luo
9. Xuanzhu Liu
10. Min Xie
11. Feng Xi
12. Mei Li
13. Liang Wu
14. Yuxiang Li
15. Ao Chen
16. Xun Xu
17. Sha Liao
18. Jiajun Zhang

Reviewed by GigaScience

Non-destructive in situ monitoring of structural changes of 3D tumor spheroids during the formation, migration, and fusion process

1. Ke Ning
2. Yuanyuan Xie
3. Wen Sun
4. Lingke Feng
5. Can Fang
6. Rong Pan
7. Yan Li
8. Ling Yu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The ingenious design in this study achieved the observation of 3D cell spheroids from additional lateral view and gained more comprehensive information than the traditional one angle of imaging. This extended the methods to investigate cell behaviors in the growth or migration of tumor organoids in a time-lapse manner and these extensions should be valuable to the field. The authors provide solid evidence that the methods work as described.

Reviewed by eLife

Molecular consequences of acute versus chronic CDK12 loss in prostate carcinoma nominates distinct therapeutic strategies

1. Sander Frank
2. Thomas Persse
3. Ilsa Coleman
4. Armand Bankhead
5. Dapei Li
6. Navonil DeSarkar
7. Divin Wilson
8. Dmytro Rudoy
9. Manasvita Vashisth
10. Patty Galipeau
11. Michael Yang
12. Brian Hanratty
13. Ruth Dumpit
14. Colm Morrissey
15. Eva Corey
16. R Bruce Montgomery
17. Michael C Haffner
18. Colin Pritchard
19. Valera Vasioukhin
20. Gavin Ha
21. Peter S Nelson

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This paper aims to understand why prostate cancer with CDK12 loss does not respond to HRd-based therapeutics, such as PARP inhibitors. The work is felt to be fundamental given a thorough computational and genomic analysis, the generation of CDK12-adapted cell lines, and potential synthetic vulnerability to CDK13 loss with genetic knockdown or co-inhibition with a CDK12/13 inhibitor. The evidence is compelling given the authors' systematic testing of components of the CDK12/13 pathways in a number of prostate cancer models. Some weaknesses focused on the functional effect of the various mutations found at different CDK12 sites (loss vs. altered), more comprehensive characterization of CDK12 KO lines, and specificity of the CDK12/13 inhibitor and in vivo experimental schema.

Reviewed by eLife

STAMBPL1 activates the GRHL3/HIF1A/VEGFA axis through interaction with FOXO1 to promote angiogenesis in triple-negative breast cancer

1. Huan Fang
2. Huichun Liang
3. Chuanyu Yang
4. Dewei Jiang
5. Qianmei Luo
6. Wenming Cao
7. Huifeng Zhang
8. Ceshi Chen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This article uncovers a new important role of STAMBPL1 in promoting angiogenesis in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and elucidates the specific mechanisms by which it activates the GRHL3/HIF1α/VEGFA axis through interaction with FOXO1. The finding that STAMBPL1 mediates GRHL3 transcription through the interaction with FOXO1 is novel. These experimental results corroborate each other, forming a solid foundation of evidence that supports the main findings of the article.

Reviewed by eLife

Unveiling chemotherapy-induced immune landscape remodeling and metabolic reprogramming in lung adenocarcinoma by scRNA-sequencing

1. Yiwei Huang
2. Gujie Wu
3. Guoshu Bi
4. Lin Cheng
5. Jiaqi Liang
6. Ming Li
7. Huan Zhang
8. Guangyao Shan
9. Zhengyang Hu
10. Zhencong Chen
11. Zongwu Lin
12. Wei Jiang
13. Qun Wang
14. Junjie Xi
15. Shanye Yin
16. Cheng Zhan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study reports single-cell RNA sequencing results of lung adenocarcinoma, comparing 4 treatment-naive and 5 post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy tumor samples. Of interest is the delineation of two macrophage subtypes: Anti-mac cells (CD45+CD11b+CD86+) and Pro-mac cells (CD45+CD11b+ARG+), with the proportion of Pro-mac/pro-tumorigenic cells significantly increasing in LUAD tissues after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In terms of significance, the findings might be useful. However issues remain after the revision with lengthy descriptive clustering type analysis, insufficient statistical support, and inefficient figure presentation. As it stands, the level of supportive evidence is inadequate.

Reviewed by eLife

Integrated Analysis of Single-Cell and Bulk RNA-Seq Data reveals that Ferroptosis-Related Genes Mediated the Tumor Microenvironment predicts Prognosis, and guides Drug Selection in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

1. Xuantong Gong
2. Lishuang Gu
3. Di Yang
4. Yu He
5. Qian Li
6. Hao Qin
7. Yong Wang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a useful finding on the ferroptosis-mediated tumor microenvironment (TME) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) using public single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and bulk RNA sequencing data. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is somewhat incomplete and some data are rather questionable; the authors should clarify the relations between ferroptosis-related genes in immune cells and those genes applied in a risk factor analysis in tumor cells. Moreover, the authors should provide experimental validation for the risk score model based on ferroptosis-related genes. The work will be of interest to scientists or clinical scientists working in the field of breast cancer.

Reviewed by eLife

PA28γ promotes the malignant progression of tumor by elevating mitochondrial function via C1QBP

1. Jiongke Wang
2. Yujie Shi
3. Ying Wang
4. Yingqiang Shen
5. Huan Liu
6. Silu Sun
7. Yimei Wang
8. Xikun Zhou
9. Yu Zhou
10. Xin Zeng
11. Jing Li
12. Qianming Chen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This work attempts to demonstrate an ATP-independent non-canonical role of proteasomal component PA28y in the promotion of oral squamous cell carcinoma growth, migration, and invasion. The evidence remains incomplete and the work would benefit from further experimental work. The authors have not adequately addressed the reviewers' comments.

Reviewed by eLife

TIPE drives a cancer stem-like phenotype by promoting glycolysis via PKM2/HIF-1α axis in melanoma

1. Maojin Tian
2. Le Yang
3. Ziqian Zhao
4. Jigang Li
5. Lianqing Wang
6. Qingqing Yin
7. Wei Hu
8. Yunwei Lou
9. Jianxin Du
10. Peiqing Zhao

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study investigates the molecular mechanisms underpinning how the tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced protein (TIPE) regulates aerobic glycolysis to promote tumor growth in melanoma. Convincing data using multiple independent approaches provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms underpinning aerobic glycolysis in melanoma cells. The work will be of interest to biomedical researchers working in cancer and metabolism.

Reviewed by eLife

S100a4 ⁺ alveolar macrophages accelerate the progression of precancerous atypical adenomatous hyperplasia by promoting fatty acid metabolism

1. Hong Huang
2. Ying Yang
3. Qiuju Zhang
4. Yongfeng Yang
5. Zhenqi Xiong
6. Shengqiang Mao
7. Tingting Song
8. Yilong Wang
9. Zhiqiang Liu
10. Hong Bu
11. Li Zhang
12. Le Zhang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is an important study demonstrating the importance of S100A4+ alveolar macrophages in the earlier stages of tumour development and suggesting a role in angiogenesis. As such this solid study is of interest to cancer biologists focused on early tumour development and those interested in the development of therapeutics that may specifically target early cancers.

Reviewed by eLife

Recurrent disruption of tumour suppressor genes in cancer by somatic mutations in cleavage and polyadenylation signals

1. Yaroslav Kainov
2. Fursham Hamid
3. Eugene V Makeyev

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study substantially advances our understanding of noncoding somatic mutations by identifying a novel class of mutations that affect 3'UTR polyadenylation signals enriched in tumor suppressor genes in cancer. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing, with rigorous statistical analyses. The work will be of broad interest to cancer researchers.

Reviewed by eLife