PUBLICATION

Systematic Characterization of the Disruption of Intestine during Liver Tumor Progression in the xmrk Oncogene Transgenic Zebrafish Model

Authors
Li, Y., Lee, A.Q., Lu, Z., Sun, Y., Lu, J.W., Ren, Z., Zhang, N., Liu, D., Gong, Z.
ID
ZDB-PUB-220611-3
Date
2022
Source
Cells   11(11): (Journal)
Registered Authors
Gong, Zhiyuan, Li, Yan
Keywords
HCC, cancer cachexia, gut–liver axis, intestine, liver tumor, zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Humans
  • Inflammation/genetics
  • Intestines/pathology
  • Liver Neoplasms*/pathology
  • Oncogenes
  • Tumor Microenvironment
  • Zebrafish*/genetics
  • Zebrafish*/metabolism
PubMed
35681505 Full text @ Cells
Abstract
The crosstalk between tumors and their local microenvironment has been well studied, whereas the effect of tumors on distant tissues remains understudied. Studying how tumors affect other tissues is important for understanding the systemic effect of tumors and for improving the overall health of cancer patients. In this study, we focused on the changes in the intestine during liver tumor progression, using a previously established liver tumor model through inducible expression of the oncogene xmrk in zebrafish. Progressive disruption of intestinal structure was found in the tumor fish, displaying villus damage, thinning of bowel wall, increase in goblet cell number, decrease in goblet cell size and infiltration of eosinophils, most of which were observed phenotypes of an inflammatory intestine. Intestinal epithelial cell renewal was also disrupted, with decreased cell proliferation and increased cell death. Analysis of intestinal gene expression through RNA-seq suggested deregulation of genes related to intestinal function, epithelial barrier and homeostasis and activation of pathways in inflammation, epithelial mesenchymal transition, extracellular matrix organization, as well as hemostasis. Gene set enrichment analysis showed common gene signatures between the intestine of liver tumor fish and human inflammatory bowel disease, the association of which with cancer has been recently noticed. Overall, this study represented the first systematic characterization of the disruption of intestine under the liver tumor condition and suggested targeting intestinal inflammation as a potential approach for managing cancer cachexia.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping