2.1 Ethics Statement
This the study was carried out in compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines. All experiments were approved by the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University. All the patients involved in this study provided informed consent, and all the sample extraction protocols followed the Declaration of Helsinki and were authorized by the Institutional Ethics Board of The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University. All mouse experiments were performed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations formulated by the hospital. Mice were anesthetized using avertin and sacrificed by applying excessive carbon dioxide.
2.2 Patient samples
Tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues of five cases of gastric adenocarcinoma were collected from The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University. The samples were divided into two parts and subjected to QPCR and western blotting, depending on the size of the sample.
2.3 Mouse experiment
The SCID, nude, and 615 mice used in this study were housed in the animal facility of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University. (1) For the library experiment, nude mice (6-8 weeks old) were injected subcutaneously with the CON or SPINT3 KO MKN-45 cell line, and then the primary tumors were harvested, cut into 1 mm × 1 mm × 1 mm slices, and implanted in the gastric mucosa of SCID mice. (2) To detect the tumor microenvironment, 5 million CON or SPINT3 KO MFC cells were injected subcutaneously into 615 mice; after 2 weeks, the primary tumors were harvested and digested into single cells. For, Mice were anesthesia by avertin in the implantation of tumor cells, and sacrificed by excessive carbon dioxide inhalation.
2.4 In silico analysis
In this study, all in silico analyses were completed using R 3.4.3 software. (1) Extraction of 22-gene list: the transforming growth factor beta binding pathway (GO:0050431) was selected, and the genes involved in this pathway were extracted using AnnotationDbi and annotated using the org.Hs.eg.db package. (2) Other analysis: TCGA-STAD (Stomach adenocarcinoma dataset from The Cancer Genome Atlas Program) data were downloaded and normalized using the GDCRNATools package, and the gene expression data, follow-up time, and survival status of patients were extracted and analyzed using the univariate COX algorithm. For pathway enrichment analysis, samples were first divided into SPINT3 low and high expression groups based on the expression of SPINT3; then, the GSEA function from the clusterProfile package was used to detect pathway enrichment in SPINT3 low expression samples and compare it with that in SPINT3 high expression samples.
2.5 Sub-library design
(1) Twenty-two genes belonging to GO:0050431 were selected, and the sgRNA that target these genes were designed; the sgRNA oligo sequences are listed in Table 1. (2) Oligos were cloned into the lentiCRISPR v2 vector (Addgene 52961). (3) The vectors were packaged as lentiviruses using the 2nd lentivirus package system.
2.6 QRT-PCR
(1) Firstly, cells were lysed with 500 µL TRIzol and centrifuged at 12000 rpm for 10 min to remove the cell fraction. (2) The solution was added to 200 µL chloroform, shaken up and down for 15 s, and centrifuged at 12000 rpm for 15 min. (3) 100 µL of the supernatant was drawn, mixed with 100 µL isopropanol, and centrifuged at 12000 rpm for 10 min. (4) The precipitate was washed with 75% ethanol, and the concentration of total RNA was detected using the OD at 260 nm/280 nm. (5) Total mRNA was reverse transcribed using the PrimeScript RT Reagent Kit with gDNA Eraser (R047A, Takara Bio) and TB Green Premix Ex Taq (Tli RNase H Plus) (RR420A, Takara Bio) to detect the expression of the internal reference gene and target gene; the primer sequences used in this study were human SPINT3 F-5′-GATCTCCTCCCAAATGTATGCGC-3′, R-5′-TCCGCAGCCTCCGTAAGCAAAT-3′, and human GAPDH F-5′-GTCTCCTCTGACTTCAACAGCG-3′, R-5′-ACCACCCTGTTGCTGTAGCCAA-3′. The relative expression level of SPINT3 was determined using the 2-△△CT value.
2.7 Western blotting
(1) Bulk tissue was lysed using RIPA buffer on ice for 30 min, mixed with loading buffer, and boiled for 15 min. (2) 20ug of samples were loaded on polyacrylamide gels and proteins were separated based on molecular weight using electrophoresis. (3) The proteins were then transferred to a PVDF membrane and blocked with 5% BSA solution. (4) the membrane was labeled with different primary antibodies, including GAPDH (ab8245), TGF-β1 (ab215715), TGF-β type 1 receptor (ab31013), TGF-β type 2 receptor (ab186838), Smad3 (ab40854), and p-Smad3 (ab52903), which were all purchased from Abcam. The SPINT3 antibody was synthesized by Beyotime Company (Shanghai, China), dilution is 1:1000. After culturing overnight, the membrane was washed thrice and labeled with secondary antibodies, and protein expression was quantified using ECL solution.
2.8 Cell apoptosis, proliferation, migration, and cell cycle
For cell apoptosis, proliferation, and cell cycle experiments, MKN-45 cells were first transfected with the CoN and SPINT3 overexpression vectors for 48 h. (1) Cell apoptosis was detected using the APC-conjugated Annexin-V/propidium iodide (PI) kit (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA, USA). Cells were firstly harvested and washed with PBS, and then suspended in annexin V binding buffer; 5 µL of annexin V APC antibody and 5 µL of PI were added, and after culturing for 15 min, the BD Calibur machine was used to detect positive cells from the FL2 and FL4 channels. The ratio of apoptotic cells was quantified using the percentage of APC-positive cells. (2) Cell proliferation was detected using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8)(Dojindo Molecular Technologies, Rockville, MD, USA); firstly, cells were dispersed in a 96-well plate, each well was seeded with 2000 cells, 10 µL of CCK-8 solution was added, and the cells were cultured for 2 h. Then, a microplate reader was used to measure the OD at 450 nm, and the proliferation index was quantified using the ratio OD450 nm at other time point/OD450 nm at 0 h. (3) Cell migration: Cells were firstly dispersed in a 24-well plate, and each plate was seeded with 100000 cells; after cell attachment, white tips were used to scratch the bottom, and pictures were taken at the 0 and 12 h time points. (4) Cell cycle: After transfection of the SPINT3 vector for 48 h, cells were washed with PBS and fixed in 70% ethanol overnight. The cells were then stained with PI and cultured for 20 min; the BD Calibur machine was used to detect changes in the cell cycle.
2.9 CyTOF experiment
(1) Firstly, single cells from primary tumors were isolated and the CyTOF experiment was completed by Novogene (Beijing, China). The markers used in CyTOF analysis included LY6G, CD8A, CD45, CD11B, CD28, CD3E, LY6C, CD19, CD24, CD14, F4-80, and CD326. (2) After obtaining the FCS file, the data were analyzed using R 4.0.2 software. The FCS file was read using the flowCore package, and analyzed using the Rtsne package; the conditions used for the Rtsne function were tsne_expr, check_duplicates = FALSE, pca = T,pca_scale = T,perplexity = 120. Finally, the results were visualized using the ggplot2 package.
2.10 T cell proliferation
2.10.1 Isolation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and T cells
(1) Firstly, the spleen was ground and washed off with PBS, and then red blood cells were lysed and filtered with a 40 µm filter. (2) Simultaneously, the primary tumor was washed with PBS and lysed with red blood cells. (3) The single-cell suspension of the primary tumor was treated with CD11b and GR1 antibodies, and then with CD3, CD4, and CD8 antibodies. After 30 min of ice labeling, PBS was used for washing. (4) CD11b+ GR1+ cells were isolated from bone marrow single-cell suspensions using a BD aria III sorting instrument, and CD3+ CD4- CD8+ T cells were obtained from the spleen single-cell suspension.
2.10.2 Detection of T cell proliferation
(1) CFSE was added to the T cell suspension. After labeling, the cells were washed with PBS. (2) The labeled T cells were divided into two parts. One part was used to detect the expression of CFSE by flow cytometry, and the other part was used for co-culture with MDSCs. (3) After counting the MDSC cell suspension, the supernatant of the CoN group or SPINT3 sgRNA group was used for re-suspension, and 2 folds of CD8+ T cells were added. (4) CFSE expression in CD11b- cells was detected using flow cytometry. Cells with a lower fluorescence intensity at 0 h were used as T cells in the proliferation phase.
2.11 Statistical analysis
The significance levels in this study were determined using the Student’s t-test: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.