Tumour xenografts in nude mice
Animal experiments were approved by the Ethics Committee of Animal Experiments of Fudan University and conducted in accordance with “Regulations on the Administration of Laboratory Animal Affairs” (2017 edition).
Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model: The human tumour tissues used in this study were derived from surgical patients with pathologically confirmed ICC. Ten- to 12-week-old BALB/c-nu mice were purchased from Beijing Vital River Laboratory Animal Technology Co., Ltd (Beijing, China). All animals were housed under temperature-controlled conditions with proper humidity, lighting (12-h light/12-h dark cycle) and free access to food and water. Fresh tumour specimens with a size of 2*2*2 mm were subcutaneously inoculated into the left flank of each mouse. When the tumours reached a threshold volume, the tumour-bearing mice were sacrificed, and the tumours were dissected and reinoculated into newborn mice according to the above method; these tumours were considered P1. Generally, tissues could be used for subsequent experiments after 2-3 passages, at which point they reached a stable state.
Cell line-derived xenograft (CDX) model: BALB/c-nu mice (6 weeks of age, Shanghai SLAC Laboratory Animal Co., Ltd., China) were housed under specific pathogen-free conditions. A total of 5*106 ICC cells suspended in 50μL PBS were mixed with 50μL Matrigel and implanted subcutaneously into mice. At 14 days after transplantation, the tumour-bearing mice were randomly divided into four groups and treated with 3 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg or 30 mg/kg lenvatinib once daily for 28 days. The same volume of physiological salt was given to the mice in the control group.
In this study, when body weight loss (BWL) was ≥20% for any individual mouse, that mouse was given a dosing holiday(s) until its body weight recovered to baseline (BWL, ≤10%). The length (a) and width (b) of tumour masses were measured by Vernier callipers twice a week, followed by measurement of the mouse body weight. Tumour volumes were calculated as V= 0.5× a ×b2. The tumour growth inhibition (TGI) rate was calculated as TGI (%) = [1- (Ti-T0) / (Vi-V0)] × 100, where Ti and Vi were the average tumour volumes of the experimental group and the control group after the beginning of administration, and T0 and V0 were the average tumour volumes of the experimental group and the control group on the first day of administration. Similarly, the body weight (BW) of all tumour-bearing mice was measured twice a week, and the ratio of body weight change (RCBW) after administration (BWi) was calculated by dividing the daily body weight by that of the same mouse on day 0 (BW0): RCBW (%) = (BWi-BW0)/ BW0 × 100. The nude mice were sacrificed through cervical dislocation the day after the last administration.
Cells and reagents
The HCCC-9810 and RBE human ICC cell lines were purchased from the cell bank of the Type Culture Collection of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Shanghai, China). ICC-4389 cells were obtained from 3D Biomedicine Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China). HCCC-9810 and RBE cells were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium (Biosera, NUAILLE, France). All media were supplemented with 10% FBS (Biosera, NUAILLE, France), and cells were cultured at 37°C in an incubator containing 5% CO2. Lenvatinib was obtained from Selleck (Houston, TX, USA).
Cell viability assay
Cell viability and cell growth inhibition were determined using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8, Dojindo Laboratories, Japan) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The concentration of lenvatinib that reduced cell viability by 50% was extrapolated from a nonlinear least squares curve that fit the dose-response curves and then used to obtain 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) values.
Colony formation assay
At an initial density of 1000 cells/well, cells were seeded and cultured in six-well plates. After 2 weeks of cultivation, the cells were stained with 0.1% crystal violet (Sigma, St. Louis, USA) after 4% paraformaldehyde fixation. Colonies containing over 50 cells were counted using a light microscope.
Flow cytometry
Cells were harvested and washed with PBS, and 7% cold alcohol was added overnight at 4°C. The cells were washed and suspended in PBS and incubated with 100 mg/ml RNase and 40 mg/ml PI for 30 minutes at 4°C. The cell cycle distribution was evaluated on a FACSCalibur flow cytometer (BD Bioscience, San Diego, CA, USA).
Western blot analysis
Upon treatment, cells were washed and lysed on ice in RIPA buffer containing a protease inhibitor cocktail. Protein concentrations were assessed using a bicinchoninic acid kit. Subsequently, protein samples (12μg) were loaded and separated by 10% SDS-PAGE for the detection of various proteins. The proteins were then transferred to a polyvinylidene fluoride membrane, which was then incubated with diluted primary antibodies (Abcam Inc., Cambridge, UK), including rabbit antibodies against Actin (1:5000, Proteintech, 23660-1-AP), CDK1 (1:1000, Cell Signaling Technology, 9116), CDK2 (1:1000, Cell Signaling Technology, 18048), CyclinB1 (1:1000, Proteintech, 55004-1-AP), Cyclin E (1:1000, Proteintech, 11554-1-AP), p21 (1:5000, Abcam Inc., ab109520) and Gadd45a (1:1000, Abcam Inc., ab180768), overnight at 4°C. Then, the blot was washed three times with PBS. Finally, the blot was incubated with a goat anti-rabbit immunoglobulin G (IgG) secondary antibody (HAF008, 1:5000; Novus Biologicals, LLC, Littleton, CO, USA) for 1 h at 37°C. Finally, the proteins were visualized by enhanced chemiluminescence (WBKLS0500; Merck KGaA). Semi-quantification of blots was conducted using ImageJ software (version no. k 1.45; National Institutes of Health).
RNA preparation and quantitative real-time PCR
Total RNA was extracted from cells and tumour samples. Reverse transcription was conducted using a TaKaRa PrimeScript RT reagent kit (TaKaRa, Shanghai, China). The expression of candidate genes was determined using an ABI 7900HT Real-Time PCR system (Applied Biosystems, Inc., USA). The primer used in this study for Gadd45a was 5'- AGAAGAGGAGCATTCAATTCCA-3'.
RNA sequencing
Total RNA was isolated from ICC cells treated with 0µM or 25μM lenvatinib using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, CA, USA). Both cell lines were analysed in triplicate.
RNA sequencing was carried out using an Illumina HiSeq 4000 sequencing system. The fragments per kilobase of exon per million mapped reads (FPKM) for each gene were analysed after data pre-processing and collection.
Plasmid and siRNA transfection
Plasmid and siRNA transfection was performed using Lipofectamine 3000 Transfection Reagent (Thermo Fisher, MA, USA) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. An empty vector or a nonspecific siRNA was used as the negative control. The sequence of the siRNA specific for Gadd45a used in this study was as follows: siRNA1: 5'- GCCGAAAGGGUUAAUCAUA-3'. Samples were digested and used in other experiments 48 h after transfection.
ICC tumour tissues and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining
Human ICC tumour tissues were obtained from patients diagnosed with ICC by histopathological tests at the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC, n = 90). All procedures were performed after obtaining approval from the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the FUSCC, and informed consent was obtained from each patient prior to the analyses. Two independent pathologists conducted strict pathological diagnosis and postoperative follow-ups. Animal tumour tissue sections were obtained from PDX/CDX model nude mice. Tumour specimens were fixed with paraformaldehyde and then subjected to IHC staining with antibodies against Ki67, Gadd45a, CyclinB1 and Cyclin E using standard procedures. Protein expression levels were calculated by multiplying the positivity (0, <5% of total cells; 1, 5–25%; 2, 25–50%; and 3, >50%) and intensity scores (0, no colouration; 1, pale yellow; 2, yellow; and 3, brown) and were classified as follows: negative (0, −); weakly positive (1–3, +); moderately positive (4–6, ++); and strongly positive (>6, +++).
Statistical analysis
SPSS 21.0 software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was employed for data analysis. Experiments were repeated at least three times, and the measurement data are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation. Comparisons of data obeying a normal distribution or homogeneity of variance in an unpaired design between two groups were performed with an unpaired t-test, while comparisons of data for ICC tissues and para-cancerous tissues were conducted with a paired t-test. Data were compared among multiple groups by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s post hoc test. Repeated-measures ANOVA followed by the Bonferroni post hoc test was utilized to compare data at different time points. P<0.05 was considered to indicate a statistically significant difference.