Dataset Information

Unsupervised analysis of transcriptomic profiles reveals six glioma subtypes.

ABSTRACT: Gliomas are the most common type of primary brain tumors in adults and a significant cause of cancer-related mortality. Defining glioma subtypes based on objective genetic and molecular signatures may allow for a more rational, patient-specific approach to therapy in the future. Classifications based on gene expression data have been attempted in the past with varying success and with only some concordance between studies, possibly due to inherent bias that can be introduced through the use of analytic methodologies that make a priori selection of genes before classification. To overcome this potential source of bias, we have applied two unsupervised machine learning methods to genome-wide gene expression profiles of 159 gliomas, thereby establishing a robust glioma classification model relying only on the molecular data. The model predicts for two major groups of gliomas (oligodendroglioma-rich and glioblastoma-rich groups) separable into six hierarchically nested subtypes. We then identified six sets of classifiers that can be used to assign any given glioma to the corresponding subtype and validated these classifiers using both internal (189 additional independent samples) and two external data sets (341 patients). Application of the classification system to the external glioma data sets allowed us to identify previously unrecognized prognostic groups within previously published data and within The Cancer Genome Atlas glioblastoma samples and the different biological pathways associated with the different glioma subtypes offering a potential clue to the pathogenesis and possibly therapeutic targets for tumors within each subtype.

SUBMITTER: Li A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2845963 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Unsupervised analysis of transcriptomic profiles reveals six glioma subtypes.

Li Aiguo A Walling Jennifer J Ahn Susie S Kotliarov Yuri Y Su Qin Q Quezado Martha M Oberholtzer J Carl JC Park John J Zenklusen Jean C JC Fine Howard A HA

Cancer research 20090224 5

Gliomas are the most common type of primary brain tumors in adults and a significant cause of cancer-related mortality. Defining glioma subtypes based on objective genetic and molecular signatures may allow for a more rational, patient-specific approach to therapy in the future. Classifications based on gene expression data have been attempted in the past with varying success and with only some concordance between studies, possibly due to inherent bias that can be introduced through the use of a ...[more]

PMID: 19244127

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Project description:PurposeOvarian cancer is typically diagnosed at late stages, and thus, patients' prognosis is poor. Improvement in treatment outcomes depends, at least partly, on better understanding of ovarian cancer biology and finding new molecular markers and therapeutic targets.MethodsAn unsupervised method of data analysis, singular value decomposition, was applied to analyze microarray data from 101 ovarian cancer samples; then, selected genes were validated by quantitative PCR.ResultsWe found that the major factor influencing gene expression in ovarian cancer was tumor histological type. The next major source of variability was traced to a set of genes mainly associated with extracellular matrix, cell motility, adhesion, and immunological response. Hierarchical clustering based on the expression of these genes revealed two clusters of ovarian cancers with different molecular profiles and distinct overall survival (OS). Patients with higher expression of these genes had shorter OS than those with lower expression. The two clusters did not derive from high- versus low-grade serous carcinomas and were unrelated to histological (ovarian vs. fallopian) origin. Interestingly, there was considerable overlap between identified prognostic signature and a recently described invasion-associated signature related to stromal desmoplastic reaction. Several genes from this signature were validated by quantitative PCR; two of them-DSPG3 and LOX-were validated both in the initial and independent sets of samples and were significantly associated with OS and disease-free survival.ConclusionsWe distinguished two molecular subgroups of serous ovarian cancers characterized by distinct OS. Among differentially expressed genes, some may potentially be used as prognostic markers. In our opinion, unsupervised methods of microarray data analysis are more effective than supervised methods in identifying intrinsic, biologically sound sources of variability. Moreover, as histological type of the tumor is the greatest source of variability in ovarian cancer and may interfere with analyses of other features, it seems reasonable to use histologically homogeneous groups of tumors in microarray experiments.

Dataset Information

Unsupervised analysis of transcriptomic profiles reveals six glioma subtypes.

Publications

Unsupervised analysis of transcriptomic profiles reveals six glioma subtypes.

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