Dataset Information

A Patient-Derived, Pan-Cancer EMT Signature Identifies Global Molecular Alterations and Immune Target Enrichment Following Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition.

ABSTRACT: We previously demonstrated the association between epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and drug response in lung cancer using an EMT signature derived in cancer cell lines. Given the contribution of tumor microenvironments to EMT, we extended our investigation of EMT to patient tumors from 11 cancer types to develop a pan-cancer EMT signature.Using the pan-cancer EMT signature, we conducted an integrated, global analysis of genomic and proteomic profiles associated with EMT across 1,934 tumors including breast, lung, colon, ovarian, and bladder cancers. Differences in outcome and in vitro drug response corresponding to expression of the pan-cancer EMT signature were also investigated.Compared with the lung cancer EMT signature, the patient-derived, pan-cancer EMT signature encompasses a set of core EMT genes that correlate even more strongly with known EMT markers across diverse tumor types and identifies differences in drug sensitivity and global molecular alterations at the DNA, RNA, and protein levels. Among those changes associated with EMT, pathway analysis revealed a strong correlation between EMT and immune activation. Further supervised analysis demonstrated high expression of immune checkpoints and other druggable immune targets, such as PD1, PD-L1, CTLA4, OX40L, and PD-L2, in tumors with the most mesenchymal EMT scores. Elevated PD-L1 protein expression in mesenchymal tumors was confirmed by IHC in an independent lung cancer cohort.This new signature provides a novel, patient-based, histology-independent tool for the investigation of EMT and offers insights into potential novel therapeutic targets for mesenchymal tumors, independent of cancer type, including immune checkpoints.

SUBMITTER: Mak MP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4737991 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

A Patient-Derived, Pan-Cancer EMT Signature Identifies Global Molecular Alterations and Immune Target Enrichment Following Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition.

Mak Milena P MP Tong Pan P Diao Lixia L Cardnell Robert J RJ Gibbons Don L DL William William N WN Skoulidis Ferdinandos F Parra Edwin R ER Rodriguez-Canales Jaime J Wistuba Ignacio I II Heymach John V JV Weinstein John N JN Coombes Kevin R KR Wang Jing J Byers Lauren Averett LA

Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research 20150929 3

<h4>Purpose</h4>We previously demonstrated the association between epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and drug response in lung cancer using an EMT signature derived in cancer cell lines. Given the contribution of tumor microenvironments to EMT, we extended our investigation of EMT to patient tumors from 11 cancer types to develop a pan-cancer EMT signature.<h4>Experimental design</h4>Using the pan-cancer EMT signature, we conducted an integrated, global analysis of genomic and proteomic ...[more]

PMID: 26420858

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Project description:Epithelial/mesenchymal transition (EMT) is associated with loss of cell adhesion molecules, such as E-cadherin, and increased invasion, migration, and proliferation in epithelial cancers. In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), EMT is associated with greater resistance to EGFR inhibitors. However, its potential to predict response to other targeted drugs or chemotherapy has not been well characterized. The goal of this study was to develop a robust, platform-independent EMT gene expression signature and to investigate the association of EMT and drug response in NSCLC. A 76-gene EMT signature was derived in 54 DNA-fingerprinted NSCLC cell lines and tested in an independent set of cell lines and in NSCLC patients from the BATTLE clinical trial. The signature classified cell lines as epithelial or mesenchymal independent of the microarray platform and correlated strongly with E-cadherin protein levels, as measured by reverse phase protein array. Higher protein expression of Rab25 (in epithelial lines) and Axl (in mesenchymal lines), two signature genes associated with in EMT in other cancer types, was also confirmed. Mesenchymal cell lines demonstrated significantly greater resistance to EGFR inhibition, independent of EGFR mutation status and were more resistant to drugs targeting the PI3K/Akt pathway. We observed no association between EMT and response to cytotoxic chemotherapies, including cisplatin, pemetrexed, and docetaxel monotherapy and/or doublets (p-values ≥0.2). In NSCLC patients, the EMT signature predicted 8-week disease control in the erlotinib arm, but not in other treatment arms. In conclusion, we have developed a robust EMT signature that predicts resistance to EGFR inhibitors and PI3K/Akt pathway inhibitors. Gene expression profiles were measured in 131 core biopsies from patients with refractory non-small cell lung cancer in the Biomarker-integrated Approaches of Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer Elimination (BATTLE) trial. We used the BATTLE dataset to test an EMT gene expression signature trained in cell lines and independant of the microarray platform.

Dataset Information

A Patient-Derived, Pan-Cancer EMT Signature Identifies Global Molecular Alterations and Immune Target Enrichment Following Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition.

Publications

A Patient-Derived, Pan-Cancer EMT Signature Identifies Global Molecular Alterations and Immune Target Enrichment Following Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition.

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