Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
The circadian clock governs a large variety of fundamentally important physiological processes in all three domains of life. Consequently, asynchrony in timekeeping mechanisms could give rise to cellular dysfunction underpinning many disease pathologies including human neoplasms. Yet, detailed pan-cancer evidence supporting this notion has been limited.Methods
In an integrated approach uniting genomic, transcriptomic and clinical data of 21 cancer types (n?=?18,484), we interrogated copy number and transcript profiles of 32 circadian clock genes to identify putative loss-of-function (ClockLoss) and gain-of-function (ClockGain) players. Kaplan-Meier, Cox regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses were employed to evaluate the prognostic significance of both gene sets.Results
ClockLoss and ClockGain were associated with tumour-suppressing and tumour-promoting roles respectively. Downregulation of ClockLoss genes resulted in significantly higher mortality rates in five cancer cohorts (n?=?2914): bladder (P?=?0.027), glioma (P?Gain genes had poorer survival outcomes (n?=?2784): glioma (P?Loss genes were negatively correlated with hypoxia inducible factor-1A targets in glioma patients, providing a novel framework for investigating the hypoxia-clock signalling axis.Conclusions
Loss of timekeeping fidelity promotes tumour progression and influences clinical outcomes. ClockLoss and ClockGain may offer novel druggable targets for improving patient prognosis. Both gene sets can be used for patient stratification in adjuvant chronotherapy treatment. Emerging interactions between the circadian clock and hypoxia may be harnessed to achieve therapeutic advantage using hypoxia-modifying compounds in combination with first-line treatments.
SUBMITTER: Chang WH
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6480786 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Journal of translational medicine 20190423 1
<h4>Background</h4>The circadian clock governs a large variety of fundamentally important physiological processes in all three domains of life. Consequently, asynchrony in timekeeping mechanisms could give rise to cellular dysfunction underpinning many disease pathologies including human neoplasms. Yet, detailed pan-cancer evidence supporting this notion has been limited.<h4>Methods</h4>In an integrated approach uniting genomic, transcriptomic and clinical data of 21 cancer types (n = 18,484), w ...[more]