Dataset Information

BECN1 and BRCA1 Deficiency Sensitizes Ovarian Cancer to Platinum Therapy and Confers Better Prognosis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

BRCA1, BECN1 and TP53 are three tumor suppressor genes located on chromosome 17 and frequently found deleted, silenced, or mutated in many cancers. These genes are involved in autophagy, apoptosis, and drug resistance in ovarian cancer. Haploinsufficiency or loss-of-function of either TP53, BRCA1 or BECN1 correlates with enhanced predisposition to cancer development and progression, and chemoresistance. Expectedly, the combined altered expression of these three tumor suppressor genes worsens the prognosis of ovarian cancer patients. However, whether such a genotypic pattern indeed affects the chemo-responsiveness to standard chemotherapy thus worsening patients' survival has not been validated in a large cohort of ovarian cancer patients.

Aim

We interrogated datasets from the TCGA database to analyze how the expression of these three tumor suppressor genes impacts on the clinical response to platinum-based chemotherapy thus affecting the survival of ovarian cancer patients.

Results and conclusion

Compared to EOC with homozygous expression of BECN1 and BRCA1, tumors expressing low mRNA expression of these two tumor suppressor genes (either because of shallow (monoallelic) co-deletion or of promoter hypermethylation), showed higher sensitivity to platinum-based therapies and were associated with a better prognosis of ovarian cancer-bearing patients. This outcome was independent of TP53 status, though it was statistically more significant in the cohort of patients with mutated TP53. Thus, sensitivity to platinum therapy (and probably to other chemotherapeutics) correlates with low expression of a combination of critical tumor suppressor genes. Our study highlights the importance of thoroughly assessing the genetic lesions of the most frequently mutated genes to stratify the patients in view of a personalized therapy. More importantly, the present findings suggest that targeting the function of both BECN1 and BRCA1 could be a strategy to restore chemosensitivity in refractory tumors.

SUBMITTER: Salwa A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7922320 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

BECN1 and BRCA1 Deficiency Sensitizes Ovarian Cancer to Platinum Therapy and Confers Better Prognosis.

Salwa Amreen A Ferraresi Alessandra A Chinthakindi Menaka M Vallino Letizia L Vidoni Chiara C Dhanasekaran Danny N DN Isidoro Ciro C

Biomedicines 20210218 2

<h4>Background</h4>BRCA1, BECN1 and TP53 are three tumor suppressor genes located on chromosome 17 and frequently found deleted, silenced, or mutated in many cancers. These genes are involved in autophagy, apoptosis, and drug resistance in ovarian cancer. Haploinsufficiency or loss-of-function of either TP53, BRCA1 or BECN1 correlates with enhanced predisposition to cancer development and progression, and chemoresistance. Expectedly, the combined altered expres ...[more]

PMID: 33670664

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Project description:Distinctive genotypic and phenotypic features of ovarian cancer via epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) have been correlated with drug resistance and disease recurrence. We investigated whether therapeutic reversal of EMT could re-sensitize ovarian cancer cells (OCCs) to existing chemotherapy. We report that epimorphin, a morphogenic protein, has pivotal control over mesenchymal versus epithelial cell lineage decision of the putative OCCs. Exposure to epimorphin induced morphological changes reminiscent of mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET), but in a dose dependent manner, i.e., at 10 µg/mL of epimorphin cells obtain a more mesenchymal-like morphology while at 20 µg/mL of epimorphin cells display an epithelial morphology. The latter changes were accompanied by suppression of mesenchymal markers, such as vimentin (?8-fold?, p<0.02), Twist1 (?7-fold?, p<0.03), dystroglycan (?4-fold?, p<0.01) and palladin (?3-fold?, p<0.01). Conversely, significant elevations of KLF4 (?28-fold?, p<0.002), ?-catenin (?6-fold?, p<0.004), EpCAM (?6-fold?, p<0.0002) and occludin (?15-fold?, p<0.004) mRNAs as part of the commitment to the epithelial cell lineage were detected in response to 20 µg/mL of exogenous epimorphin. Changes in occludin mRNA levels were accompanied by a parallel, albeit weaker expression at the protein level (?5-fold?, p<0.001). Likewise, acquisition of epithelial-like properties, including mucin1, CK19, and ?-catenin gene expression, was also obtained following epimorphin treatment. Further, MMP3 production was found to be reduced whereas laminin secretion was strongly amplified upon epimorphin-induced MET. These results suggest there is a dosage window for actions of epimorphin on cellular differentiation, wherein it can either suppress or enhance epithelial differentiation of OCCs. Importantly, induction of epithelial-like phenotypes by epimorphin led to an enhanced sensitivity to carboplatin. Overall, we demonstrate that epimorphin can revert OCCs away from their mesenchymal phenotype and toward an epithelial phenotype, thereby enhancing their sensitivity to a front-line chemotherapeutic agent.

Dataset Information

BECN1 and BRCA1 Deficiency Sensitizes Ovarian Cancer to Platinum Therapy and Confers Better Prognosis.

Background

Aim

Results and conclusion

Publications

<i>BECN1</i> and <i>BRCA1</i> Deficiency Sensitizes Ovarian Cancer to Platinum Therapy and Confers Better Prognosis.

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