Project description:Breast cancer cell lines have been used widely to investigate breast cancer pathobiology and new therapies. Breast cancer is a molecularly heterogeneous disease, and it is important to understand how well and which cell lines best model that diversity. In particular, microarray studies have identified molecular subtypes - luminal A, luminal B, ERBB2-associated, basal-like and normal-like - with characteristic gene-expression patterns and underlying DNA copy number alterations (CNAs). Here, we studied a collection of breast cancer cell lines to catalog molecular profiles and to assess their relation to breast cancer subtypes. Whole-genome DNA microarrays were used to profile gene expression and CNAs in a collection of 52 widely-used breast cancer cell lines, and comparisons were made to existing profiles of primary breast tumors. Hierarchical clustering was used to identify gene-expression subtypes, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to discover biological features of those subtypes. Genomic and transcriptional profiles were integrated to discover within high-amplitude CNAs candidate cancer genes with coordinately altered gene copy number and expression. Transcriptional profiling of breast cancer cell lines identified one luminal and two basal-like (A and B) subtypes. Luminal lines displayed an estrogen receptor (ER) signature and resembled luminal-A/B tumors, basal-A lines were associated with ETS-pathway and BRCA1 signatures and resembled basal-like tumors, and basal-B lines displayed mesenchymal and stem-cell characteristics. Compared to tumors, cell lines exhibited similar patterns of CNA, but an overall higher complexity of CNA (genetically simple luminal-A tumors were not represented), and only partial conservation of subtype-specific CNAs. We identified 80 high-level DNA amplifications and 13 presumptive homozygous deletions, and the resident genes with concomitantly altered gene-expression, highlighting known and novel candidate breast cancer genes. Overall, breast cancer cell lines were genetically more complex than tumors, but retained expression patterns with relevance to the luminal-basal subtype distinction. The compendium of molecular profiles defines cell lines suitable for investigations of subtype-specific pathobiology, biomarkers and therapies, and provides a resource for discovery of new breast cancer genes. cDNA microarrays from the Stanford Functional Genomics Facility were used to carry out array-based Comparative Genomic Hybridization (array CGH) analysis of 52 human breast epithelial cell lines, in comparison to normal female DNA. Three reference arrays of normal male vs. normal female DNA were also done. Map positions for arrayed cDNA clones were assigned using the NCBI genome assembly, accessed through the UCSC genome browser database (NCBI Build 36). The cghFLasso method was used to call DNA gains and losses.

Project description:Summary: Breast cancer cell lines have been used widely to investigate breast cancer pathobiology and new therapies. Breast cancer is a molecularly heterogeneous disease, and it is important to understand how well and which cell lines best model that diversity. In particular, microarray studies have identified molecular subtypes (luminal A, luminal B, ERBB2-associated, basal-like and normal-like) with characteristic gene-expression patterns and underlying DNA copy number alterations (CNAs). Here, we studied a collection of breast cancer cell lines to catalog molecular profiles and to assess their relation to breast cancer subtypes. Whole-genome DNA microarrays were used to profile gene expression and CNAs in a collection of 52 widely-used breast cancer cell lines, and comparisons were made to existing profiles of primary breast tumors. Hierarchical clustering was used to identify gene-expression subtypes, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to discover biological features of those subtypes. Genomic and transcriptional profiles were integrated to discover within high-amplitude CNAs candidate cancer genes with coordinately altered gene copy number and expression. Transcriptional profiling of breast cancer cell lines identified one luminal and two basal-like (A and B) subtypes. Luminal lines displayed an estrogen receptor (ER) signature and resembled luminal-A/B tumors, basal-A lines were associated with ETS-pathway and BRCA1 signatures and resembled basal-like tumors, and basal-B lines displayed mesenchymal and stem-cell characteristics. Compared to tumors, cell lines exhibited similar patterns of CNA, but an overall higher complexity of CNA (genetically simple luminal-A tumors were not represented), and only partial conservation of subtype-specific CNAs. We identified 80 high-level DNA amplifications and 13 presumptive homozygous deletions, and the resident genes with concomitantly altered gene-expression, highlighting known and novel candidate breast cancer genes. Overall, breast cancer cell lines were genetically more complex than tumors, but retained expression patterns with relevance to the luminal-basal subtype distinction. The compendium of molecular profiles defines cell lines suitable for investigations of subtype-specific pathobiology, biomarkers and therapies, and provides a resource for discovery of new breast cancer genes. HEEBO oligonucleotide microarrays from the Stanford Functional Genomics Facility were used to perform gene expression profiling of 50 human breast epithelial cell lines, in comparison to a universal RNA reference. Expression data were analyzed by hierarchical clustering to identify subgroups, and gene set enrichment analysis to identify subgroup-specific gene pathways.

Project description:Summary: Breast cancer cell lines have been used widely to investigate breast cancer pathobiology and new therapies. Breast cancer is a molecularly heterogeneous disease, and it is important to understand how well and which cell lines best model that diversity. In particular, microarray studies have identified molecular subtypes (luminal A, luminal B, ERBB2-associated, basal-like and normal-like) with characteristic gene-expression patterns and underlying DNA copy number alterations (CNAs). Here, we studied a collection of breast cancer cell lines to catalog molecular profiles and to assess their relation to breast cancer subtypes. Whole-genome DNA microarrays were used to profile gene expression and CNAs in a collection of 52 widely-used breast cancer cell lines, and comparisons were made to existing profiles of primary breast tumors. Hierarchical clustering was used to identify gene-expression subtypes, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to discover biological features of those subtypes. Genomic and transcriptional profiles were integrated to discover within high-amplitude CNAs candidate cancer genes with coordinately altered gene copy number and expression. Transcriptional profiling of breast cancer cell lines identified one luminal and two basal-like (A and B) subtypes. Luminal lines displayed an estrogen receptor (ER) signature and resembled luminal-A/B tumors, basal-A lines were associated with ETS-pathway and BRCA1 signatures and resembled basal-like tumors, and basal-B lines displayed mesenchymal and stem-cell characteristics. Compared to tumors, cell lines exhibited similar patterns of CNA, but an overall higher complexity of CNA (genetically simple luminal-A tumors were not represented), and only partial conservation of subtype-specific CNAs. We identified 80 high-level DNA amplifications and 13 presumptive homozygous deletions, and the resident genes with concomitantly altered gene-expression, highlighting known and novel candidate breast cancer genes. Overall, breast cancer cell lines were genetically more complex than tumors, but retained expression patterns with relevance to the luminal-basal subtype distinction. The compendium of molecular profiles defines cell lines suitable for investigations of subtype-specific pathobiology, biomarkers and therapies, and provides a resource for discovery of new breast cancer genes.

Project description:Breast cancer cell lines have been used widely to investigate breast cancer pathobiology and new therapies. Breast cancer is a molecularly heterogeneous disease, and it is important to understand how well and which cell lines best model that diversity. In particular, microarray studies have identified molecular subtypes - luminal A, luminal B, ERBB2-associated, basal-like and normal-like - with characteristic gene-expression patterns and underlying DNA copy number alterations (CNAs). Here, we studied a collection of breast cancer cell lines to catalog molecular profiles and to assess their relation to breast cancer subtypes. Whole-genome DNA microarrays were used to profile gene expression and CNAs in a collection of 52 widely-used breast cancer cell lines, and comparisons were made to existing profiles of primary breast tumors. Hierarchical clustering was used to identify gene-expression subtypes, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to discover biological features of those subtypes. Genomic and transcriptional profiles were integrated to discover within high-amplitude CNAs candidate cancer genes with coordinately altered gene copy number and expression. Transcriptional profiling of breast cancer cell lines identified one luminal and two basal-like (A and B) subtypes. Luminal lines displayed an estrogen receptor (ER) signature and resembled luminal-A/B tumors, basal-A lines were associated with ETS-pathway and BRCA1 signatures and resembled basal-like tumors, and basal-B lines displayed mesenchymal and stem-cell characteristics. Compared to tumors, cell lines exhibited similar patterns of CNA, but an overall higher complexity of CNA (genetically simple luminal-A tumors were not represented), and only partial conservation of subtype-specific CNAs. We identified 80 high-level DNA amplifications and 13 presumptive homozygous deletions, and the resident genes with concomitantly altered gene-expression, highlighting known and novel candidate breast cancer genes. Overall, breast cancer cell lines were genetically more complex than tumors, but retained expression patterns with relevance to the luminal-basal subtype distinction. The compendium of molecular profiles defines cell lines suitable for investigations of subtype-specific pathobiology, biomarkers and therapies, and provides a resource for discovery of new breast cancer genes.

Project description:Introduction: In breast cancers, the basal-like subtype has high levels of genomic instability relative to other breast cancer subtypes with many basal-like-specific regions of aberration. There is evidence that this genomic instability extends to smaller scale genomic aberrations as well, as shown by a previously described micro-event in the PTEN gene in the Basal-like SUM149 breast cancer cell line. Methods: We sought to identify if small regions of genomic change exist by using a high density, gene centric Comparative Genomic Hybridizations (CGH) array on both cell lines and primary tumors. A custom Agilent tiling array for CGH (244,000 probes, 200bp tiling resolution) was created to identify small regions of genomic change and was focused on previously identified basal-like-specific, and general cancer genes. Tumor genomic DNA from 94 patients and 2 breast cancer cell lines was labeled and hybridized to these arrays. Aberrations were called using SWITCHdna and the smallest 25% of SWITCHdna-defined genomic segments being called micro-aberrations (<64 contiguous probes, ~ <15kb). Results: Our data showed that primary tumor breast cancer genomes frequently contained areas of small-scale copy number gains and losses, termed micro-aberrations, which are undetectable using lower-density genome-wide platforms. The basal-like subtype exhibited the highest incidence of these events. These micro-aberrations sometimes altered expression of the involved gene as suggested by data from microarray and mRNA-seq studies. We confirmed the presence of the PTEN micro-amplification in SUM149 and by mRNA-seq showed that this resulted in loss of expression of all exons downstream of this event. Micro-aberrations disproportionately affected the 5’ regions of the affected genes, including the promoter region, and a high frequency of micro-aberrations was associated with poor survival outcomes. Conclusion: Using a high probe density, gene-centric aCGH microarray, we present evidence of small-scale genomic aberrations that contribute to gene inactivation, and thus, genomic instability and tumor formation through a mechanism not detected using conventional copy number analyses. reference x sample

Project description:Breast cancer is a profoundly heterogeneous disease with respect to biological and clinical behavior. Gene expression profiling has been used to dissect this complexity and stratify tumors into intrinsic gene expression subtypes associated with distinct biology, patient outcome and different genomic alterations. Additionally, breast tumors occurring in individuals with germline BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations typically fall into distinct subtypes. We applied global DNA copy number and gene expression profiling in 359 breast tumors. All tumors were classified according to intrinsic gene expression subtypes and included cases from genetically predisposed women. The Genomic Identification of Significant Targets in Cancer (GISTIC) algorithm was used to identify significant DNA copy number aberrations and genomic subgroups of breast cancer. We identified 31 genomic regions that were highly amplified in >1% of the 359 breast tumors. Several amplicons were found to co-occur, the 8p12 and 11q13.3 regions being the most frequent combination besides amplicons on the same chromosomal arm. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering with 133 significant GISTIC regions (66 and 67 with DNA copy number gain and loss, respectively) revealed six genomic subtypes, termed: 17q12, basal-complex, luminal-simple, luminal-complex, amplifier and mixed subtype. Four of them had striking similarity to intrinsic gene expression subtypes and showed association to conventional tumor biomarkers and clinical outcome. However, luminal A-classified tumors were distributed in two main genomic subtypes, luminal-simple and luminal-complex, the former group having better prognosis while the latter group included also luminal B and the majority of BRCA2-mutated tumors. The basal-complex subtype displayed extensive genomic homogeneity and harbored the majority of BRCA1-mutated tumors. The 17q12 subtype comprised mostly HER2-amplified and HER2-enriched subtype tumors and had the worst prognosis. The amplifier and mixed subtypes contained tumors from all gene expression subtypes, the former being enriched for 8p12-amplified cases while the mixed subtype included many tumors with predominantly DNA copy number losses and poor prognosis. Genomic profiling of 359 breast tumors using tiling BAC aCGH. A number of cases were hybridized as replicates or replicate as dye-swaps. Gene expression profiling of 359 breast tumors using 55K oligonucleotide microarrays.

Project description:Introduction: In breast cancers, the basal-like subtype has high levels of genomic instability relative to other breast cancer subtypes with many basal-like-specific regions of aberration. There is evidence that this genomic instability extends to smaller scale genomic aberrations as well, as shown by a previously described micro-event in the PTEN gene in the Basal-like SUM149 breast cancer cell line. Methods: We sought to identify if small regions of genomic change exist by using a high density, gene centric Comparative Genomic Hybridizations (CGH) array on both cell lines and primary tumors. A custom Agilent tiling array for CGH (244,000 probes, 200bp tiling resolution) was created to identify small regions of genomic change and was focused on previously identified basal-like-specific, and general cancer genes. Tumor genomic DNA from 94 patients and 2 breast cancer cell lines was labeled and hybridized to these arrays. Aberrations were called using SWITCHdna and the smallest 25% of SWITCHdna-defined genomic segments being called micro-aberrations (<64 contiguous probes, ~ <15kb). Results: Our data showed that primary tumor breast cancer genomes frequently contained areas of small-scale copy number gains and losses, termed micro-aberrations, which are undetectable using lower-density genome-wide platforms. The basal-like subtype exhibited the highest incidence of these events. These micro-aberrations sometimes altered expression of the involved gene as suggested by data from microarray and mRNA-seq studies. We confirmed the presence of the PTEN micro-amplification in SUM149 and by mRNA-seq showed that this resulted in loss of expression of all exons downstream of this event. Micro-aberrations disproportionately affected the 5’ regions of the affected genes, including the promoter region, and a high frequency of micro-aberrations was associated with poor survival outcomes. Conclusion: Using a high probe density, gene-centric aCGH microarray, we present evidence of small-scale genomic aberrations that contribute to gene inactivation, and thus, genomic instability and tumor formation through a mechanism not detected using conventional copy number analyses.

Project description:Epithelial ovarian cancer is morphologically and clinically heterogeneous. Transcriptional profiling has revealed molecular subtypes (referred to as M-bM-^@M-^\C-signaturesM-bM-^@M-^]) that correlate to biological as well as clinical features. We aimed to determine gene expression differences between malignant, benign and borderline serous ovarian tumors, and to investigate similarities to the intrinsic molecular subtypes of breast cancer. Global gene expression profiling was performed using Illumina's HT12 Bead Arrays and applied to 59 fresh-frozen ovarian tumors. SAM analysis revealed enrichment of cell cycel processes among the malignant tumors, in line with malignant tumors being highly proliferative. The borderline tumors were split between the malignant and benign tumor clusters, indicating that borderline tumors have both malignant and benign features. Furthermore, nearest centroid classification was performed applying previously published gene profiles for the ovarian cancer C-signatures and the intrinsic breast cancer subtypes, respectively, and showed significant correlations between the malignant serous tumors and the highly aggressive C1, C2 and C4 ovarian cancer signatures, and the basal-like breast cancer subtype. The benign and borderline serous tumors together were significantly correlated to the normal-like breast cancer subtype and the ovarian cancer C3 signature. The borderline tumors, on the other hand, correlated significantly to the Luminal A breast cancer subtype. These findings remained when analyzed in a large, independent dataset. The data in this study link the transcriptional profiles of serous ovarian cancer to the intrinsic molecular subtypes of breast cancer, in line with the shared clinical and molecular features between high-grade serous ovarian cancer and basal-like breast cancer, including an aggressive phenotype, frequent TP53 mutations and a high degree of genomic instability, and suggest that biomarkers and targeted therapies may overlap between these subsets of ovarian and breast cancers. Finally, the link between benign and borderline ovarian cancer and luminal breast cancer may indicate endocrine responsiveness in a subset of ovarian cancers. Total RNA obtained from serous ovarian adenocarcinomas, adenomas and borderline tumors. Gene expression profiling using Illumina's HT12 v4 bead arrays. Application of ovarian cancer molecular subtypes and intrinsic breast cancer subtypes using nearest centroid classification. KRAS and BRAF mutation analyses in the malignant and borderline tumors.

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Basal-like Breast Cancer DNA copy number losses identify genes involved in genomic instability, response to therapy, and patient survival

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