PI3K pathway activity in the normal airway of smokers with lung cancer, and in smokers with airway dysplasia
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ABSTRACT: Cytologically normal airway epithelial samples were collected during bronchoscopy of current and former smokers. Subjects enrolled in this study were either under suspicion of having lung cancer, had dysplasia in their airway, or were a healthy current, former or never smoker. We supplemented existing GEO series (GSE4115 and GSE7895) with the samples in this study to explore PI3K pathway activity in the these cohorts.
Project description:Cytologically normal airway epithelial samples were collected during bronchoscopy of current and former smokers. Subjects enrolled in this study were either under suspicion of having lung cancer, had dysplasia in their airway, or were a healthy current, former or never smoker. We supplemented existing GEO series (GSE4115 and GSE7895) with the samples in this study to explore PI3K pathway activity in the these cohorts. This study contains: 2 arrays from smokers with COPD (no lung cancer), 1 array from smoker without COPD (no lung cancer); 2 samples from patients with lung cancer, 2 samples from patients without lung cancer; 20 samples from 10 matched individuals with airway dysplasia before and after treatment with myo-inositol, 6 additional samples from individuals with airway dysplasia; 27 samples from mammary epithelial cells used in oncogenic pathway analysis that have either the PI3K pathway activated, the Np63 pathway activated, or are a GFP control.
Project description:MicroRNA expression was assayed from bronchial epithelial cells collected via bronchoscopy from healthy current and never smoker volunteers in order to determine the effect of cigarette smoke exposure on airway epithelial microRNA expression Keywords: Global microRNA expression profiling
Project description:mRNA expression was profiled from pooled bronchial airway epithelial cell brushings (n=3 patients/pool) obtained during bronchoscopy from healthy never (NS) and current smokers (S) and smokers with (C) and without (NC) lung cancer 4 samples were sequened, each representing a pool of 3 patients. The phenotypes of the 4 samples were as follows: healthy non-smoker, healthy smoker, smoker without lung cancer and smoker with lung cancer.
Project description:MicroRNA expression was assayed from bronchial epithelial cells collected via bronchoscopy from healthy current and never smoker volunteers in order to determine the effect of cigarette smoke exposure on airway epithelial microRNA expression Keywords: Global microRNA expression profiling Bronchial epithelial cells were collected from current and never smokers via bronchoscopy. Low molecular weight RNA ( < 200 nucleotides) was isolated and hybridized to Invitrogen NCode microRNA microarrays to determine which microRNAs detected in bronchial epithelial cells were differentially expressed in the airways of smokers.
Project description:While lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the US, we have a limited understanding of the earliest molecular events preceding the onset of disease. Prior work has demonstrated that cigarette smoke creates a molecular “field of injury” throughout the airway epithelium and that there are distinct alterations in the airway transcriptome among smokers who have lung cancer. Molecular characterization of this airway “field of injury” in current and former smokers with premalignant lesions (PMLs) could provide novel insights into the earliest molecular events associated with lung carcinogenesis and identify relatively accessible biomarkers to guide lung cancer detection and early intervention. Using mRNA sequencing (mRNA-Seq), we profiled 82 cytologically normal bronchial airway epithelial cells collected during autofluorescence bronchoscopy from high-risk smokers with and without bronchial PMLs, 75 of which were used in downstream analyses. We identified 280 genes differentially expressed in the “field of injury” between subjects with (n=50) and without (n=25) PMLs (FDR<0.002), 81 of which were up-regulated in subjects with PMLs. Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), the electron transport chain (ETC), and mitochondrial protein transport pathways were strongly enriched among these up-regulated genes (FDR<0.05). We next demonstrated that OXPHOS activation is shared between the “field” and the PMLs with increased oxygen consumption and increased staining for mitochondrial markers in biopsies of PMLs from patients as well as an animal model of lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) premalignancy. The 280-gene signature also has a significant concordant relationship to gene expression changes identified in PMLs adjacent to lung SCC tumors, in lung SCC tumors, and in the cytologically normal airway of individuals with lung cancer (FDR<0.05). These findings suggest that these expression changes are reflective of early cancer-associated changes occurring throughout the respiratory tract, and that pathways such as OXPHOS may be targets for chemoprevention. We subsequently developed an airway gene expression biomarker that predicts the presence of PMLs (AUC=0.92, n=17 samples in test set) and show that changes in the biomarker score are associated with progression and regression of PMLs in an independent cohort (AUC=0.75, n=51 samples). The biomarker results indicate that molecular alterations in the field of injury are dynamic with progression or regression of PMLs, suggesting that these changes may be leveraged to stratify high-risk smokers with progressive disease into early intervention trials and monitor disease progression or recurrence.
Project description:Samples were obtained as part of a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, phase IIb study to determine the effects of myo-inositol in smokers with bronchial dysplasia. Smokers with greater than 1 site of dysplasia identified by autofluorescence bronchoscopy-directed biopsy were randomly assigned to receive oral placebo or myo-inositol, 9 g once/day for two weeks and then twice/day for 6 months. Cytologically normal airway epithelial cells were obtained via bronchoscopy from the right or left mainstem bronchus at baseline and 6 months post-treatment with myo-inositol or placebo from 69 study participants (n=138 samples). The RNA from these samples was isolated and used to prepare libraries for mRNA sequencing. Subjects were classified by response according to their change in dysplasia rate after 6-months. Among subjects with a complete response in the myo-inositol arm, there was a significant decrease in a gene expression signature reflective of PI3K activation.
Project description:mRNA expression was assayed from bronchial epithelial cells collected via bronchoscopy from healthy current and never smoker volunteers in order to determine relationships between microRNA and mRNA expression in bronchial epithelial cell samples across current and never smokers and within the same individual. Keywords: Global mRNA expression profiling
Project description:Background: Whereas cilia damage and reduced cilia beat frequency have been implicated as causative of reduced mucociliary clearance in smokers, theoretically mucociliary clearance could also be affected by cilia length. Based on models of mucociliary clearance predicting cilia length must exceed the 6 -7 μm airway surface fluid depth to generate force in the mucus layer, we hypothesized cilia height may be decreased in airway epithelium of normal smokers compared to nonsmokers. Methodology/Principal Findings: Cilia length in normal nonsmokers and smokers was evaluated in aldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded endobronchial biopsies, and air-dried and hydrated samples brushed from human airway epithelium via fiberoptic bronchoscopy. In 28 endobronchial biopsies, healthy smoker cilia length was reduced 15% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). In 47 air-dried samples of airway epithelial cells, smoker cilia length was reduced 13% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.0001). Analysis of the length of individual, detached cilia in 17 samples, smoker cilia length was reduced 9% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). Finally, in 16 fully hydrated, unfixed samples, smoker cilia length was reduced 7% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05).
Project description:Background: Whereas cilia damage and reduced cilia beat frequency have been implicated as causative of reduced mucociliary clearance in smokers, theoretically mucociliary clearance could also be affected by cilia length. Based on models of mucociliary clearance predicting cilia length must exceed the 6 -7 μm airway surface fluid depth to generate force in the mucus layer, we hypothesized cilia height may be decreased in airway epithelium of normal smokers compared to nonsmokers. Methodology/Principal Findings: Cilia length in normal nonsmokers and smokers was evaluated in aldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded endobronchial biopsies, and air-dried and hydrated samples brushed from human airway epithelium via fiberoptic bronchoscopy. In 28 endobronchial biopsies, healthy smoker cilia length was reduced 15% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). In 47 air-dried samples of airway epithelial cells, smoker cilia length was reduced 13% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.0001). Analysis of the length of individual, detached cilia in 17 samples, smoker cilia length was reduced 9% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). Finally, in 16 fully hydrated, unfixed samples, smoker cilia length was reduced 7% compared to nonsmokers (p<0.05). Conclusions/significance: Models predict that a reduction in cilia length would reduce mucociliary clearance, suggesting that smoking-associated shorter airway epithelial cilia plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of smoking-induced lung disease.
Project description:Upregulation of Expression of the Ubiquitin Carboxyl Terminal Hydrolase L1 Gene in Human Airway Epithelium of Cigarette Smokers The microarray data deposited here is from 39 HG-U133 Plus 2.0 GeneChips, from 12 normal non-smokers, 12 phenotypic normal smokers, 9 Early COPD and 6 COPD individuals, all small airways, all small airway. A subset of these samples have been already submitted under GEO Accession Number GSE 4498. These are: 12 non-smokers samples (GSM101095-GSM101106) and 10 smoker samples (GSM101107-GSM101116). These 22 samples that are also in GSE4498 were described in Harvey, B-G; Heguy, A.; Leopold, P.L.; Carolan, B.; Ferris, B. and Crystal R.G. Modification of Gene Expression of the Small Airway Epithelium in Response to Cigarette Smoking. J. Mol. Med (in press). These data are part of a study aimed at understanding how cigarette smoking modifies neuroendocrine cells, in which microarray analysis with TaqMan confirmation was used to assess airway epithelial samples obtained by fiberoptic bronchoscopy from 81 individuals (normal nonsmokers, normal smokers, smokers with early COPD and smokers with established COPD). Of 11 genes considered to be neuroendocrine cell-specific, only ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1(UCHL1), a member of the ubiquitin proteasome pathway, was consistently upregulated in smokers compared to nonsmokers. Up-regulation of UCHL1 at the protein level was observed with immunohistochemistry of bronchial biopsies of smokers compared to nonsmokers. Interestingly, however, while UCHL1 expression was present only in neuroendocrine cells of the airway epithelium in nonsmokers, UCHL1 expression was also expressed in ciliated epithelial cells in smokers, an intriguing observation in light of recent observations that ciliated cells can are capable of transdifferentiating to other airway epithelium. In the context that UCHL1 is involved in the degradation of unwanted, misfolded or damaged proteins within the cell and is overexpressed in >50% of lung cancers, its overexpression in chronic smokers may represent an early event in the complex transformation from normal epithelium to overt malignancy. Keywords: non-smokers vs phenotypic normal smokers, smokers with early COPD, and smokers with COPD