Project description:Changes in chromatin organization are associated with resistance to anti-cancer drugs, such as platinum-based chemotherapy used as the primary treatment of ovarian cancer. We have examined the genomic distribution of chromatin accessibility changes, and relationship to gene expression changes, occurring during acquisition of resistance in vivo of high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) patients and whether this associates with genomic DNA damage distribution. Using matched chemo-sensitive and chemo-resistant ovarian cell lines isolated from HGSOC patients before and following acquisition of clinical resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy, we have examined the relationship between chromatin accessibility by ATAC-seq, platinum-DNA adduct distribution by Pt-Exo-seq and gene expression by RNA-seq. We have correlated chromatin changes between the lines at gene promoters, CpG islands, enhancer sequences and other genomic regions with changes in gene expression and platinum-DNA adduct distribution. We observe chromatin conformation differences following acquisition of platinum-resistance, with the HGSOC resistant lines clustering together, separately from their respective sensitive counterparts. Resistant lines show altered chromatin accessibility at intergenic regions, but less so at gene promoters. Super-enhancers, as defined by clusters of cis-regulatory elements, at these intergenic regions show chromatin changes that are associated with altered expression of linked genes, with enrichment for genes involved in the Fanconi anemia/BRCA DNA damage response pathway. Genome-wide distribution of platinum adducts associates with the chromatin changes and distinguish sensitive from resistant lines. Regions incurring fewer platinum-adducts showed a significant reduction in accessibility the resistant HGSOC cell line PEO4 compared to the sensitive PEO1 counterpart. Surprisingly, regions showing increased damage in PEO4 had an even greater reduction in accessibility. In the resistant line, we observe fewer adducts around gene promoters and more adducts at intergenic regions. In cell lines derived from patients following acquisition of clinical resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy, chromatin changes at super-enhancers correlate with gene expression changes in DNA repair pathways known to influence platinum sensitivity. Although cisplatin is a relatively non-specific DNA damaging agent, there are consistent differences in distribution of adducts between the matched sensitive and resistant ovarian cell lines, which is independent of the overall level of adducts formed.

Project description:Understanding the mechanism of resistance in platinum-based regimens for the treatment of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) is important for identifying new therapeutic targets to improve the clinical outcome of ovarian cancer patients. Mass spectrometry-based proteomic strategy was applied to spheroidal cisplatin sensitive and resistant HGSOC generated cell lines in the absence and presence of cisplatin drug. A complete expressed HGSOC proteome and phosphoproteome was characterized in cisplatin sensitive and resistant HGSOC cell lines providing insight into the mechanism of resistance development. PCA analysis showed that phosphorylation of a few proteins provides better classification than the whole proteome of the cellular subtypes. Specifically, a distinctive phosphoproteomic signature between cisplatin sensitive and resistant cell lines in the absence of drug was observed. This same phosphoproteomic signature was observed in our cisplatin sensitive cell line in the absence and presence of drug, indicating a vital role for phosphorylation of proteins in resistance development to cisplatin. The most phosphorylated protein was sequestosome (p62/SQSTM1). Differential expressions of apoptosis by the prognostic factor ratio of Bcl-2/Bax and autophagy, known to be regulated by p62/SQSTM1, was validated in the proteome data and by western blot analysis. A significant increase in apoptosis in the presence of cisplatin was observed in only the sensitive cell line while autophagy revealed increased expression in the resistant relative to sensitive cell line. Furthermore, site specific phosphorylation on 20 modified residues of sequestosome was characterized. Elevated expression of phosphorylation of sequestosome in resistant HGSOC cell lines was validated with western blot analysis. Here, we propose phosphorylation of sequestosome to be a marker and key in cisplatin resistance development in HGOSC ovarian cancers by shuttling ubiquitinated proteins to the autophagy pathway and influencing down-regulation of apoptosis.

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Genomic analysis of chromatin conformation and DNA damage distribution in ovarian cancer cell lines derived following acquired resistance to chemotherapy [Exo-Seq]

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