Project description:Quantitative analysis of cellular responses to signaling inhibitors. Total RNA obtained from MCF7 human breast cancer cell lines treated with 1uM gefitinib, 500nM U0126 or 10nM wortmannin for 6hr.
Project description:Quantitative analysis of cellular responses to drugs is of major interest in pharmaceutical research. Microarray technologies have been widely used for monitoring genome-wide expression changes. However, this approach has several limitations in terms of coverage of targeted RNAs, sensitivity, and quantitativeness, which are crucial for accurate monitoring of cellular responses. In this article, we report an application of genome-wide and quantitative profiling of cellular responses to drugs. We monitored promoter activities in MCF-7 cells by Cap Analysis of Gene Expression using a single-molecule sequencer. We identified a distinct set of promoters affected even by subtle inhibition of the Ras-ERK and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-Akt signal-transduction pathways. Furthermore, we succeeded in explaining the majority of promoter responses to inhibition of the upstream epidermal growth factor receptor kinase quantitatively based on the promoter profiles upon inhibition of the two individual downstream signaling pathways. Our results demonstrate unexplored utility of highly quantitative promoter activity profiling in drug research.CPT: Pharmacometrics & Systems Pharmacology (2013) 2, e77; doi:10.1038/psp.2013.53; published online 25 September 2013.
Project description:Quantitative analysis of cellular responses to signaling inhibitors. Total RNA obtained from MCF7 human breast cancer cell lines treated with 1uM gefitinib, 500nM U0126 or 10nM wortmannin for 6hr.
Project description:Environmental stimuli commonly act via changes in gene regulation. Human-genome-scale assays to measure such responses are indirect or require knowledge of the transcription factors (TFs) involved. Here, we present the first use of genome-wide high-throughput reporter assays to measure environmentally-responsive regulatory element activity. We focused on responses to glucocorticoids (GCs), an important class of pharmaceuticals and a standard model for gene regulation. Our assay library contains >108 unique fragments and covers the human genome at >50x. Changes in regulatory element activity correlated with changes in gene expression, histone modifications and transcription factor occupancy. We also detected allele-specific environmental responses. Notably, the assays did not require knowledge of the TFs that mediate GC responses, thus can be used to agnostically quantify genomic responses to environmental signals for which the underlying mechanism remains unknown.
Project description:Owing to safety concerns or insufficient potential for efficacy, only 0.01% to 0.02% of new drug candidates are approved for marketing. Drugs already on the market may be withdrawn or restricted to certain uses due to adverse effects (AEs) discovered after market introduction. Comprehensively investigating the on-/off-target effects of drugs can help expose AEs during the drug development process. In this study, we developed an integrative framework for systematic identification of on-/off-target pathways and elucidation of the underlying mechanisms, by combining expression profiling after drug treatment with gene perturbation of the primary drug target. Expression profiles from statin-treated cells and HMG-CoA reductase knockdowns were analyzed using the framework, allowing for identification of not only reported adverse effects but also novel candidates of off-target effects from statin treatment. Our findings may provide new insights for finding new usages or potential side effects of drug treatment.
Project description:We generated 3D tumour organoids from colorectal cancer patients and tested their responses to inhibitors of Tankyrase (TNKSi) which are known to modulate Wnt signalling. Complex 3D models provide a challenging platform for the quantitative analysis of drug responses of therapies that have differential effects on tumour cell subpopulations. We demonstrated that morphometric analyses can capture subtle alterations in organoid responses to Wnt inhibitors that are consistent with activity against a cancer stem cell subpopulation, highlighting the value of phenotypic readouts as a quantitative method to assess drug-induced effects in a relevant preclinical model.
Project description:Analysis of cancer cell line (CCL) genomes, proteomes and phenotypic drug responses are emerging approaches to uncover molecular mechanisms of drug action. We extended this paradigm to measuring proteome activity landscapes by integrating quantitative data for 10,000 proteins and 55,000 phosphorylation sites from 125 CCLs with large drug sensitivity data collections. To engage the scientific community in mining the thousands of novel functional associations generated by this work, we provide an interactive web resource termed ATLANTIC (http://atlantic.proteomics.wzw.tum.de). For instance, we found that Progesterone Receptor (PGR) phosphorylation is a stronger drug response predictor than PGR expression alone in hormone receptor positive breast cancer patients. We also demonstrate that Adenylate kinase isoenzyme 1 (AK1) inactivates chemotherapeutic drugs such as Cytarabine. Consequently, high AK1 levels correlated with poor survival of Cytarabine-treated acute myelogenous leukemia patients qualifying AK1 as a treatment stratification and drug response marker and possibly as a drug target.