Project description:Imaging technologies only detect progression after it has occurred, which may be well after tumor growth or disease progression has begun. In this work, we determined whether circulating tumor cell (CTC) quantification, PD-L1 expression on CTCs, or CTC gene expression can be used as a blood-based biomarker to predict patient outcomes in stage III NSCLC. The primary endpoint was disease progression, either locoregional, distant, or death. We used immunoaffinity graphene oxide (GO) chip to isolated CTCs from stage III NSCLC patients, and extracted bulk RNA materials from isolated CTC samples and conducted microarray gene expression profiling.
Project description:<p><strong>OBJECTIVES:</strong> High activity of Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase1 (IDO1) in lung cancer patients converts tryptophan (Trp), which is the essential amino acid for T cell metabolism, to kynurenine (Kyn) and consequently suppresses anti-tumor immune responses. We aimed to track the dynamics of IDO1 activity in stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who received first-line radiotherapy (RT) and explore its association with survival outcomes.</p><p><strong>MATERIALS AND METHODS:</strong> Systemic IDO1 activity was calculated by Kyn:Trp ratio. Plasma levels of Kyn and Trp in 113 thoracic RT-received stage III NSCLC patients were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography before the initiation of RT. Dynamic change of IDO1 activity was followed in 24 patients by measuring Kyn:Trp ratio before, during and after RT administration.</p><p><strong>RESULTS:</strong> In 24 patients with dynamic tracking of plasma IDO1 activity, there was no significant alterations observed among the 3 time points (Friedman test, p=0.13). The changing pattern of Kyn:Trp ratio was divided into 4 groups: decreased consistently during RT, first increased then decreased, increased consistently, first decreased then increased. Patients whose Kyn:Trp ratio kept decreasing or first increased then decreased were defined as good-change group. The good-change status was identified as an independent positive factor for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) (p=0.04; p=0.01) in multivariate analysis among evaluated parameters. Patients with good change showed significantly superior local control than bad-change group (p=0.01, HR=0.22). In 113 stage III NSCLC patients with pre-radiation Kyn:Trp ratio, a trend that high baseline IDO1 activity was associated with short OS was observed (p=0.079).</p><p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>Favorable change of IDO1 activity during RT was associated with superior OS, PFS and local control. IDO1 activity is a promising biomarker for prognosis in stage III NSCLC patients.</p>
Project description:BACKGROUND: We characterized the whole transcriptome of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in Stage II-III breast cancer to evaluate correlations with primary tumor biology. METHODS: CTCs were isolated from peripheral blood (PB) via immunomagnetic enrichment followed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (IE-FACS). CTCs, PB and fresh tumors were profiled with RNA Seq. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumors were subjected to RNA Seq and NanoString PAM50 assays with Risk of Recurrence (ROR) scores. RESULTS: CTCs were detected in 29/33 (88%) of patients. We selected 21 cases to attempt RNA Seq (median number of CTCs=9). 16 CTC samples yielded results that passed quality control metrics. These samples had a median of 4,311,255 uniquely mapped reads, less than PB or tumors. Intrinsic subtype predicted by comparing estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and HER2 versus PAM50 for FFPE tumors was 85% concordant. However, CTC RNA Seq subtype assessed by the PAM50 classification genes was highly discordant both with the subtype predicted by ER/PR/HER2 as well as by tumor PAM50. Two patients died of metastatic disease - both had high ROR scores and high CTC counts. We identified significant genes, canonical pathways, upstream regulators and molecular interaction networks comparing CTCs by various clinical factors. We identified a 75-gene signature with highest expression in CTCs and tumors taken together that was prognostic in The Cancer Genome Atlas and METABRIC datasets. CONCLUSION: It is feasible to use RNA Seq of CTCs in non-metastatic patients to discover novel tumor biology characteristics.
Project description:Defining molecular features that can predict the response to chemotherapy for stage II-III colorectal cancer (CRC) patients remains challenging in cancer research. Most available clinical samples are Formalin-Fixed and Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE). Affymetrix GeneChip® Human Transcriptome Array 2.0 (HTA) is one platform marketed for high-throughput gene expression profiling for FFPE tissue samples. In this study, we analyzed the whole transcriptom gene expression of 156 CRC patient samples measured by this platform to identify biomarkers predicting the response to chemotherapy for stage II-III CRC patients.
Project description:Circulating Tumor DNA as a Biomarker in Patients with Stage III and IV Wilms Tumor: Analysis from a Children's Oncology Group Trial, AREN0533
Project description:Circulating Tumor DNA as a Biomarker in Patients with Stage III and IV Wilms Tumor: Analysis from a Children's Oncology Group Trial, AREN0533
Project description:We have isolated Circulating Tumor Cells from four Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients at diagnosis and relapse using a two-step method developed in the laboratory. Subsequently, Whole-Exome sequencing was performed on these samples as well as on the corresponding biopsies.