Project description:aCGH of human melanoma cell lines comparing parental (drug sensitve) vs isogenic drug resistant-derived subline Two condition experiment: two BRAF-V600E mutant cell lines (drug sensitive - parental baseline) vs two derived sublines after chronic exposure to the MEK inhibitor trametinib (drug resistant) are compared
Project description:V600E being the most common mutation in BRAF, leads to constitutive activation of the MAPK signaling pathway. The majority of V600E BRAF positive melanoma patients treated with the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib showed initial good clinical responses but relapsed due to acquired resistance to the drug. The aim of the present study was to identify possible biomarkers associated with the emergence of drug resistant melanoma cells. To this end we analyzed the differential gene expression of vemurafenib-sensitive and vemurafenib resistant brain and lung metastasizing melanoma cells. The major finding of this study is that the in vitro induction of vemurafenib resistance in melanoma cells is associated with an increased malignancy phenotype of these cells. Resistant cells expressed higher levels of genes coding for cancer stem cell markers (JARID1B, CD271 and Fibronectin) as well as genes involved in drug resistance (ABCG2), cell invasion and promotion of metastasis (MMP-1 and MMP-2). We also showed that drug-resistant melanoma cells adhere better to and transmigrate more efficiently through lung endothelial cells than drug-sensitive cells. The former cells also alter their microenvironment in a different manner from that of drug-sensitive cells. Biomarkers and molecular mechanisms associated with drug resistance may serve as targets for therapy of drug-resistant cancer.
Project description:Melanoma cell lines were assessed for differences in gene expression patterns between the lines sensitive and resistant to BRAF and MEK inhibitor drugs. 22 BRAF-mutant melanoma cell lines were assessed for response to BRAF and MEK inhibitors in a 3 day drug treatment dose response assay. Based on the IC50, 18 lines were found to be responsive to BRAF or MEK inhibition and 4 were resistant. Normalised gene expression data generated from experimental replicate affymetrix arrays was assessed to identify differential patterns of inherent gene expression between the cell lines grouped as drug-responsive or drug-resistant. This were used to idenify specific candidate genes and pathways associated with inherent BRAF/MEK inhibitor drug resistance in melanoma cells.
Project description:BRAF targeted drug vemurafenib have shown very good clinical benefit in melanoma patient containing BRAF V600E mutation. However, resistance always occurs in patient. Early stage of the resistance development require the tumor cell adapted to the targeted drug. We are trying to study the kinetic of melanoma cell adaptation towards vemurafenib. 10 melanoma cell lines with BRAF mutation are treated with targeted therapy vemurafenib. RNA-seq samples are collected after drug treatment for different time (day3 and day21) to compare with DMSO-treated control samples for each cell line. Except innate resistant cell line M381, all other cell lines shows inhibition of proliferation. However, a small cluster of cell lines (M397, M229 and M263) shows some other unique transcriptomic change. For cell line M397, M229 and M263, we also collected the RNA-seq data for long-term (73day/90day) drug treatment condition where the cells developed resistance to vemurafenib treatment. Dedifferentiation is enriched in these unique transcriptomic change within these 3 cell lines. Similar cell state dedifferentiation phenomenon is also reported to cause resistance towards immunotherpay where the resistant de-differentiated melanoma cells are induced by TNF which is secreted by tumor-infiltrating T cells. We also treat our cultured melanoma cells with TNF and collected the treated sample for RNA-seq experiment.
Project description:Combined therapy with anti-BRAF plus anti-MEK is currently used as first-line treatment of patients with metastatic melanomas harboring the somatic BRAF V600E mutation. However, the main issue with targeted therapy is the acquisition of tumor cell resistance. In 70% of resistant melanoma cells, the resistant process consists in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). This process called phenotype switching makes melanoma cells more invasive. Its signature is characterized by MITF low, AXL high, and actin cytoskeleton reorganization through RhoA activation. In parallel of this phenotype switching phase, the resistant cells exhibit an anarchic cell proliferation due to hyper-activation of the MAP kinase pathway. We show that a majority of human melanoma overexpress discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2) after treatment. The same result was found in resistant cell lines presenting phenotype switching compared to the corresponding sensitive cell lines. We demonstrate that DDR2 inhibition induces a decrease in AXL expression and reduces stress fiber formation in resistant melanoma cell lines. In this phenotype switching context, we report that DDR2 control cell and tumor proliferation through the MAP kinase pathway in resistant cells in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, inhibition of DDR2 could be a new and promising strategy for countering this resistance mechanism.
Project description:Whole-exome sequencing was performed on DNA samples extracted from seven melanoma cell lines resistant to either vemurafenib (BRAF V600E inhibitor) or trametinib (MEK1/2 inhibitor). The aim of the experiment was to search for genetic alterations responsible for phenotypic diversity of melanoma cell lines reported at the level of cell morphology, activity of signaling pathways essential for melanoma development and progression, and resistance to targeted therapeutics.
Project description:Whole-exome sequencing was performed on DNA samples extracted from seven melanoma cell lines resistant to either vemurafenib (BRAF V600E inhibitor) or trametinib (MEK1/2 inhibitor). The aim of the experiment was to search for genetic alterations responsible for phenotypic diversity of melanoma cell lines reported at the level of cell morphology, activity of signaling pathways essential for melanoma development and progression, and resistance to targeted therapeutics.
Project description:Whole-exome sequencing was performed on DNA sample extracted from one melanoma cell line resistant to vemurafenib (BRAF V600E inhibitor). The aim of the experiment was to search for genetic alterations responsible for phenotypic diversity of melanoma cell lines reported at the level of cell morphology, activity of signaling pathways essential for melanoma development and progression, and resistance to targeted therapeutics.
Project description:BRAF(V600E) mutant melanomas treated with inhibitors of the BRAF and MEK kinases almost invariably develop resistance, which is frequently caused by reactivation of the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathway. To identify novel treatment options for such patients, we searched for acquired vulnerabilities of MAPK inhibitor-resistant melanomas. We find that resistance to BRAF+MEK inhibitors is associated with increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Subsequent treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) vorinostat represses SLC7A11 that leads to a lethal increase in the already elevated levels of ROS in drug-resistant cells, thereby causing selective apoptotic death of only the drug resistant tumor cells. Consistently, treatment of BRAF inhibitor-resistant melanoma with HDACi in mice results in a dramatic tumor regression. In a study in patients with advanced BRAF+MEK inhibitor resistant melanoma, we find that HDACi can selectively ablate drug-resistant tumor cells, providing clinical proof of concept for the novel therapy identified here.
Project description:Melanoma is an aggressive skin cancer with increasing incidence worldwide. The development of BRAF kinase inhibitors as targeted treatments for patients with BRAF-mutant tumours contributed profoundly to an improved overall survival of patients with metastatic melanoma. Despite these promising results, the emergence of rapid resistance to targeted therapy remains a serious clinical issue. To investigate the impact of BRAF inhibitors on miRNomes and transcriptomes, we used in vitro melanoma models consisting of BRAF inhibitor-sensitive and -resistant cell lines generated in our laboratory. miRNA and gene expression were assessed by microarray analyses of the BRAF inhibitor sensitive melanoma cells A375, IGR37, and 501Mel, as well as on the vemurafenib (PLX4032) - resistant cells A375_XP, IGR37_XP, 501Mel_XP, and dabrafenib (GSK2118436) - resistant cells A375_GP, IGR37_GP, 501Mel_GP. For each cell line the microarray experiment was performed in duplicates.