Project description:cMET is a well known oncogene whose activation is widely implicated in tumorigenesis and metastasis. To investigate the effects of acute activation of cMET signaling in the mammary epithelial cells, we stimulated MCF10A cells with increasing doses of HGF and analyzed the transcriptional alteration between PBS and HGF treated cells.
Project description:Neurofibromatosis type II (NF2) is a disease that needs new solutions. Vestibular schwannoma (VS) growth cause progressive hearing loss, and the standard treatment including surgery and radiotherapy, can further damage the nerve. There is an urgent need to identify an adjunct therapy that, by enhancing the efficacy of radiation, can help lower the radiation dose and preserve hearing. The mechanisms underlying deafness in NF2 are still unclear. One of the major limitations in studying tumor-induced hearing loss is the lack of mouse models that allows hearing test. Here we developed a cerebellopontine angle (CPA) schwannomas model that faithfully recapitulates the tumor-induced hearing loss. Using this model we discovered that cMET blockade by crizotinib (CRZ) enhanced schwannoma radiosensitivity by enhancing DNA damage, and CRZ treatment combined with low-dose radiation was as effective as high-dose radiation. CRZ treatment had no adverse effect on hearing; however, it did not affect tumor-induced hearing loss, presumably because cMET blockade did not change tumor HGF levels. cMET gene knockdown study independently confirmed the role of cMET pathway in mediating the effect of CRZ. Furthermore, we evaluated the translational potential of cMET blockade in human schwannomas. We found that human NF2-associated and sporadic VSs showed significantly elevated HGF expression and cMET activation compared to normal nerves, which correlated with tumor growth and cyst formation. Using organoid brain slice culture, cMET blockade inhibited the growth of patient-derived schwannomas. Our findings provide the rationale and necessary data for the clinical translation of combined cMET blockade with radiation therapy in NF2 patients. We found that human NF2-associated and sporadic VSs showed significantly elevated HGF expression and cMET activation compared to normal nerves, which correlated with tumor growth and cyst formation.
Project description:DU145 prostate cancer cells were treated with 25 ng/ml hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) or vehicle for 2, 8, or 24 hours. HGF stimulates the cMET protein, a tyrosine kinase transmembrane protein. The aim of this study is to determine the role of the HGF/cMET pathway in immature cells of established prostate cancer. HGF stimulation of DU145 prostate cancer cell line led to cell migration in culture, formation of sprouts in Matrigel and inhibition of growth. These biological effects went together with induction of a stem-like phenotype as defined by up-regulation of CD49b, CD49f, CD44 and SOX9, and down-regulation of CD24 on gene-expression arrays and quantitative PCR. The shift towards a stem-like phenotype was reflected by protein modifications on FACS, Western blot, and enhanced rapid adhesion to collagen I. Small molecules SU11274 and PHA665752 were able to inhibit both morphologic and molecular HGF effects. DU145 cells were stimulated for 2, 8 and 24 hours with 25 ng/ml HGF or vehicle. For each time point two arrays analyses were performed. One for cells stimulated with a vehicle and one for the HGF stimulated cells. Six arrays were performed in total in this study.
Project description:DU145 prostate cancer cells were treated with 25 ng/ml hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) or vehicle for 2, 8, or 24 hours. HGF stimulates the cMET protein, a tyrosine kinase transmembrane protein. The aim of this study is to determine the role of the HGF/cMET pathway in immature cells of established prostate cancer. HGF stimulation of DU145 prostate cancer cell line led to cell migration in culture, formation of sprouts in Matrigel and inhibition of growth. These biological effects went together with induction of a stem-like phenotype as defined by up-regulation of CD49b, CD49f, CD44 and SOX9, and down-regulation of CD24 on gene-expression arrays and quantitative PCR. The shift towards a stem-like phenotype was reflected by protein modifications on FACS, Western blot, and enhanced rapid adhesion to collagen I. Small molecules SU11274 and PHA665752 were able to inhibit both morphologic and molecular HGF effects.
Project description:Gene expression in Madin Darby canine kidney cells grown for 7 days to confluence on Transwell filters and exposed to HGF +/- inhibitors of the MAPK pathway (MAPK is one of the pathways activated when HGF binds to the CMET receptor tyrosine kinase). We used microarrays to detail the program of gene expression in MDCK cells and identified genes specifically regulated by HGF via the MAPK pathway. Keywords: signaling pathway analysis
Project description:cMET is a well known oncogene whose activation is widely implicated in tumorigenesis and metastasis. To investigate the effects of acute inhibitoin of cMET signaling in the mammary tumors, we inhibited cMET activation in xenograft mammary tumors that were derived from a MET amplified mouse mammary tumor cell line and analyzed the transcriptional alteration between vehicle and MET inhibitor treated tumors.
Project description:Gene expression in Madin Darby canine kidney cells grown for 7 days to confluence on Transwell filters and exposed to HGF +/- inhibitors of the MAPK pathway (MAPK is one of the pathways activated when HGF binds to the CMET receptor tyrosine kinase). We used microarrays to detail the program of gene expression in MDCK cells and identified genes specifically regulated by HGF via the MAPK pathway. Keywords: signaling pathway analysis MDCK cells were selected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We sought to obtain expression of genes regulated by the MAPK pathway following HGF induction.
Project description:Adult myogenic progenitor cells (activated satellite cells) express both HGF and its receptor cMet. Following muscle injury, autocrine HGF-Met stimulation plays a key role in promoting activation and early division of satellite cells. Magic-F1 (Met-Activating Genetically Improved Chimeric Factor-1) is an HGF-derived, engineered protein that contains two Met-binding domains that promotes muscle hypertrophy, protecting myogenic precursors against apoptosis, increasing their fusion ability and enhancing muscle differentiation. Hemizygous and homozygous Magic-F1 transgenic mice displayed constitutive muscle hypertrophy. We described here microarray analysis on Magic-F1 myogenic progenitor cells showing an altered gene signatures involving muscle hypertrophy and vasculogenesis compared to wild-type cells. In parallel, we performed a functional analysis on homozygous Magic-F1 transgenic mice versus control, demonstrating that Magic-F1+/+ mice display impairment on running performance. Finally, we show that induced muscle hypertrophy affects positively vascular network, increasing vessel number in fast twitch fibers. This is due to unique features of mammalian skeletal muscle and its remarkable ability to adapt promptly to different physiological demands by changing gene expression profile. Biological triplicates of Magic-F1+/+ and control satellite cells were used for microarray analysis.