Project description:We report the results NGS based of miRNA profiling in human bronchial epithelial cells (16HBE) up on ER stress induction with Tunicamycin (2.5ug/ml) and ALLN (100uM)
Project description:Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) patients develop benign neurofibromas and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST). These incurable peripheral nerve tumors result from loss of NF1 tumor suppressor gene function, causing hyperactive Ras signaling. Activated Ras controls numerous downstream effectors, but specific pathways mediating effects of hyperactive Ras in NF1 tumors are unknown. Cross-species transcriptome analyses of mouse and human neurofibromas and MPNSTs identified global negative feedback of genes that regulate Ras-Raf- MEK- extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) signaling in both species. Nonetheless, activation of ERK was sustained in mouse and human neurofibromas and MPNST. PD0325901, a highly selective pharmacological inhibitor of MEK, was used to test whether sustained Ras-Raf-MEK-ERK signaling contributes to neurofibroma growth in the Nf1fl/fl;Dhh-cre mouse model or in NF1 patient MPNST cell xenografts. PD0325901 treatment reduced aberrantly proliferating cells in neurofibroma and MPNST, prolonged survival of mice implanted with human MPNST cells, and shrank neurofibromas in >80% of mice tested. PD0325901 also caused effects on tumor vasculature. Our data demonstrate that deregulated Ras/ERK signaling is critical for the growth of NF1 peripheral nerve tumors and provide strong rationale for testing MEK inhibitors in NF1 clinical trials.
Project description:The most common oncogenic mutations in multiple myeloma (MM) affect N- and K-RAS leading to constitutive activation of RAS-dependent signaling. Signal transduction via RAS, Raf and MAPK has been well described as a canonical pathway. In accordance with this assumption, we showed that the activity of the MEK/ERK module is strictly dependent on pan-Raf activity. However, inhibition of MEK/ERK has no or only minor effects on MM cell survival, whereas oncogenic Ras and pan-Raf critically contribute to survival of multiple myeloma cells. Therefore, we aimed to learn more about Raf-dependent but MEK-independent signaling effectors. We analyzed gene expression profiles in INA-6 cells after either pan-Raf inhibition with SB-590885 or MEK inhibition with PD-325901.
Project description:The role of FGF-MEK-ERK signalling pathway during embryonic heart development has not been fully elucidated. Here, we inhibited the pathway for 1 day using PD0325901, a MEK inhibitor, at the lateral plate mesoderm stage during cardiac differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. Cells were collected on day 2 (before PD0325901 administration), day 3 and day 8 to determine the effect of a transient FGF-MEK-ERK pathway modulation on the cardiac cell fate choice.
Project description:This study used microarray expression analysis to identify global changes in transcript alteration in response to MEK inhibition. Genes under ERK control were identified in a panel of V600E BRAF and RTK-activated tumor cells and xenografts, using short-term inhibition of ERK activity using the MEK inhibitor PD0325901 (Pfizer). Experiment Overall Design: Cell lines growing in culture (n=12) and murine xenografts (n=2) were treated with the MEK inhibitor PD0325901 or vehicle alone as control. Paired analysis of MEK inhibited to control samples was performed for two groups of tumor cells, V600E BRAF and RTK.
Project description:To identify miRNAs involved in ST-induced cell transformation, we used microarray chips containing 856 miRNA probes to define miRNA expression profiles in 16HBE,16HBER and 16HBERST cells. we created HBE cells at different stages of the cell transformation process (Pang et al., 2008). In brief, primary human bronchial epithelial cells were immortalized by expressing SV40 LT and hTERT (named as HBELH cells). HBER cells were created by introduction of an oncogenic version of H-Ras into HBELH cells. In agreement with previous studies, the expression of the oncogene H-Ras led to an increase in cell proliferation; however these cells (HBER) were unable to grow in soft agar or form tumors in immunodeficient mice. Subsequently, HBERST cells generated by the additional introduction of SV40 ST into HBER cells grew in an anchorage independent fashion and formed tumors in immunodeficient mice. Therefore, these cell lines represent distinct stages of immortalized cells (HBELH), pre-transformed cells (HBER) and transformed cells (HBERST). And then, the different miRNA expression profiles of HBE cells at different stages were assayed by miRNA microarray.
Project description:The oncogenic proteins expressed in human cancer cells are exceedingly difficult targets for drug discovery due to intrinsic properties of the Ras GTPase switch. As a result, recent efforts have largely focused on inhibiting Ras-regulated kinase effector cascades, particularly the Raf/MEK/ERK and PI3 kinase/Akt/mTOR pathways. We constructed murine stem cell leukemia virus (MSCV) vectors encoding oncogenic K-RasD12 with additional “second site” amino acid substitutions that that impair PI3 kinase/Akt or Raf/MEK/ERK activation and performed bone marrow transduction/transplantation experiments in mice. In spite of attenuated signaling properties, defective K-Ras oncoproteins induced aggressive clonal T lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). These leukemias exhibited a high frequency of somatic Notch1 mutations, which is also true of human T-ALL. Multiple independent T-ALLs restored full oncogenic Ras activity by acquiring “third site” mutations within the viral KrasD12 transgenes. Other leukemias with undetectable PTEN and elevated phosphoryated Akt levels showed a similar gene expression profile to human early T progenitor (ETP) T-ALL. Expressing oncoproteins that are defective for specific functions is a general strategy for assessing requirements for tumor maintenance and uncovering potential mechanisms of drug resistance in vivo. In addition, our observation that defective Kras oncogenes regain potent cancer initiating activity strongly supports simultaneously targeting distinct components of Ras signaling networks in the substantial fraction of cancers with RAS mutations. WT Balb/c mice were lethally irradiated and transplanted with WT Balb/c bone marrow cells transduced with MSCV-IRES-Kras mutant-GFP vectors. Mice developed T-cell lymphoproliferative disease.
Project description:Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) patients develop benign neurofibromas and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST). These incurable peripheral nerve tumors result from loss of NF1 tumor suppressor gene function, causing hyperactive Ras signaling. Activated Ras controls numerous downstream effectors, but specific pathways mediating effects of hyperactive Ras in NF1 tumors are unknown. Cross-species transcriptome analyses of mouse and human neurofibromas and MPNSTs identified global negative feedback of genes that regulate Ras-Raf- MEK- extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) signaling in both species. Nonetheless, activation of ERK was sustained in mouse and human neurofibromas and MPNST. PD0325901, a highly selective pharmacological inhibitor of MEK, was used to test whether sustained Ras-Raf-MEK-ERK signaling contributes to neurofibroma growth in the Nf1fl/fl;Dhh-cre mouse model or in NF1 patient MPNST cell xenografts. PD0325901 treatment reduced aberrantly proliferating cells in neurofibroma and MPNST, prolonged survival of mice implanted with human MPNST cells, and shrank neurofibromas in >80% of mice tested. PD0325901 also caused effects on tumor vasculature. Our data demonstrate that deregulated Ras/ERK signaling is critical for the growth of NF1 peripheral nerve tumors and provide strong rationale for testing MEK inhibitors in NF1 clinical trials. 83 microarrays: Mouse control (15), Mouse neurofibroma (15), Mouse MPNST (18); Human nerve (3), Human neurofibroma (26), Human MPNST (6) We used the same human tumor samples as in series GSE14038 (dNF, pNF and MPNST). However, instead of referencing gene expression changes to the normal human Schwann cell samples (NHSC) as we did in series GSE14038, we generated three (new) normal nerve samples (samples jan-N1-3) and referenced gene expression changes to those samples. Moreover, the analysis of series GSE14038 evaluated changes in expression between NHSC, benign tumor subtypes (dNF and pNF), and malignant tumors (MPNST), while our present submission evaluated changes between normal nerve, benign tumors (combined dNF and pNF),and malignant tumors (MPNST). The Series supplementary 'merged_data.txt' file contains the data for 9,891 transcripts that were statistically different in at least one of the two species and present in both mouse and human data sets.
Project description:This study used microarray expression analysis to identify global changes in transcript alteration in response to MEK inhibition. Genes under ERK control were identified in a panel of V600E BRAF and RTK-activated tumor cells and xenografts, using short-term inhibition of ERK activity using the MEK inhibitor PD0325901 (Pfizer). Experiment Overall Design: Cell lines growing in culture (n=12) and murine xenografts (n=2) were treated with the MEK inhibitor PD0325901 or vehicle alone as control. Paired analysis of MEK inhibited to control samples was performed for two groups of tumor cells, V600E BRAF and RTK. Time course analysis was performed on one representative cell line in order to first determine the optimal time point to detect changes in all cell lines.