Project description:The goal of this study was to evaluate genes that are differentially expressed in the bone stroma when breast cancer metastasis are present. We focused our attention on bone stroma cells to understand how the dissemination and growth of tumor cells can impact on the bone environment. Moreover, we aimed to identify potential targets to inhibit the cross talk between cancer cells and tumor microenvironment in bone metastasis. EO771 breast cancer cell line were engineered to express luciferase and GFP, and injected in C57BL/6 mice by the intracardiac route to obtain bone metastasis. Tumor growth was monitored in-vivo by bioluminescence for 2 weeks. Endothelial cells and osteoblasts were isolated from the long bones of tumor-bearing and tumor-free mice to identify genes differentially expressed.
Project description:Bone is the primary site of breast cancer metastasis and complications associated with bone metastases can lead to a significantly decreased quality of life in these patients. Thus, it is essential to gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie the emergence and growth of breast cancer skeletal metastases. Methods: To search for novel molecular mediators that influence breast cancer bone metastasis, we generated gene expression profiles from laser capture micro-dissected trephine biopsies of both breast cancer bone metastases and primary breast tumors that metastasized to bone. Bioinformatics analysis identified genes that are differentially expressed in breast cancer bone metastases compared to primary mammary tumors. Results: ABCC5, an ATP-dependent transporter, was found to be overexpressed in breast cancer osseous metastases relative to primary mammary tumors. In addition, ABCC5 was significantly up-regulated in human and mouse breast cancer cell lines with high bone-metastatic potential. Stable knockdown of ABCC5 significant reduced bone metastatic burden and osteolytic bone destruction in mice. The decrease in osteolysis was further associated with diminished osteoclast numbers. Conclusions: Our data, for the first time, suggests that ABCC5 functions as a mediator of breast cancer skeletal metastasis. ABCC5 expression in breast cancer cells is important for the efficient bone resorption mediated by osteoclasts. Hence, ABCC5 may be a potential therapeutic target for breast cancer bone metastasis. primary breast tumors vs. bone trephine biopsies
Project description:We collected whole genome testis expression data from hybrid zone mice. We integrated GWAS mapping of testis expression traits and low testis weight to gain insight into the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility.
Project description:Introgressed variants from other species can be an important source of genetic variation because they may arise rapidly, can include multiple mutations on a single haplotype, and have often been pretested by selection in the species of origin. Although introgressed alleles are generally deleterious, several studies have reported introgression as the source of adaptive alleles-including the rodenticide-resistant variant of Vkorc1 that introgressed from Mus spretus into European populations of Mus musculus domesticus. Here, we conducted bidirectional genome scans to characterize introgressed regions into one wild population of M. spretus from Spain and three wild populations of M. m. domesticus from France, Germany, and Iran. Despite the fact that these species show considerable intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation, introgression was observed in all individuals, including in the M. musculus reference genome (GRCm38). Mus spretus individuals had a greater proportion of introgression compared with M. m. domesticus, and within M. m. domesticus, the proportion of introgression decreased with geographic distance from the area of sympatry. Introgression was observed on all autosomes for both species, but not on the X-chromosome in M. m. domesticus, consistent with known X-linked hybrid sterility and inviability genes that have been mapped to the M. spretus X-chromosome. Tract lengths were generally short with a few outliers of up to 2.7 Mb. Interestingly, the longest introgressed tracts were in olfactory receptor regions, and introgressed tracts were significantly enriched for olfactory receptor genes in both species, suggesting that introgression may be a source of functional novelty even between species with high barriers to gene flow.
Project description:Bone is the primary site of breast cancer metastasis and complications associated with bone metastases can lead to a significantly decreased quality of life in these patients. Thus, it is essential to gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie the emergence and growth of breast cancer skeletal metastases. Methods: To search for novel molecular mediators that influence breast cancer bone metastasis, we generated gene expression profiles from laser capture micro-dissected trephine biopsies of both breast cancer bone metastases and primary breast tumors that metastasized to bone. Bioinformatics analysis identified genes that are differentially expressed in breast cancer bone metastases compared to primary mammary tumors. Results: ABCC5, an ATP-dependent transporter, was found to be overexpressed in breast cancer osseous metastases relative to primary mammary tumors. In addition, ABCC5 was significantly up-regulated in human and mouse breast cancer cell lines with high bone-metastatic potential. Stable knockdown of ABCC5 significant reduced bone metastatic burden and osteolytic bone destruction in mice. The decrease in osteolysis was further associated with diminished osteoclast numbers. Conclusions: Our data, for the first time, suggests that ABCC5 functions as a mediator of breast cancer skeletal metastasis. ABCC5 expression in breast cancer cells is important for the efficient bone resorption mediated by osteoclasts. Hence, ABCC5 may be a potential therapeutic target for breast cancer bone metastasis.
Project description:As organ-specific models of breast cancer bone metastasis do not exist, we established a novel breast cancer line was established from the ER-/PR-/HER2- bone metastasis from a breast cancer patient. This cell line was characterized and compared to the primary tumour and/or normal mammary epithelial cells with regards to phenotypes (i.e. marker expression), gene expression and copy number variation.