Project description:Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the major histotype of cancer derived from kidney, is lack of robust prognostic and/or predictive biomarker and powerful therapeutic target. We previously identified that follistatin-like protein 1 (FSTL1) was significantly down-regulated in ccRCC at the transcription level. In the present study, we characterized, for the first time, that FSTL1 immunostaining was selectively positive in the cytoplasm of distal convoluted tubules. The expression of FSTL1 was significantly lower in ccRCC tissues than in adjacent renal tissues (P<0.001), as measured using immunohistochemistry in 69 patients with paired specimens, and lower in most ccRCC cell lines than in human embryonic kidney cells, as measured by quantitative RT-PCR. Multivariate Cox regression analysis in 89 patients with follow-up data showed that FSTL1 expression in tumors conferred a favorable postoperative prognosis independently, with a hazard ratio of 0.325 (95% confidence interval: 0.118-0.894). FSTL1 knockdown promoted anchorage independent growth, mobility, and invasion of ccRCC cell lines and promoted cell cycle from G0/G1 phases into S phase; while over-expression of FSTL1 significantly attenuated cell migration ability in ACHN cells. FSTL1 knockdown resulted in decreased expression of E-cadherin and increased expression of N-cadherin in ccRCC cell lines significantly, indicating that FSTL1 may attenuate epithelial to mesenchymal transition in ccRCC. Microarray assay indicated that NF-κB and HIF-2α pathways were activated following FSTL1 knockdown in ccRCC cells. Our study indicates that FSTL1 serves as a tumor suppressor in ccRCC, up-regulation of FSTL1 in cancer cells may be a candidate target therapy for advanced ccRCC. RNA samples were collected from NRCC-shsiscramble, NRCC-shFSTL1-1 and NRCC-shFSTL1-2 cells. Then samples were hybridized to Affymetrix arrays for mRNA profiling.
Project description:Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the major histotype of cancer derived from kidney, is lack of robust prognostic and/or predictive biomarker and powerful therapeutic target. We previously identified that follistatin-like protein 1 (FSTL1) was significantly down-regulated in ccRCC at the transcription level. In the present study, we characterized, for the first time, that FSTL1 immunostaining was selectively positive in the cytoplasm of distal convoluted tubules. The expression of FSTL1 was significantly lower in ccRCC tissues than in adjacent renal tissues (P<0.001), as measured using immunohistochemistry in 69 patients with paired specimens, and lower in most ccRCC cell lines than in human embryonic kidney cells, as measured by quantitative RT-PCR. Multivariate Cox regression analysis in 89 patients with follow-up data showed that FSTL1 expression in tumors conferred a favorable postoperative prognosis independently, with a hazard ratio of 0.325 (95% confidence interval: 0.118-0.894). FSTL1 knockdown promoted anchorage independent growth, mobility, and invasion of ccRCC cell lines and promoted cell cycle from G0/G1 phases into S phase; while over-expression of FSTL1 significantly attenuated cell migration ability in ACHN cells. FSTL1 knockdown resulted in decreased expression of E-cadherin and increased expression of N-cadherin in ccRCC cell lines significantly, indicating that FSTL1 may attenuate epithelial to mesenchymal transition in ccRCC. Microarray assay indicated that NF-κB and HIF-2α pathways were activated following FSTL1 knockdown in ccRCC cells. Our study indicates that FSTL1 serves as a tumor suppressor in ccRCC, up-regulation of FSTL1 in cancer cells may be a candidate target therapy for advanced ccRCC.
Project description:Mathematical modeling of regulatory T cell effects on renal cell carcinoma treatment
Lisette dePillis 1, , Trevor Caldwell 2, , Elizabeth Sarapata 2, and Heather Williams 2,
1.
Department of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
2.
Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711, United States, United States, United States
Abstract
We present a mathematical model to study the effects of the regulatory T cells (Treg) on Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) treatment with sunitinib. The drug sunitinib inhibits the natural self-regulation of the immune system, allowing the effector components of the immune system to function for longer periods of time. This mathematical model builds upon our non-linear ODE model by de Pillis et al. (2009) [13] to incorporate sunitinib treatment, regulatory T cell dynamics, and RCC-specific parameters. The model also elucidates the roles of certain RCC-specific parameters in determining key differences between in silico patients whose immune profiles allowed them to respond well to sunitinib treatment, and those whose profiles did not.
Simulations from our model are able to produce results that reflect clinical outcomes to sunitinib treatment such as: (1) sunitinib treatments following standard protocols led to improved tumor control (over no treatment) in about 40% of patients; (2) sunitinib treatments at double the standard dose led to a greater response rate in about 15% the patient population; (3) simulations of patient response indicated improved responses to sunitinib treatment when the patient's immune strength scaling and the immune system strength coefficients parameters were low, allowing for a slightly stronger natural immune response.
Keywords: Renal cell carcinoma, mathematical modeling., sunitinib, immune system, regulatory T cells.