Project description:Currently there is a lack of effective therapies which result in long-term durable response for patients presenting with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC), a very rare and lethal variant of thyroid cancer. ATC is resistant to chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapies currently available. In an effort to identify novel tumor-specific therapeutic targets, we performed high throughput gene array analysis screening numerous ATC cell lines, and compared their gene expression levels to normal thyroid cell lines.
Project description:The E3 SUMO ligase PIAS2 is expressed at high levels in differentiated papillary thyroid carcinomas but at low levels in anaplastic thyroid carcinomas (ATC), an undifferentiated cancer with very high mortality. Double-stranded RNA–directed RNA interference (dsRNAi) targeting the PIAS2 isoform beta (PIAS2b) inhibits growth of ATC cell lines and patient primary cultures in vitro and orthotopic patient-derived xenografts (oPDX) in vivo, but not of thyroid cell lines or non-anaplastic primary thyroid cultures (differentiated carcinoma, benign lesions, or normal). PIAS2b-dsRNAi also has an anti-cancer effect on other anaplastic human cancers (pancreas, lung, and gastric). Mechanistically, PIAS2b is required for proper mitotic spindle and centrosome assembly, and it is a dosage-sensitive protein in ATC. Strikingly, PIAS2b-dsRNAi induces mitotic catastrophe at prophase. High-throughput proteomics revealed the proteasome (PSMC5) and spindle cytoskeleton as direct targets of PIAS2b SUMOylation at mitotic initiation. PIAS2b-dsRNAi is a promising therapy for ATC and other aggressive anaplastic cancers.
Project description:A comparison of profiles of normal thryoid tissue (NT), papillary thyroid carcinoma tissue (PTC) and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma tissue (ATC) was carried out to identify expression patterns specifically associated with analplastic thyroid carcinoma Keywords: Expression profile survey of normal tissue and tumor subtypes
Project description:Currently there is a lack of effective therapies which result in long-term durable response for patients presenting with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC), a very rare and lethal variant of thyroid cancer. ATC is resistant to chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapies currently available. In an effort to identify novel tumor-specific therapeutic targets, we performed high throughput gene array analysis screening numerous patient ATC tumor tissues, and compared their gene expression levels to matched and unmatched normal thyroid tissue samples.
Project description:Currently there is a lack of effective therapies which result in long-term durable response for patients presenting with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC), a very rare and lethal variant of thyroid cancer. ATC is resistant to chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapies currently available. In an effort to identify novel tumor-specific therapeutic targets, we performed high throughput gene array analysis screening numerous patient ATC tumor tissues, and compared their gene expression levels to matched and unmatched normal thyroid tissue samples. RNA was extracted from flash frozen patient tumor and normal samples. Gene array analysis was performed, and resulting expression levels were compared between normal and tumor samples.
Project description:Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is a rare but deadly thyroid cancer. In contrast, papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is common and highly curable. Minimally invasive biomarkers are needed to distinguish ATC and PTC. Here, by small RNA-seq we show the differential expression levels of several miRNAs, which include miR-34a and miR-210 in ATC compared to PTC cell lines.
Project description:Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) has among the worst prognosis of any solid malignancy. The low incidence of the disease has in part precluded systematic clinical trials and tissue collection, and there has been little progress in developing effective therapies. BRAF and TP53 mutations co-occur in a high proportion of ATC, particularly those associated with a precursor papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). In order to develop an adult-onset model of BRAF-mutant anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, we generated a novel thyroid-specific CreER transgenic mouse. We utilize a Cre-regulated BrafV600E mouse and a conditional Trp53 allelic series to demonstrate that p53 constrains progression from papillary to anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. Gene expression and immunohistochemical analyses of murine tumors identified the cardinal features of human ATC including loss of differentiation, local invasion, distant metastasis and rapid lethality. We employed small animal ultrasound imaging to monitor autochthonous tumors, and show that treatment with the selective BRAF inhibitor PLX4720 improved survival, but did not lead to tumor regression or suppress signaling through the MAPK pathway. Combination of PLX4720 and the MEK inhibitor PD0325901 more completely suppressed MAPK pathway activation in mouse and human ATC cell lines, and improved the structural response and survival of ATC-bearing animals. This model expands the limited repertoire of autochthonous models of clinically aggressive thyroid cancer, and these data suggest that small molecule MAPK pathway inhibitors hold clinical promise in the treatment of advanced thyroid carcinoma. Total RNA from five murine papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) tumors and five murine anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) tumors was analyzed.
Project description:Purpose: The primary goal of this study was to identify gene-expression profiles of anaplastic thyroid cancer and to identify some novel in-frame gene fusions that could result in translated protein products affecting the development of anaplastic thyroid cancer. Methods: RNAseq Data was processed with TCGA UNC V2 RNAseq protocol and different expressed genes were identify by using DESeq2, limma-voom, and edgeR. Potential fusion genes were identified by using SOAPfuse, Chimerascan and TopHat-Fusion. Potential fusion genes were confirmed by cDNA PCR and Sanger sequencing. Results: A total of 21 fusion genes were detected, including six predicted in-frame fusions; none were recurrent. Global gene expression analysis showed 661 genes to be differentially expressed between anaplastic thyroid cancer and papillary thyroid cancer cell lines, with pathway enrichment analyses showing downregulation of TP53-signaling as well as cell adhesion molecules in anaplastic thyroid cancer . Conclusions: Our study represents the first detailed analysis of anaplastic thyroid cancer cell lines and found several novel in-frame gene fusions that could result in translated protein products affecting the development of anaplastic thyroid cancer. These data provide novel insights into the tumorigenesis of anaplastic thyroid cancer and may be used to identify new therapeutic targets.