Project description:Morbidity and mortality associated with retinoblastoma have decreased drastically in recent decades, in large part due to better prediction of high-risk disease and appropriate treatment stratification. High-risk histopathologic features and severe anaplasia both predict the need for more aggressive treatment; however, not all centers are able to easily assess tumor samples for degree of anaplasia. Instead, identification of genetic signatures able to distinguish among anaplastic grades and thus predict high versus low risk retinoblastoma would facilitate appropriate risk stratification in a wider patient population. A better understanding of genes dysregulated in anaplasia would also yield valuable insights into pathways underlying the development of more severe retinoblastoma. Here, we present the histopathologic and gene expression analysis of 28 retinoblastoma cases using microarray analysis. Tumors of differing anaplastic grade show clear differential gene expression, with significant dysregulation of unique genes and pathways in severe anaplasia. Photoreceptor and nucleoporin expression in particular are identified as highly dysregulated in severe anaplasia and suggest particular cellular processes contributing to the development of increased retinoblastoma severity. A limited set of highly differentially expressed genes are also able to accurately predict severe anaplasia in our dataset. Together, these data contribute to the understanding of the development of anaplasia and facilitate the identification of genetic markers of high-risk retinoblastoma. We used microarray analysis to determine the gene expression patterns of 28 human retinoblastoma samples according to their grade of cellular anaplasia.
Project description:Morbidity and mortality associated with retinoblastoma have decreased drastically in recent decades, in large part owing to better prediction of high-risk disease and appropriate treatment stratification. High-risk histopathologic features and severe anaplasia both predict the need for more aggressive treatment; however, not all centers are able to assess tumor samples easily for the degree of anaplasia. Instead, identification of genetic signatures that are able to distinguish among anaplastic grades and thus predict high- versus low-risk retinoblastoma would facilitate appropriate risk stratification in a wider patient population. A better understanding of genes dysregulated in anaplasia also would yield valuable insights into pathways underlying the development of more severe retinoblastoma. Here, we present the histopathologic and gene expression analysis of 28 retinoblastoma cases using microarray analysis. Tumors of differing anaplastic grade show clear differential gene expression, with significant dysregulation of unique genes and pathways in severe anaplasia. Photoreceptor and nucleoporin expression in particular are identified as highly dysregulated in severe anaplasia and suggest particular cellular processes contributing to the development of increased retinoblastoma severity. A limited set of highly differentially expressed genes also are able to predict severe anaplasia accurately in our data set. Together, these data contribute to the understanding of the development of anaplasia and facilitate the identification of genetic markers of high-risk retinoblastoma.
Project description:Genomic profiling of anaplastic meningioma can inform prognostic gene level alterations in lower-grade meningiomas, potentially reflecting evolution of anaplastic meningioma from lowergrade precursor tumours. Larger scale studies in paired primary and recurrent meningiomas are warranted to unravel the evolutionary path to anaplastic meningiomas and prognostic genomic alterations in detail
Project description:Purpose: A number of microarray studies have reported distinct molecular profiles of breast cancers (BC): basal-like, ErbB2-like and two to three luminal-like subtypes. These were associated with different clinical outcomes. However, although the basal and the ErbB2 subtypes are repeatedly recognized, identification of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive subtypes has been inconsistent. Refinement of their molecular definition is therefore needed. Materials and methods: We have previously reported a gene-expression grade index (GGI) which defines histological grade based on gene expression profiles. Using this algorithm, we assigned ER-positive BC to either high or low genomic grade subgroups and compared these to previously reported ER-positive molecular classifications. As further validation, we classified 666 ER-positive samples into subtypes and assessed their clinical outcome. Results: Two ER-positive molecular subgroups (high and low genomic grade) could be defined using the GGI. Despite tracking a single biological pathway, these were highly comparable to the previously described luminal A and B classification and significantly correlated to the risk groups produced using the 21-gene recurrence score. The two subtypes were associated with statistically distinct clinical outcome in both systemically untreated and tamoxifen-treated populations. Conclusions: The use of genomic grade can identify two clinically distinct ER-positive molecular subtypes in a simple and highly reproducible manner across multiple datasets. This study emphasizes the important role of proliferation-related genes in predicting prognosis in ER-positive BC. Experiment Overall Design: dataset of microarray experiments from primary breast tumors used to assess the reationship between GGI, molecular subtypes, and tamoxifen resistance. Experiment Overall Design: No replicate, no reference sample.
Project description:The outcome of patients with anaplastic gliomas varies considerably depending on histology and single molecular markers such as codeletion of 1p/19q and mutations of the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) gene. Whether a molecularly-based classification of anaplastic gliomas based on large scale genomic or epigenomic analyses is superior to histopathology, may reflect distinct biological subtypes, predict outcome and guide therapy decisions had yet to be determined. Epigenome-wide DNA methylation analysis, which also allows for the detection of copy-number aberrations, was performed in a cohort of 228 patients with anaplastic gliomas (astrocytomas, oligoastrocytomas and oligodendrogliomas), including 115 patients of the NOA-04 trial. We further compared these tumors with a group of 55 glioblastomas. Unsupervised clustering demonstrated two main groups based on IDH mutation status: CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) positive (77.5%) or negative (22.5%). CIMP+ (IDH mutant) tumors showed a further separation based on copy-number status of chromosome arms 1p and 19q, but not based on histopathology. CIMP- (IDH wild type) tumors on the other hand showed hallmark copy-number alterations of glioblastomas. These tumors clustered together with CIMP- glioblastomas without forming separate groups based on WHO grade. There was no Tumor classification based on CIMP and 1p/19q status was significantly associated with survival allowing a better prediction of outcome than the current histopathological classification alone: Patients with CIMP+ tumors with 1p/19q codeletion had the best prognosis, followed by patients with CIMP+ but intact 1p/19q status. Patients with CIMP- anaplastic gliomas had the worst prognosis. Collectively, our data suggest that anaplastic gliomas can be grouped into three molecular subtypes with clear association to underlying biology and clinical outcome based on IDH and 1p/19q status. The data do not provide a molecular basis for the diagnosis of anaplastic oligoastrocytoma. We investigated a subset of 228 anaplastic gliomas using the Illumina 450k methylation array.
Project description:ChIP-seq experiment was performed using an antibody against E2F7 in CAL62 anaplastic thyroid cancer cell line, in order to define the genomic regions bound by this transcription factor and exploit its genomic function in this cancer setting.