Project description:Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family member A2 (ALDH1A2) is a rate-limiting enzyme involved in cellular retinoic acid synthesis. However, its functional role in ovarian cancer remains elusive. Here, we found that ALDH1A2 was the most prominently downregulated gene among ALDH family members in ovarian cancer cells, according to complementary DNA microarray data. Low ALDH1A2 expression was associated with unfavorable prognosis and shorter disease-free and overall survival for ovarian cancer patients. Notably, hypermethylation of ALDH1A2 was significantly higher in ovarian cancer cell lines when compared to that in immortalized human ovarian surface epithelial cell lines. ALDH1A2 expression was restored in various ovarian cancer cell lines after treatment with the DNA methylation inhibitor 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine. Furthermore, silencing DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) or 3B (DNMT3B) restored ALDH1A2 expression in ovarian cancer cell lines. Functional studies revealed that forced ALDH1A2 expression significantly impaired the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells and their invasive activity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that ALDH1A2 expression is regulated by the epigenetic regulation of DNMTs, and subsequently that it might act as a tumor suppressor in ovarian cancer, further suggesting that enhancing ALDH1A2-linked signaling might provide new opportunities for therapeutic intervention in ovarian cancer.
Project description:nalysis of mechano-regulation of tenocyte metabolism at gene expression level. The hypothesis tested in the present study was that cyclic tensile strain influence the balance of anabolism/catabolism of tenocytes. Results provide important information of the response of tenocyte to cyclic tensile strain, such as specific mechano-responsive genes, up- or down-regulated specific anabolic/catabolic cellular functions.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNAs that can function as tumor suppressor genes. We previously reported that miR-1 is among the most consistently down-regulated miRs in primary human prostate tumors. In this follow-up study, we further corroborated this finding in an independent dataset and made the novel observation that miR-1 expression is further reduced in distant metastasis and is a predictor of disease recurrence. Moreover, we performed in vitro experiments to explore the candidate tumor suppressor function of miR-1. Cell-based assays showed that miR-1 is epigenetically silenced in human prostate cancer cells. Overexpression of miR-1 in these cells led to growth inhibition and down-regulation of genes in pathways regulating cell cycle progression, mitosis, DNA replication/repair, and actin dynamics. This observation was further corroborated with protein expression analysis and 3’-UTR-based reporter assays, indicating that genes in these pathways are either direct or indirect targets of miR-1. A gene set enrichment analysis revealed that miR-1-mediated tumor suppressor effects are globally similar to those of histone deacetylase inhibitors. Lastly, we obtained preliminary evidence that miR-1 alters gH2A.X marker expression and affects the cellular organization of F-actin and filipodia formation. In conclusion, our findings indicate that miR-1 acts as a tumor suppressor in prostate cancer by influencing multiple cancer-related processes and by inhibiting cell proliferation and motility. In this study we monitored global miRNA expression changes in prostate cancer LNCaP cells treated with the epigenetic compounds 5-Azacytidine (5-AzaC) and/or trichostatin A (TSA). Cells were treated with epigenetic drugs for 36 hours and total RNA was isolated for hybridization to miRNA microarrays. 5 independent experiments were performed (n=4 for combined treatment). The candidate prostate tumor suppressor miRNAs, miR-1, miR-206, and miR-27 were up-regulated in LNCaP cells for Affymetrix microarray analysis. LNCaP cells were transfected with pre-miR oligos and 24 hr post-transfection total RNA was collected for microarray analysis; total of three independent experiments.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNAs that can function as tumor suppressor genes. We previously reported that miR-1 is among the most consistently down-regulated miRs in primary human prostate tumors. In this follow-up study, we further corroborated this finding in an independent dataset and made the novel observation that miR-1 expression is further reduced in distant metastasis and is a predictor of disease recurrence. Moreover, we performed in vitro experiments to explore the candidate tumor suppressor function of miR-1. Cell-based assays showed that miR-1 is epigenetically silenced in human prostate cancer cells. Overexpression of miR-1 in these cells led to growth inhibition and down-regulation of genes in pathways regulating cell cycle progression, mitosis, DNA replication/repair, and actin dynamics. This observation was further corroborated with protein expression analysis and 3’-UTR-based reporter assays, indicating that genes in these pathways are either direct or indirect targets of miR-1. A gene set enrichment analysis revealed that miR-1-mediated tumor suppressor effects are globally similar to those of histone deacetylase inhibitors. Lastly, we obtained preliminary evidence that miR-1 alters gH2A.X marker expression and affects the cellular organization of F-actin and filipodia formation. In conclusion, our findings indicate that miR-1 acts as a tumor suppressor in prostate cancer by influencing multiple cancer-related processes and by inhibiting cell proliferation and motility.
Project description:In this study, we identify leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LARS) as a breast tumor suppressor. To identify the mechanism underlying LARS-mediated breast tumor suppression, we conducted TMT-proteomics in PyMT mouse tumors with monoallelic genetic deletion of LARS in the mammary tumor compartment. The analyses implicate LARS as a regulator of leucine-rich protein translation resulting in downregulation of candidate leucine-rich tumor suppressor genes.
Project description:Dysregulation of miRNA expression is associated with multiple diseases, including cancers where they can have oncogenic or tumor suppressive function. Here we investigated the potential tumor suppressive function of miR-450a, one of the most significantly downregulated miRNAs in ovarian cancer. RNAseq analysis revealed multipe genes involved in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were suppressed by miR-450a overexpression ovarian cancer cell line A2780. Consistently, miR-450a overexpression reduced tumor migration, invasion and increased anoikis in A2780 and SKOV-3 cell lines and reduced tumor growth in ovarian xenographic model. Combining AGO-PAR-CLIP and RNAseq analysis, we identified a panel of potential miR-450a targets of which many, including TIMMDC1, MT-ND2, ACO2 and ATP5B, regulate energetic metabolism. miR-450a expression indeed decreased mitochondrial membrane potential but increased glucose uptake and viability after glutamine withdrawal, characteristics of less invasive ovarian cancer cell lines, which are also less dependent on glutamine. In summary, we propose in this work that miR-450a acts as a tumor suppressor in ovarian cancer cells by modulating targets associated with glutaminolysis, which would lead to a decrease in the production of lipids, amino acids and nucleic acids, and also inhibition of signaling pathways associated with EMT
Project description:Tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) are sometimes inactivated by transcriptional silencing through promoter hypermethylation. To identify novel methylated TSGs in melanoma, we carried out global mRNA expression profiling on a panel of 12 melanoma cell lines treated with a combination of 5-Aza-2-deoxycytidine (5AzadC) and an inhibitor of histone deacetylase, Trichostatin A. Reactivation of gene expression after drug treatment was assessed using Illumina whole-genome microarrays. After qRT-PCR confirmation, we followed up 8 genes (AKAP12, ARHGEF16, ARHGAP27, ENC1, PPP1R3C, PPP1R14C, RARRES1, and TP53INP1) by quantitative DNA methylation analysis using mass spectrometry of base-specific cleaved amplification products in panels of melanoma cell lines and fresh tumors. PPP1R3C, ENC1, RARRES1, and TP53INP1, showed reduced mRNA expression in 35–59% of the melanoma cell lines compared to melanocytes and which was correlated with a high proportion of promoter methylation (>40–60%). The same genes also showed extensive promoter methylation in 6–25% of the tumor samples, thus confirming them as novel candidate TSGs in melanoma.
Project description:Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly aggressive subtype of lung cancer that remains among the most lethal of solid tumor malignancies. Recent genomic sequencing studies have identified many recurrently mutated genes in human SCLC tumors. However, the functional roles of most of these genes remain to be validated. Here, we adapt the CRISPR-Cas9 system to a well-established murine model of SCLC to rapidly model loss-of-function mutations in candidate genes identified from SCLC sequencing studies. We show that loss of the gene p107 significantly accelerates tumor progression. Notably, compared with loss of the closely related gene p130, p107 loss results in fewer but larger tumors, as well as earlier metastatic spread. In addition, we observe differences in proliferation and apoptosis, as well as altered distribution of initiated tumors in the lung, resulting from loss of p107 or p130. Collectively, these data demonstrate the feasibility of using the CRISPR-Cas9 system to model loss of candidate tumor suppressor genes in SCLC, and we anticipate that this approach will greatly facilitate efforts to investigate mechanisms driving tumor progression in this deadly disease.