Project description:Self-renewal is a crucial property of glioblastoma cells and is enabled by the choreographed function of chromatin regulators and transcription factors. Identifying targetable epigenetic mechanisms of self-renewal could represent an important step toward developing new and effective treatments for this universally lethal cancer. Here we uncover a targetable epigenetic axis of self-renewal mediated by the histone variant macroH2A2.
Project description:Self-renewal is a crucial property of glioblastoma cells and is enabled by the choreographed function of chromatin regulators and transcription factors. Identifying targetable epigenetic mechanisms of self-renewal could represent an important step toward developing new and effective treatments for this universally lethal cancer. Here we uncover a targetable epigenetic axis of self-renewal mediated by the histone variant macroH2A2.
Project description:Self-renewal is a crucial property of glioblastoma cells and is enabled by the choreographed function of chromatin regulators and transcription factors. Identifying targetable epigenetic mechanisms of self-renewal could represent an important step toward developing new and effective treatments for this universally lethal cancer. Here we uncover a targetable epigenetic axis of self-renewal mediated by the histone variant macroH2A2.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (21-25 nucleotide in length) non-coding RNA molecules that negatively regulate protein expression. They are linked to cancer development and maintenance. In this work, studying gene expression profiles of 340 mammalian miRNAs with DNA microarrays, we selected 10 miRNAs gene features able to distinguish primary from secondary glioblastoma type; furthermore we verified that miR-21 and miR-155 up-regulatation seems to characterize the glioblastoma tumour state since it was found up-regulated in all samples analyzed compared to adult brain noneoplastic tissue. Since miR-21 function in glioblastoma cells was addressed previously we concentrated our efforts on miR-155 function. We found that miR-155 levels were markedly elevated both in primary and secondary glioblastomas tumours, in glioblastoma cell cultures and in 4 glioblastoma cell lines (U87, A172, LN229, and LN308) compared with adult brain tissue, CHP212-neuroblastoma cell lines and DAOY-1-medulloblastoma cell line. Since one of the miR-155 target was gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) A receptor (GABRA1) we verified if there was a relation between miR-155 up-regulation and GABRA1 expression. We demonstrated that, in cultured glioblastoma cells, knockdown of miR-155, which lower miR-155 expression to normal level, restore the normal expression of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) A receptor (GABRA1), making glioblastoma cells responsive to GABA cell cycle inhibiting signals. Our data suggest that aberrantly over-expressed miR-155 contribute to the malignant phenotype of the glioblastoma cells, promoting their unlimited growth. Keywords: miRNA expression profile We studied the expression profiles of 340 miRNAs in 97 glioblastoma tissues, of which 66 were primary glioblastomas and 27 were secondary glioblastomas. We have 66 replicates of primary glioblastoma and 27 replicates of secondary glioblastoma, each hybridized with the respective adult non-neoplastic brain tissue as a control.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (21-25 nucleotide in length) non-coding RNA molecules that negatively regulate protein expression. They are linked to cancer development and maintenance. In this work, studying gene expression profiles of 340 mammalian miRNAs with DNA microarrays, we selected 10 miRNAs gene features able to distinguish primary from secondary glioblastoma type; furthermore we verified that miR-21 and miR-155 up-regulatation seems to characterize the glioblastoma tumour state since it was found up-regulated in all samples analyzed compared to adult brain noneoplastic tissue. Since miR-21 function in glioblastoma cells was addressed previously we concentrated our efforts on miR-155 function. We found that miR-155 levels were markedly elevated both in primary and secondary glioblastomas tumours, in glioblastoma cell cultures and in 4 glioblastoma cell lines (U87, A172, LN229, and LN308) compared with adult brain tissue, CHP212-neuroblastoma cell lines and DAOY-1-medulloblastoma cell line. Since one of the miR-155 target was gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) A receptor (GABRA1) we verified if there was a relation between miR-155 up-regulation and GABRA1 expression. We demonstrated that, in cultured glioblastoma cells, knockdown of miR-155, which lower miR-155 expression to normal level, restore the normal expression of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) A receptor (GABRA1), making glioblastoma cells responsive to GABA cell cycle inhibiting signals. Our data suggest that aberrantly over-expressed miR-155 contribute to the malignant phenotype of the glioblastoma cells, promoting their unlimited growth. Keywords: miRNA expression profile
Project description:Chip-on-chip experiment with NT2 wildtype cells and cells treated with shRNA for macroH2A1 and macroH2A2 The goal was to determine the genome-wide occupancy of macroH2A1 and macroH2A2 at gene promoters in undifferentiated cells