Project description:We characterized transcriptional patterns of chemotherapy resistance in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) using patient-derived prospective tissue sample pairs before and after treatment at single-cell resolution. Our cohort consists of scRNA-seq data from treatment-naïve and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy (post-NACT) pairs from 11 homogeneously treated HGSOC patients. After quality control, we obtained 51,786 cells, including 8,806 malignant epithelial (tumor), 8,045 stromal and 34,935 immune cells. Our unbiased analysis reveals how chemotherapy modulates cancer cell states by both subclonal selection and microenvironment boosted transcriptional induction across the homogeneously treated sample cohort. Our results define a cell state that allows biomarker-based prediction and targeting of chemoresistance.
Project description:Understanding the cellular composition of the tumor microenvironment and the interactions of the cells is essential to the development of successful immunotherapies in cancer. We perform single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of 9,885 cells isolated from the omentum in 6 patients with ovarian cancer and identify 9 major cell types, including cancer, stromal, and immune cells. Transcriptional analysis of immune cells stratifies our patient samples into 2 groups: (1) high T cell infiltration (high Tinf) and (2) low T cell infiltration (low Tinf). TOX-expressing resident memory CD8+ T (CD8+ Trm) and granulysin-expressing CD4+ T cell clusters are enriched in the high Tinf group. Concurrently, we find unique plasmablast and plasma B cell clusters, and finally, NR1H2+IRF8+ and CD274+ macrophage clusters, suggesting an anti-tumor response in the high Tinf group. Our scRNA-seq study of metastatic tumor samples provides important insights in elucidating the immune response within ovarian tumors.
Project description:Breast and ovarian cancers, the most common cancers in women in India. Metastatic organotropism is a non-random, predetermined process which represents a more lethal and advanced form of cancer with increased mortality rate. In an attempt to study organotropism, salivary proteins were analyzed by mass spectrometry indicative of pathophysiology of breast and ovarian cancers compared to healthy and ovarian chemotherapy subjects. Collectively, 646 proteins were identified, of which 409 proteins were confidently identified across all four groups. Network analysis of up-regulated proteins such as coronin-1A, hepatoma derived growth factor, vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP), and cofilin in breast cancer and proteins like coronin-1A, destrin and HSP90α in ovarian cancer were functionally linked and were known to regulate cell proliferation and migration. Additionally, proteins namely VASP, coronin-1A, stathmin and suprabasin were confidently identified in ovarian chemotherapy subjects, possibly in response to combined paclitaxel and carboplatin drug therapy to ovarian cancer. In summary, this proteomic study was performed to identify a pattern of differentially expressed salivary proteins as indicators of metastatic organotropism potential of breast and ovarian cancers, as well as their response to neoadjuvant (paclitaxel and carboplatin) drugs therapy.
Project description:Spheroid formation during epithelial ovarian cancer progression correlates with peritoneal organ colonization, disease recurrence, and poor prognosis. Although cancer progression has been demonstrated to be associated with and driven by metabolic changes within transformed cells, possible associations between metabolic dynamics and metastatic morphological transitions remain unexplored. To address this problem, performed quantitative proteomics was performed to identify protein signatures associated with three distinct morphologies (2D monolayers and two geometrically individual three-dimensional spheroidal states) of the high-grade serous ovarian cancer line OVCAR-3. Integrating the protein states into genome-scale metabolic models allowed the construction of context-specific metabolic models for each morphological stage of the OVCAR-3 cell line and systematically evaluate their metabolic functionalities.
Project description:High-grade serous (HGS) ovarian cancer is the most common and aggressive ovarian cancer type, and the most lethal gynaecological disease 1,2. The major cause is its highly metastatic nature and the limited availability of effective therapies to oppose it. The omentum is a highly vascularised visceral depot of adipose tissue with immune functions, which becomes the preferential metastatic site in patients with HGS ovarian cancer 1,2. The omentum provides an environment that supports the rapid growth of metastatic tumours and their spread within the peritoneal cavity and adjacent organs 2,3. Research aimed at understanding the biology of metastatic tumours in the omentum is therefore essential to find strategies to oppose HGS ovarian cancer. To this aim, there is the need for in vitro models that faithfully recapitulate the microenvironment of HGS omental metastasis in patients.
Project description:High-grade serous (HGS) ovarian cancer is the most common and aggressive ovarian cancer type, and the most lethal gynaecological disease 1,2. The major cause is its highly metastatic nature and the limited availability of effective therapies to oppose it. The omentum is a highly vascularised visceral depot of adipose tissue with immune functions, which becomes the preferential metastatic site in patients with HGS ovarian cancer 1,2. The omentum provides an environment that supports the rapid growth of metastatic tumours and their spread within the peritoneal cavity and adjacent organs 2,3. Research aimed at understanding the biology of metastatic tumours in the omentum is therefore essential to find strategies to oppose HGS ovarian cancer. To this aim, there is the need for in vitro models that faithfully recapitulate the microenvironment of HGS omental metastasis in patients.