Project description:Oligodendrogliomas are typically associated with the most favorable prognosis among diffuse gliomas. However, many of the tumors progress, eventually leading to patient death. To characterize the changes associated with oligodendroglioma recurrence and progression, we analyzed two recurrent oligodendroglioma tumors upon diagnosis and after tumor relapse based on whole-genome and RNA sequencing. Relapsed tumors were diagnosed as glioblastomas with an oligodendroglioma component before the World Health Organization classification update in 2016. Both patients died within 12 months after relapse. One patient carried an inactivating POLE mutation leading to a clearly hypermutated progressed tumor. Strikingly, both relapsed tumors carried focal chromosomal rearrangements in PTPRD and CNTNAP2 genes with associated decreased gene expression. TP53 mutation was also detected in both patients after tumor relapse. In The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) diffuse glioma cohort, PTPRD expression decreased by tumor grade in all diffuse glioma subtypes, while CNTNAP2 expression was associated with diffuse glioma subtypes and with tumor grade in oligodendrogliomas and IDH wild-type astrocytomas. Low expression of the genes was associated with poor overall survival. Our analysis provides information about aggressive oligodendrogliomas with worse prognosis and suggests that PTPRD and CNTNAP2 expression could represent an informative marker for their stratification.
Project description:In this work we employed the comprehensive evaluation of clinical data of the cohort of CD patients along with the sequencing of 14 exon of USP8 to estimate the prevalence of USP8 mutations in our cohort and transcriptome analysis of tumor tissue to search for the associations between USP8 mutation status, molecular markers of pituitary adenomas, and clinical and diagnostic parameters of Cushing’s syndrome including hormonal secretion, tumor size, aggressiveness, and SSRT2/SSRT5 expression.
Project description:Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA) with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) tend to exhibit more aggressive metastatic features compared to Adults (AD), despite low overall tumor proliferation. This study statistically analyzed clinical data from 501 PTC patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), categorized as Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA) and Adults (AD), to uncover differential clinical features between the two age groups.An independent cohort of 13 patients (7 AYA, 6 AD) was used to screen for differentially expressed genes (DEGs) through RNA sequencing. Functional enrichment and topology analyses identified core molecules associated with the heightened aggressiveness of age-related tumors, which were subsequently validated using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Among the 239 core DEGs identified between AYA and AD PTC, key genes such as CXCR4, OPCML, and S100A2 were upregulated in AYA, while ATP1A3, CHL1, HLA-DRA, and IL-1 Beta were downregulated. These genes play a crucial role in tumor invasion and are linked to immune cell infiltration. These findings suggest that integrating age-specific molecular markers into clinical management could enhance diagnostic accuracy and enable personalized treatment strategies for AYA patients, with further research needed to validate these results in larger cohorts and explore their therapeutic potential.
Project description:Breast cancer outcome is highly variable. Whether inadvertent exposure to environmental xenobiotics evokes a biological response promoting cancer aggressiveness and a higher probability of tumor recurrence remains unknown. To determine specific molecular alterations, which arise in high-risk breast tissue in the presence of the ubiquitous xenoestrogen, bisphenol A (BPA), we employed non-malignant random periareolar fine needle aspirates (RPFNA) in a novel functional assay. Early events induced by BPA in epithelial-stromal cocultures derived from the contralateral tissue of breast cancer patients included gene expression patterns, which facilitate apoptosis evasion, endurance of microenvironmental stress, and cell cycle deregulation without a detectable increase in cell number. This BPA response profile was significantly associated with breast tumors characterized by high histologic grade (p<0.001), and large tumor size (p=0.002), resulting in decreased recurrence-free patient survival (p<0.001). Our assays demonstrate a biological “fingerprint” of probable prior exposure to endocrine disrupting agents, and suggest a scenario in which their presence in the microenvironmental milieu of high-risk breast tissue could play a deterministic role in establishing and maintaining tumor aggressiveness and poor patient outcome. Keywords: Gene expression, Epithelial, Breast cancer
Project description:Cancer development and progression depend on tumor cell intrinsic factors, the tumor microenvironment and host characteristics. Despite the identification of the plasticity of adipocytes, the primary breast stromal cells, both in physiology and cancer, we lack a complete understanding of mechanisms that regulate adipocyte-tumor cell crosstalk. Here we dissected the breast cancer crosstalk with adipocytes and studied relevant molecules. We identified that the ability of breast cancer cells to dedifferentiate adipocytes is intrinsic subtype-dependent, with all breast cancer subtypes, except for HER2+ER+ subtype, capable of inducing this phenomenon. Crosstalk between breast cancer cells and adipocytes in vitro increased cancer stem-like features and recruitment of pro-tumorigenic immune cells, through chemokine production. Serum amyloid A1 (SAA1) was in vitro identified as a regulator of the adipocyte dedifferentiation program in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) through CD36 and P2XR7 signaling. In human TNBCs, SAA1 expression was associated with CAA infiltration, inflammation, stimulated lipolysis, stem-like properties and distinct tumor immune microenvironment. Our findings provide evidence that interaction between tumor cells and adipocytes through SAA1 release is relevant to the aggressiveness of TNBC, potentially supporting its targeting.
Project description:Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer in men. Diagnosis and risk assessment are widely based on serum Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) and biopsy which have low accuracy. Towards the discovery of biomarkers for better patient stratification, we performed proteomic analysis of Formalin Fixed Paraffin Embedded (FFPE) prostate tissue specimens following optimized sample preparation protocol and LC-MS/MS. Comparative analysis of 86 PCa samples among grade groups 1-5 identified 301 differentially expressed proteins involved in metabolism, angiogenesis, response to stress and cytoskeleton organization. Additional analysis based on biochemical recurrence (BCR; BCR+ n=14, BCR- n=51) revealed 197 differentially expressed proteins that indicate disease persistence. Filtering the overlapping proteins of these analyses, seven proteins (NPM1, UQCRH, HSPA9, MRPL3, VCAN, SERBP1, HSPE1) had increased expression in advanced grades and in BCR+/BCR- and may play a critical role in PCa aggressiveness and persistence. Notably, our observations for NPM1, UQCRH and VCAN were validated in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), where they were upregulated in BCR+/BCR-. UQCRH levels were also associated with 5-year survival. Our study provides valuable insights on the key regulators of PCa progression and aggressiveness. The seven selected proteins could be used for the development of risk assessment tools.
Project description:Breast cancer outcome is highly variable. Whether inadvertent exposure to environmental xenobiotics evokes a biological response promoting cancer aggressiveness and a higher probability of tumor recurrence remains unknown. To determine specific molecular alterations, which arise in high-risk breast tissue in the presence of the ubiquitous xenoestrogen, bisphenol A (BPA), we employed non-malignant random periareolar fine needle aspirates (RPFNA) in a novel functional assay. Early events induced by BPA in epithelial-stromal cocultures derived from the contralateral tissue of breast cancer patients included gene expression patterns, which facilitate apoptosis evasion, endurance of microenvironmental stress, and cell cycle deregulation without a detectable increase in cell number. This BPA response profile was significantly associated with breast tumors characterized by high histologic grade (p<0.001), and large tumor size (p=0.002), resulting in decreased recurrence-free patient survival (p<0.001). Our assays demonstrate a biological 'fingerprint' of probable prior exposure to endocrine disrupting agents, and suggest a scenario in which their presence in the microenvironmental milieu of high-risk breast tissue could play a deterministic role in establishing and maintaining tumor aggressiveness and poor patient outcome. Experiment Overall Design: The study included twelve patients undergoing breast biopsy or surgery for breast cancer. Random periareolar fine needle aspirates (RPFNA) were collected from the unaffected contralateral breast of these patients. Control and hormone treated RPFNA cell cultures were analyzed using Affymetrix GeneChip(TM) arrays
Project description:Oligodendrogliomas are typically associated with the most favorable prognosis among diffuse gliomas. However, many of the tumors progress, eventually leading to patient death. To characterize the changes associated with oligodendroglioma recurrence and progression, we analyzed two recurrent oligodendroglioma tumors upon diagnosis and after tumor relapse based on whole-genome and RNA sequencing. Relapsed tumors were diagnosed as glioblastomas with an oligodendroglioma component before the World Health Organization classification update in 2016. Both patients died within 12 months after relapse. One patient carried an inactivating POLE mutation leading to a clearly hypermutated progressed tumor. Strikingly, both relapsed tumors carried focal chromosomal rearrangements in PTPRD and CNTNAP2 genes with associated decreased gene expression. TP53 mutation was also detected in both patients after tumor relapse. In The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) diffuse glioma cohort, PTPRD and CNTNAP2 expression decreased by tumor grade in oligodendrogliomas and PTPRD expression also in IDH-mutant astrocytomas. Low expression of the genes was associated with poor overall survival. Our analysis provides information about aggressive oligodendrogliomas with worse prognosis and suggests that PTPRD and CNTNAP2 expression could represent an informative marker for their stratification.
Project description:The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between gene expression profiles and new metabolic subgroups of benign meningioma with potential clinical relevance. 19 human meningiomas biopsies were obtained at the Department of Neurosurgery of the Clinical University Hospital of Valencia. This study was reviewed and approved by the local ethics committee. During surgery, most of the resected tissue was sent for routine histological analysis and the remainder was immediately put in cryogenic vials and snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen. All snap-frozen samples were stored in a freezer at -80 C until further analysis. Tumors were classified according to the 2007 WHO Histological Classification 1. Grade II meningioma were classified according to previously published criteria, including high mitotic index and three out of five markers of atypia.In summary, this work demonstrates gene expression differences in a new subgroup of histological benign meningiomas that exhibit aggressive metabolism and tumor recurrence.