Project description:RNA sequencing (Illumina TruSeq Exome Capture) of 272 tumor-adjacent and 120 benign-adjacent macrodissected prostate stromal samples from 293 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and Physicians’ Health Study.
Project description:Prostate cancer has a heterogeneous prognosis. Most previous studies have focused on the identification of prognostic biomarkers in the prostate cancer tumor. However, it is increasingly recognized that the tumor microenvironment contributes to prostate cancer aggressiveness and progression. We therefore examined whole transcriptome expression of the prostate stroma and associations with aggressive and lethal prostate cancer. We performed RNA sequencing (Illumina TruSeq Exome Capture) of 272 tumor-adjacent and 120 benign-adjacent macrodissected prostate stromal samples from 293 men with prostate cancer from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and Physicians' Health Study. We performed differential expression analysis comparing gene expression and pathways by Gleason score and lethal outcome. We also tested a previously developed stromal gene signature of Gleason score in these datasets. Comparing high- with low-Gleason score cancers, 26 genes (P < 0.001) and 12 pathways (FDR < 0.20) were significantly differentially expressed in tumor-adjacent stroma, including pathways related to stroma composition remodeling and DNA repair, with 73 genes and 65 pathways significant in benign-adjacent stroma. Comparing lethal with nonlethal prostate cancer, 11 genes were differentially expressed in tumor-adjacent and 15 genes in benign-adjacent stroma, and pathways involved in inflammatory response were differentially enriched in both tumor and benign-adjacent stroma. In addition, our previously identified Gleason stromal gene signature was validated to be associated with Gleason score in these data. Implications: Our study uncovers stroma-specific genes and pathways that are differentially enriched with high Gleason score and lethal prostate cancer, demonstrating that the molecular investigation of the tumor microenvironment can provide additional information about prostate cancer prognosis.
Project description:Higher levels of aneuploidy, characterized by imbalanced chromosome numbers, are associated with lethal progression in prostate cancer. However, how aneuploidy contributes to prostate cancer aggressiveness remains poorly understood. In this study, we assessed in patients which genes on chromosome 8q, one of the most frequently gained chromosome arms in prostate tumors, were most strongly associated with long-term risk of cancer progression to metastases and death from prostate cancer (lethal disease) in 403 patients and found the strongest candidate was cohesin subunit gene, RAD21, with an odds ratio of 3.7 (95% CI 1.8, 7.6) comparing the highest vs. lowest tertiles of mRNA expression and adjusting for overall aneuploidy burden and Gleason score, both strong prognostic factors in primary prostate cancer. Studying prostate cancer driven by the TMPRSS2-ERG oncogenic fusion, found in about half of all prostate tumors, we found that increased RAD21 alleviated toxic oncogenic stress and DNA damage caused by oncogene expression. Data from both organoids and patients indicate that increased RAD21 thereby enables aggressive tumors to sustain tumor proliferation, and more broadly suggests one path through which tumors benefit from aneuploidy.
Project description:Clinical management of prostate cancer remains a significant challenge due to the lack of available tests for guiding treatment decisions. The blood Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test has facilitated early detection and intervention of prostate cancer. However, blood PSA levels are less effective in distinguishing aggressive from indolent prostate cancers and other benign prostatic diseases. Thus, the development of novel approaches specific for prostate cancer that can differentiate aggressive from indolent disease remains an urgent medical need. In the current study, we evaluated urine specimens from prostate cancer patients instead of serum using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), with the aim of identifying effective prostate cancer biomarkers. Glycoproteins from urine samples of prostate cancer patients with different Gleason scores were characterized via solid phase extraction of N-linked glycosite-containing peptides and LC-MS/MS. In total, 2923 unique glycosite-containing peptides were identified. Comparison of urine-based glycoproteins with those identified from aggressive and non-aggressive prostate cancer tissues as well as sera from prostate cancer patients revealed that the majority of aggressive prostate cancer-associated glycoproteins were more readily detected in patient urine than serum samples. Our data collectively indicate that urine provides a highly reliable source for biomarker testing in patients with aggressive prostate cancer.
Project description:Great efforts have been made to identify key molecular aberrations that sustain growth and confer resistance to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in advanced prostate cancer (PC), and yet PC remains a lethal disease. Recent years have witnessed the discovery of several master regulator transcription factors that enhance lethal PC aggressiveness and provide actionable targets that may improve patient survival. Here we explore the role of the microphthalmia transcription factor (MITF) in lethal prostate cancer. To identify the mechanisms through which MITF mododulates prostate cancer aggressiveness, we knock-down MITF in three prostate cancer cell lines to identify the MITF regulated effector gene network contributing to lethal prostate cancer. Methods: We compared global transcription of three prostate cancer cell lines transduced with a siRNA control and 2 siRNAs targetting MITF by RNAseq. Results: RNA-seq of MITF knockdown prostate cancer cells uncovered a trasncriptional network of MITF regulated genes Conclusions: MITF regulates a discrette gene network that contributes to prostate cancer aggressiveness
Project description:This SuperSeries is composed of the following subset Series: GSE32967: Modeling lethal prostate cancer variant with small cell carcinoma features [expression profile] GSE33053: Modeling lethal prostate cancer variant with small cell carcinoma features [genomic profile] Refer to individual Series
Project description:Aggressive cancers and normal stem cells often share similar molecular and functional traits. It is unclear if aggressive phenotypes of prostate cancer molecularly resemble normal stem cells residing within the human prostate. We performed high-throughput RNA sequencing on uncultured, highly purified epithelial populations from human prostates obtained after radical prostatectomy. We found the basal population to be defined by genes associated with developmental programs, epigenetic remodeling, and invasiveness. We further generated a 91-gene basal signature and applied it to gene expression datasets from patients with organ-confined or castration-resistant, metastatic prostate cancer. Metastatic prostate cancer was more enriched for the basal stem cell signature than organ-confined prostate cancer. Moreover, histological subtypes within prostate cancer metastases varied in their enrichment of the stem cell signature with small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma being the most stem cell-like. Bioinformatic analysis of the basal cell and two human small cell gene signatures identified a set of E2F target genes common to all three signatures. These results suggest that the most aggressive variants of prostate cancer share a core transcriptional program with normal prostate basal stem cells. Transcriptional analysis of 10 uncultured prostatic basal and luminal populations from either the benign or malignant prostate tissue of 8 human prostate cancer patients by high-throughput RNA-seq