Project description:Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Mutations in the innate immune receptor AIM2 are frequently identified in patients with colorectal cancer, but how AIM2 modulates colonic tumorigenesis is unknown. Here, we found that Aim2-deficient mice were hypersusceptible to colonic tumor development. Production of inflammasome-associated cytokines and other inflammatory mediators were largely intact in Aim2-deficient mice, however, intestinal stem cells were prone to uncontrolled proliferation. Aberrant Wnt signaling expanded a population of tumor-initiating stem cells in the absence of AIM2. Susceptibility of Aim2-deficient mice to colorectal tumorigenesis was enhanced by a dysbiotic gut microbiota, which was reduced by reciprocal exchange of gut microbiota with wild-type healthy mice. These findings uncover a synergy between a specific host genetic factor and gut microbiota in determining the susceptibility to colorectal cancer. Therapeutic modulation of AIM2 expression and microbiota has the potential to prevent colorectal cancer. We used microarrays to compare the transcriptome Aim2 deficent mice to wild type mice in colon tumor and colitis samples. Here were 12 mice in total, 3 for each genotype and tissue combination.
Project description:Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Mutations in the innate immune receptor AIM2 are frequently identified in patients with colorectal cancer, but how AIM2 modulates colonic tumorigenesis is unknown. Here, we found that Aim2-deficient mice were hypersusceptible to colonic tumor development. Production of inflammasome-associated cytokines and other inflammatory mediators were largely intact in Aim2-deficient mice, however, intestinal stem cells were prone to uncontrolled proliferation. Aberrant Wnt signaling expanded a population of tumor-initiating stem cells in the absence of AIM2. Susceptibility of Aim2-deficient mice to colorectal tumorigenesis was enhanced by a dysbiotic gut microbiota, which was reduced by reciprocal exchange of gut microbiota with wild-type healthy mice. These findings uncover a synergy between a specific host genetic factor and gut microbiota in determining the susceptibility to colorectal cancer. Therapeutic modulation of AIM2 expression and microbiota has the potential to prevent colorectal cancer.
Project description:Pancreatic cancer is the 3rd most prevalent cause of cancer related deaths in United states alone, with over 55000 patients being diagnosed in 2019 alone and nearly as many succumbing to it. Late detection, lack of effective therapy and poor understanding of pancreatic cancer systemically contributes to its poor survival statistics. Obesity and high caloric intake linked co-morbidities like type 2 diabetes (T2D) have been attributed as being risk factors for a number of cancers including pancreatic cancer. Studies on gut microbiome has shown that lifestyle factors as well as diet has a huge effect on the microbial flora of the gut. Further, modulation of gut microbiome has been seen to contribute to effects of intensive insulin therapy in mice on high fat diet. In another study, abnormal gut microbiota was reported to contribute to development of diabetes in Db/Db mice. Recent studies indicate that microbiome and microbial dysbiosis plays a role in not only the onset of disease but also in its outcome. In colorectal cancer, Fusobacterium has been reported to promote therapy resistance. Certain intra-tumoral bacteria have also been shown to elicit chemo-resistance by metabolizing anti-cancerous agents. In pancreatic cancer, studies on altered gut microbiome have been relatively recent. Microbial dysbiosis has been observed to be associated with pancreatic tumor progression. Modulation of microbiome has been shown to affect response to anti-PD1 therapy in this disease as well. However, most of the studies in pancreatic cancer and microbiome have remained focused om immune modulation. In the current study, we observed that in a T2D mouse model, the microbiome changed significantly as the hyperglycemia developed in these animals. Our results further showed that, tumors implanted in the T2D mice responded poorly to Gemcitabine/Paclitaxel (Gem/Pac) standard of care compared to those in the control group. A metabolomic reconstruction of the WGS of the gut microbiota further revealed that an enrichment of bacterial population involved in drug metabolism in the T2D group.
Project description:We report the association between CpG islander methylator phenotype (CIMP) and the gut microbiome in human colorectal cancer tumor and adjacent normal tissue.
Project description:We report the association between CpG islander methylator phenotype (CIMP) and the gut microbiome in human colorectal cancer tumor and adjacent normal tissue.
Project description:Gut microbial dysbiosis can play a causal role of in colorectal cancer. Gut microbiota chnages with age and becomes moer pro-inflammatory. We sought to determine whether microbiota from Old donors promotes more tumor formation in recipients than meterial from young donors.
Project description:Gut microbial dysbiosis can play a causal role of in colorectal cancer. Gut microbiota chnages with age and becomes moer pro-inflammatory. We sought to determine whether microbiota from Old donors promotes more tumor formation in recipients than meterial from young donors.
Project description:The discovery of cytosine hydroxymethylation (5-hmC) as a mechanism that potentially controls DNA methylation changes typical of neoplasia prompted us to investigate its behavior in colon cancer. 5-hmC is globally reduced in proliferating cells such as colon tumors and the gut crypt progenitors, from which tumors can arise. Here, we show that colorectal tumors and cancer cells express Ten-Eleven Translocation (TET) transcripts at levels similar to normal tissues. Genome-wide analyses show that promoters marked by 5-hmC in normal tissue, and those identified as TET2 targets in colorectal cancer cells, are resistant to methylation gain in cancer. In vitro studies of TET2 in cancer cells confirm that these promoters are resistant to methylation gain independently of sustained TET2 expression. We also find that a considerable number of the methylation gain-resistant promoters marked by 5-hmC in normal colon overlap with those that are marked with poised bivalent histone modifications in embryonic stem cells. Together our results indicate that promoters that acquire 5-hmC upon normal colon differentiation are innately resistant to neoplastic hypermethylation by mechanisms that do not require high levels of 5-hmC in tumors. Our study highlights the potential of cytosine modifications as biomarkers of cancerous cell proliferation. 5 normal colon samples and 4 matching tumor samples were profiled for 5-hydroxymethylcytosine content genomewide using hmeDIP-seq. The colorectal cancer cell line HCT116 was profiled for binding of TET2 genomewide by chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq).