Project description:Cervical cancer is the fourth most frequently diagnosed and fatal gynecological cancer. 15-61% of all cases metastasize and develop chemoresistance, reducing the 5-year survival of cervical cancer patients to as low as 17%. Therefore, unraveling the mechanisms contributing to metastasis is critical in developing better-targeted therapies against it. Here, we have identified a novel mechanism where nuclear Caspase-8 directly interacts with and inhibits the activity of CDK9, thereby modulating RNAPII-mediated global transcription, including those of cell-migration and -invasion-associated genes. Crucially, low Caspase-8 expression in cervical cancer patients leads to poor prognosis, higher CDK9 phosphorylation at Thr186, and increased RNAPII activity in cervical cancer cell lines and patient biopsies. Caspase-NT8 knock-out cells were also more resistant to the small-molecule CDK9 inhibitor BAY1251152 in both 2D- and 3D-culture conditions. Combining BAY1251152 with Cisplatin synergistically overcame chemoresistance of Caspase-8 deficient cervical cancer cells. Therefore, Caspase-8 expression could be a marker in chemoresistant cervical tumors, suggesting CDK9 inhibitor treatment for their sensitization to Cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
Project description:A better understanding of the consequences of recurrent (epi)genetic alterations that occur during cervical carcinogenesis is essential in the search for novel biomarkers. In this study we determined genome-wide expression profiles of 10 squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), 5 adenocarcinomas (AdCAs) and 6 normal epithelial samples. Expression patterns were subsequently combined with previously determined chromosomal profiles in the same carcinomas. Differential gene expression analysis identified 76 genes with altered expression in carcinomas compared to normal epithelium. Microarray results for a subset of these genes were validated by real-time RT-PCR. Among the differentially expressed genes a relative overrepresentation of genes located at chromosome 3q, one of the most frequently gained areas in SCCs, was observed (false discovery rate (FDR)<0.005). To further investigate the relationship between gene expression and chromosomal alterations 2 statistical approaches were used, i.e. differential gene locus mapping (DIGMAP) and the array CGH expression integration tool (ACE-it). Using these methods we found that increased gene expression was linked to increased gene copy numbers at 1q32.1, 3q13.32-22.3, 3q26.32-27.3, and 20q11.21-13.33, whereas a loss at 11q22.3-25 correlated with recurrent decreased gene expression. Integrated genome-wide chromosomal and transcriptional analysis of cervical carcinomas highlighted 7 genes (i.e. FLJ21291, DTX3L, CCDC14, MCM2, PIK3R4, ATP2C1 and SLC25A36), which were identified by differential gene expression analysis and were located within the chromosomal regions identified by DIGMAP and/or ACE-it as well. Further investigations of these promising marker genes in warranted. Keywords: microarray analysis, array CGH, cervical cancer For microarray mRNA expression analysis 10 SCCs, 5 AdCAs and 6 normal epithelial controls were used. Normal cervical controls consisted of 1 pool of 3 normal cervices distant from tumour, 1 pool of 4 normal ectocervical smears and 1 pool of 5 normal endocervical smears. To expand our number of normal squamous epithelial controls, we included expression profiles of 3 uvulas of non-cancer patients who underwent uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. In addition, we hybridised RNA isolated from 2 different biopsies of the same SCC (SCC12 and SCC13) as a biological replicate. The pool of 4 normal ectocervical smears was hybridised twice as a technical replicate to determine technical variation. Genomic profiling of the same 10 SCCs and 5 AdCAs was done using array CGH (Wilting et al, J Pathol 2006, volume 209, p 220-30).
Project description:Cancer cells undergo transcriptional reprogramming to drive tumor progression and metastasis. Here, we identified the transcriptional complex, NELF (Negative elongation factor), as an important regulator of this process. Using cancer cell lines and patient-derived tumor organoids, we demonstrated that loss of NELF inhibits breast cancer tumorigenesis and metastasis. Specifically, we found that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stemness-associated genes are downregulated in NELF-depleted breast cancer cells. Quantitative Multiplexed Rapid Immunoprecipitation Mass spectrometry of Endogenous proteins (qPLEX-RIME) of NELF-E, a key subunit of NELF, reveals significant rewiring of NELF-E-associated chromatin partners as a function of EMT, and further illuminates a co-option of NELF-E with the key EMT transcription factor SLUG. Accordingly, loss of NELF-E led to impaired SLUG binding on chromatin. Through integrative transcriptomic and genomic analyses, we identified the histone acetyltransferase, KAT2B, as a key functional target of NELF-E-SLUG. Genetic and pharmacological inactivation of KAT2B ameliorate expression of critical EMT marker genes, phenocopying NELF ablation. Elevated NELF-E and KAT2B expressions are associated with poorer prognosis in breast cancer patients, highlighting the clinical relevance of our findings. Importantly, KAT2B knockout mice are viable, raising the exciting prospect of targeting this dependency therapeutically. Taken together, we uncovered a crucial role of the NELF-E-KAT2B epigenetic axis in breast cancer carcinogenesis.
Project description:This study assessed the transcriptional profile of SiHa cells. SiHa is a cervical cancer cell line with integrated HPV16, and was used as a model to study human gene expression in the context of integrated virus. Gene expression in SiHa, calculated by Cufflinks, was scored in windows around the locations of known viral integrations in patients or cell lines to determine if there was an association between gene expression and viral integration. We found that SiHa gene expression was higher near loci of integration for HPV18 vs. HPV16, cervical tissues vs. head and neck cancers, and cervical cancers vs. in vitro integrations. This study provides insight into the factors that may influence where viruses integrate in the human genome.
Project description:Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH) of 70 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) samples was performed on Agilent 244K CGH arrays in order to find common genomic aberrations for cancer gene discovery. Additionally, matched expression profiling on Agilent 44K arrays was performed. Common copy number aberrations were identified in order to identify a list of putative cancer genes. Expression profiling data was used to further enrich this list of putative cancer genes for more likely candidates. Last, the most promising candidates were functionally interrogated using RNA interference-mediated knockdown to mimic loss. Well-known PDAC cancer genes were observed as amplified (KRAS and MYC) and deleted (CDKN2A, TGFBR2, SMAD4, and MAP2K4).
Project description:Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide. In addition to the important role played by HPV, the underlying mechanism promoting cervical tumorigenesis is complex and involves deregulation of key signaling pathways. Recently, role of miRNA mediated abnormal regulatory mechanisms is implicated in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer. Micro RNAs are regulatory, non‐coding RNAs about 21–23 nucleotides in length and effects the expression of a number of genes at the post‐transcriptional level. For the past few decades, role of curcumin in inhibiting the growth of cervical cancer and increasing the chemo and radio- sensistivity has been studied extensively. Interestingly, curcumin was shown to downregulate NF-κB, Wnt/β-catenin, TGF‐β and various other signaling pathways in cervical cancer cells. Although, a number of microarray studies have examined the use of miRNAs as cancer diagnostic markers, the regulation of miRNAs upon treatment with curcumin in cervical cancer cells has not been studied. The current study is aimed to perform miRNA profiling in cervical cancer cells following curcumin treatment and to study the role of miRNAs in regulating the different signaling pathways.
Project description:In our previous study, we revealed that transducing (beta)-like 1X-linked (TBLR1) is a potential prognostic marker which has a negative effect on the overall survival in cervical cancer patients.This transcriptome sequencing results of TBLR1-overexpressing and TBLR1-knockdown cervical cells identified ZXDC (ZXD family zinc finger C) as the most significantly differently expressed transcription factor (TF) among all TFs (Figure S1), indicating its potential role in cervical cancer progression.
Project description:Interventions: Case series:None
Primary outcome(s): exon genes;transcriptional expression;proteome;protein phosphorylation group
Study Design: Sequential
Project description:We integrated the copy number data with gene expression data from the same HCC samples, and identified fifteen putative driver genes with recurrently genomic aberrations and their associated modules in HCC. We further confirmed empirically that three putative driver genes (MYH10, CEP104 and RRS1) play significant roles in tumor initiation and progression of HCC. Notably, we demonstrated that RRS1 regulates the MDM2-P53 pathway and promotes tumor progression by retaining RPL11 in the nucleolus in HCC. Altogether, these data provide insights into novel cancer driver genes and suggested molecular targets for treatment for HCC.