Gene expression signature of human HepG2 cell line

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and is associated with various clinico-pathological characteristics such as genetic mutations and viral infections. Therefore, numerous laboratories look out for identifying always new putative markers for the improvement of HCC diagnosis/prognosis. Many molecular profiling studies investigated gene expression changes related to HCC. HepG2 represents a pure cell line of human liver carcinoma, often used as HCC model due to the absence of viral infection. In this study we compare gene expression profiles associated with HepG2 (as HCC model) and normal hepatocyte cells by microarray technology. Hierarchical cluster analysis of genes evidenced that 2646 genes significantly down-regulated in HepG2 cells compared to hepatocytes whereas a further 3586 genes significantly up-regulated. By using the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) program, we have classified the genes that were differently expressed and studied the functional networks correlating these genes in the complete human interactome. Moreover, to confirm the differentially expressed genes as well as the reliability of our microarray data, we performed a quantitative Real time RT-PCR analysis on 9 up-regulated and 11 down-regulated genes, respectively. In conclusion this work i) provides a gene signature of human hepatoma cells showing genes that change their expression as a consequence of liver cancer in the absence of any genetic mutations or viral infection, ii) evidences new differently expressed genes found in our signature compared to previous published studies and iii) suggests some genes on which to focus future studies to understand if they can be used to improve the HCC prognosis/diagnosis.     

From Description to Causality: Mechanisms of Gene Expression Signatures in Cancer

Global gene expression profiles of thousands of cancer samples have been completed, giving rise to hundreds of gene expression signatures (GES). Although many expression signatures show promise in predicting patient prognosis or response to therapies, the usefulness of the signatures in understanding the underlying mechanisms of cancer has not been fully exploited. While “reverse genomic” methods can test specific hypotheses of gene regulation, they fare less well in deciphering novel or combinatorial mechanisms of gene regulation. Recently we described SLAMS (stepwise linkage analysis of microarray signatures), a novel method that can prospectively identify genetic regulators of gene expression signatures in cancer. Applying SLAMS on a poor-prognosis wound signature in human breast cancer, we identified CSN5-mediated ubiquitination of MYC as a novel mechanism to activate a biological program favoring metastasis.     

RB-pathway disruption in breast cancer: Differential association with disease subtypes,disease-specific prognosis and therapeutic response

In breast cancer, inactivation of the RB tumor suppressor gene is believed to occur via multiple mechanisms to facilitate tumorigenesis. However, the prognostic and predictive value of RB status in disease-specific clinical outcomes has remained uncertain. We investigated RB pathway deregulation in the context of both ER-positive and ER-negative disease using combined microarray datasets encompassing over 900 breast cancer patient samples. Disease-specific characteristics of RB pathway deregulation were investigated in this dataset by evaluating correlation among pathway genes as well as differential expression across patient tumor populations defined by ER status. Survival analysis among these breast cancer samples demonstrates that the RB-loss signature is associated with poor disease outcome within several independent cohorts. Within the ER-negative subpopulation, the RB-loss signature is associated with improved response to chemotherapy and longer relapse-free survival. Additionally, while individual genes in the RB target signature closely reproduce its prognostic value, they also serve to predict and monitor response to therapeutic compounds, such as the cytostatic agent PD-0332991. These results indicate that the RB-loss signature expression is associated with poor outcome in breast cancer, but predicts improved response to chemotherapy based on data in ER-negative populations. While the RB-loss signature, as a whole, demonstrates prognostic and predictive utility, a small subset of markers could be sufficient to stratify patients based on RB function and inform the selection of appropriate therapeutic regimens.Key words: RB, breast cancer, microarray, proliferation, cytostatics     

Genome-wide analysis of gene expression in human embryonic tooth germ

While numerous genes that play important regulatory roles during tooth development in mice have been identified, little is known about gene expression profile and their function during human odontogenesis. To unveil expression profile of odontogenic genes in humans, we conducted genome-wide gene expression analysis by microarray assays to analyze differential gene expression between tooth germ and lip tissue from 11-week old human fetuses. We identified 167 genes that are strongly expressed in the cap stage tooth germ as compared to the lip tissue. Among them, 145 genes were further identified by gene ontology enrichment analysis that are highly represented in multiple gene ontology classes, include extracellular components, sequence-specific DNA binding proteins, Wnt-protein binding molecules, system development, organogenesis, and cell differentiation. Sixty-seven genes that are known to be associated with mammalian tooth development and tooth abnormalities were identified. Real-time PCR was further employed to validate microarray data. Moreover, in situ hybridization assay demonstrated tooth type specific expression of ISL1 and BARX1 in the incisor, canine, and molar respectively, consistent with microarray results. Our results represent a set of reliable data that could provide a solid base for future elaboration of molecular mechanisms underlying human tooth development.     

Signatures of accelerated somatic evolution in gene promoters in multiple cancer types

Cancer-associated somatic mutations outside protein-coding regions remain largely unexplored. Analyses of the TERT locus have indicated that non-coding regulatory mutations can be more frequent than previously suspected and play important roles in oncogenesis. Using a computational method called SASE-hunter, developed here, we identified a novel signature of accelerated somatic evolution (SASE) marked by a significant excess of somatic mutations localized in a genomic locus, and prioritized those loci that carried the signature in multiple cancer patients. Interestingly, even when an affected locus carried the signature in multiple individuals, the mutations contributing to SASE themselves were rarely recurrent at the base-pair resolution. In a pan-cancer analysis of 906 samples from 12 tumor types, we detected SASE in the promoters of several genes, including known cancer genes such as MYC, BCL2, RBM5 and WWOX. Nucleotide substitution patterns consistent with oxidative DNA damage and local somatic hypermutation appeared to contribute to this signature in selected gene promoters (e.g. MYC). SASEs in selected cancer gene promoters were associated with over-expression, and also correlated with the age of onset of cancer, aggressiveness of the disease and survival. Taken together, our work detects a hitherto under-appreciated and clinically important class of regulatory changes in cancer genomes.     

Reversible tumorigenesis by MYC in hematopoietic lineages.

The targeted repair of mutant protooncogenes or the inactivation of their gene products may be a specific and effective therapy for human neoplasia. To examine this possibility, we have used the tetracycline regulatory system to generate transgenic mice that conditionally express the MYC protooncogene in hematopoietic cells. Sustained expression of the MYC transgene culminated in the formation of malignant T cell lymphomas and acute myleoid leukemias. The subsequent inactivation of the transgene caused regression of established tumors. Tumor regression was associated with rapid proliferative arrest, differentiation and apoptosis of tumor cells, and resumption of normal host hematopoiesis. We conclude that even though tumorigenesis is a multistep process, remediation of a single genetic lesion may be sufficient to reverse malignancy.     

Global Demethylation of Rat Chondrosarcoma Cells after Treatment with 5-Aza-2′-Deoxycytidine Results in Increased Tumorigenicity

Abnormal patterns of DNA methylation are observed in several types of human cancer. While localized DNA methylation of CpG islands has been associated with gene silencing, the effect that genome-wide loss of methylation has on tumorigenesis is not completely known. To examine its effect on tumorigenesis, we induced DNA demethylation in a rat model of human chondrosarcoma using 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine. Rat specific pyrosequencing assays were utilized to assess the methylation levels in both LINEs and satellite DNA sequences following 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine treatment. Loss of DNA methylation was accompanied by an increase in invasiveness of the rat chondrosarcoma cells, in vitro, as well as by an increase in tumor growth in vivo. Subsequent microarray analysis provided insight into the gene expression changes that result from 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine induced DNA demethylation. In particular, two genes that may function in tumorigenesis, sox-2 and midkine, were expressed at low levels in control cells but upon 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine treatment these genes became overexpressed. Promoter region DNA analysis revealed that these genes were methylated in control cells but became demethylated following 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine treatment. Following withdrawal of 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine, the rat chondrosarcoma cells reestablished global DNA methylation levels that were comparable to that of control cells. Concurrently, invasiveness of the rat chondrosarcoma cells, in vitro, decreased to a level indistinguishable to that of control cells. Taken together these experiments demonstrate that global DNA hypomethylation induced by 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine may promote specific aspects of tumorigenesis in rat chondrosarcoma cells.     

GWAS Meets Microarray: Are the Results of Genome-Wide Association Studies and Gene-Expression Profiling Consistent? Prostate Cancer as an Example

Background

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and global profiling of gene expression (microarrays) are two major technological breakthroughs that allow hypothesis-free identification of candidate genes associated with tumorigenesis. It is not obvious whether there is a consistency between the candidate genes identified by GWAS (GWAS genes) and those identified by profiling gene expression (microarray genes).

Methodology/Principal Findings

We used the Cancer Genetic Markers Susceptibility database to retrieve single nucleotide polymorphisms from candidate genes for prostate cancer. In addition, we conducted a large meta-analysis of gene expression data in normal prostate and prostate tumor tissue. We identified 13,905 genes that were interrogated by both GWASs and microarrays. On the basis of P values from GWASs, we selected 1,649 most significantly associated genes for functional annotation by the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. We also conducted functional annotation analysis using same number of the top genes identified in the meta-analysis of the gene expression data. We found that genes involved in cell adhesion were overrepresented among both the GWAS and microarray genes.

Conclusions/Significance

We conclude that the results of these analyses suggest that combining GWAS and microarray data would be a more effective approach than analyzing individual datasets and can help to refine the identification of candidate genes and functions associated with tumor development.     

RB-pathway disruption in breast cancer

In breast cancer, inactivation of the RB tumor suppressor gene is believed to occur via multiple mechanisms to facilitate tumorigenesis. However, the prognostic and predictive value of RB status in disease-specific clinical outcomes has remained uncertain. We investigated RB pathway deregulation in the context of both ER-positive and ER-negative disease using combined microarray datasets encompassing over 900 breast cancer patient samples. Disease-specific characteristics of RB pathway deregulation were investigated in this dataset by evaluating correlation among pathway genes as well as differential expression across patient tumor populations defined by ER status. Survival analysis among these breast cancer samples demonstrates that the RB-loss signature is associated with poor disease outcome within several independent cohorts. Within the ER-negative subpopulation, the RB-loss signature is associated with improved response to chemotherapy and longer relapse-free survival. Additionally, while individual genes in the RB target signature closely reproduce its prognostic value, they also serve to predict and monitor response to therapeutic compounds, such as the cytostatic agent PD-0332991. These results indicate that the RB-loss signature expression is associated with poor outcome in breast cancer, but predicts improved response to chemotherapy based on data in ER-negative populations. While the RB-loss signature, as a whole, demonstrates prognostic and predictive utility, a small subset of markers could be sufficient to stratify patients based on RB function and inform the selection of appropriate therapeutic regimens.