Project description:Previous work has shown that lung tumors and normal-appearing adjacent lung tissues share specific abnormalities that may be highly pertinent to the pathogenesis of lung cancer. However, the global and molecular adjacent airway field cancerization in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been characterized before. We sought to understand the transcriptomic architecture of the adjacent airway field canerization, in conjunction with tumors, to gain additional insights into the lung cancer biology and oncogenesis. We analyzed the transcriptome, using the Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0 ST platform, of matched NSCLC tumors, multiple normal airway epithelia with differential distance from the tumors as well as uninvolved normal lung tissues. We analyzed the airway field cancerization transcritpome to determine global differentially expressed cancerization profiles in adjacent airways as well as airway profiles that may be modulated by distance from tumors.
Project description:Previous work has shown that lung tumors and normal-appearing adjacent lung tissues share specific abnormalities that may be highly pertinent to the pathogenesis of lung cancer. However, the global and molecular adjacent airway field cancerization in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been characterized before. We sought to understand the transcriptomic architecture of the adjacent airway field canerization, in conjunction with tumors, to gain additional insights into the lung cancer biology and oncogenesis.
Project description:While lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the US, we have a limited understanding of the earliest molecular events preceding the onset of disease. Prior work has demonstrated that cigarette smoke creates a molecular “field of injury” throughout the airway epithelium and that there are distinct alterations in the airway transcriptome among smokers who have lung cancer. Molecular characterization of this airway “field of injury” in current and former smokers with premalignant lesions (PMLs) could provide novel insights into the earliest molecular events associated with lung carcinogenesis and identify relatively accessible biomarkers to guide lung cancer detection and early intervention. Using mRNA sequencing (mRNA-Seq), we profiled cytologically normal bronchial airway epithelial cells collected during autofluorescence bronchoscopy from high-risk smokers (n=75) with and without bronchial PMLs. We identified 280 genes differentially expressed in the “field of injury” between subjects with (n=50) and without (n=25) PMLs (FDR<0.002), 81 of which were up-regulated in subjects with PMLs. Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), the electron transport chain (ETC), and mitochondrial protein transport pathways were strongly enriched among these up-regulated genes (FDR<0.05). We next demonstrated that OXPHOS activation is shared between the “field” and the PMLs with increased oxygen consumption and increased staining for mitochondrial markers in biopsies of PMLs from patients as well as an animal model of lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) premalignancy. The 280-gene signature also has a significant concordant relationship to gene expression changes identified in PMLs adjacent to lung SCC tumors, in lung SCC tumors, and in the cytologically normal airway of individuals with lung cancer (FDR<0.05). These findings suggest that these expression changes are reflective of early cancer-associated changes occurring throughout the respiratory tract, and that pathways such as OXPHOS may be targets for chemoprevention. We subsequently developed an airway gene expression biomarker that predicts the presence of PMLs (AUC=0.92, n=17 samples in test set) and show that changes in the biomarker score are associated with progression and regression of PMLs in an independent cohort (AUC=0.75, n=51 samples). The biomarker results indicate that molecular alterations in the field of injury are dynamic with progression or regression of PMLs, suggesting that these changes may be leveraged to stratify high-risk smokers with progressive disease into early intervention trials and monitor disease progression or recurrence.
Project description:While lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the US, we have a limited understanding of the earliest molecular events preceding the onset of disease. Prior work has demonstrated that cigarette smoke creates a molecular “field of injury” throughout the airway epithelium and that there are distinct alterations in the airway transcriptome among smokers who have lung cancer. Molecular characterization of this airway “field of injury” in current and former smokers with premalignant lesions (PMLs) could provide novel insights into the earliest molecular events associated with lung carcinogenesis and identify relatively accessible biomarkers to guide lung cancer detection and early intervention. Using mRNA sequencing (mRNA-Seq), we profiled 82 cytologically normal bronchial airway epithelial cells collected during autofluorescence bronchoscopy from high-risk smokers with and without bronchial PMLs, 75 of which were used in downstream analyses. We identified 280 genes differentially expressed in the “field of injury” between subjects with (n=50) and without (n=25) PMLs (FDR<0.002), 81 of which were up-regulated in subjects with PMLs. Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), the electron transport chain (ETC), and mitochondrial protein transport pathways were strongly enriched among these up-regulated genes (FDR<0.05). We next demonstrated that OXPHOS activation is shared between the “field” and the PMLs with increased oxygen consumption and increased staining for mitochondrial markers in biopsies of PMLs from patients as well as an animal model of lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) premalignancy. The 280-gene signature also has a significant concordant relationship to gene expression changes identified in PMLs adjacent to lung SCC tumors, in lung SCC tumors, and in the cytologically normal airway of individuals with lung cancer (FDR<0.05). These findings suggest that these expression changes are reflective of early cancer-associated changes occurring throughout the respiratory tract, and that pathways such as OXPHOS may be targets for chemoprevention. We subsequently developed an airway gene expression biomarker that predicts the presence of PMLs (AUC=0.92, n=17 samples in test set) and show that changes in the biomarker score are associated with progression and regression of PMLs in an independent cohort (AUC=0.75, n=51 samples). The biomarker results indicate that molecular alterations in the field of injury are dynamic with progression or regression of PMLs, suggesting that these changes may be leveraged to stratify high-risk smokers with progressive disease into early intervention trials and monitor disease progression or recurrence.
Project description:We recently characterized the adjacent airway field of cancerization in NSCLC by whole transcriptome expression analysis and demonstrated that lysosomal protein transmembrane 4 beta (LAPTM4B) was an elevated field cancerization marker in NSCLCs and in adjacent but not in distant normal-appearing airways. We also found that LAPTM4B was up-regulated in NSCLCs compared to normal lung and promoted anchorage-dependent growth of lung cancer cells. Previous reports suggested that LAPTM4B is activated following metabolic and genotixc stress. The precise role of LAPTM4B in lung cancer cell survival and NSCLC pathogenesis is still elusive.
Project description:Field of cancerization in the airway epithelium has been increasing examined to understand early pathogenesis of non-small cell lung cancer. This study uses microarray high-throughput technologies to characterize the molecular aberrations in the terminal airway and bronchoalveolar cells in the context of field cancerization in high-risk smokers and lung cancer patients. We collected peripheral airway brushings from the contral-lateral lung of the tumor from cancer patients (n=17) and smoker controls (n=13); Total RNA were obtained from the peripheral airway epithelium.
Project description:Field of cancerization in the airway epithelium has been increasing examined to understand early pathogenesis of non-small cell lung cancer. This study uses microarray high-throughput technologies to characterize the molecular aberrations in the terminal airway and bronchoalveolar cells in the context of field cancerization in high-risk smokers and lung cancer patients. We collected peripheral airway brushings from the contral-lateral lung of the tumor from cancer patients (n=17) and smoker controls (n=13); Total RNA were obtained from the peripheral airway epithelium.
Project description:Gene expression alterations in response to cigarette smoke have been characterized in normal-appearing bronchial epithelium of healthy smokers and it has been suggested that adjacent histologically normal tissue display tumor-associated molecular abnormalities. We sought to delineate the spatial and temporal molecular lung field of injury in smoker early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients (n=19) who were accrued into a surveillance clinical trial for annual follow-up and bronchoscopies within one year after definitive surgery. Bronchial brushings and biopsies were obtained from six different sites in the lung at the time of inclusion in the study and at 12, 24 and 36 months after the first time point. Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0 ST arrays were used for whole-transcript expression profiling of airways (n=391). Mixed-effects models were performed to determine significant differential gene expression modulation by site from tumor and time following inclusion in the study within the molecular field of injury.
Project description:To further understand the expression pattern of long non-coding RNAs in early stage lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), we have employed the Arraystar Human LncRNA Microarray V3.0 profiling as a discovery platform to identify lncRNAs which are differentially expressed in early stage lung SCC. Three pairs of tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues of early stage lung SCC patients are used for microarray analysis.