Project description:To provide a snapshot of gene expression for the cancer models distributed by The Jackson Laboratory as assayed using the Affymetrix HU133 platform.
Project description:MYCN amplification and overexpression are common in neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC). However, the impact of aberrant N-Myc expression in prostate tumorigenesis and the cellular origin of NEPC have not been established. We define N-Myc and activated AKT1 as oncogenic components sufficient to transform human prostate epithelial cells to prostate adenocarcinoma and NEPC including the small cell prostate carcinoma (SCPC) variant with phenotypic and molecular features of aggressive, late-stage human disease. We directly show that prostate adenocarcinoma and NEPC can both arise from a common epithelial clone. Further, N-Myc is required for tumor maintenance and destabilization of N-Myc through Aurora A kinase inhibition reduces tumor burden. Our findings establish N-Myc as a driver of NEPC and a target for therapeutic intervention. Expression profiling by high throughput sequencing of experimentally generated human tumors with mixed NEPC and prostate adenocarcinoma. Gene expression analysis of laser capture microdissected NEPC and adenocarcinoma from three independent engineered human tumors of mixed NEPC and prostate adenocarcinoma phenotype.
Project description:A large body of evidence has demonstrated that many human tumors are maintained by a small cell population called cancer stem cells (CSCs) or tumor progenitors, which are responsible for tumor formation, therapy resistance and metastasis. We found that ionizing radiation treatment enriches for the CSC phenotype and properties by preferential survival and expansion of tumor progenitor cells. Our studies revealed that aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity is indicative of prostate tumor progenitor cells with increased chemo- and radioresistance, enhanced migratory potential, improved DNA- double strand break repair and activation of the signaling pathways, which promote self-renewal and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. We found that X-ray irradiation can convert the bulk tumor cells to more clonogenic and radioresistant population positive for expression of CSC markers. For the first time we showed that irradiation increases histone H3K4 and H3K36 methylation in prostate cancer cells, thereby reactivating transcription of epigenetically silenced target genes. We showed that radioresistant tumor progenitor population undergoes a phenotypical switching during the course of irradiation, suggesting that controlling the phenotypical and functional properties of CSCs during radiation therapy is ultimative for the optimization of treatment strategies. Our studies have shown that CSC markers may be beneficial in prediction of tumor radiocurability, and combination of irradiation with therapies directed against CSCs can be a useful strategy to improve cancer treatment. To identify potential biomarkers associated with CSC population in these xenograft tumors, we performed whole genome gene expression profiling of the xenograft tumors treated with NVP-BEZ235, which eliminates prostate cancer progenitor populations or with Taxotere, which targets the bulk tumor cells as compared with vehicle-treated control mice. Treatment with either vehicle, Taxotere, NVP-BEZ235, or a combination of these two. There are no replicates
Project description:Atglflox/flox (B6N.129S-Pnpla2tm1Eek/J), S100A8-cre+/- (B6.Cg-Tg(S100A8-cre,-EGFP)1Ilw/J) mice were obtained from The Jackson Laboratory. Atglflox/flox mice were bred to S100A8-cre+/- mice to generate Atglflox/WTS100A8-cre+/- mice, which were backcrossed onto Atglflox/flox mice to generate Atglflox/floxS100A8-cre+/- mice (Atgl neutrophils-specific knock out, Atgl-cKO). Age-matched littermate Atglflox/flox mice were used as wild-type (WT) controls. To compare of the gene expression of the lung-infiltrating neutrophils isolated from Atgl-cKO mice and their WT littermates, AT3-g-csf cells were injected into the fourth mammary fat pads of female WT and Atgl-cKO mice (10-week-old, n = 4/group). The AT3-g-csf cell line is based on a murine breast cancer cell line (AT3) derived from MMTV-PyMT tumors in the C57BL/6 background, and further constructed to overexpress granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) for induction of the host inflammatory condition. At day 10 (pre-metastatic stage), the mice were euthanized and then Ly6G+ neutrophils were isolated from lung by using anti-Ly6G MicroBead Kit (Miltenyi Biotec) following manufacturer’s instructions. The isolated neutrophils were analyzed by flow cytometry and the cells with a > 95% purity were used for the next procedure. Total RNA was isolated from neutrophils using the miRNeasy Mini kit (Qiagen) and the transcriptional profiles of neutrophils were analyzed by RNA sequencing.