A Human Adult Stem Cell Signature Marks Aggressive Variants across Epithelial Cancers.

ABSTRACT: Cancer progression to an aggressive phenotype often co-opts aspects of stem cell biology. Here, we developed gene signatures for normal human stem cell populations to understand the relationship between epithelial cancers and stem cell transcriptional programs. Using a pan-cancer approach, we reveal that aggressive epithelial cancers are enriched for a transcriptional signature shared by epithelial adult stem cells. The adult stem cell signature selected for epithelial cancers with worse overall survival and alterations of oncogenic drivers. Lethal small cell neuroendocrine lung, prostate, and bladder cancers transcriptionally converged onto the adult stem cell signature and not other stem cell signatures tested. We found that DNA methyltransferase expression correlated with adult stem cel

SUBMITTER: Smith BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6382070 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature