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Molecular Profiling of BRCA1-and BRCA2-associated Breast Cancers

ABSTRACT: Molecular Profiling of BRCA1-and BRCA2-associated Breast Cancers Identifies FGFR2 as a Gene More Highly Expressed in BRCA2-associated Tumors BRCA1- and BRCA2-associated tumors have many morphologic characteristics in common, but appear to have distinct molecular signatures. BRCA1-associated tumors are predominantly basal-like cancers, whereas BRCA2-associated tumors have a predominant luminal-like phenotype. These two molecular signatures reflect in part the two cell types, basal/myoepithelial and luminal, found in the terminal duct lobular unit of the breast. To elucidate novel genes involved in these two spectra of breast cancer tumorigenesis we performed global gene expression analysis on breast tumors from germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. Breast tumor RNAs from 7 germline BRCA1 and 6 germline BRCA2 carriers were profiled using UHN human 19K cDNA microarrays. Supervised univariate analyses were conducted to identify genes differentially expressed between BRCA1 and BRCA2-associated tumors. Selected discriminatory genes were validated using real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in the tumor RNAs, and/or by immunohistochemistry (IHC) or by in situ hybridization (ISH) on tissue microarrays (TMAs) containing an independent set of 58 BRCA1 and 64 BRCA2-associated tumors. Genes more highly expressed in BRCA1-associated tumors included stathmin/oncoprotein 18, osteopontin, TGFß2 and Jagged 1 in addition to genes previously identified as characteristic of basal-like breast cancers. Genes more highly expressed in BRCA2-associated tumors had functions related to transcription, signal transduction (particularly MAPK signaling), cell proliferation, cell adhesion and extracellular matrix remodeling. BRCA2-associated cancers were characterized by the higher relative expression of amongst others, FGF1 and FGFR2. Tissue microarrays were used to validate the expression of FGFR2 protein by immunohistochemistry and Jagged 1 expression by in situ hybridization. BRCA2-associated cancers expressed higher levels of FGFR2 protein than BRCA1-associated cancers (p=0.004); whereas BRCA1-associated tumors exhibited elevated levels of Jagged1 mRNA compared to BRCA2-associated cancers (p=0.02). FGFR2 and FGF1 were more highly expressed in BRCA2-associated cancers compared with BRCA1-associated breast cancers, suggesting the existence of an autocrine or paracrine stimulatory loop. In addition to corroborating the basal-like signature of BRCA1-associated tumors, we identified osteopontin, stathmin/oncoprotein 18, TGFβ2, and Jagged 1 as being more highly expressed in BRCA1-associated tumors. Keywords: Gene expression profiling, genetic comparison

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE9483 | GEO | 2008/09/30

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA103261

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Pathogenic germline mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 are detected in less than one third of families with a strong history of breast cancer. It is therefore expected that mutations still remain undetected by currently used screening methods. In addition, a growing number of BRCA1/2 sequence variants of unclear pathogen significance are found in the families, constituting an increasing clinical challenge. New methods are therefore needed to improve the detection rate and aid the interpretation of the clinically uncertain variants. In this study we analyzed a series of 33 BRCA1, 22 BRCA2, and 128 sporadic tumors by RNA profiling to investigate the classification potential of RNA profiles to predict BRCA1/2 mutation status. We found that breast tumors from BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers display characteristic RNA expression patterns, allowing them to be distinguished from sporadic tumors. The majority of BRCA1 tumors were basal-like while BRCA2 tumors were mainly luminal B. Using RNA profiles, we were able to distinguish BRCA1 tumors from sporadic tumors among basal-like tumors with 83% accuracy and BRCA2 from sporadic tumors among luminal B tumors with 89% accuracy. Furthermore, subtype-specific BRCA1/2 gene signatures were successfully validated in two independent data sets with high accuracies. Although additional validation studies are required, indication of BRCA1/2 involvement (“BRCAness”) by RNA profiling could potentially be valuable as a tool for distinguishing pathogenic mutations from benign variants, for identification of undetected mutation carriers, and for selecting patients sensitive to new therapeutics such as PARP inhibitors. Gene expression profiling of 183 breast tumor samples. Breast tumors from hereditary breast cancer patients carrying a pathogenic BRCA1 (n=33) or BRCA2 (n=22) germ-line mutation were included in the study. Serving as a representative control group, primary breast tumor samples (n=128) were randomly selected. The study was conducted using Agilent-029949 Custom SurePrint G3 Human GE 8x60K Microarray platform. For cross-platform validation, a subset of the tumor samples (92 of the 183 samples) were analyzed by our in-house spotted microarray platform.

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Molecular Profiling of BRCA1-and BRCA2-associated Breast Cancers

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