Project description:Two expression profilings were conducted in order to identify drug-associated genes in ovarian cancers. The first expression profiling was performed between RNAs from chemosensitive ovarian cancers and chemoresistant ovarian cancers. The second analysis was using a drug sensitive ovarian cancer cell line and a multi-drug resistant ovarian cancer cell line.
Project description:Two expression profilings were conducted in order to identify drug-associated genes in ovarian cancers. The first expression profiling was performed between RNAs from chemosensitive ovarian cancers and chemoresistant ovarian cancers. The second analysis was using a drug sensitive ovarian cancer cell line and a multi-drug resistant ovarian cancer cell line. Keywords: other
Project description:High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) remains the most lethal gynecologic malignancy and novel treatment approaches are needed. Here, we used unbiased quantitative protein mass spectrometry to assess the cellular response profile to drug perturbations in ovarian cancer cells for the rational design of potential combination therapies. Analysis of the perturbation profiles revealed proteins responding across several drug perturbations (called frequently responsive below) as well as drug-specific protein responses. The frequently responsive proteins included proteins that reflected general drug resistance mechanisms such as changes in drug efflux pumps. Network analysis of drug-specific protein responses revealed known and potential novel markers of resistance, which were used to rationalize the design of anti-resistance drug pairs. We experimentally tested the anti-proliferative effects of 12 of the proposed drug combinations in 6 HGSOC cell lines. Drug combinations tested with additive or synergistic effects are plausible candidates for overcoming or preventing resistance to single agents; these include several combinations that were synergistic (with PARPi, MEKi, and SRCi). Additionally, we observed 0.05-0.11 micromolar response to GPX4 inhibitors as single agents in the OVCAR-4 cell line. We propose several drug combinations as potential therapeutic candidates in ovarian cancer, as well as GPX4 inhibitors as single agents
Project description:Cisplatin and carboplatin are the primary first-line therapies for the treatment of ovarian cancer. However, resistance to these platinum-based drugs occurs in the large majority of initially responsive tumors, subsequently resulting in a poor long-term prognosis. To model the onset of drug resistance, and investigate the DNA methylation alterations associated with cisplatin resistance, we treated clonally derived, drug-sensitive A2780 epithelial ovarian cancer cells with increasing concentrations of cisplatin. After several cycles of drug selection, the isogenic drug-sensitive and -resistant pairs were subjected to global CGI methylation microarray analyses. We treated clonally derived, drug-sensitive A2780 epithelial ovarian cancer cells with increasing concentrations of cisplatin. After several cycles of drug selection, the isogenic drug-sensitive and -resistant pairs were subjected to global CGI methylation analyses by differential methylation hybridization (DMH) using a customed 44K promoter CGI microarray.
Project description:Resistance to current chemotherapeutic agents is major cause of therapy failure in ovarian cancer patients. To better understand mechanisms of drug resistance, and possibly identify novel targets for therapy, we generated a series of ovarian cancer cell lines that are resistant to various chemotherapeutic drugs (cisplatin, doxorubicin, and paclitaxel), and identified key resistance genes and pathways using whole-genome expression analysis. Our data identify a number of genes altered in the drug resistant lines compared to drug-sensitive cells, and further validation finds an interesting candidate MSMB to be consistently decreased at both the mRNA and protein levels in all the drug-resistant ovarian cancer cells. Through knockdown and overexpression experiments in cell culture models, we show that MSMB has a functional role in drug resistance. Using a mouse xenograft model, we show that re-expression of MSMB in drug-resistant cells can partially reverse the drug resistant phenotype. MSMB-expressing cells have increased caspase-3 activity and known downstream targets, including the PAK2-MLCK-actin pathway, are found activated, providing a possible molecular mechanism for the roles of MSMB in drug resistance. Thus, our study identifies a novel gene in ovarian cancer drug resistance and elucidates a portion of the signaling pathway that may be crucial in its function. Our data suggest a new mechanism for the development of drug resistance in ovarian cancer and identify possible new targets for therapy.
Project description:Cisplatin and carboplatin are the primary first-line therapies for the treatment of ovarian cancer. However, resistance to these platinum-based drugs occurs in the large majority of initially responsive tumors, subsequently resulting in a poor long-term prognosis. To model the onset of drug resistance, we measured gene expression alterations associated with cisplatin resistance. We treated clonally derived, drug-sensitive A2780 epithelial ovarian cancer cells with increasing concentrations of cisplatin. After 5 cycles of drug selection, the isogenic drug-sensitive (parental A2780) and -resistant (Round5 A2780) cell lines were subjected to mRNA expression microarray analyses.
Project description:The impact of therapeutic interventions on the human gut microbiota (GM) is a clinical issue of paramount interest given the strong interconnection between microbial dynamics and human health. Orally administered antibiotics are known to reduce GM biomass and modify GM taxonomic profile. However, the impact of antimicrobial therapies on GM functions and biochemical pathways has scarcely been studied. Here, we characterized the fecal metaproteome of 10 Helicobacter pylori-infected patients before (T0) and after 10 days (T1) of a successful quadruple therapy (bismuth, tetracycline, metronidazole, and rabeprazole) and 30 days after therapy cessation (T2), to investigate how GM and host functions change during the eradication and healing processes. At T1, the abundance ratio between microbial and host proteins was reversed compared with that at T0 and T2. Several pathobionts (including Klebsiella, Proteus, Enterococcus, Muribaculum, and Enterocloster) were increased at T1. Therapy reshaped the relative contributions of the functions required to produce acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Proteins related to the uptake and processing of complex glycans were increased. Microbial cross-feeding with sialic acid, fucose, and rhamnose was enhanced, whereas hydrogen sulfide production was reduced. Finally, microbial proteins involved in antibiotic resistance and inflammation were more abundant after therapy. Moreover, a reduction in host proteins with known roles in inflammation and H. pylori-mediated carcinogenesis was observed. In conclusion, our results support the use of metaproteomics to monitor drug-induced remodeling of GM and host functions, opening the way for investigating new antimicrobial therapies aimed at preserving gut environmental homeostasis.
Project description:Human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) exhibit functional immaturity, potentially impacting their suitability for assessing drug proarrhythmic potential. We previously devised a Traveling Wave (TW) system to promote maturation in 3D cardiac tissue. To align with current drug assessment paradigms (CiPA and JiCSA), necessitating a 2D monolayer cardiac tissue, we integrated the TW system with a multi-electrode array. This gave rise to a hiPSC-derived closed-loop cardiac tissue (iCT), enabling spontaneous TW initiation and swift pacing of cardiomyocytes from various cell lines. The TW-paced cardiomyocytes demonstrated heightened sarcomeric and functional maturation, exhibiting enhanced response to isoproterenol. Moreover, these cells showcased diminished sensitivity to verapamil and maintained low arrhythmia rates with ranolazine—two drugs associated with a low risk of torsades de pointes (TdP). Notably, the TW group displayed increased arrhythmia rates with high and intermediate risk TdP drugs (quinidine and pimozide), underscoring the potential utility of this system in drug assessment applications..
Project description:Discovering new and viable therapies for genetic diseases is a time consuming and cost intensive process. This is even more challenging for rare disorders that affect a small fraction of the population and do not incentivise research and development in the traditional drug discovery lifecycle. There is therefore a need for scalable and efficient solutions for discovering novel therapies for these rare disorders. In this study, we highlight how a high-throughput drug discovery engine was utilized to uncover drugs at scale that normalized the signature for a rare neurological neurodevelopmental disease, 19q12 autism spectrum disorder associated with deficiencies in ZNF536 and TSHZ3. We do this by uncovering and understanding the full 360o view of the biological impact of the drug in a relevant cell line via transcriptomics. This platform, in combination with a statistically viable n-of-1 trial, was able to quickly uncover and utilize a novel therapeutic potential of a previously approved drug for a patient living with from 19q12 autism spectrum disorder.