Project description:The purpose of this study was to comprehensively study and compare the molecular gene expression profiles of common melanocytic nevi (GSE53223), dysplastic nevi (GSE53223), and primary melanoma.
Project description:Acquired melanocytic nevi grow and persist in a stable form into adulthood. Using genome-wide methylation profiling, we evaluated 32 histopathologically confirmed, and dermoscopically characterized nevi, with matched adjacent skin, to identify key epigenetic regulatory mechanisms involved in nevogenesis. Benign (n=13; 69% globular and 31% non-specific dermoscopic pattern) and dysplastic (n=19; 95% reticular/nonspecific dermoscopic pattern) nevi were dissimilar with only two shared differentially methylated (DM) loci. Relative to adjacent skin, benign nevi demonstrated an increase in both genome-scale methylation and methylation of Alu/LINE-1 retrotransposable elements, a marker of genomic stability, as well as global methylation. In contrast, dysplastic nevi showed evidence for genomic instability via hypomethylation of Alu/LINE-1. The difference in methylation between benign and dysplastic nevi was statistically significant for Alu (P = 0.00019) and LINE-1 (P = 0.000035) retrotransposable elements. Using dermoscopic classifications, reticular/nonspecific nevi had 59,572 CpG DM loci (Q < 0.05), whereas globular nevi had non-significant DM loci. The relative activity of reticular/non-specific nevi was evidenced by 50,720 hypomethylated loci being enriched for accessible chromatin, and 8,852 hypermethylated loci strongly enriched, for example, marks of active gene promoters, which suggests that gain of DNA methylation observed in these nevus types plays a role in gene regulation.
Project description:Congenital melanocytic nevi (CMN) and common acquired melanocytic nevi (AMN) are skin conditions that result from an excess of melanocytes arising during fetal development or detected postnatally. Appropriately weighted whole-genome methylation analysis can be used as a basis for further research in dermatopathology and, in this application, provides new insights into nevus biology.
Project description:The molecular properties of benign melanocytic lesions are poorly understood. Only few studies have been performed on specific nevi subtypes, including common nevocellular nevi (NCN) or Spitz nevi (SN). Genomic alterations in melanoma-associated oncogenes are typically absent in SN. In the present study, mRNA expression of 25 SN and 15 NCN were analyzed. Molecular profiling was done using the RNA NanoString nCounter Gene Expression Platform (No. of genes = 770). Marker discovery was performed with a training set consisting of 7 SN and 7 NCN samples from the same patients, and validation was performed using a second set consisting of 18 SN and 8 NCN samples. Using the training set, 197 differentially expressed genes were identified in SN versus NCN. Of these, 74 genes validated in the validation set (FDR Q value ≤ 0.13). In addition, using Random Forest and LASSO feature selection a molecular signature of SN versus NCN was identified including 15 top-ranked genes. Gene set analysis showed upregulation of gene pathways with increased expression of transcripts related to immunomodulatory, inflammatory and extracellular matrix interactions as well as angiogenesis associated processes in SN. Although the molecular characteristics of malignant melanoma have been studied in detail, the molecular properties of benign melanocytic lesions such as common nevocellular nevi (NCN) and Spitz nevi (SN) remain poorly understood. This limited knowledge hinders a better understanding of atypical and malignant transformation of melanocytes. The present study identified a distinct molecular expression profile in SN compared to NCN, even when lesions were obtained from the same patients. These findings strongly indicate that SN represent a distinct group of melanocytic neoplasms and evolve differentially and not sequentially from NCN.
Project description:Human CD4+ T cells mediate spontaneous rejection of acquired benign melanocytic nevi, in the majority of cases, through a break in peripheral tolerance. For the remaining cases, nevi remain stable and do not progress to malignancy. In this experiment, we compared gene expression of post-transplant rejected nevi to stable nevi in order to better characterize their transcriptional profiles.
Project description:We performed microRNA sequencing of primary human FFPE Acral Melanoma (AM), Cutaneous Melanoma (CM), Acral Nevi (AN), and Cutaneous Nevi (CN). We found that previously identified ratios of microRNAs, particularly miR-21-5p and miR-211-5p, were able to accurately classify benign and malignant melanocytic neoplasia, both in non-acral cutaneous melanomas and nevi (CM vs CN), as well as matched acral melanoma and nevi (AM vs AN). Receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (AUC) of Ensemble models trained using these microRNA ratios demonstrated AUCs of 0.88-0.90 across these melanoma subtypes, suggesting the potential utility of these ratios as a biomarker of malignancy in melanocytic neoplasia.
Project description:Despite malignant cutaneous melanoma is relatively rare compared to other skin cancers, it is still responsible for 80% of all skin cancer-related deaths. To identify molecular signatures of melanoma progression, excisional biopsies from 18 common melanocytic nevi (CMN), 8 primary radial growth phase melanomas (RGPM), 15 primary vertical growth phase melanomas (VGPM) and 5 melanoma metastases (MTS) were profiled using whole genome oligo-microarrays. Differentially expressed genes for each progression step were identified, and validation of selected transcripts by qRT-PCR was performed on an independent cohort of fixed samples. The comparison between CMN and RGPM showed an enrichment of Gene Ontology (GO) terms related to inter and intra-cellular junctions, whereas the transition from RGPM to VGPM was characterized by the deregulation of WNT3, MAPK and AKT pathways. In this step, enrichment analysis underlined the alteration of biological processes linked to apoptosis. Upregulation of genes involved into DNA double-strand breaks repair and downregulation of cellular adhesion genes were observed in MTS respect to VGPM. Futhermore, the gene expression profiles of 11 dysplastic nevi (DN) were compared to all the others. Some genes controlling proliferation were found more expressed than in CMN. Overall, DN displayed an heterogeneous behaviour, with relevant oncogenes, such as MYC and BCL6, less expressed than in RGPM, and a modulation pattern similar to VGPM for a subset of gene families, such as mismatch repair. This suggests that DN is not an intermediate step within melanoma progression, but a separate entity with an independent risk of progression to melanoma Keywords: Melanoma progression, gene expression profiling, qPCR