Project description:YBX2 and cancer testis antigen 45 contribute to stemness, chemoresistance and a high degree of malignancy in human endometrial cancer
Project description:Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process by which epithelial cells lose cell-cell contact and gain cancer malignancy such as invasion, stemness, chemoresistance and metastasis. Reverse precess, mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) is also important for colonization. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted from cancer cells are also important for cancer malignancy. To analyze RNAs from cells and EVs during EMT and MET, RNA sequencing was performed using E-cadherin-RFP/Py2T reporter system.
Project description:Cancer stem cells (CSCs) drive tumor growth, metastasis, relapse, and chemoresistance. However, it’s unclear how lipid metabolism, especially sphingolipids metabolism, regulates CSCs and chemoresistance. In this study, we developed spontaneous tumor models expressing a Sox9-GFP transgenic reporter and demonstrated that cancer cells expressing high levels of SOX9 functioned as CSCs in both primary tumors and metastases. Transcriptomics analyses uncovered that SOX9high CSCs upregulate ABCA12 lipid transporter. Functionally, downregulation of ABCA12 impaired cancer stemness and chemoresistance of SOX9high cells. Through lipidomic analysis, we demonstrated that ABCA12 regulates SOX9 expression and cancer stemness by controlling ceramide abundance. Blocking ceramide hydrolysis using acid ceramidase inhibitor D-NMAPPD sensitized tumors to chemotherapy and prevented enrichment of SOX9high CSCs. These data suggest a potential strategy for targeting CSCs and overcoming chemoresistance. We further demonstrated that ceramide inhibits the YAP/TAZ signaling that is required for SOX9 expression in breast CSCs.
Project description:Endometrial cancer is the most commonly diagnosed gynecologic malignancy in women after breast, lung and colorectal cancer. Despite numerous scientific advances, the incidence and mortality rate of endometrial cancer is on the rise. Considerable research effort has therefore been placed on understanding the pathogenesis of this disease to combat this growing issue. There is now emerging evidence to suggest a putative role for dysregulation of the renin angiotensin system (RAS) and in particular the (pro)renin receptor ((P)RR), in the ontogenesis of endometrial cancer. Support for this notion arises from previous literature implicating (P)RR in cancer pathophysiology (e.g., breast cancer and pancreatic carcinoma) by virtue of its role in proliferation, angiogenesis, fibrosis, migration and invasion. In view of these data, we aimed to investigate the functional role of (P)RR in human endometrial cancer progression and development. To this end, we employed an siRNA-mediated knock down approach to abrogate (P)RR expression in the immortalized endometrial epithelial cell lines; Ishikawa, AN3CA and HEC-1A to explore the role of (P)RR in cellular proliferation and cellular viability. To further extend these analyses we also carried out a sophisticated proteomic screen, that investigated the potential pathways via which (P)RR is acting in endometrial cancer physiology. These data confirmed that (P)RR is critical for endometrial cell cancer development, contributing to both its proliferative capacity and in the maintenance cell viability. This is likely mediated through proteins such as MGA, SLC4A7, SLC7A11 or DHRS2, which were reduced following (P)RR knockdown. These putative protein interactions/pathways, which rely on the presence of (P)RR, are likely to contribute to endometrial cancer progression and could therefore, represent several novel therapeutic targets in the treatment of this cancer. Finally we contend that (P)RR, in its soluble form (s(P)RR) in blood, may have substantial potential as a novel biomarker for cancer diagnosis and prognosis prediction going forward.
Project description:Ovarian cancer (OC) is the leading cause of death from gynecologic malignancies in the US. Ovarian cancer stem cells (OCSCs) have been shown to drive chemoresistance and tumor progression but the mechanism remains incompletely understood. Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1A1 (ALDH1A1) is a robust marker for cancer stem cells in ovarian and other cancers. We demonstrate that ALDH1A1 inhibition suppresses stemness, chemoresistance and senescence in ovarian cancer.
Project description:Numerous epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-promoting transcription factors have been implicated in tumorigenesis or metastasis, as well as chemoresistance of cancer. However, the underlying mechanism mediating these processes is unclear. Here we report that Foxq1, a forkhead box-containing transcription factor and EMT-inducing gene, promotes stemness traits and chemoresistance in mammary epithelial cells. We identify Twist1, Zeb2, and PDGFRM-NM-1 and M-NM-2 as Foxq1 downstream targets using an expression profiling assay. Further studies reveal that PDGFRM-NM-1 and M-NM-2 can be directly regulated by Foxq1, or indirectly through Twist1. Knockdown of both PDGFRM-NM-1 and M-NM-2 shows more significant effects on reversing Foxq1-promoted oncogenesis in vitro and in vivo than knockdown by either PDGFRM-NM-1 or M-NM-2 alone. PDGFRM-NM-2, but not PDGFRM-NM-1, shows potent effects in reversing Foxq1-promoted stemness traits. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition or gene silencing of PDGFRs sensitize mammary epithelial cells to chemotherapeutic agents in vitro and in vivo. These findings collectively indicate PDGFRs as critical mediators underlying breast cancer tumorigenesis and chemoresistance driven by EMT promoting genes, which have potential clinical implications for cancer therapy. The purpose of these experiments is to investigate the downstream targets of several transcriptional factors including Foxq1 and IRX5. Another purpose is to compare the expression pattern between basal-like breast cancer cells including MDA-MB231, SUM159 and SUM1315.
Project description:Full title: comparison of the genomic (arrayCGH) profiles of endometrial cancer with and without prior prolonged tamoxifen treatment for primary breast cancer Purpose: Tamoxifen has been a very effective treatment for breast cancer for several decades, however, at the same time increases the risk of endometrial cancer, especially after prolonged exposure. In addition, tamoxifen has been associated with a higher proportion of unfavorable uterine tumor subtypes (carcinosarcomas and serous adenocarcinomas) with worse survival. We investigated whether endometrial tumors, which developed after prolonged tamoxifen treatment for breast cancer, are genetically different from endometrial tumors without preceding tamoxifen exposure. Experimental design: Array CGH was used on archival formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) endometrial tumors to determine genomic aberrations. We compared the genomic profiles of 52 endometrial tumors from breast cancer patients after long-term (>=2 years) tamoxifen use (endometrioid adenocarcinomas n=26, carcinosarcomas n=14 and serous adenocarcinomas n=12) with endometrial tumors from unexposed breast cancer patients (n=45). Genomic profiles were correlated with tamoxifen exposure, tumor subtypes and histopathological characteristics of the endometrial tumors. Results: The common uterine corpus cancers of the endometrioid subtype show few genomic aberrations. Tumors with many genomic aberrations were in general ER-negative. In contrast, carcinosarcomas and serous adenocarcinomas showed many aberrations, however they were indistinguishable from each other. Tumors that developed after prolonged tamoxifen use did not show more or different aberrations than unexposed tumors. This was true for all tumor subtypes. Conclusion: Endometrial carcinomas that develop after prolonged tamoxifen use can not be distinguished from non-users on basis of their tumor genomic profile. 52 endometrial tumors from breast cancer patients after long-term (>=2 years) tamoxifen use (endometrioid adenocarcinomas n=26, carcinosarcomas n=14 and serous adenocarcinomas n=12) and 45 endometrial tumors from unexposed breast cancer patients
Project description:USP51 enhances colorectal cancer stemness and chemoresistance, and elevated USP51 expression predicts poorer survival in colorectal cancer patients. To probe the role of USP51, we conducted RNA-seq data analysis, comparing control and USP51-overexpressing SW480 and HCT116 cells.
Project description:Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) is often a heterogeneous tumor, where dynamic regulation of key transcription factors can drive multiple populations of phenotypically different cells which contribute differentially to tumor dynamics. This tumor is characterized by a very low 2-year survival rate, high rates of metastasis, and rapid acquisition of chemoresistance. The heterogeneous nature of this tumor makes it difficult to study and to treat, as it is not clear how or when this heterogeneity arises. Here we describe temporal, single-cell analysis of SCLC to investigate tumor initiation and chemoresistance in both SCLC xenografts and in situ SCLC mouse models. We identify an early population of tumor cells with high expression of AP-1 network genes that are critical for tumor growth. Furthermore, we have identified and validated the cancer testis antigens (CTAs) PAGE5 and GAGE2A as mediators of chemoresistance in human SCLC. CTAs have successfully been targeted in other tumor types and may be a promising avenue for targeted therapy in SCLC.
Project description:Endometrial cancer remains the most common gynecological malignancy in the United States. While the loss of the tumor suppressor, PTEN, is well studied in endometrial cancer, recent studies suggest that DICER1, the endoribonuclease responsible for miRNA genesis, also plays a significant role in endometrial adenocarcinoma. To examine the effects of DICER1 deletion on mRNA and miRNA expression in endometrial cancer, poly-A RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and small RNA sequencing were performed. Our findings indicate a relationship between appropriate miRNA expression and molecular signaling pathways in the development of poorly-differentiated endometrial adenocarcinoma.