Project description:Tumors are heterogeneous and comprised of cells with varying function and ability to disseminate. Despite significant effort, no universal biological marker currently serves as a metric for metastatic potential of solid tumors. Common to disseminating cells from such tumors, however, is the need to modulate their adhesion as they detach from the tumor and migrate through stroma to intravasate. Adhesion strength is heterogeneous even amongst cancer cells within a given population, and using a parallel plate flow chamber, we separated and sorted these populations into weakly and strongly adherent groups; when cultured under stromal conditions, this adhesion phenotype is stable over multiple days, sorting cycles, and common across all epithelial tumor lines investigated. Subpopulations do not show differences in expression of proteins involved in the focal adhesion complex but do exhibit intrinsic focal adhesion assembly as well as contractile differences that result from differential expression of genes involved in microtubules, cytoskeleton linkages, and motor activity. Collectively, these differences drive migration in both 2D and 3D migration assays for weakly adherent cells; these differences are maintained over days in culture, suggesting that adhesion strength can serve as a stable marker for migration and metastatic potential within a given tumor population. Moreover, these data suggest that the fraction of weakly adherent cells present within a tumor could act as a novel physical marker for metastatic potential.
Project description:Characterization of the intra-tumoral heterogeneity between two iso-clonal human colon cancer sublines HCT116 and HCT116b on their ability to undergo metastatic colonization and survive under growth factor deprivation stress (GFDS). Microarray analysis revealed an upregulation of survival and metastatic genes in the highly metastatic HCT116 primary colon tumor cells compared to the poorly metastatic HCT116b primary colon tumor cells. Total RNA obtained from isolated primary colon tumors of HCT116 and HCT116b xenograft transplanted animals obtained using the orthotopic implantation of HCT116 and HCT116b human colon cancer xenografts in the cecum of male athymic BALB/c nude mice were compared at their gene expression level.
Project description:Characterization of the intra-tumoral heterogeneity between two iso-clonal human colon cancer sublines HCT116 and HCT116b on their ability to undergo metastatic colonization and survive under growth factor deprivation stress (GFDS). Microarray analysis revealed an upregulation of survival and metastatic genes in the highly metastatic HCT116 primary colon tumor cells compared to the poorly metastatic HCT116b primary colon tumor cells.
Project description:The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of VEGF targeted therapy (sunitinib) on intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) in metastatic clear cell renal cancer (mRCC). 138 samples from patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma, including biological replicates of nephrectomy samples. RNA extracted fresh frozen tissue samples.
Project description:Androgen receptor (AR) drives prostate cancer (PCa) development and progression. AR chromatin binding profiles are highly plastic and form recurrent programmatic changes that differentiate disease stages, subtypes and patient outcomes. While prior studies focused on concordance between patient subgroups, inter-tumor heterogeneity of AR enhancer selectivity remains unexplored. Here we report high levels of AR chromatin binding heterogeneity in human primary prostate tumors, that unexpectedly strongly overlap with heterogeneity observed in healthy prostate epithelium. Such heterogeneity has functional consequences, as somatic mutations converge on commonly-shared AR sites in primary over metastatic tissues. In contrast, less-frequently shared AR sites associate strongly with AR-driven gene expression, while such heterogeneous AR enhancer usage also distinguishes patients’ outcome. These findings indicate that epigenetic heterogeneity in primary disease is directly informative for risk of biochemical relapse. Cumulatively, our results illustrate an extraordinary level of AR enhancer heterogeneity in primary PCa driving differential expression and clinical impact.
Project description:Intratumor mutational heterogeneity has been documented in primary non-small cell lung cancer. Here, we elucidate mechanisms of tumor evolution and heterogeneity in metastatic thoracic tumors (lung adenocarcinoma and thymic carcinoma) using whole-exome and transcriptome sequencing, SNP array for copy number alterations (CNA) and mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics of metastases obtained by rapid autopsy. APOBEC-mutagenesis, promoted by increased expression of APOBEC3 region transcripts and associated with a high-risk germline APOBEC3 variant, strongly correlated with mutational tumor heterogeneity. TP53 mutation status was associated with APOBEC hypermutator status. Interferon pathways were enriched in tumors with high APOBEC mutagenesis and IFN- induced expression of APOBEC3B in lung adenocarcinoma cells in culture suggesting a role for the immune microenvironment in the generation of mutational heterogeneity. CNA occurring late in tumor evolution correlated with downstream transcriptomic and proteomic heterogeneity, although global proteomic heterogeneity was significantly greater than transcriptomic and CNA heterogeneity. These results illustrate key mechanisms underlying multi-dimensional heterogeneity in metastatic thoracic tumors.
Project description:The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of VEGF targeted therapy (sunitinib) on intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) in metastatic clear cell renal cancer (mRCC).
Project description:<p>Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are recognized as direct seeds of metastasis. However, CTC count may not be the 'best' indicator of metastatic risk because their heterogeneity is generally neglected. In this study, we develop a molecular typing system to predict colorectal cancer metastasis potential based on the metabolic fingerprints of single CTCs. After identification of the metabolites potentially related to metastasis using mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics, setup of a home-built single-cell quantitative mass spectrometric platform for target metabolite analysis in individual CTCs and use of a machine learning method composed of non-negative matrix factorization and logistic regression, CTCs are divided into two subgroups, C1 and C2, based on a 4-metabolite fingerprint. Both <em>in vitro</em> and <em>in vivo</em> experiments demonstrate that CTC count in C2 subgroup is closely associated with metastasis incidence. This is an interesting report on the presence of a specific population of CTCs with distinct metastatic potential at the single-cell metabolite level. </p>
Project description:Prostate cancer is characterized by heterogeneity in the clinical course that often does not to correlate with morphologic features of the tumor. Metastasis reflects the most adverse outcome of prostate cancer, and to date there are no reliable morphologic features or serum biomarkers that can reliably predict which patients are at higher risk of developing metastatic disease. Understanding the differences in the biology of metastatic and organ confined primary tumors is essential for developing new prognostic markers and therapeutic targets. Using Affymetrix oligonucleotide arrays, we analyzed gene expression profiles of 24 androgen-ablation resistant metastatic samples obtained from 4 patients and a previously published dataset of 64 primary prostate tumor samples. Differential gene expression was analyzed after removing potentially uninformative stromal genes, addressing the differences in cellular content between primary and metastatic tumors. The metastatic samples are highly heterogeneous in expression; however, differential expression analysis shows that 415 genes are upregulated and 364 genes are downregulated at least 2 fold in every patient with metastasis. The expression profile of metastatic samples reveals changes in expression of a unique set of genes representing both the androgen ablation related pathways and other metastasis related gene networks such as cell adhesion, bone remodeling and cell cycle. The differentially expressed genes include metabolic enzymes, transcription factors such as Forkhead Box M1 (FoxM1) and cell adhesion molecules such as Osteopontin (SPP1). We hypothesize that these genes have a role in the biology of metastatic disease and that they represent potential therapeutic targets for prostate cancer. Experiment Overall Design: Using Affymetrix oligonucleotide arrays, we analyzed gene expression profiles of 24 androgen-ablation resistant metastatic samples obtained from 4 patients and a previously published dataset of 64 primary prostate tumor samples. Differential gene expression was analyzed after removing potentially uninformative stromal genes, addressing the differences in cellular content between primary and metastatic tumors.