Project description:<p>BRCA1 mutations are a hallmark of hereditary ovarian cancer, strongly linked to deficiencies in homologous recombination (HR) DNA repair and impaired DNA replication fork protection. However, its roles in cancer progression beyond maintaining genomic integrity remain poorly understood. Through metabolomics approaches, we found BRCA1-deficiency strikingly increased choline metabolism. Loss of BRCA1 promotes choline uptake through upregulating choline transporter-like protein 4 (CTL4). BRCA1 directly binds and recruits EZH2-mediated H3K27Me3 deposition to CTL4 promoter. CTL4 was therefore overexpressed in ovarian cancer tissues with BRCA1 mutations. Furthermore, BRCA1-deficiency significantly promotes ovarian cancer invasion, while inhibition of CTL4 reverses the high metastatic potential of BRCA1-deficient ovarian cancer cells, suggesting the functionality and specificity of CTL4 as a therapeutic target. Additionally, we discovered that phosphocholine, the choline metabolite increased by CTL4 overexpression, interacted with and stabilized the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition inducer FAM3C in BRCA1-deficient ovarian cancer cells. Importantly, we identified a potent CTL4 inhibitor, DT-13, which significantly reduces choline metabolism and effectively suppresses metastasis in BRCA1-deficient ovarian cancers. Therefore, our study uncovers a mechanism underlying metastasis in BRCA1-deficient cancers and identifies CTL4 as a therapeutic target for metastatic ovarian cancer patients with BRCA1 mutations.</p>
Project description:A variety of human cancers demonstrate alterations in microRNA expression. We hypothesized that regulatory defects in microRNAs play a central early role in organizing the molecular changes involved in ovarian cancer (OvCa). Using both gene arrays and deep sequencing, we comprehensively profiled mRNA and microRNA expression, respectively, in human serous epithelial OvCa cell lines, serous tumors, and short-term primary cultures of normal ovarian surface epithelium (NOSE). We expected that over-expression of a specific microRNA would lead to lower expression of its mRNA targets, and under-expression of a specific microRNA would lead to higher expression of its target genes. Using our expression data in conjunction with established in silico algorithms, we found putative microRNA:mRNA functional pairs. Furthermore, gene expression profiles were taken of serous cultures having functional knockdown or over-expression of specific microRNAs of interest. Over-expression of mir-31 (found under-expressed in serous OvCa) resulted in down-regulation in vitro of a significant number of the in silico predicted mir-31 target genes. Keywords: two group comparison
Project description:We have identified the overexpression of FGF18 as an independent predictive marker for poor clinical outcome in patients with advanced stage, high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Functional studies have demonstrated that FGF18 promotes migration, invasion and tumorigenicity of ovarian cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. To identify the FGF18 responsive genes contributing its biologic effects on ovarian tumorigenesis, we performed gene expression profiling in ovarian cancer cell line A224 with ectopic overexpression of FGF18 or RFP (as control).
Project description:Ovarian cancer is the most lethal malignancy in the United States. In the year 2012, there will be an estimated 22,280 new cases and 15,500 deaths from ovarian cancer in the country (Siegel et al., 2012). While studies on ovarian cancer pathogenesis were mainly focused on the epithelial component of the tumor, understanding in the role of cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in ovarian cancer progression is limited. We hypothesized that comparing the gene expression profiles of different components from laser capture microdissected ovarian tissue will allow us to identify an ovarian CAFs specific gene signature which accounts for the supportive role of CAFs in ovarian cancer progression. In this study, gene expression profiling was completed for 31 cancer stroma samples and 32 samples of epithelial component from high grade serous ovarian cancer patients. 8 microdissected normal ovarian stroma and 6 normal human ovarian surface epithelium (HOSE) samples were also included in the study. By comparing the expression data from cancer stroma against that from normal stroma, cancer cells and HOSE, we identified a set of differential expressed genes in ovarian CAFs which showed correlation with cancer patient survival. Further study on these genes can reveal their roles in ovarian cancer progression and pathogenesis. Ultimately, ovarian CAFs specified genes identified in this study may aid in the classification and enhancement of patient outcome. Transcriptome profiling analyses were performed on 31 laser microdissected cancer associated stroma samples, 32 epithelial tumor samples from high grade serous ovarian cancer patients, 8 microdissected normal ovarian stroma samples and 6 ovarian surface epthelium (HOSE) samples using the Affymetrix human genome U133 Plus 2.0 microarray.
Project description:We have identified the overexpression of FGF18 as an independent predictive marker for poor clinical outcome in patients with advanced stage, high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Functional studies have demonstrated that FGF18 promotes migration, invasion and tumorigenicity of ovarian cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. To identify the FGF18 responsive genes contributing its biologic effects on ovarian tumorigenesis, we performed gene expression profiling in ovarian cancer cell line A224 with ectopic overexpression of FGF18 or RFP (as control). Microarrays were completed using total genomic DNA free RNA extracted from three independent paired cultures of A224 cells overexpressing FGF18 or RFP.