Project description:Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common form of cancer in women in the United States. Among different types of ovarian cancer, epithelial ovarian cancer is the most common and is highly lethal, however, prognostic and predictive markers, which can be used to predict chemoresponse and patient survival, have not been thoroughly explored. One critically important yet often overlooked component to the tumor progression process is the tumor microenvironment. Primarily composed of fibroblasts and extracellular matrix proteins (ECM) as well as endothelial cells and lymphocytic infiltrate, the tumor microenvironment has been shown to directly affect cell growth, migration, and differentiation through secreted proteins, cell-cell interactions and matrix remodeling (Tlsty and Coussens, 2006). The tumor microenvironment has the potential to promote tumor initiation of normal epithelial cells and facilitate progression of malignant cells, thereby, presenting a unique approach to diagnosing, understanding and treating cancer. Using a whole-genome oligonucleotide array platform to perform transcriptome profiling on the fibroblastic stromal component microdissected from a series of advanced stage high-grade serous ovarian adenocarcinomas, we identified a transcriptome signature for the ovarian cancer associated fibroblast (CAF). We further functionally characterized one of the identified genes, MFAP5, and we showed that stromal MFAP5 is a prognostic marker associated with poor patient survival. In addition to that, to investigate the signaling machanism and the effect of MFAP5 treatment on ovarian cancer cells, transcriptome profiling of MFAP5 treated OVCA432 high-grade serous ovarian cancer cells was performed. Further functional studies showed that stromal MFAP5 modulated ovarian cancer cell motility and invasion potential. High grade serous ovarian cancer cell line OVCA432 was used. Total RNA was isolated from control samples and MFAP5 treated cancer cell samples at 48 hours post-treatment. Followed by cDNA synthesis, IVT and biotin labeling, samples were then hybridized onto Affymetrix Human genome U133 plus 2.0 microarrays. For each treatment group, three independent samples were prepared for the microarray experiment.
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:Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common form of cancer in women in the United States. Among different types of ovarian cancer, epithelial ovarian cancer is the most common and is highly lethal, however, prognostic and predictive markers, which can be used to predict chemoresponse and patient survival, have not been thoroughly explored. One critically important yet often overlooked component to the tumor progression process is the tumor microenvironment. Primarily composed of fibroblasts and extracellular matrix proteins (ECM) as well as endothelial cells and lymphocytic infiltrate, the tumor microenvironment has been shown to directly affect cell growth, migration, and differentiation through secreted proteins, cell-cell interactions and matrix remodeling (Tlsty and Coussens, 2006). The tumor microenvironment has the potential to promote tumor initiation of normal epithelial cells and facilitate progression of malignant cells, thereby, presenting a unique approach to diagnosing, understanding and treating cancer. Using a whole-genome oligonucleotide array platform to perform transcriptome profiling on the fibroblastic stromal component microdissected from a series of advanced stage high-grade serous ovarian adenocarcinomas, we identified a transcriptome signature for the ovarian cancer associated fibroblast (CAF). We further functionally characterized one of the identified genes, MFAP5, and we showed that stromal MFAP5 is a prognostic marker associated with poor patient survival. In addition to that, to investigate the signaling machanism and the effect of MFAP5 treatment on ovarian cancer cells, transcriptome profiling of MFAP5 treated OVCA432 high-grade serous ovarian cancer cells was performed. Further functional studies showed that stromal MFAP5 modulated ovarian cancer cell motility and invasion potential.
Project description:Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common form of cancer in women in the United States. Among different types of ovarian cancer, epithelial ovarian cancer is the most common and is highly lethal; however, prognostic and predictive markers, which can be used to predict chemoresponse and patient survival, have not been thoroughly explored. One critically important yet often overlooked component to the tumor progression process is the tumor microenvironment. Primarily composed of fibroblasts and extracellular matrix proteins (ECM) as well as endothelial cells and lymphocytic infiltrate, the tumor microenvironment has been shown to directly affect cell growth, migration, and differentiation through secreted proteins, cell-cell interactions and matrix remodeling (Tlsty and Coussens, 2006). The tumor microenvironment has the potential to promote tumor initiation of normal epithelial cells and facilitate progression of malignant cells, thereby, presenting a unique approach to diagnosing, understanding and treating cancer. Using a whole-genome oligonucleotide array platform to perform transcriptome profiling on the fibroblastic stromal component microdissected from a series of advanced stage high-grade serous ovarian adenocarcinomas, we identified a transcriptome signature for the ovarian cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF). We further functionally characterized one of the identified genes, MFAP5, and we showed that stromal MFAP5 is a prognostic marker associated with poor patient survival. In addition, to investigate the signaling mechanism and the effect of MFAP5 treatment on ovarian cancer angiogenesis, transcriptome profiling was performed on mouse endothelial cells migrated into matrigel reconstituted with recombinant MFAP5 protein.