Project description:Analysis of microRNA expression of tumoral and non-tumoral colonic tissues. The aim of this study was to analyze the global miRNA signatures in various groups of well-characterized CRCs based on the presence of microsatellite instability (MSI). Total RNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from 4 different groups (normal colonic mucosa, Lynch syndrome tumors, sporadic MSI tumors and MSS tumors) was isolated using the RecoverAll Total Nucleic Acid Isolation Kit (Ambion) according to manufacturer instructions. MiRNA expression profiles were analyzed using miRNA microarray platform.
Project description:Immunotherapy in colorectal cancer (CRC) has largely focused on microsatellite instability (MSI) tumors, based on the assumption that high mutational burden drives immunogenicity. However, most CRCs are microsatellite-stable (MSS) and remain unresponsive to checkpoint blockade. Using proteogenomic profiling of 26 primary CRC tumors, we identified 115,292 MHC-I–associated peptides across 61 HLA alleles, yielding 196 tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) and 70 aberrantly expressed tumor-specific antigens (aeTSAs).
Project description:Ewing sarcoma usually expresses the EWS/FLI fusion transcription factor oncoprotein. EWS/FLI regulates myriad genes required for Ewing sarcoma development. EWS/FLI binds GGAA-microsatellite sequences in vivo and in vitro, and these sequences provide EWS/FLI-mediated activation to reporter constructs, suggesting that they function as EWS/FLI-response elements. Genomic GGAA-microsatellites are highly variable and polymorphic. Current data suggest that there is an optimal “sweet-spot” GGAA-microsatellite length (of 18-26 GGAA repeats) that confers maximal EWS/FLI-responsiveness to target genes, but the mechanistic basis for this was not known. We now demonstrate the absolute necessity of an EWS/FLI-bound GGAA-microsatellite in regulation of the NR0B1 gene, as well as for Ewing sarcoma proliferation and oncogenic transformation. Biochemical studies, using recombinant Δ22 (a version of EWS/FLI containing only the FLI portion) demonstrated a stoichiometry of one Δ22-monomer binding to every two consecutive GGAA-repeats on shorter GGAA-microsatellite sequences. Surprisingly, the affinity for Δ22 binding to GGAA-microsatellites significantly decreased, and ultimately became unmeasureable, when the size of the GGAA-microsatellite was increased to the “sweet-spot” length. In contrast, a fully-functional EWS/FLI mutant (Mut9) that retains approximately half of the EWS portion of the fusion showed low affinity for smaller GGAA-microsatellites, but instead significantly increased its affinity at “sweet-spot” microsatellite lengths. Single-gene ChIP and genome-wide ChIP-seq and RNA-seq studies extended these findings to the in vivo setting. Taken together, these data demonstrate the absolute requirement of GGAA-microsatellites as EWS/FLI activating response elements in vivo and reveal an unsuspected novel role for the EWS portion of the EWS/FLI fusion in binding to optimal-length GGAA-microsatellites.