Project description:Progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) often leads to vascular invasion and intrahepatic metastasis, which correlate with recurrence after surgical treatment and poor prognosis. It is crucial to identify patients with a high risk of recurrence and develop more intensified or targeted treatment strategy to improve disease outcome.
Project description:Progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) often leads to vascular invasion and intrahepatic metastasis, which correlate with recurrence after surgical treatment and poor prognosis. It is crucial to identify patients with a high risk of recurrence and develop more intensified or targeted treatment strategy to improve disease outcome. In the training set, tumor and non-tumor liver were profiled separately, and each was used to generate a prediction model which was validated with the use of independent validation set.
Project description:Abstract Aberrantly expressed signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) predicts poor prognosis primarily in estrogen receptor positive (ER(+)) breast cancers and activated STAT3 is overexpressed in luminal A subtype cells. The mechanisms contributing to the prognosis and/or subtype relevant features of *STAT3* in ER(+) breast cancers are* *through multiple interacting regulatory pathways including STAT3-MYC, STAT3-ER , STAT3-MYC-ER interactions and the direct action of activated STAT3. These results predict malignant events, treatment responses and a novel enhancer of tamoxifen resistance. The inferred crosstalk between ER and STAT3 in regulating their shared target gene-*METAP2* is partially validated in the luminal B breast cancer cell line-MCF7. Taken together, we identify a poor prognosis relevant gene set within the *STAT3* network and a robust one in a subset of patients. *VEGFA*, *ABL1*, *LYN*, *IGF2R* and* STAT3* are suggested therapeutic targets for further study based upon the degree of differential expression in our model. Keywords: STAT3 transcriptional regulatory network, prognosis, tamoxifen resistance, tumorigenesis, breast cancer.
Project description:A Minimal Subset of Seven Genes Associated with Tumor Hepatocyte Differentiation Predicts a Poor Prognosis in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Project description:We conducted a transcriptome-wide survey to identify novel hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-associated genes that have undergone aberrant alternative splicing. We revealed that the vesicle transport factor (USO1) is a major alternatively spliced target in HCC, mainly composed of a long wild-type isoform (USO1-L) and a short truncated isoform lacking exons 5 and 15 (USO1-S). A markedly increased isoform switching from USO1-L to USO1-S occurs in approximately 80% of HCCs and predicts poor clinical outcomes. USO1-L suppresses HCC cells growth and metastasis through weakening the activation of MAPK/ERK1-ELK1 signaling by interacting with phosphorylated ERK1 and anchoring it onto the Golgi apparatus to reduce its nuclear translocation; while USO1-S confers a loss-of-function effect. The splicing factor SRSF7, which is shown to be hypomethylated and upregulated in HCC, mediates the splicing of USO1-L to produce USO1-S. Notably, the loss of USO1-L in HCC cells induces their resistance to MEK inhibitors; however, restoring USO1-L through antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ASO)-mediated blockade of switching from USO1-L to USO1-S can reverse this resistance. In summary, our findings highlight the crucial role of aberrantly alternative splicing of USO1 in HCC, as well as the SRSF7-USO1-MAPK axis as a potential target for this malignancy.
