Project description:Breast cancer is a molecularly, biologically and clinically heterogeneous group of disorders. Understanding this diversity is essential to improving diagnosis and optimising treatment. Both genetic and acquired epigenetic abnormalities participate in cancer, but information is scant on the involvement of the epigenome in breast cancer and its contribution to the complexity of the disease. Here we used the Infinium Methylation Platform to profile at single-CpG resolution (over 14,000 genes interrogated) the methylomes of 119 breast tumours. It emerges that many genes whose expression is linked to the ER status are epigenetically controlled (or/ we show that the two major phenotypes of breast cancers determined by ER status are widely involving epigenetic regulatory mechanisms), offering the prospect of a novel approach to treating ER-positive tumours. We have distinguished methylation-profile-based tumour clusters, some coinciding with known “expression subtypes” but also new entities that may provide a meaningful basis for refining breast tumour typology. We show that methylation patterns may reflect the cellular origins of tumours. Having highlighted an unexpectedly strong epigenetic component in the regulation of key immune pathways, we show that a set of immune genes have high prognostic value in specific tumour categories. By laying the ground for better understanding of breast cancer heterogeneity and improved tumour taxonomy, the precise epigenetic portraits drawn here should contribute to better management of breast cancer patients. Gene expression profiling cell lines. Study of epigenetic variation (methylation) linked to gene expression. No replicate, no reference sample.
Project description:Breast cancer is a molecularly, biologically and clinically heterogeneous group of disorders. Understanding this diversity is essential to improving diagnosis and optimising treatment. Both genetic and acquired epigenetic abnormalities participate in cancer, but information is scant on the involvement of the epigenome in breast cancer and its contribution to the complexity of the disease. Here we used the Infinium Methylation Platform to profile at single-CpG resolution (over 14,000 genes interrogated) the methylomes of 119 breast tumours. It emerges that many genes whose expression is linked to the ER status are epigenetically controlled (or/ we show that the two major phenotypes of breast cancers determined by ER status are widely involving epigenetic regulatory mechanisms), offering the prospect of a novel approach to treating ER-positive tumours. We have distinguished methylation-profile-based tumour clusters, some coinciding with known M-bM-^@M-^\expression subtypesM-bM-^@M-^] but also new entities that may provide a meaningful basis for refining breast tumour typology. We show that methylation patterns may reflect the cellular origins of tumours. Having highlighted an unexpectedly strong epigenetic component in the regulation of key immune pathways, we show that a set of immune genes have high prognostic value in specific tumour categories. By laying the ground for better understanding of breast cancer heterogeneity and improved tumour taxonomy, the precise epigenetic portraits drawn here should contribute to better management of breast cancer patients. Gene expression profiling cell lines. Study of epigenetic variation (methylation) linked to gene expression. No replicate, no reference sample.
Project description:Biomarker discovery in breast cancer (BC) is a clinical need for therapeutics and non-invasive diagnostics. In a single study, we provide a comparative differential proteomic profile of four invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis and drug resistance. Exosome proteome profile reflects their different BC cell origin suggesting potential indicators of BC subtype. Further, our pathway inference analysis reveals a differential role of exosomes in BC signalling pathways in recipient cells, according to their protein cargo and cell origin. Our results may significantly contribute to further studies for the design of BC biomarker predictor to stratify BC patients and the development of novel therapeutic strategies.BC cell lines and their derived- exosomes, representative of the most relevant BC subtypes in clinic. Differentially-expressed proteins, in both cells and exosomes, include indicators of
Project description:Biomarker discovery in breast cancer (BC) is a clinical need for therapeutics and non-invasive diagnostics. In a single study, we provide a comparative differential proteomic profile of four invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis and drug resistance. Exosome proteome profile reflects their different BC cell origin suggesting potential indicators of BC subtype. Further, our pathway inference analysis reveals a differential role of exosomes in BC signalling pathways in recipient cells, according to their protein cargo and cell origin. Our results may significantly contribute to further studies for the design of BC biomarker predictor to stratify BC patients and the development of novel therapeutic strategies.BC cell lines and their derived- exosomes, representative of the most relevant BC subtypes in clinic. Differentially-expressed proteins, in both cells and exosomes, include indicators of
Project description:Breast cancer is a molecularly, biologically and clinically heterogeneous group of disorders. Understanding this diversity is essential to improving diagnosis and optimising treatment. Both genetic and acquired epigenetic abnormalities participate in cancer, but information is scant on the involvement of the epigenome in breast cancer and its contribution to the complexity of the disease. Here we used the Infinium Methylation Platform to profile at single-CpG resolution (over 14,000 genes interrogated) the methylomes of 119 breast tumours. It emerges that many genes whose expression is linked to the ER status are epigenetically controlled (or/ we show that the two major phenotypes of breast cancers determined by ER status are widely involving epigenetic regulatory mechanisms), offering the prospect of a novel approach to treating ER-positive tumours. We have distinguished methylation-profile-based tumour clusters, some coinciding with known “expression subtypes” but also new entities that may provide a meaningful basis for refining breast tumour typology. We show that methylation patterns may reflect the cellular origins of tumours. Having highlighted an unexpectedly strong epigenetic component in the regulation of key immune pathways, we show that a set of immune genes have high prognostic value in specific tumour categories. By laying the ground for better understanding of breast cancer heterogeneity and improved tumour taxonomy, the precise epigenetic portraits drawn here should contribute to better management of breast cancer patients.
Project description:Breast cancer is a molecularly, biologically and clinically heterogeneous group of disorders. Understanding this diversity is essential to improving diagnosis and optimising treatment. Both genetic and acquired epigenetic abnormalities participate in cancer, but information is scant on the involvement of the epigenome in breast cancer and its contribution to the complexity of the disease. Here we used the Infinium Methylation Platform to profile at single-CpG resolution (over 14,000 genes interrogated) the methylomes of 119 breast tumours. It emerges that many genes whose expression is linked to the ER status are epigenetically controlled (or/ we show that the two major phenotypes of breast cancers determined by ER status are widely involving epigenetic regulatory mechanisms), offering the prospect of a novel approach to treating ER-positive tumours. We have distinguished methylation-profile-based tumour clusters, some coinciding with known “expression subtypes” but also new entities that may provide a meaningful basis for refining breast tumour typology. We show that methylation patterns may reflect the cellular origins of tumours. Having highlighted an unexpectedly strong epigenetic component in the regulation of key immune pathways, we show that a set of immune genes have high prognostic value in specific tumour categories. By laying the ground for better understanding of breast cancer heterogeneity and improved tumour taxonomy, the precise epigenetic portraits drawn here should contribute to better management of breast cancer patients.
Project description:Drug resistance in breast cancer is the major obstacle to a successful outcome following chemotherapy treatment. While upregulation of multidrug resistance (MDR) genes is a key component of drug resistance in multiple cancers, the complexity and hierarchy of non-MDR driven drug resistance pathways are still largely unknown. The aim of this study was to identify pathways contributing to anthracycline resistance using isogenic drug resistant breast cancer cell lines. We generated isogenic MDA-MB-231, MCF7, SKBR3 and ZR-75-1 epirubicin-resistant breast cancer cell lines, which were cross-resistant to doxorubicin and SN-38; the SKBR3 cell line was also resistant to taxanes. Epirubicin-resistant cells were morphologically different from native cells, and had alterations in apoptosis and cell cycle profile. Using gene expression and small-molecule inhibitor analyses we identified deregulation of histone H2A and H2B genes in all four cell lines. These genes contribute to several biological pathways, which include cell cycle, chromosomal maintenance, epigenetics, RNA and mitochondrial transcription. Histone deacetylase and cell cycle/DNA damage small molecule inhibitors reversed resistance and were cytotoxic for all four epirubicin-resistant cell lines confirming that histone and cell cycle pathways are associated with epirubicin resistance. This study has established model systems for investigating drug resistance in all four breast cancer subtypes and revealed key pathways that contribute to anthracycline resistance.