scholarly journals Gene expression profiles of inflammatory breast cancer reveal high heterogeneity across the epithelial-hybrid-mesenchymal spectrum

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priyanka Chakraborty ◽  
Jason T George ◽  
Wendy A Woodward ◽  
Herbert Levine ◽  
Mohit Kumar Jolly

AbstractInflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a highly aggressive breast cancer that metastasizes largely via tumor emboli, and has a 5-year survival rate of less than 30%. No unique genomic signature has yet been identified for IBC nor has any specific molecular therapeutic been developed to manage the disease. Thus, identifying gene expression signatures specific to IBC remains crucial. Here, we compare various gene lists that have been proposed as molecular footprints of IBC using different clinical samples as training and validation sets and using independent training algorithms, and determine their accuracy in identifying IBC samples in three independent datasets. We show that these gene lists have little to no mutual overlap, and have limited predictive accuracy in identifying IBC samples. Despite this inconsistency, single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) of IBC samples correlate with their position on the epithelial-hybrid-mesenchymal spectrum. This positioning, together with ssGSEA scores, improves the accuracy of IBC identification across the three independent datasets. Finally, we observed that IBC samples robustly displayed a higher coefficient of variation in terms of EMT scores, as compared to non-IBC samples. Pending verification that this patient-to-patient variability extends to intratumor heterogeneity within a single patient, these results suggest that higher heterogeneity along the epithelial-hybrid-mesenchymal spectrum can be regarded to be a hallmark of IBC and a possibly useful biomarker.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan Yang ◽  
Wei Gao ◽  
Haoqi Wang ◽  
Xi Zhang ◽  
Yunzhe Mi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women and is the second most common cancer among newly diagnosed cancers worldwide. Studies have shown that paired box 2 (PAX2) participates in the tumorigenesis of some cancer cells. However, the functions of PAX2 in the BC context are still unclear.Methods: Transcriptome expression profiles and clinicopathological information of BC were download from the TCGA database. Then the expression level and prognostic value in TCGA database were explored. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and functional enrichment analysis were performed to investigate the functions and pathways of PAX2. Moreover, RT-qPCR was used to determine the expression of PAX2 in BC tissues, and the predictive value of PAX2 in clinical samples was assessed. CCK-8 assay was used to evaluate cell growth. The migration and invasion capacities of cells were assessed by wound healing assay and Transwell assay.Results: PAX2 was up-regulated in the TCGA-BC datasets. GSEA analysis suggested that PAX2 might be involved in the regulation of MAPK signaling pathways and so on. Moreover, PAX2 was overexpressed in BC tissues, and PAX2 expression was associated with menopause. PAX2 deficiency could inhibit the growth, migration, and invasion of BC cells.Conclusion: This study suggested that PAX2 was up-regulated in BC, which inhibited BC cell growth, migration, and invasion. Thus, PAX2 could be a potential therapeutic target for BC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang Chen ◽  
Mingwei Yu ◽  
Jianqiao Cao ◽  
Huishan Zhao ◽  
Yuanping Dai ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Breast cancer (BC) is a malignancy with a high incidence among women in the world, and it is very urgent to identify significant biomarkers and molecular therapy methods.Methods: Total 58 normal tissues and 203 cancer tissues were collected from three Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) gene expression profiles, and the differential expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. Subsequently, the Gene Ontology (GO) function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome (KEGG) pathway were analyzed. Additionally, hub genes were screened by constructing a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Then, we explored the prognostic values and molecular mechanism of these hub genes Kaplan-Meier (KM) curve and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA). Results: 42 up-regulated and 82 down-regulated DEGs were screened out from GEO datasets. GO and KEGG pathway analysis revealed that DEGs were mainly related to cell cycles and cell proliferation. Furthermore, 12 hub genes (FN1, AURKA, CCNB1, BUB1B, PRC1, TPX2, NUSAP1, TOP2A, KIF20A, KIF2C, RRM2, ASPM) with a high degree of genes were selected, among which, 11 hub gene were significantly correlated with the prognosis of patients with BC. From GSEA reviewed correlated with KEGG_CELL_CYCLE and HALLMARK_P53_PATHWAY. Conclusion: this study identified 11 key genes as BC potential prognosis biomarkers on the basis of integrated bioinformatics analysis. This finding will improve our knowledge of the BC progress and mechanisms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-83
Author(s):  
Tzu-Hung Hsiao ◽  
Yu-Chiao Chiu ◽  
Yu-Heng Chen ◽  
Yu-Ching Hsu ◽  
Hung-I Harry Chen ◽  
...  

Aim and Objective: The number of anticancer drugs available currently is limited, and some of them have low treatment response rates. Moreover, developing a new drug for cancer therapy is labor intensive and sometimes cost prohibitive. Therefore, “repositioning” of known cancer treatment compounds can speed up the development time and potentially increase the response rate of cancer therapy. This study proposes a systems biology method for identifying new compound candidates for cancer treatment in two separate procedures. Materials and Methods: First, a “gene set–compound” network was constructed by conducting gene set enrichment analysis on the expression profile of responses to a compound. Second, survival analyses were applied to gene expression profiles derived from four breast cancer patient cohorts to identify gene sets that are associated with cancer survival. A “cancer–functional gene set– compound” network was constructed, and candidate anticancer compounds were identified. Through the use of breast cancer as an example, 162 breast cancer survival-associated gene sets and 172 putative compounds were obtained. Results: We demonstrated how to utilize the clinical relevance of previous studies through gene sets and then connect it to candidate compounds by using gene expression data from the Connectivity Map. Specifically, we chose a gene set derived from a stem cell study to demonstrate its association with breast cancer prognosis and discussed six new compounds that can increase the expression of the gene set after the treatment. Conclusion: Our method can effectively identify compounds with a potential to be “repositioned” for cancer treatment according to their active mechanisms and their association with patients’ survival time.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e14544-e14544
Author(s):  
Eva Budinska ◽  
Jenny Wilding ◽  
Vlad Calin Popovici ◽  
Edoardo Missiaglia ◽  
Arnaud Roth ◽  
...  

e14544 Background: We identified CRC gene expression subtypes (ASCO 2012, #3511), which associate with established parameters of outcome as well as relevant biological motifs. We now substantiate their biological and potentially clinical significance by linking them with cell line data and drug sensitivity, primarily attempting to identify models for the poor prognosis subtypes Mesenchymal and CIMP-H like (characterized by EMT/stroma and immune-associated gene modules, respectively). Methods: We analyzed gene expression profiles of 35 publicly available cell lines with sensitivity data for 82 drug compounds, and our 94 cell lines with data on sensitivity for 7 compounds and colony morphology. As in vitro, stromal and immune-associated genes loose their relevance, we trained a new classifier based on genes expressed in both systems, which identifies the subtypes in both tissue and cell cultures. Cell line subtypes were validated by comparing their enrichment for molecular markers with that of our CRC subtypes. Drug sensitivity was assessed by linking original subtypes with 92 drug response signatures (MsigDB) via gene set enrichment analysis, and by screening drug sensitivity of cell line panels against our subtypes (Kruskal-Wallis test). Results: Of the cell lines 70% could be assigned to a subtype with a probability as high as 0.95. The cell line subtypes were significantly associated with their KRAS, BRAF and MSI status and corresponded to our CRC subtypes. Interestingly, the cell lines which in matrigel created a network of undifferentiated cells were assigned to the Mesenchymal subtype. Drug response studies revealed potential sensitivity of subtypes to multiple compounds, in addition to what could be predicted based on their mutational profile (e.g. sensitivity of the CIMP-H subtype to Dasatinib, p<0.01). Conclusions: Our data support the biological and potentially clinical significance of the CRC subtypes in their association with cell line models, including results of drug sensitivity analysis. Our subtypes might not only have prognostic value but might also be predictive for response to drugs. Subtyping cell lines further substantiates their significance as relevant model for functional studies.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (04) ◽  
pp. 783-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Yu Cheng ◽  
Shih-Lu Wu ◽  
Chien-Yun Hsiang ◽  
Chia-Cheng Li ◽  
Tung-Yuan Lai ◽  
...  

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used for thousands of years. Most Chinese herbal formulae consist of several herbal components and have been used to treat various diseases. However, the mechanisms of most formulae and the relationship between formulae and their components remain to be elucidated. Here we analyzed the putative mechanism of San-Huang-Xie-Xin-Tang (SHXXT) and defined the relationship between SHXXT and its herbal components by microarray technique. HepG2 cells were treated with SHXXT or its components and the gene expression profiles were analyzed by DNA microarray. Gene set enrichment analysis indicated that SHXXT and its components displayed a unique anti-proliferation pattern via p53 signaling, p53 activated, and DNA damage signaling pathways in HepG2 cells. Network analysis showed that most genes were regulated by one molecule, p53. In addition, hierarchical clustering analysis showed that Rhizoma Coptis shared a similar gene expression profile with SHXXT. These findings may explain why Rhizoma Coptis is the principle herb that exerts the major effect in the herbal formula, SHXXT. Moreover, this is the first report to reveal the relationship between formulae and their herbal components in TCM by microarray and bioinformatics tools.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng Fang ◽  
Xiao Fang ◽  
Xin Xu ◽  
Lin Zhong ◽  
An-quan Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Relevance Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease with an aggressive, chronic synovial inflammation as the main pathological change. However, the specific etiology, pathogenesis, and related biomarkers in diagnosis and treatment are still not fully elucidated. This study attempts to provide new perspectives and insights into RA at the genetic, molecular, and cellular levels through the tenet of personalized medicine. Methods Gene expression profiles of four individual knee synovial tissues were downloaded from a comprehensive gene expression database, R language was used to screen for significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs), Gene Ontology Enrichment Analysis, Kyoto Gene Encyclopedia, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis were performed to analyze the biological functions and signaling pathways of these DEGs, STRING online database was used to establish protein-protein interaction networks, Cytoscape software to obtain ten hub genes, Goplot to get six inflammatory immune-related hub genes, and CIBERSORT algorithm to impute immune infiltration. Results Molecular pathways that play important roles in RA were obtained: Toll-like receptors, AMPK, MAPK, TNF, FoxO, TGF-beta, PI3K and NF-κB pathways, Ten hub genes: Ccr1, Ccr2, Ccr5, Ccr7, Cxcl5, Cxcl6, Cxcl13, Ccl13, Adcy2, and Pnoc. among which Adcy2 and Pnoc have not been reported in RA studies, suggesting that they may be worthy targets for further study. It was also found that among the synoviocytes in RA, the proportions of plasma cells, CD8 T cells, follicular helper T cells, monocytes, γ delta T cells, and M0 macrophages were higher, while the proportions of CD4 memory resting T cells, regulatory T cells (Tregs), activated NK cells, resting dendritic cells, M1 macrophages, eosinophils, activated mast cells, resting mast cells were lower in proportion, and each cell played an important role in RA. Conclusions This study may help understand the key genes, molecular pathways, the role of inflammatory immune infiltrating cells in RA’s pathogenesis and provide new targets and ideas for the diagnosis and personalized treatment of RA.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingyu Zhang ◽  
Yu Li ◽  
Yibei Dai ◽  
Danhua Wang ◽  
Xuchu Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Metabolic pattern reconstruction is an important element in tumor progression. The metabolism of tumor cells is characterized by the abnormal increase of anaerobic glycolysis, regardless of the higher oxygen concentration, resulting in a large accumulation of energy from glucose sources, and contributes to rapid cell proliferation and tumor growth which is further referenced as the Warburg effect. We tried to reconstruct the metabolic pattern in the progression of cancer to screen which genetic changes are specific in cancer cells. A total of 12 common types of solid tumors were enrolled in the prospective study. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was implemented to analyze 9 glycolysis-related gene sets, which are closely related to the glycolysis process. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify independent prognostic variables for the construction of a nomogram based on clinicopathological characteristics and a glycolysis-related gene prognostic index (GRGPI). The prognostic model based on glycolysis genes has the highest area under the curve (AUC) in LIHC (Liver hepatocellular carcinoma). 8-gene signatures (AURKA, CDK1, CENPA, DEPDC1, HMMR, KIF20A, PFKFB4, STMN1) were related to overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Further analysis demonstrates that the prediction model can accurately distinguish between high- and low-risk cancer patients among patients in different clusters in LIHC. A nomogram with a well-fitted calibration curve based on gene expression profiles and clinical characteristics improves discrimination in internal and external cohorts. Furthermore, the altering expression of metabolic genes related to glycolysis may contribute to the reconstruction of the tumor-related microenvironment.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e21099-e21099
Author(s):  
Robert Audet ◽  
Changyu Shen ◽  
Scooter Willis ◽  
Renata Duchnowska ◽  
Krzysztof Adamowicz ◽  
...  

e21099 Background: Vinorelbine (V) induces mitotic arrest and apoptosis but there are limited data on its effect on gene expression in breast cancer clinical setting. Methods: 43 adult female patients with pathologically confirmed breast cancer and locally advanced or metastatic disease were treated with V 25 mg/m2 days 1, 8, 15 of a 28-day cycle. Gene expression was assessed in archival FFPE tissue using the microarray-based DASL assay (cDNA-mediated Annealing, Selection extension and Ligation) and correlated with time-to-progression (TTP). Using a Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), groups of genes that share a common molecular function, chromosomal location, or regulation were identified in patients classified as having either a short (S) (n=25) or a long (L) (n=18) time to progression (TTP) divided by the median (72 days). The GSEA software ( http://www.broadinstitute.org/gsea/index.jsp ) was used for the analysis. Results: GSEA focusing on genes grouped according to similar a) molecular function: 16 out of a set of 43 genes involved in histone binding were enriched in group S (p = 0.002), consistent with higher expression in group S of HIST3H2BB and HIST1H3I as well as a nuclear transcription factor promoting their expression. b) transcription factors: 14 out of 47 genes were enriched in group S (p = 0.004) and corresponds to genes with promoter regions that match c-fos serum response element-binding transcription factor that modulates, for example, ABCC1 and ABCB1 (P-gp/MDR1) solute carriers. c) chromosomal location: in group S, genes were enriched on chromosome 11q21 (20 out of 45 genes p = 0.004) and on chromosome 12p12 (14 out of 22 genes p = 0.002). Conclusions: a) the up-regulation of histone binding genes is consonant with recent discovery of high affinity V binding to histones b) the role of P-gp/MDR1 in V transport is well known c) our observations on chromosome 11q21 and12p12 are novel. DASL expression combined with GSEA highlights gene sets that correlate with clinical outcome and may lead to predictive markers of V efficacy. Further confirmatory analysis is needed due to the limitation of small sample size and multiple comparisons.


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