Molecular predictors of treatment response in colon and gastric cancer.

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 619-619
Author(s):  
Paul Timothy Fanta ◽  
Eric Roeland ◽  
John P. Shen ◽  
Kelly Anne Shimabukuro ◽  
Michael Hwang ◽  
...  

619 Background: With the noted exception of KRAS mutational status, currently there exists limited data regarding the incorporation of tumor-derived biomarkers in the clinical management of gastrointestinal malignancies. High ERCC1 levels have been associated with inferior results in platinum-treated patients with non-small cell lung cancer, esophageal cancers, and head and neck cancer. Lenz et al. concluded ERCC-1 gene expression levels may allow the selection of patients who may benefit from FOLFOX chemotherapy in metastatic colon cancer. Low intra-tumoral ERCC1 mRNA expression predicted improved PFS and OS in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma who were treated with tri-modality therapy in the SWOG 0356 correlative study. Methods: To determine the prevalence and patterns of expression of select tumor biomarkers including ERCC1, TS, HER-2, KRAS, BRAF, and EGFR gene expression was measured in metastatic gastric and colorectal cancers using formalin fixed paraffin embedded tumor samples from 120 metastatic colorectal and 20 metastatic gastric cancer were dissected using laser-captured micro-dissection and analyzed for ERCC-1, TS, EGFR, RRM1, and VEGFR2a mRNA expression using a quantitative RT-PCR methodology. Gene expression values (relative mRNA levels) were recorded as ratios between the target gene and internal reference gene (beta-actin). A retrospective review of the patient’s response to therapy was planned. Results: In colorectal patients, the incidence of KRAS mutations was 50%, specifically Gly12Ser 4%, Gly12Val 11%, Gly12Asp 20%, Gly12 Cys 7% Gly12Ala 2% and Gly13Asp 8%. BRAF expression analysis displayed 91% wild type with 9% V600E mutations. Median expression values for ERCC1, TS, EGFR, RRM1, and VEGFR2A expression levels using RT-PCR were 1.23, 2.28, 1.90, 1.05, and 1.61 respectively in the colorectal subset. In gastric cancer, ERCC1, TS, and Her-2 median expression levels using RT-PCR were 1.54, 3.56, and 0.08 respectively. Correlation with clinical outcome is pending and will be reported later.

Blood ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 331-340
Author(s):  
WE Kaminski ◽  
E Jendraschak ◽  
K Baumann ◽  
R Kiefl ◽  
S Fischer ◽  
...  

Lipoxygenases (LXs) catalyze formation of leukotrienes and hydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs), proinflammatory, and spasmogenic autacoids that are critical for host defense systems. We studied the expression and regulation of LX genes (12-LX, 5-LX, and 15-LX) and the 5-lipoxygenase activating protein (FLAP) in human mononuclear cells (MNC) and granulocytes using a quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. We show that 12-LX mRNA is constitutively expressed in resting platelet-free MNC. 12-LX gene expression was upregulated by activation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The formation of 12-HETE was inducible with ionophore in MNC, as assessed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography, and increased after LPS pretreatment. In addition to 12- LX, resting MNC expressed the genes for 5-LX and FLAP constitutively. Quantitative time course analyses of 12-LX, 5-LX, and FLAP gene expression suggested coregulation of 12-LX and FLAP mRNAs, and reciprocal regulation of 5-LX and FLAP mRNAs. During cell stimulation with LPS 5-LX mRNA levels remained unchanged, whereas FLAP gene expression increased. No 15-LX mRNA expression or 15-HETE formation was detectable in unstimulated and activated MNC. In contrast to MNC, quantitative RT-PCR mRNA analysis showed intermittent intraindividual expression of the 5-LX and FLAP genes in resting granulocytes. mRNAs for 12-LX and 15-LX were not expressed. On stimulation of granulocytes ex vivo, mRNA expression of 5-LX and FLAP was upregulated. Stimulation by LPS differed from that by ionophore A23187. Neither LPS nor ionophore induced gene expression of 12-LX or 15-LX in granulocytes. Our data indicate that resting human MNC and granulocytes express LX and FLAP genes in a cell-specific manner. Cell activation induces coordinated upregulation of 12-LX and FLAP genes in MNC, and 5-LX and FLAP genes in granulocytes, respectively. The constitutive expression of 12-LX mRNA, its upregulation on cell activation, and the formation of 12-HETE clearly indicate the presence of a functional 12-LX in human MNC.


Blood ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 331-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
WE Kaminski ◽  
E Jendraschak ◽  
K Baumann ◽  
R Kiefl ◽  
S Fischer ◽  
...  

Abstract Lipoxygenases (LXs) catalyze formation of leukotrienes and hydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs), proinflammatory, and spasmogenic autacoids that are critical for host defense systems. We studied the expression and regulation of LX genes (12-LX, 5-LX, and 15-LX) and the 5-lipoxygenase activating protein (FLAP) in human mononuclear cells (MNC) and granulocytes using a quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. We show that 12-LX mRNA is constitutively expressed in resting platelet-free MNC. 12-LX gene expression was upregulated by activation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The formation of 12-HETE was inducible with ionophore in MNC, as assessed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography, and increased after LPS pretreatment. In addition to 12- LX, resting MNC expressed the genes for 5-LX and FLAP constitutively. Quantitative time course analyses of 12-LX, 5-LX, and FLAP gene expression suggested coregulation of 12-LX and FLAP mRNAs, and reciprocal regulation of 5-LX and FLAP mRNAs. During cell stimulation with LPS 5-LX mRNA levels remained unchanged, whereas FLAP gene expression increased. No 15-LX mRNA expression or 15-HETE formation was detectable in unstimulated and activated MNC. In contrast to MNC, quantitative RT-PCR mRNA analysis showed intermittent intraindividual expression of the 5-LX and FLAP genes in resting granulocytes. mRNAs for 12-LX and 15-LX were not expressed. On stimulation of granulocytes ex vivo, mRNA expression of 5-LX and FLAP was upregulated. Stimulation by LPS differed from that by ionophore A23187. Neither LPS nor ionophore induced gene expression of 12-LX or 15-LX in granulocytes. Our data indicate that resting human MNC and granulocytes express LX and FLAP genes in a cell-specific manner. Cell activation induces coordinated upregulation of 12-LX and FLAP genes in MNC, and 5-LX and FLAP genes in granulocytes, respectively. The constitutive expression of 12-LX mRNA, its upregulation on cell activation, and the formation of 12-HETE clearly indicate the presence of a functional 12-LX in human MNC.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e21034-e21034
Author(s):  
Baorui Liu ◽  
Jie Shen ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Jia Wei ◽  
Lixia Yu ◽  
...  

e21034 Background: Plasma mRNA opens up new investigational opportunities and has great potential for use in disease and treatment assessment. Pemetrexed and raltitrexed are novel water-soluble quinazoline folate analogues and act as direct and specific TS inhibitors. Although TS expression levels detected in tumor have shown potential in predicting sensitivity to those two chemotherapeutic agents, current knowledge is limited on the role of plasma TS mRNA as a predictive biomarker. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between plasma TS mRNA expression and in vitro chemosensitivity to pemetrexed and raltitrexed in gastric cancer. Methods: 150 freshly-removed gastric tumor specimens and corresponding blood samples before surgery were collected. Pemetrexed and raltitrexed sensitivity was determined by histoculture drug response assay (HDRA) procedures. Plasma and tumor TS mRNA expression level were determined by quantitative RT-PCR. Results: A significant correlation was observed between plasma and tumor TS mRNA expression levels (rho=0.665, P<0.001). Plasma TS expression level was negatively correlated with in vitro sensitivity to pemetrexed and raltitrexed in gastric cancer (pemetrexed-sensitive sub-group: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.66-1.16; pemetrexed-resistant sub-group: 1.82, 95% CI: 1.38-2.26, P<0.001; raltitrexed-sensitive sub-group: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.64-1.22; raltitrexed-resistant sub-group: 1.62, 95% CI: 1.06-2.17, P=0.013). There was no significant association between clinical characteristics and plasma TS mRNA levels or in vitro chemosensitivity. Conclusions: Our results indicated that plasma TS mRNA expression could be a prominent predictive biomarker for raltitrexed in gastric cancer, enabling the development of ‘‘real-time’’ individualized chemotherapy while tumor progression.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 383-383
Author(s):  
Martin K. H. Maus ◽  
Craig Stephens ◽  
Stephanie H. Astrow ◽  
Peter Philipp Grimminger ◽  
Dongyun Yang ◽  
...  

383 Background: Gene expression levels of ERCC1, TS, EGFR and VEGFR2 may have predictive value for the personalized use of standard chemotherapeutics as well as agents targeting the EGFR and VEGF pathways and the efficacy of EGFR directed monoclonal antibodies like panitumumab and cetuximab has been confirmed to be dependent on wt KRAS and wt BRAF in patients with advanced colorectal cancer. We investigated the correlations between KRAS/BRAF mutational status and the mRNA expression levels of these genes. Methods: Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor specimens from 600 patients with advanced colorectal adenocarcinoma were microdissected and DNA and RNA was extracted. Specifically designed primers and probes were used to detect 7 different base substitutions in codon 12 and 13 of KRAS, V600E mutations in BRAF and the expression levels of ERCC1, TS, EGFR and VEGFR2 by RT-PCR. Results: Mt KRAS tumors had significantly lower TS and EGFR gene expression levels compared with wt KRAS (p<0,001), whereas mt BRAF tumors showed significantly increased TS and EGFR mRNA levels compared to wt BRAF (p<0,001). Mt BRAF tumors showed significantly higher mRNA levels than mt KRAS tumors (p<0,001). ERCC1 and VEGFR2 mRNA levels were significantly down-regulated in mt KRAS specimen (p<0,001), but showed no significant correlation with BRAF mutational status. Conclusions: KRAS and BRAF mutations are associated with opposite mRNA expression levels for TS and EGFR. Recently, resistance to BRAF inhibition in mt BRAF colorectal tumors has been shown in preclinical models to be associated with up-regulation of EGFR. Our data suggests that BRAF mutants are associated with high EGFR levels at the time of diagnosis, and not necessarily part of an acquired mechanism of resistance. Significantly lower mRNA expression levels of VEGFR2 in mt KRAS tumors may explain lower response to angiogenesis inhibition seen in the TML study.


Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (21) ◽  
pp. 4878-4878
Author(s):  
Marketa Zackova ◽  
Tereza Lopotova ◽  
Sylvie Nadvornikova ◽  
Hana Klamova ◽  
Jana Moravcova

Abstract Abstract 4878 Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is the myeloproliferative disease characterised by presence of BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase, which has been proved to play the basic role in CML ontogenesis. BCR-ABL as well as other kinases active during disease progression (e.g. Src kinase) belong to HSP90 client proteins. It is known, that HSP90 protein is overexpressed in cancer cells and leukemias and is related to therapy resistance in CML cells (Gorre et.al. Blood 2002;100:3041-3044). HSP90 exists in two isoforms: alpha - inducible and beta – constitutively expressed. Taherian et.al. (Biochemistry and Cell Biology, 2008, 86:(1) 37–45) demonstrated that Hsp90α and Hsp90β exhibit similar interactions with cochaperones, but significantly different substrate specificity under stress conditions. Those results reveal both functional similarities and key functional differences between the individual members of this protein family. In our previous study we found high protein expression of total HSP90 in leukocytes of CML patients in advanced disease states and in patients with poor responses (Zackova et.al. EHA 2011). The HSP90 seems to be an indicator of disease deterioration in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. In the current study, we extended our field of interest on HSP90 isoforms alpha and beta on mRNA level. We aimed to find out possible correlation between protein and mRNA expression levels, as well as between mRNA levels and response to the therapy. We wondered to know whether the monitoring of total HSP90 or its isoforms in CML can early predict the disease deterioration. We tested HSP90 alpha and HSP90 beta mRNA expression levels in patients with various response of CML by real-time RT-PCR method. The mRNA profiles showed high similarity with the data obtained from previous western blot analyses. The analyses showed that high HSP90 levels are associated with poor response to therapy and in advanced disease phases. These levels are probably represented by HSP90-beta isoform (constitutively expressed), which is expressed in higher levels comparing to HSP90 alpha in all samples tested. Expression of HSP90 alpha isoform is much lower while its mRNA expression level highly increases only in blast crisis. Studying both isoformes separately could distinguish various mechanisms in disease progression. The results of this and previous studies suggest HSP90 (on protein and mRNA levels) is an important molecule for studying of prognosis in CML patients. Thus HSP90 appears to be a candidate for novel marker of CML progression. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2004 ◽  
Vol 287 (4) ◽  
pp. H1625-H1631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine L. Tran ◽  
Xiangru Lu ◽  
Ming Lei ◽  
Qingping Feng ◽  
Qingyu Wu

High levels of plasma atrial natriuretic peptides (ANP) are associated with pathological conditions such as congestive heart failure (CHF). Recently, we have identified a cardiac serine protease, corin, that is the pro-ANP convertase. In this study, we examined the regulation of corin gene expression in cultured hypertrophic cardiomyocytes and in the left ventricular (LV) myocardium of a rat model of heart failure. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that both corin and ANP mRNA levels were significantly increased in phenylephrine (PE)-stimulated rat neonatal cardiomyocytes in culture. The increase in corin mRNA correlated closely with the increase in cell size and ANP mRNA expression in the PE-treated cells ( r = 0.95, P < 0.01; r = 0.92, P < 0.01, respectively). The PE-treated cardiomyocytes had an increased activity in converting recombinant human pro-ANP to biologically active ANP, as determined by a pro-ANP processing assay and a cell-based cGMP assay. In a rat model of heart failure induced by ligation of the left coronary artery, corin mRNA expression in the noninfarcted LV myocardium was significantly higher than that of control heart tissues from sham-operated animals, when examined by Northern blot analysis and RT-PCR at 8 wk. These results indicate that the corin gene is upregulated in hypertrophic cardiomyocytes and failing myocardium. Increased corin expression may contribute to elevation of ANP in the setting of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e14509-e14509
Author(s):  
Jie Shen ◽  
Jia Wei ◽  
Wen xian Guan ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Yi tao Ding ◽  
...  

e14509 Background: Tumor-derived RNA species successfully detected in plasma may have potential for use in disease and treatment assessment. Although BRCA1 mRNA expression levels in tumor are associated with cisplatin sensitivity but docetaxel resistance, the role of plasma BRCA1 mRNA as a predictive biomarker remains to be known. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between plasma BRCA1 mRNA expression and in vitro chemosensitivity to docetaxel and cisplatin in gastric cancer. Methods: 150 freshly-removed gastric tumor specimens and corresponding blood samples before surgery were collected. Docetaxel and cisplatin sensitivity was determined by histoculture drug response assay (HDRA) procedures. Plasma and tumor BRCA1 mRNA expression levels were determined by quantitative RT-PCR. Results: A significant correlation was observed between plasma and tumor BRCA1 mRNA expression levels (rho=0.558, P<0.001). Plasma BRCA1 mRNA expression level was positively correlated with in vitro sensitivity to docetaxel (docetaxel-sensitive sub-group: 1.25, 95% CI: 1.04-1.47; docetaxel-resistant sub-group: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.23-0.78; p<0.001) but negatively correlated with sensitivity to cisplatin in gastric cancer (cisplatin-sensitive sub-group: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.61-1.08; cisplatin-resistant sub-group:1.20, 95% CI: 0.84-1.56; p=0.083). There was no significant association between clinical characteristics and plasma BRCA1 mRNA levels or in vitro chemosensitivity. Conclusions: It was demonstrated for the first time that plasma BRCA1 mRNA expression was associated with in vitro chemosensitivity to docetaxel and cisplatin, which provided preliminary evidence for using plasma mRNA expression as an approach to predict response to docetaxel or cisplatin based chemotherapy in the clinic.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 29-29
Author(s):  
Devon Marcus McGee ◽  
John P. Shen ◽  
Paul Timothy Fanta ◽  
Andrew M. Lowy

29 Background: Gastric cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer mortality globally. A small number of studies reported that low TS and ERCC1 mRNA levels are associated with improved survival, and may be important as prognostic factors. Methods: Intratumoral gene expression levels were assessed using laser-captured micro-dissection and quantitative Real-Time PCR on formalin fixed paraffin embedded tumor samples from 22 gastric adenocarcinomas. A retrospective chart review was performed to measure clinical parameters. Primary objectives were to determine the range of expression of TS, ERCC1, and HER2, and to investigate if these biomarkers are predictive of survival. Results: TS, ERCC1, and HER2 median expression levels using RT-PCR were 3.56, 1.54, and 0.085, respectively. Median OS was 62 months. Subjects with low TS trended towards improved survival (92 months vs. 34 months, p: 0.17), as did subjects with low ERCC1 (92 months vs. 55 months, p: 0.44). There was no association between HER2 expression and OS. All subjects had HER2 levels below 0.55. With regard to treatment, 90.9% of patients received platinum-based chemotherapy and 4.5% received HER2-guided therapy. Conclusions: Our results are consistent with prior reports that associate low TS and low ERCC1 with improved OS, and may imply prognostic significance. Although these trends did not reach statistical significance, they are consistent with prior studies. Further molecular studies are needed to better assess the utility of these markers as prognostic indicators. There was no clear trend between HER2 levels and OS, most likely because all subjects had low HER2 levels. However, as accurate determination of HER2 expression is becoming increasingly important in the management of gastric cancer patients, further research into the degree of concordance between RT-PCR assessment and FISH assessment of HER2 gene amplication is warranted. Overall, more molecular studies are needed to better stratify this disease into subtypes, and identify new drug targets for chemo-resistant subtypes.


Blood ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 1216-1224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Lessard ◽  
Soheyl Baban ◽  
Guy Sauvageau

Abstract Mammalian Polycomb group (Pc-G) genes, constituting some 5 subfamilies based on their identity to the Drosophila genesPc, Psc, ph, esc, and E(z), appear to play critical roles in maintaining the transcriptional repression state ofHox/HOM-C genes during development. Despite increasing evidence of the important role of Hox genes in both normal hematopoiesis and leukemic transformation, little is known about the expression and possible function played by Pc-G genes in hematopoietic cells. To address this, we first examined the expression of Pc genes in purified CD34+ human bone marrow cells by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), using degenerate primers that specifically amplify the majority of Pcgenes. This analysis showed the expression of 8 different Pcgenes in CD34+ bone marrow cells, includingHP1Hsα, HP1Hsγ, the heterochromatin p25 protein, the human homologue of the murine M32 gene, and 4 novel members of this family. To assess whether Pc-G mRNA levels change during differentiation of bone marrow cells, a quantitative RT-PCR method was used to amplify the total cDNA originating from three purified subpopulations of CD34+bone marrow cells known to differ in their ability to grow in long-term or semisolid cultures. In sharp contrast to Hox gene expression, which is highest in the most primitive bone marrow cells, these studies show that the expression level of 8 of the 9 Pc-Ggenes studied (ie, HP1Hsα, HP1Hsγ, M31, M32, M33, Mel-18, Mph1/Rae-28, and ENX-1) markedly increases with differentiation of bone marrow cells. Interestingly,BMI-1 exhibits a strikingly different pattern of expression, with high expression levels in primitive cells and very little expression in mature CD34− cells. Together, these results document for the first time that differentiation of human bone marrow cells is accompanied by profound changes in Pc-G gene expression levels.


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