scholarly journals Upgrading the Repertoire of miRNAs in Gastric Adenocarcinoma to Provide a New Resource for Biomarker Discovery

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (22) ◽  
pp. 5697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle E. Pewarchuk ◽  
Mateus C. Barros-Filho ◽  
Brenda C. Minatel ◽  
David E. Cohn ◽  
Florian Guisier ◽  
...  

Recent studies have uncovered microRNAs (miRNAs) that have been overlooked in early genomic explorations, which show remarkable tissue- and context-specific expression. Here, we aim to identify and characterize previously unannotated miRNAs expressed in gastric adenocarcinoma (GA). Raw small RNA-sequencing data were analyzed using the miRMaster platform to predict and quantify previously unannotated miRNAs. A discovery cohort of 475 gastric samples (434 GA and 41 adjacent nonmalignant samples), collected by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), were evaluated. Candidate miRNAs were similarly assessed in an independent cohort of 25 gastric samples. We discovered 170 previously unannotated miRNA candidates expressed in gastric tissues. The expression of these novel miRNAs was highly specific to the gastric samples, 143 of which were significantly deregulated between tumor and nonmalignant contexts (p-adjusted < 0.05; fold change > 1.5). Multivariate survival analyses showed that the combined expression of one previously annotated miRNA and two novel miRNA candidates was significantly predictive of patient outcome. Further, the expression of these three miRNAs was able to stratify patients into three distinct prognostic groups (p = 0.00003). These novel miRNAs were also present in the independent cohort (43 sequences detected in both cohorts). Our findings uncover novel miRNA transcripts in gastric tissues that may have implications in the biology and management of gastric adenocarcinoma.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei-Hao Lee ◽  
Kai-Pu Chen ◽  
Kai Wang ◽  
Hsuan-Cheng Huang ◽  
Hsueh-Fen Juan

AbstractThe microbiome is recognized as a quasi-organ in the human body. In particular, the gut microbiome is correlated with immune function, metabolism, and tumorigenesis. When dysbiosis of the microbiome occurs, this variation may contribute to alterations in the microenvironment, potentially inducing an inflammatory immune response and providing a niche for neoplastic growth. However, there is limited evidence regarding the correlation and interaction between the microbiome and tumorigenesis. By utilizing microRNA sequencing data of patients with colon and rectal cancer from The Cancer Genome Atlas, we designed a novel analytical process to extract non-human small RNA sequences and align them with the microbial genome to obtain a comprehensive view of the cancer-associated microbiome. In the present study, we identified > 1000 genera among 630 colorectal samples and clustered these samples into three distinctive colorectal enterotypes. Each cluster has its own distinctive microbial composition and interactions. Furthermore, we found 12 genera from these clusters that are associated with cancer stages and revealed their putative functions. Our results indicate that the proposed analytical approach can effectively determine the cancer-associated microbiome. It may be readily applied to explore other types of cancer, in which specimens of the microbiome are difficult to collect.


Author(s):  
Ekaterina Bourova-Flin ◽  
Samira Derakhshan ◽  
Afsaneh Goudarzi ◽  
Tao Wang ◽  
Anne-Laure Vitte ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Large-scale genetic and epigenetic deregulations enable cancer cells to ectopically activate tissue-specific expression programmes. A specifically designed strategy was applied to oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) in order to detect ectopic gene activations and develop a prognostic stratification test. Methods A dedicated original prognosis biomarker discovery approach was implemented using genome-wide transcriptomic data of OSCC, including training and validation cohorts. Abnormal expressions of silent genes were systematically detected, correlated with survival probabilities and evaluated as predictive biomarkers. The resulting stratification test was confirmed in an independent cohort using immunohistochemistry. Results A specific gene expression signature, including a combination of three genes, AREG, CCNA1 and DDX20, was found associated with high-risk OSCC in univariate and multivariate analyses. It was translated into an immunohistochemistry-based test, which successfully stratified patients of our own independent cohort. Discussion The exploration of the whole gene expression profile characterising aggressive OSCC tumours highlights their enhanced proliferative and poorly differentiated intrinsic nature. Experimental targeting of CCNA1 in OSCC cells is associated with a shift of transcriptomic signature towards the less aggressive form of OSCC, suggesting that CCNA1 could be a good target for therapeutic approaches.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick S. Vizeacoumar ◽  
Hongyu Guo ◽  
Lynn Dwernychuk ◽  
Adnan Zaidi ◽  
Andrew Freywald ◽  
...  

AbstractGastro-esophageal (GE) cancers are one of the major causes of cancer-related death in the world. There is a need for novel biomarkers in the management of GE cancers, to yield predictive response to the available therapies. Our study aims to identify leading genes that are differentially regulated in patients with these cancers. We explored the expression data for those genes whose protein products can be detected in the plasma using the Cancer Genome Atlas to identify leading genes that are differentially regulated in patients with GE cancers. Our work predicted several candidates as potential biomarkers for distinct stages of GE cancers, including previously identified CST1, INHBA, STMN1, whose expression correlated with cancer recurrence, or resistance to adjuvant therapies or surgery. To define the predictive accuracy of these genes as possible biomarkers, we constructed a co-expression network and performed complex network analysis to measure the importance of the genes in terms of a ratio of closeness centrality (RCC). Furthermore, to measure the significance of these differentially regulated genes, we constructed an SVM classifier using machine learning approach and verified these genes by using receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve as an evaluation metric. The area under the curve measure was > 0.9 for both the overexpressed and downregulated genes suggesting the potential use and reliability of these candidates as biomarkers. In summary, we identified leading differentially expressed genes in GE cancers that can be detected in the plasma proteome. These genes have potential to become diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers for early detection of cancer, recurrence following surgery and for development of targeted treatment.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 662
Author(s):  
Mario Mischkulnig ◽  
Barbara Kiesel ◽  
Daniela Lötsch ◽  
Thomas Roetzer ◽  
Martin Borkovec ◽  
...  

Diffusely infiltrating gliomas are characterized by a variable clinical course, and thus novel prognostic biomarkers are needed. The heme biosynthesis cycle constitutes a fundamental metabolic pathway and might play a crucial role in glioma biology. The aim of this study was thus to investigate the role of the heme biosynthesis mRNA expression signature on prognosis in a large glioma patient cohort. Glioma patients with available sequencing data on heme biosynthesis expression were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). In each patient, the heme biosynthesis mRNA expression signature was calculated and categorized into low, medium, and high expression subgroups. Differences in progression-free and overall survival between these subgroups were investigated including a multivariate analysis correcting for WHO grade, tumor subtype, and patient age and sex. In a total of 693 patients, progression-free and overall survival showed a strictly monotonical decrease with increasing mRNA expression signature subgroups. In detail, median overall survival was 134.2 months in the low, 79.9 months in the intermediate, and 16.5 months in the high mRNA expression signature subgroups, respectively. The impact of mRNA expression signature on progression-free and overall survival was independent of the other analyzed prognostic factors. Our data indicate that the heme biosynthesis mRNA expression signature might serve as an additional novel prognostic marker in patients with diffusely infiltrating gliomas to optimize postoperative management.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Meiwei Mu ◽  
Yi Tang ◽  
Zheng Yang ◽  
Yuling Qiu ◽  
Xiaohong Li ◽  
...  

Objective. To explore the expression of immune-related lncRNAs in colon adenocarcinoma and find out the effect on how these lncRNAs influence the development and prognosis of colon adenocarcinoma. Method. Transcriptome data of colon adenocarcinoma from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were downloaded, and gene sets “IMMUNE RESPONSE” and “IMMUNE SYSTEM PROCESS” were sought from the Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB). The expression of immune-related genes was extracted that were immune-related mRNAs. Then, the immune-related lncRNAs were sought out by utilizing of the above data. Clinical traits were combined with immune-related lncRNAs, so that prognostic-related lncRNAs were identified by Cox regression. Multivariate Cox regression was built to calculate risk scores. Relationships between clinical traits and immune-related lncRNAs were also calculated. Result. A total of 480 colorectal adenocarcinoma patients and 41 normal control patients’ transcriptome sequencing data of tissue samples were obtained from TCGA database. 918 immune-related lncRNAs were screened. Cox regression showed that 34 immune-related lncRNAs were associated with colon adenocarcinoma prognosis. Seven lncRNAs were independent risk factors. Conclusion. This study revealed that some lncRNAs can affect the development and prognosis of colon adenocarcinoma. It may provide new theory evidence of molecular mechanism for the future research and molecular targeted therapy of colon adenocarcinoma.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wikum Dinalankara ◽  
Qian Ke ◽  
Donald Geman ◽  
Luigi Marchionni

AbstractGiven the ever-increasing amount of high-dimensional and complex omics data becoming available, it is increasingly important to discover simple but effective methods of analysis. Divergence analysis transforms each entry of a high-dimensional omics profile into a digitized (binary or ternary) code based on the deviation of the entry from a given baseline population. This is a novel framework that is significantly different from existing omics data analysis methods: it allows digitization of continuous omics data at the univariate or multivariate level, facilitates sample level analysis, and is applicable on many different omics platforms. The divergence package, available on the R platform through the Bioconductor repository collection, provides easy-to-use functions for carrying out this transformation. Here we demonstrate how to use the package with sample high throughput sequencing data from the Cancer Genome Atlas.


Author(s):  
Kenta Matsumoto ◽  
Yuji Urabe ◽  
Shiro Oka ◽  
Katsuaki Inagaki ◽  
Hidenori Tanaka ◽  
...  

Abstract Backgrounds Colorectal neoplasias (CRN)s developing from the ulcerative colitis (UC) mucosa include both colitic and sporadic neoplasias. Although several genomic analyses of advanced colitis-associated cancer are available, such studies do not distinguish between colitic and sporadic cases, and the early-stage genomic alterations involved in the onset of colitic cancer remain unclear. To address this, we performed a genomic analysis of early-stage CRN developing from the UC mucosa (CRNUC). Methods We extracted DNA from 36 early-stage CRNUCs (T1 cancer, 10; dysplasia, 26) from 32 UC patients and performed targeted sequencing of 43 genes commonly associated with colitis-associated cancer and compared the results with sequencing data from the Japanese invasive colitis-associated cancer. Results The most frequently mutated gene in the CRNUC cohort was APC (mutated in 47.2% of the cases), followed by TP53 (44.4%), KRAS (27.8%), and PRKDC (27.8%). None of the TP53 mutations occurred at any of the hotspot codons. Although the TP53 mutations in The Cancer Genome Atlas of Colorectal Cancer were dispersed throughout the gene, those detected here in CRNUC cases were concentrated in the amino terminal part of the DNA-binding domain. Interestingly, the mutations in KRAS and TP53 were mutually exclusive in CRNUC, and CRNUCs with KRAS mutations had histologically serrated lesions in the gland duct. Mayo endoscopic subscore was higher in TP53-mutated CRNUCs and lower in KRAS-mutated CRNUCs. Conclusions Our findings suggest that early-stage CRNUC can be classified into 2 groups: those developing through the carcinogenic pathway via TP53 mutations and those developing through the carcinogenic pathway via KRAS mutations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Kong ◽  
Christopher M. Rose ◽  
Ashley A. Cass ◽  
Alexander G. Williams ◽  
Martine Darwish ◽  
...  

AbstractProfound global loss of DNA methylation is a hallmark of many cancers. One potential consequence of this is the reactivation of transposable elements (TEs) which could stimulate the immune system via cell-intrinsic antiviral responses. Here, we develop REdiscoverTE, a computational method for quantifying genome-wide TE expression in RNA sequencing data. Using The Cancer Genome Atlas database, we observe increased expression of over 400 TE subfamilies, of which 262 appear to result from a proximal loss of DNA methylation. The most recurrent TEs are among the evolutionarily youngest in the genome, predominantly expressed from intergenic loci, and associated with antiviral or DNA damage responses. Treatment of glioblastoma cells with a demethylation agent results in both increased TE expression and de novo presentation of TE-derived peptides on MHC class I molecules. Therapeutic reactivation of tumor-specific TEs may synergize with immunotherapy by inducing inflammation and the display of potentially immunogenic neoantigens.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Bronisz ◽  
Elżbieta Salińska ◽  
E. Antonio Chiocca ◽  
Jakub Godlewski

Malignant brain tumor—glioblastoma is not only difficult to treat but also hard to study and model. One of the reasons for these is their heterogeneity, i.e., individual tumors consisting of cancer cells that are unlike each other. Such diverse cells can thrive due to the simultaneous co-evolution of anatomic niches and adaption into zones with distorted homeostasis of oxygen. It dampens cytotoxic and immune therapies as the response depends on the cellular composition and its adaptation to hypoxia. We explored what transcriptome reposition strategies are used by cells in the different areas of the tumor. We created the hypoxic map by differential expression analysis between hypoxic and cellular features using RNA sequencing data cross-referenced with the tumor’s anatomic features (Ivy Glioblastoma Atlas Project). The molecular functions of genes differentially expressed in the hypoxic regions were analyzed by a systematic review of the gene ontology analysis. To put a hypoxic niche signature into a clinical context, we associated the model with patients’ survival datasets (The Cancer Genome Atlas). The most unique class of genes in the hypoxic area of the tumor was associated with the process of autophagy. Both hypoxic and cellular anatomic features were enriched in immune response genes whose, along with autophagy cluster genes, had the power to predict glioblastoma patient survival. Our analysis revealed that transcriptome responsive to hypoxia predicted worse patients’ outcomes by driving tumor cell adaptation to metabolic stress and immune escape.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Dianjing Guo

As one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide, gastric adenocarcinoma (GC) and its prognosis are still poorly understood. Various genetic and epigenetic factors have been indicated in GC carcinogenesis. However, a comprehensive and in-depth investigation of epigenetic alteration in gastric cancer is still missing. In this study, we systematically investigated some key epigenetic features in GC, including DNA methylation and five core histone modifications. Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas Program and other studies (Gene Expression Omnibus) were collected, analyzed, and validated with multivariate statistical analysis methods. The landscape of epi-modifications in gastric cancer was described. Chromatin state transition analysis showed a histone marker shift in gastric cancer genome by employing a Hidden-Markov-Model based approach, indicated that histone marks tend to label different sets of genes in GC compared to control. An additive effect of these epigenetic marks was observed by integrated analysis with gene expression data, suggesting epigenetic modifications may cooperatively regulate gene expression. However, the effect of DNA methylation was found more significant without the presence of the five histone modifications in our study. By constructing a PPI network, key genes to distinguish GC from normal samples were identified, and distinct patterns of oncogenic pathways in GC were revealed. Some of these genes can also serve as potential biomarkers to classify various GC molecular subtypes. Our results provide important insights into the epigenetic regulation in gastric cancer and other cancers in general. This study describes the aberrant epigenetic variation pattern in GC and provides potential direction for epigenetic biomarker discovery.


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