Using an Affymetrix 10K SNP array to screen for gene copy number changes in breast cancer, we detected a single-gene amplification of the ESR1 gene, which encodes estrogen receptor alpha, at 6q25. A ...subsequent tissue microarray analysis of more than 2,000 clinical breast cancer samples showed ESR1 amplification in 20.6% of breast cancers. Ninety-nine percent of tumors with ESR1 amplification showed estrogen receptor protein overexpression, compared with 66.6% cancers without ESR1 amplification (P < 0.0001). In 175 women who had received adjuvant tamoxifen monotherapy, survival was significantly longer for women with cancer with ESR1 amplification than for women with estrogen receptor-expressing cancers without ESR1 amplification (P = 0.023). Notably, we also found ESR1 amplification in benign and precancerous breast diseases, suggesting that ESR1 amplification may be a common mechanism in proliferative breast disease and a very early genetic alteration in a large subset of breast cancers.
To identify genes potentially playing an important role in the progression of colorectal carcinoma (CRC), we screened global gene expression using cDNA expression array on 41 CRC tissue samples and ...25 noncancerous colorectal tissue samples. Among the up-regulated genes, forkhead box M1 ( FOXM1 ) has been shown to play a critical role in pathogenesis of various malignancies. Using immunohistochemistry on 448 Saudi CRC samples in tissue microarray format, FoxM1 protein overexpression was seen in 66% of CRC tissues and was significantly associated with poorly differentiated and highly proliferative tumors ( P = 0.0200 and 0.0018, respectively). FoxM1 expression was also significantly associated with MMP-9 protein expression ( P = 0.0002). In vitro data using CRC cell lines showed that inhibition of FoxM1 by thiostrepton resulted in inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Overexpression of FoxM1 potentiated cell proliferation, cell transformation, and migration/invasion of CRC cells via up-regulation of FoxM1 target genes MMP2 and MMP9 and protected these cells from thiostrepton-mediated antiproliferative effects. Finally, in vivo , overexpression of FoxM1 promoted growth of CRC-cell line xenograft tumors in nude mice. Altogether, our data indicate that FoxM1 signaling contributes to aggressiveness in a subset of CRC and that the FOXM1 gene may serve as a useful molecular biomarker and potential therapeutic target.
Breast cancer is the most common female malignancy worldwide and, despite improvements in treatment modalities, there are increased chances of recurrence and metastasis in a substantial number of ...cases and it remains one of the major causes of mortality among female cancer patients. Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene has been found to be altered in several solid and hematologic tumors. We aimed to comprehensively study the prevalence of ALK expression, and changes in copy number and translocation in a large cohort of breast cancer cases in a Middle Eastern population.
ALK protein expression was investigated by immunohistochemistry and numerical and structural variations of the ALK gene were analyzed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in a tissue microarray format in a cohort of more than 1000 Middle Eastern breast cancers. The data were correlated with clinicopathologic parameters and other important molecular biomarkers.
Immunohistochemical analysis showed ALK overexpression in 36.0 % of the breast cancer patients and gene amplification was present in 13.3 % of cases, seen by FISH analyses. ALK overexpression was significantly associated with ALK gene amplification (p = 0.0031). ALK-overexpressing tumors showed significant association with high-grade tumors (p = 0.0039), ductal histologic subtype (p = 0.0076), triple-negative phenotype (p = 0.0034), and high Ki-67 (p = 0.0001) and p-AKT (p <0.0001).
Immunohistochemical analysis showed ALK is overexpressed in a substantial proportion of breast cancers and possibly plays a significant role in the aggressive behavior of this cancer. Gene amplification is hypothesized to be a possible cause for a significant proportion of this overexpression. Based on these findings, a potential role for an ALK inhibitor, as a therapeutic agent targeting aggressive subtypes of breast cancer, merits further investigation.
Deciphering the functions of Y chromosome in mammals has been slow owing to the presence of repeats. Some of these repeats transcribe coding RNAs, the roles of which have been studied. Functions of ...the noncoding transcripts from Y chromosomal repeats however, remain unclear. While a majority of the genes expressed during spermatogenesis are autosomal, mice with different deletions of the long arm of the Y chromosome (Yq) were previously also shown to be characterized by subfertility, sterility and sperm abnormalities, suggesting the presence of effectors of spermatogenesis at this location. Here we report a set of novel noncoding RNAs from mouse Yq and explore their connection to some of the autosomal genes expressed in testis.
We describe a set of novel mouse male-specific Y long arm (MSYq)-derived long noncoding (lnc) transcripts, named Pirmy and Pirmy-like RNAs. Pirmy shows a large number of splice variants in testis. We also identified Pirmy-like RNAs present in multiple copies at different loci on mouse Y chromosome. Further, we identified eight differentially expressed autosome-encoded sperm proteins in a mutant mouse strain, XY
qdel (2/3 Yq-deleted). Pirmy and Pirmy-like RNAs have homology to 5'/3'UTRs of these deregulated autosomal genes. Several lines of experiments show that these short homologous stretches correspond to piRNAs. Thus, Pirmy and Pirmy-like RNAs act as templates for several piRNAs. In vitro functional assays reveal putative roles for these piRNAs in regulating autosomal genes.
Our study elucidates a set of autosomal genes that are potentially regulated by MSYq-derived piRNAs in mouse testis. Sperm phenotypes from the Yq-deleted mice seem to be similar to that reported in inter-specific male-sterile hybrids. Taken together, this study provides novel insights into possible role of MSYq-derived ncRNAs in male sterility and speciation.
PI3K/AKTsignaling pathway plays an important role in cell growth, proliferation, and tumorgenesis of various malignancies. This signaling pathway has been shown to be frequently altered in several ...human cancers including ovarian cancers. However the role of this oncogenic signaling pathway has not been explored in the Middle Eastern epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Therefore, we investigated PI3K/AKT genetic alterations such as PIK3CA amplification, PIK3CA mutation, PTEN protein loss and their relationships with various clinicopathological characteristics in 156 EOCs.
Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique and DNA sequencing were used to analyze PIK3CA amplification and mutation respectively. Expression of PIK3CA protein expression (p110 alpha), PTEN, p-AKT and Ki-67 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. PIK3CA amplification was seen in 54 of 152 (35.5%) EOC cases analyzed; PIK3CA gene mutations in 6/153 EOC (3.9%); KRAS mutations in 3/154 EOC (1.9%), BRAF mutations in 3/156 EOC (1.9%), p53 mutation in 50/154 EOC (32.5%), and loss of PTEN protein expression in 33/144 EOC (22.9%). p110 alpha overexpression was associated with increased phosphorylation of AKT-Ser 473 and with the proliferation marker Ki-67.
Our data showed mutual exclusivity between the molecular event of PIK3CA amplification and mutations in PIK3CA, KRAS, BRAF genes, which suggests that each of these alterations may individually be sufficient to drive ovarian tumor pathogenesis independently. High prevalence of genetic alterations in PI3K/AKT pathway in a Middle Eastern ovarian carcinoma provides genetic evidence supporting the notion that dysregulated PI3K/AKT pathways play an important role in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancers.
PTEN
is a tumor suppressor that negatively regulates the PI3 K-AKT signaling pathway which is involved in the pathogenesis of many different tumor types and serves as a prognostic marker in breast ...cancer. However, the significance of the role of
PTEN
in Middle Eastern ethnic breast cancer has not been explored especially with the fact that breast cancer originating from this ethnic population tend to behave more aggressively than breast cancer in the west. In this study, we analyzed
PTEN
alteration in a tissue microarray format containing more than 1000 primary breast cancers with clinical follow-up data. Tissue Microarray sections were analyzed for protein expression and copy number change using immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Loss of
PTEN
immunostaining was observed in 77 % of the cases.
PTEN
loss was significantly associated with
large
tumor size (
p
= 0.0030), high grade (
p
= 0.0281), tumor recurrence (
p
= 0.0333), and triple-negative breast cancers (
p
= 0.0086).
PTEN
loss in triple-negative breast cancers was significantly associated with rapid tumor cell proliferation (
p
= 0.0396) and poor prognosis (
p
= 0.0408).
PTEN
deletion was found only in 60 cases (6.4 %). Loss of
PTEN
protein expression occurs at high frequency in Middle Eastern breast cancer.
PTEN
inactivation may potentially lead to an aggressive behavior of tumor cells through stimulation of tumor cell proliferation. Furthermore,
PTEN
signaling pathway might be used as potential therapeutic target in triple-negative breast cancers since loss of its expression is shown to be significantly associated with this aggressive subtype of breast cancer.
Context: Genetic aberration in phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathway has been detected in numerous and diverse human cancers. PIK3CA, which encodes for the catalytic subunit of p110α of ...PI3K, is amplified in some cases of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). Mutations in the PIK3CA have also been identified in thyroid cancers and, although relatively common in anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, are uncommon in PTC.
Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate genetic alterations like PIK3CA gene mutation, PIK3CA amplification, RAS, and RAF mutations and to further explore the relationship of these genetic alterations with various clinicopathological characteristics in Middle Eastern PTC.
Design: We used the fluorescence in situ hybridization technique for analysis of PIK3CA amplification from 536 PTC cases, and selected amplified samples were further validated by real-time quantitative PCR. Mutation analysis was done by direct DNA sequencing of PIK3CA, N2-RAS, and BRAF genes.
Results: PIK3CA amplification was seen in 265 of 499 PTC cases analyzed (53.1%); PIK3CA gene mutations in four of 207 PTC (1.9%); N2-RAS mutations in 16 of 265 PTC (6%); and BRAF mutations in 153 of 296 PTC (51.7%). N-RAS mutations were-associated with an early stage (P = 0.0465) and lower incidence of extrathyroidal extension (P = 0.027), whereas BRAF mutations were-associated with metastasis (P = 0.0274) and poor disease-free survival (P = 0.0121) in PTCs.
Conclusion: A higher incidence of PIK3CA alterations and the possible synergistic effect of PIK3CA alterations and BRAF mutations suggest their major role in Middle Eastern PTC tumorigenesis and argue for therapeutic targeting of PI3K/AKT and MAPK pathways.
Context:
Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the second most common cancer in females in Saudi Arabia. However, the pathogenesis of PTC is still not fully elucidated.
Objective:
To identify potential ...genes that play important role in progression of PTC, we studied the role of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target in a large cohort of PTC samples and cell lines.
Design:
A DNA microarray chip was used to screen for gene copy number. XIAP expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in a tissue microarray format on a cohort of 1022 clinical samples. In vitro and in vivo studies were performed using Embelin and/or LY294002 on PTC cell lines.
Results:
XIAP was found to be amplified in 14 of 29 and overexpressed in 48.8% of PTC cases. XIAP overexpression was significantly associated with old age, extrathyroidal extension, tumor size, nodal involvement, tall-cell variant, advanced stage disease, and significantly poor disease-free survival (P = .0341). XIAP was also significantly associated with phosphorylated AKT (P < .0001), Bcl-Xl (P < .0001), and Ki67 (P = .0006) proteins. Embelin treatment caused growth inhibition and apoptosis in PTC cell lines and induced tumor regression in PTC xenograft in nude mice. Finally, the combination of suboptimal doses of Embelin and LY294002 induced a synergistic apoptotic response in PTC cells.
Conclusion:
XIAP dysregulation in PTC confers an aggressive phenotype with poor outcome. In vitro and in vivo studies using an XIAP inhibitor suggest that this subgroup of PTC with overexpression of XIAP can be therapeutically targeted, either alone or in combination, to induce efficient apoptosis in these cancers.
Context:
Forkhead boxM1 (FoxM1) transcription factor has been shown to promote pathogenesis of several malignancies. FoxM1 has also been shown to be associated with matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) in ...various cancers. However, little is known about its function in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).
Objective:
In this study, we investigated the role of FoxM1 in pathogenesis in a large series of PTC in a tissue microarray format followed by in vitro and in vivo studies using PTC cell lines and nude mice.
Design:
Expression of FoxM1 and its associated proteins were investigated in Middle Eastern PTC samples by immunohistochemistry. Apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry and immunoblotting. Invasion and migration studies were performed using 8-μm Transwell plates.
Results:
FoxM1 was overexpressed in 28.4% of PTC and significantly associated with activated matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) (P = 0.0004), X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) (P = 0.0024), and B-cell lymphoma-extra large (Bcl-XL) (P = 0.0014) expression. Treatment of PTC cell lines with thiostrepton, an inhibitor of FoxM1, resulted in inhibition of cell viability via induction of apoptosis. In addition, thiostrepton treatment of PTC cells or expression of FoxM1-specific small interfering RNA down-regulated expression of FoxM1 accompanied with decreased MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression. Furthermore, inhibition of FoxM1 attenuated migration and invasion of PTC cells. Interestingly, overexpression of FoxM1 rescued the effects of thiostrepton in PTC cell lines. Finally, treatment of PTC cell line xenografts with thiostrepton resulted in growth inhibition of tumors in nude mice via down-regulation of FoxM1 and MMP-9 and MMP-2.
Conclusion:
Altogether, this is the first study showing that FoxM1 and its associated signaling pathway play a critical role in the pathogenesis of PTC and may be a potential target for therapeutic intervention for treatment of these cancers.
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