PTK7 was identified from a meta-analysis of 1905 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) samples across 12 datasets to be one of seven genes commonly up-regulated in lung adenocarcinoma (ADC). Using ADC cell lines NCI-H1299 and NCI-H2009, disruption of PTK7 resulted in decreased cell viability and induction of apoptosis. A xenotransplantation model of the cell lines with PTK7 knock-down also resulted in decreased tumor burden. We assayed gene expression in these cell lines after PTK7 knock-down by shRNA to uncover deregulated pathways and genes.
A meta-analysis of lung cancer gene expression identifies PTK7 as a survival gene in lung adenocarcinoma.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesCancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) have been reported to support tumor progression by a variety of mechanisms. However, their role in the progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains poorly defined. In addition, the extent to which specific proteins secreted by CAFs contribute directly to tumor growth is unclear. To study the role of CAFs in NSCLC, a cross-species functional characterization of mouse and human lung CAFs was performed, including gene expression analysis comparing normal mouse lung fibroblasts (NFs) and mouse lung CAFs to seek for differentially-expressed secreted proteins.
Cross-species functional analysis of cancer-associated fibroblasts identifies a critical role for CLCF1 and IL-6 in non-small cell lung cancer in vivo.
Specimen part
View SamplesPurpose: Due to its high metastatic proclivity, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most deadly types of cancer. Therefore, it is imperative to better understand how the disease spreads as it progresses. Using a novel genetically engineered mouse model that allows us to isolate a subpopulation of cancer cells with superior metastatic capacity, we show that this aggressive phenotype correlates exclusively with a strong hypoxia signature. We subsequently identified the novel hypoxia-inducible gene Blimp1, which appears to play a critical role in regulating the hypoxic response upon its induction. Furthermore, genetic ablation of Blimp1 greatly reduces the level of metastasis in a PDAC mouse model. The nature of this Blimp1-regulated hypoxia signature is very unstable, since the seeded metastatic lesions mostly re-adopt similar transcriptomic profiles as the primary tumors. In conclusion, our results offer a potential mechanistic insight into how hypoxia drives metastasis in PDAC. Methods: Pure, paired GFP-negative/Tomato-positive and GFP-positive/Tomato-positive cancer cells or pure Tomato-positive cancer cells were sorted from primary PDAC samples from 6 KPC-colors mice or KPCT mice, respectively, with the following criteria: single cell based on FSC-A/H; CD45-negative; CD31-negative; Ter119-negative; F4/80-negative; DAPI-negative; and Tomato-positive. RNA were extracted from 10^4 to 5x10^4 freshly sorted cancer cells using AllPrep DNA/RNA Micro Kit (Qiagen). RNA quality was assessed with the RNA6000 PicoAssay kit by using the Bioanalyzer 2100 (Agilent). All ex vivo RNA samples used for RNA-seq analyses had an RIN > 8.0. Total RNA (15 ng/sample) was used for cDNA synthesis and amplification with the Ovation RNA-Seq system (NuGEN Technologies, Inc.). Subsequently, the amplified DNA samples were fragmented through sonication (Covaris model S1) and subjected to library preparation using the Illumina TruSeqTM DNA sample preparation kit (Low-Throughput protocol) according to manufacturer''s protocol. The quality of purified cDNA library products was confirmed by bioanalyzer and prepared for cluster generation on HiSeq paired-end flow cells using the CBot automated cluster generation system followed by sequencing on HiSeq 2000 machines. We obtained 101bp, paired-end reads from fragments of an average length of 250bp. Subsequently, RNA-Seq reads were aligned to the mouse genome (mm10) using the STAR aligner with standard input parameters (Dobin et al., 2013). The number of reads uniquely aligned to exons of individual genes were counted with HTSeq against the UCSC KnownGene (mm10) transcriptome (Anders et al., 2015). Results: Compared to the GFP-negative counterparts, GFP-positive pure PDAC cancer cells express higher levels of genes that are highly enriched with hypoxia signature. Additionally, compared to the GFP-negative counterparts, GFP-positive pure PDAC cancer cells express lower levels of cell cycle-related genes. In contrast, pure cancer cells isolated based on locations reveal few consistent differentially expressed genes between primary tumor and liver metastases; no consistent differentially expressed gene between primary tumor and lymph node metastases. Conclusions: Transcriptome profiles of both GFP-negative/positive PDAC cancer cells suggest that Hmga2/GFP-expressing cancer cells are highly enriched for signatures that correspond to cells residing within hypoxic enrivonment. Overall design: Freshly sorted GFP/Hmga2-positive and GFP/Hmga2-negative PDAC cancer cells derived from tumors of 6 KPCT;Hmga2-CK/+ (KPC-colors) mice were subjected to transcriptome profiling by paired-end RNA-Seq (total of 6 pairs of samples with overall 12 samples). Additionally, pure Tomato-positive PDAC cancer cells isolated from different anatomical locations were also subjected to transcriptome profiling by paired-end RNA-Seq (n = 23, not including technical replicates).
BLIMP1 Induces Transient Metastatic Heterogeneity in Pancreatic Cancer.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesRNA from A673 cells with shRNA-mediated knockdown of GFP (4 libraries), EWS-FLI1 (4 libraries), or lnc277 (7 libraries) was isolated with TRIzol (Invitrogen). Each sample was DNase treated and further purified on an RNeasy Mini column (Qiagen) before quality analysis on an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer. For each sample, 100-150ng of RNA was synthesized into cDNA, sheared on a Covaris ultrasonicator, and amplified using the NuGen Encore Complete kit (NuGen) to produce strand-specific and rRNA-depleted libraries. Samples were multiplexed (4/lane) for 2x100bp paired-end sequencing on an Illumina HiSeq 2000 Overall design: RNA from A673 cells with shRNA-mediated knockdown of GFP (4 libraries), EWS-FLI1 (4 libraries), or lnc277 (7 libraries) was isolated with TRIzol (Invitrogen).
Long noncoding RNA EWSAT1-mediated gene repression facilitates Ewing sarcoma oncogenesis.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesEwing sarcoma is a highly aggressive tumor characterized by a translocation between members of the FET family of RNA binding proteins and one of several ETS transcription factors, with the most common translocation being EWS-FLI1. EWS-FLI1 leads to changes in gene expression through mechanisms that are not completely understood. We performed RNA sequencing analysis on primary pediatric human mesenchymal progenitor cells (pMPCs) expressing EWS-FLI1 in order to identify novel target genes. This analysis identified lnc277 as a previously uncharacterized long non-coding RNA upregulated by EWS-FLI1 in pMPCs. Inhibiting the expression of lnc277 diminished the ability of Ewing sarcoma cell lines to proliferate and form colonies in soft agar whereas inhibiting lnc277 had no effect on other cell types tested. By analyzing gene expression after shRNA knockdown, we found that both EWS-FLI1 and lnc277 repressed many more genes that they induced and that a significant fraction of EWS-FLI1 repressed targets were also repressed by lnc277. Analysis of primary human Ewing sarcoma RNA sequencing data further supports a role for lnc277 in mediating gene repression. We identified hnRNPK as an RNA binding protein that interacts directly with lnc277. We found a significant overlap in the genes repressed by hnRNPK and those repressed by both EWS-FLI1 and lnc277, suggesting that hnRNPK participates in lnc277 mediated gene repression. Thus, lnc277 is a previously uncharacterized long non-coding RNA downstream of EWS-FLI1 that facilitates the development of Ewing sarcoma via the repression of target genes. Our studies identify a novel mechanism of oncogenesis downstream of a chromosomal translocation and underscore the importance of lncRNA-mediated gene repression as a mechanism of EWS-FLI1 transcriptional regulation. Overall design: RNA from primary human bone marrow derived mesenchymal cells either control or with inducible expression of EWS-FLI1 for 13 days was used to prepare PolyA selected cDNA libraries.
Long noncoding RNA EWSAT1-mediated gene repression facilitates Ewing sarcoma oncogenesis.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesEwing sarcoma is a highly aggressive tumor characterized by a translocation between members of the FET family of RNA binding proteins and one of several ETS transcription factors, with the most common translocation being EWS-FLI1. EWS-FLI1 leads to changes in gene expression through mechanisms that are not completely understood. We performed RNA sequencing analysis on primary pediatric human mesenchymal progenitor cells (pMPCs) expressing EWS-FLI1 in order to identify novel target genes. This analysis identified lnc277 as a previously uncharacterized long non-coding RNA upregulated by EWS-FLI1 in pMPCs. Inhibiting the expression of lnc277 diminished the ability of Ewing sarcoma cell lines to proliferate and form colonies in soft agar whereas inhibiting lnc277 had no effect on other cell types tested. By analyzing gene expression after shRNA knockdown, we found that both EWS-FLI1 and lnc277 repressed many more genes that they induced and that a significant fraction of EWS-FLI1 repressed targets were also repressed by lnc277. Analysis of primary human Ewing sarcoma RNA sequencing data further supports a role for lnc277 in mediating gene repression. We identified hnRNPK as an RNA binding protein that interacts directly with lnc277. We found a significant overlap in the genes repressed by hnRNPK and those repressed by both EWS-FLI1 and lnc277, suggesting that hnRNPK participates in lnc277 mediated gene repression. Thus, lnc277 is a previously uncharacterized long non-coding RNA downstream of EWS-FLI1 that facilitates the development of Ewing sarcoma via the repression of target genes. Our studies identify a novel mechanism of oncogenesis downstream of a chromosomal translocation and underscore the importance of lncRNA-mediated gene repression as a mechanism of EWS-FLI1 transcriptional regulation. Overall design: A673 Ewing cells expressing an shRNA targeting hnRNPK or control were subjected to paired end RNA sequencing and compared to shGFP control.
Long noncoding RNA EWSAT1-mediated gene repression facilitates Ewing sarcoma oncogenesis.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesFACS sorted TPCs (CD24HighCD44LowEpCAMHigh) and non-TPCs (CD24Low, CD24HighCD44High, and CD24HighCD44LowEpCAMLow) from mouse primary SCLC tumors
Identification and Targeting of Long-Term Tumor-Propagating Cells in Small Cell Lung Cancer.
Specimen part
View SamplesRNA expression profiles are not significantly altered by DDX3 WT or R534H expression as well as by 45 minute exposure of cells to sodium arsenite. Overall design: Cells expressing either DDX3 WT or R534H variant were treated with or without sodium arsenite and lysed in the presence of cyclohexime. Total cellular RNAs were extracted and sequenced.
Medulloblastoma-associated DDX3 variant selectively alters the translational response to stress.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) protein Brd4 is a validated drug target in leukemia, yet its regulatory function in this disease is not well understood. Here, we show that Brd4 chromatin occupancy in acute myeloid leukemia closely correlates with the hematopoietic transcription factors (TFs) Pu.1, Fli1, Erg, C/EBPa, C/EBPß, and Myb at nucleosome-depleted enhancer and promoter regions. We provide evidence that these TFs, in conjunction with the lysine acetyltransferase activity of p300/CBP, facilitate Brd4 recruitment to their occupied sites to promote transcriptional activation. Moreover, chemical inhibition of BET bromodomains is found to suppress the functional output each hematopoietic TF, thereby interfering with essential lineage-specific transcriptional circuits in this disease. These findings reveal a chromatin-based signaling cascade comprised of hematopoietic TFs, p300/CBP, and Brd4, which supports leukemia maintenance and is suppressed by BET bromodomain inhibition. Overall design: PolyA selected RNA-Seq for drug treated or shRNA-expressing MLL-AF9 transformed acute myeloid leukemia cells (RN2)
BET Bromodomain Inhibition Suppresses the Function of Hematopoietic Transcription Factors in Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe Brakeless protein performs many important functions during Drosophila development, but how it controls gene expression is not understood. We previously showed that Brakeless can function as a transcriptional co-repressor. Here, we report transcriptional profiling of brakeless mutant embryos to identify additional target genes.
The Brakeless co-regulator can directly activate and repress transcription in early Drosophila embryos.
Specimen part
View Samples