Epithelial/mesenchymal transition (EMT) is associated with loss of cell adhesion molecules, such as E-cadherin, and increased invasion, migration, and proliferation in epithelial cancers. In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), EMT is associated with greater resistance to EGFR inhibitors. However, its potential to predict response to other targeted drugs or chemotherapy has not been well characterized. The goal of this study was to develop a robust, platform-independent EMT gene expression signature and to investigate the association of EMT and drug response in NSCLC.
An epithelial-mesenchymal transition gene signature predicts resistance to EGFR and PI3K inhibitors and identifies Axl as a therapeutic target for overcoming EGFR inhibitor resistance.
Sex, Disease, Treatment, Race
View SamplesEGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancers bear hallmarks including sensitivity to EGFR inhibitors, and low proliferation, and increased MET. However, the biology of EGFR dependence is still poorly understood. Using a training cohort of chemo-naive lung adenocarcinomas, we have developed a 72-gene signature that predicts (i) EGFR mutation status in four independent datasets; (ii) sensitivity to erlotinib in vitro; and (iii) improved survival, even in the wild-type EGFR subgroup. The signature includes differences associated with enhanced receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling, such as increased expression of endocytosis-related genes, decreased phosphatase levels, decreased expression of proliferation-related genes, increased folate receptor-1 (FOLR1) (a determinant of pemetrexed response), and higher levels of MACC1 (which we identify as a regulator of MET in EGFR-mutant NSCLC). Those observations provide evidence that the EGFR-mutant phenotype is associated with alterations in the cellular machinery that links the EGFR and MET pathways and create a permissive environment for RTK signaling.
No associated publication
Sex, Disease, Treatment, Race
View SamplesPatients with oral preneoplastic lesion (OPL) have high risk of developing oral cancer. Although certain risk factors such as smoking status and histology are known, our ability to predict oral cancer risk remains poor. The study objective was to determine the value of gene expression profiling in predicting oral cancer development. Gene expression profile was measured in 86 of 162 OPL patients who were enrolled in a clinical chemoprevention trial that used the incidence of oral cancer development as a prespecified endpoint. The median follow-up time was 6.08 years and 35 of the 86 patients developed oral cancer over the course. Gene expression profiles were associated with oral cancer-free survival and used to develope multivariate predictive models for oral cancer prediction.
Gene expression profiling predicts the development of oral cancer.
Sex, Age, Race
View SamplesPurpose: To determine the 8-week disease control rate (DCR) of sorafenib monotherapy in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the BATTLE trial.
No associated publication
Sex, Treatment, Race
View SamplesMutant KRAS (mut-KRAS) is present in 30% of all human cancers and plays a critical role in cancer cell growth and resistance to therapy. There is evidence from colon cancer that mut-KRAS is a poor prognostic factor and negative predictor of patient response to molecularly targeted therapy. However, evidence for such a relationship in non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is conflicting. KRAS mutations are primarily found at codons 12 and 13, where different base changes lead to alternate amino acid substitutions that lock the protein in an active state. The patterns of mut-KRas amino acid substitutions in colon cancer and NSCLC are quite different, with aspartate (D) predominating in colon cancer (50%) and cysteine (C) in NSCLC (47%).
Effect of KRAS oncogene substitutions on protein behavior: implications for signaling and clinical outcome.
Sex, Disease, Treatment, Race
View SamplesThe behavior of breast cancers and their response to different chemotherapy treatments depend on their phenotype which is to a large extent determined by gene expression programs within the cancer cell.
Evaluation of a 30-gene paclitaxel, fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy response predictor in a multicenter randomized trial in breast cancer.
Age, Race
View SamplesTumor samples were obtained from patients with stage II-III breast cancer before starting neoadjuvant chemotherapy with four cycles of 5-fluorouracil/epirubicin/cyclophosphamide (FEC) followed by four cycles of docetaxel/capecitabine (TX) on US Oncology clinical trial 02-103. Most patients with HER-2-positive cancer also received trastuzumab (H).
Cell line derived multi-gene predictor of pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer: a validation study on US Oncology 02-103 clinical trial.
Age
View SamplesA large amount of epidemiologic data supports a role for chronic inflammation in epithelial carcinogenesis. In the lung, several studies have found that smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an inflammatory disease of the airways and alveoli, have an increased risk of lung cancer (1.3 to 4.9 fold) compared to smokers without COPD. We have also shown that COPD-like airway inflammation induced by an aerosolized lysate of non-typeable Hemophilus influenzae (NTHi) promotes lung cancer in a Clara cell-targeted K-ras mutant mouse model (CC-LR) of lung cancer. In contrast, existing epidemiologic data suggest that allergic inflammation of the airways may be protective against lung cancer. We tested this association in a mouse model of allergic airway inflammation. CC-LR mice were sensitized to ovalbumin by intraperitoneal injection weekly for two weeks, then challenged for 30 min to an aerosol of ovalbumin in 0.9% saline weekly for eight weeks. This resulted in eosinophilic lung inflammation associated with increased levels of T helper 2 (Th2) cytokines and mucous metaplasia of airway epithelium, similar to what is seen in asthma patients. However, consistent with epidemiologic data, this type of inflammation did not result in any significant differences in lung surface tumor number (22 3 in OVA exposed vs 26 6 in control mice). We conclude that asthma-like (Th2) inflammation does not promote lung carcinogenesis in a Ras-initiated background, and demonstrate a clear specificity for the nature of inflammation in lung cancer promotion. These findings will assist in determination of the essential cells and signaling events in lung cancer promotion by inflammation.
Interleukin 6, but not T helper 2 cytokines, promotes lung carcinogenesis.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesMammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine kinase involved in multiple intracellular signaling pathways promoting tumor growth. mTOR is aberrantly activated in a significant portion of breast cancers and is a promising target for treatment. Rapamycin and its analogues are in clinical trials for breast cancer treatment. Patterns of gene expression (metagenes) may also be used to simulate a biologic process of effects of a drug treatment. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the gene-expression signature regulated by rapamycin could predict disease outcome for patients with breast cancer. Results: Colony formation and sulforhodamine B (IC50 < 1nM) assays, and xenograft animals showed that MDA-MB-468 cells were sensitive to treatment with rapamycin. The comparison of in vitro and in vivo gene expression data identified a signature, termed rapamycin metagene index (RMI), of 31 genes upregulated by rapamycin treatment in vitro as well as in vivo (false discovery rate of 10%). In the Miller dataset, RMI was significantly associated with tumor size or lymph node status. High (>75) percentile) RMI was significantly associated with longer survival (P = 0.015). On multivariate analysis, RMI (P = 0.029), tumor size (P = 0.015) and lymph node status (P = 0.01) were prognostic. In van 't Veer study, RMI was not associated with the time to develop distant metastasis (P = 0.41). In Wang dataset, RMI predicted time to disease relapse (P = 0.09). Conclusions: Rapamycin-regulated gene expression signature predicts clinical outcome in breast cancer. This supports the central role of mTOR signaling in breast cancer biology and provides further impetus to pursue mTOR-targeted therapies for breast cancer treatment. Mol Cancer. 2009 Sep 24;8(1):75.
The rapamycin-regulated gene expression signature determines prognosis for breast cancer.
Specimen part, Cell line, Time
View SamplesAmong both healthy and immunocompromised patient populations, pneumonia is a leading cause of death worldwide. Yet, despite structural vulnerability resulting in recurrent exposure to pathogens, the lungs mucosal immunity successfully suppresses most infections. We recently reported that these innate defenses can be substantially augmented by inhalational exposure to a crude bacterial lysate, protecting broadly against respiratory pathogens, including lethal pneumonia caused by bacteria, fungi or viruses. The phenomenon of inducible resistance is associated with rapid pathogen killing in the lungs and persists in the absence of the typical leukocytes of innate immunity. Rather, the respiratory epithelium appears to be the predominant effector. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are highly conserved pattern recognition receptors crucial to host defense through the sensing of pathogen associated molecular patterns. Given the importance of TLRs to mucosal immunity, the presence of numerous pathogen associated molecular patterns in the bacterial lysate, and the induction of many TLR-dependent genes following lysate treatment, we hypothesized that induced resistance follows simultaneous stimulation of multiple TLRs. To test this, we challenged mice deficient in TLR/IL1R adaptor proteins and found that resistance could not be induced in mice lacking MyD88. Having identified this phenomenon to be MyD88-dependent, we sought to determine whether the protective phenomenon could be recapitulated by treatment with synthetic TLR agonists. Mice were treated with aerosolized TLR ligands, alone and in combination, prior to infection with virulent pathogens. While limited protection against pneumonia was afforded by the individual TLR ligands, we discovered that the synergistic combination of diacylated lipopetide TLR2/6 agonist Pam2CSK4 and CpG oligodeoxynucleotide TLR9 agonist ODN2395 induced profound resistance against all tested pathogens. This combination also induced greater than additive pathogen killing in the lungs of challenged mice, and we found that the combination could effectively induce pathogen killing by respiratory epithelial cells in vitro. In order to better understand the mechanisms underlying the inducible pathogen killing by this unique combination of TLR agonists, we performed microarray analysis of murine MLE-15 respiratory epithelial cells following 4 h treatment with PBS (sham treatment), Pam2CSK4 alone, ODN2395 alone, or the combination of both agonists, using Illumina Sentrix MouseRef-8 v2 BeadChips. This allows for assessment of differential gene expression, not only between treated and untreated, but between single and combination treated. The intent of the experiment is to gain insight into the transcriptionally-regulated means by which TLR2/6 and TLR9 signaling pathways synergistically interact.
No associated publication
Specimen part
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