<div>Abstract<p>Prostate cancer is clinically heterogeneous, ranging from indolent to lethal disease. Expression profiling previously defined three subtypes of prostate cancer, one (subtype-1) linked to clinically favorable behavior, and the others (subtypes-2 and -3) linked with a more aggressive form of the disease. To explore disease heterogeneity at the genomic level, we carried out array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) on 64 prostate tumor specimens, including 55 primary tumors and 9 pelvic lymph node metastases. Unsupervised cluster analysis of DNA copy number alterations (CNA) identified recurrent aberrations, including a 6q15-deletion group associated with subtype-1 gene expression patterns and decreased tumor recurrence. Supervised analysis further disclosed distinct patterns of CNA among gene-expression subtypes, where subtype-1 tumors exhibited characteristic deletions at 5q21 and 6q15, and subtype-2 cases harbored deletions at 8p21 (<i>NKX3-1</i>) and 21q22 (resulting in <i>TMPRSS2-ERG</i> fusion). Lymph node metastases, predominantly subtype-3, displayed overall higher frequencies of CNA, and in particular gains at 8q24 (<i>MYC</i>) and 16p13, and loss at 10q23 (<i>PTEN</i>) and 16q23. Our findings reveal that prostate cancers develop via a limited number of alternative preferred genetic pathways. The resultant molecular genetic subtypes provide a new framework for investigating prostate cancer biology and explain in part the clinical heterogeneity of the disease. [Cancer Res 2007;67(18):8504–10]</p></div>
Previous studies in hereditary and sporadic prostate cancer have indicated the existence of a tumor suppressor gene in chromosomal region 19p13. The BRG1 gene in this region is one of the possible candidates, based on both the frequency of inactivating mutations in human cancer cell lines, including the prostate cancer cell line DU145, and its functional properties. To our knowledge, no studies have been done to evaluate possible involvement of the BRG1 gene in clinical prostate cancer. To accomplish this, we carried out a complete mutation analysis of all 35 BRG1 exons in tumor and constitutional DNA samples from 21 prostate cancer patients. We report the absence of somatic mutations in the panel of samples employed, but the existence of five germline single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CpG islands of the BRG1 gene, among them, three novel ones. In conclusion, the study excludes the presence of common BRG1 mutations in prostate cancer.
Abstract Mutated genes as drug targets to treat cancer are a widely known concept; however, the effect is moderate. Targeting nonmutated genes is an alternative and probably has potential to benefit patients. GPR89A, as a nonmutated protein in prostate cancer, was evaluated as a drug target in this project. Data showed that GPR89A knockdown could induce high cancer cell death rate. Combination use of GPR89A siRNA and docetaxel triggered synergism effect, which implicates a possibility that GPR89A inhibitors could be used together with docetaxel. The high-throughput screening discovered 39 drug candidates that could reduce cancer cell viability and GPR89A expression simultaneously. These findings highlight the importance of nonmutated genes in cancer progression. Targeting nonmutated genes, e.g., GPR89A, should be evaluated further to find significant association between these genes/proteins and cancers. Citation Format: Yuanjun Ma, Yanling Liu, Sten Nilsson, Chunde Li. Is non-mutated GPR89A protein a potential drug target in prostate cancer? [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Prostate Cancer: Advances in Basic, Translational, and Clinical Research; 2017 Dec 2-5; Orlando, Florida. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(16 Suppl):Abstract nr A056.
We studied chromosome 10q loss of heterozygosity and PTEN/MMAC1 gene inactivation in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Fifty-four cases of RCCs were analysed by three 10q RFLP markers. Forty one of them were heterozygous for at least one of the markers, of which fourteen showed LOH (34%). Six tumors which showed 10q deletion for RFLP markers and six randomly selected tumors without RFLP LOH were included in an extended study of 10q by eight microsatellite markers. Eight of these cases showed LOH with two smallest deleted regions (SRO) at 10q23 delineated by markers D10S541 and D10S579 while the other distal SRO is between markers D10S587 and D10S212 at 10q25-26. The five tumors with LOH covering 10q23 were selected for mutation analysis of PTEN/MMAC1 gene. One tumor without LOH of 10q23 was selected as a control. Using direct sequencing of nine exons, we found three different base pair changes in three tumors with LOH. Nine RCC cell lines were analysed for PTEN/MMAC1 gene inactivation. One homozygous deletion was detected in the cell line UOK147. No expression of PTEN/MMAC1 gene was detect by RT-PCR in the cell line UOK 147.
Background: This study aims to investigate the role of thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) in the pathogenesis of lumbar disc degeneration (LDD). Methods: Nucleus pulposus tissues were collected from 77 LDD patients (the case group), in addition, normal tissues were extracted from 21 patients suffering from lumbar fractures (the control group). Immunohistochemistry was applied in order to detect TSLP positive expression. In accordance with varying transfection, the cells were divided into TSLP-siRNA, TSLP-siRNA + TSLPR-siRNA, control, blank, anti-TSLPR, and IgG groups. Western blotting was used in order to detect TSLP expression in tissues, and TSLP and type II collagen (COL2AL) in cell culture media were detected using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Cell viability was measured using a MTT assay. Aggrecan levels were detected using antonopulos, and cell apoptosis was determined using flow cytometry. Results: TSLP-positive expression was found to be significantly higher in the case group compared with the control group. LDD patients' Pfirrmann grades and preoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) scores were associated with TSLP-positive rate. Cells transfected with TSLP-siRNA and TSLPR-siRNA plasmids exhibited lower TSLP and thymic stromal lymphopoietin receptor (TSLPR) protein expression compared with the control and blank groups. Compared with the control and blank groups, there was significantly higher cell viability, lower cell apoptosis, and higher COL2AL and Aggrecan levels in the TSLP-siRNA, anti-TSLPR, and TSLP-siRNA+TSLPR-siRNA groups; there were significant differences between the TSLP-siRNA, anti-TSLPR, and TSLP-siRNA+TSLPR-siRNA groups and IgG group (all P < .05) Conclusion: Our study provides evidence for the hypothesis that TSLP could reflect the histological severity of LDD, and TSLP-siRNA and, TSLPR-siRNA could inhibit apoptosis of nucleus pulposus cells. The evident information obtained from the investigation could lead the way for new therapeutic approaches regarding LDD treatment.
Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT) would benefit prostate cancer patients initially but cancer cells can eventually develop castration resistance.In this study, we compared androgen-dependent and androgenindependent cell lines to find potential genes associated with acquired resistance to ADT.Using RNAseq, we found 4397 mutations distributed in 2579 genes, out of which, 1574 mutated genes could also be found in prostate cancer tumor samples collected in Cosmic database (http://cancer.sanger.ac.uk/cosmic).We also discovered 157 and 549 genes which were down and up-regulated respectively in both PC3 and DU145 compared to LNCaP.Network analysis resulted in 3 dominant connection notes: GCR/MCR (NR3C1) and PKA-cat kinase (PRKACB) and PKC family (PRKD1).By ChimeraScan analysis, 48, 117 and 60 chimeric transcripts were discovered in DU145, LNCaP and PC3 respectively.Among them, six predicted fusions expressed specifically in androgen-independent cell lines (DU145 and PC3).Some of these gene mutations and transcription alterations have been reported in tumor samples from prostate cancer patients and may have certain associations with acquired resistance to anti-hormone therapy in prostate cancer.A proportion of mutations are enriched in genes involved in immune response pathways, suggesting new targets to develop effective treatments to overcome castration resistance.
51 Background: For prostate cancer patients, prostate cancer specific and non-prostate cancer specific survival have the same importance. This study aimed at identifying expression biomarkers that can predict prostate cancer specific, non-prostate cancer specific and overall survival at diagnosis. Methods: Selected ESCGPs (embryonic stem cell gene predictors) and control genes were analyzed by multiplex quantitative PCR using prostate fine-needle aspiration samples taken at diagnosis from a Swedish cohort of 189 prostate cancer patients diagnosed between 1986 and 2000. Of all patients, 97.9% had overall and cancer-specific survival data and 77.9% were primarily treated only by hormone therapy. The cohort was divided into one discovery and two validation subsets. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard ratios and Kaplan-Meier plots were used for the survival analysis. A published dataset was used for external validation. Results: An expression signature of F3, VGLL3 and IGFBP3, was sufficient to categorize the patients into high-risk, intermediate-risk and low-risk subtypes. The median overall survival of the subtypes was 3.23, 4.00 and 9.85 years respectively. The difference corresponded to HRs of 5.86 (95% CI 2.91-11.78, P<0.001) for the high-risk and 3.45 (95% CI 1.79-6.66, P<0.001) for the intermediate-risk compared to the low-risk subtype. This signature is significant in correlation to overall, cancer-specific and non-cancer specific survival in both univariate and multivariate analyses including common clinical parameters. Conclusions: These results suggest that these novel expression biomarkers and the expression signature could be used to improve the accuracy of the currently available clinical tools for predicting overall, cancer-specific and non-cancer specific survival and selecting patients with potential survival benefit from hormone treatment.