mRNA profiles of thousands of human tumors are available, but methods to deduce oncogenic signaling networks from these data lag behind. It is especially challenging to identify main-regulatory routes, and to generalize conclusions obtained from experimental models. We designed the bioinformatic platform R2 (http://r2.amc.nl) in parallel with a wet-lab approach of neuroblastoma. Here we demonstrate how R2 facilitates an integrated analysis of our neuroblastoma data. Analysis of the MYCN pathway suggested important regulatory connections to the polyamine synthesis route, the Notch pathway and the BMP/TGF pathway. A network of genes emerged connecting major oncogenes in neuroblastoma. Genes in the network carried strong prognostic values and were essential for tumor cell survival.
Deoxyhypusine synthase (DHPS) inhibitor GC7 induces p21/Rb-mediated inhibition of tumor cell growth and DHPS expression correlates with poor prognosis in neuroblastoma patients.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesmRNA profiles of thousands of human tumors are available, but methods to deduce oncogenic signaling networks from these data lag behind. It is especially challenging to identify main-regulatory routes, and to generalize conclusions obtained from experimental models. We designed the bioinformatic platform R2 (http://r2.amc.nl) in parallel with a wet-lab approach of neuroblastoma. Here we demonstrate how R2 facilitates an integrated analysis of our neuroblastoma data. Analysis of the MYCN pathway suggested important regulatory connections to the polyamine synthesis route, the Notch pathway and the BMP/TGF pathway. A network of genes emerged connecting major oncogenes in neuroblastoma. Genes in the network carried strong prognostic values and were essential for tumor cell survival.
Deoxyhypusine synthase (DHPS) inhibitor GC7 induces p21/Rb-mediated inhibition of tumor cell growth and DHPS expression correlates with poor prognosis in neuroblastoma patients.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesTwo genes have a synthetic lethal relationship when silencing or inhibition of one gene is only lethal in the context of a mutation or activation of the second gene. This situation offers an attractive therapeutic strategy, as inhibition of such a gene will only trigger cell death in tumor cells with an activated second oncogene but spare normal cells without activation of the second oncogene. Here we present evidence that CDK2 is synthetic lethal to neuroblastoma cells with MYCN amplification and overexpression. Neuroblastomas are childhood tumors with an often lethal outcome. Twenty percent of the tumors have MYCN amplification and these tumors are ultimately refractory to any therapy. Targeted silencing of CDK2 by three RNA interference techniques induced apoptosis in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma cell lines, but not in MYCN single copy cells. Silencing of MYCN abrogated this apoptotic response in MYCN-amplified cells. Inversely, silencing of CDK2 in MYCN single copy cells did not trigger apoptosis, unless a MYCN transgene was activated. The MYCN induced apoptosis after CDK2 silencing was accompanied by nuclear stabilization of P53 and mRNA profiling showed up-regulation of P53 target genes. Silencing of P53 rescued the cells from MYCN-driven apoptosis. The synthetic lethality of CDK2 silencing in MYCN activated neuroblastoma cells can also be triggered by inhibition of CDK2 with a small molecule drug. Treatment of neuroblastoma cells with Roscovitine, a CDK inhibitor, at clinically achievable concentrations induced MYCN-dependent apoptosis. The synthetic lethal relation between CDK2 and MYCN indicates CDK2 inhibitors as potential MYCN-selective cancer therapeutics.
Inactivation of CDK2 is synthetically lethal to MYCN over-expressing cancer cells.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesTranscription factor complexes bind to regulatory sequences of genes, providing a system of individual expression regulation. Targets of distinct transcription factors usually map throughout the genome, without clustering. Nevertheless, highly and weakly expressed genes do cluster in separate chromosomal domains with an average size of 80 to 90 genes. We therefore asked whether, besides transcription factors, an additional level of gene expression regulation exists that acts on chromosomal domains. Here we show that identical green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter constructs integrated at 90 different chromosomal positions determined by sequencing, obtain expression levels that correspond to the activity of the domains of integration. These domains are about 80 genes long and can exert an effect of up to 8-fold on the expression of integrated genes. 3D-FISH shows that active domains of integration have a more open chromatin structure than integration domains with weak activity. These results reveal a novel domain-wide regulatory mechanism that, together with transcription factors, exerts a dual control over gene transcription.
Domain-wide regulation of gene expression in the human genome.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesNeuroblastoma is an embryonal tumour of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system (SNS). One of the master regulator genes for peripheral SNS differentiation, the homeobox transcription factor PHOX2B, is mutated in familiar and sporadic neuroblastomas. Here we report that inducible expression of PHOX2B in the neuroblastoma cell line SJNB-8 down-regulates MSX1, a homeobox gene important for embryonic neural crest development. Inducible expression of MSX1 in SJNB-8 caused inhibition of both cell proliferation and colony formation in soft agar. Affymetrix micro- array and Northern blot analysis demonstrated that MSX1 strongly up-regulated the Delta-Notch pathway. These experiments describe for the first time regulation of the Delta-Notch pathway by MSX1, and connect these genes to the PHOX2B oncogene, indicative of a role in neuroblastoma biology.
The MSX1 homeobox transcription factor is a downstream target of PHOX2B and activates the Delta-Notch pathway in neuroblastoma.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesWe constructed a polycistronic lentiviral vector to overexpress 3 germ cell specific genes (Stella, Oct4 and Nanos2) in mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEFs) and evaluated the transcriptome portrait in partially reprogrammed cells.We sequenced RNA samples from bulk cell population of two biological duplicates of MEF-GFP (control) and MEF-SON (overexpressed) 21 days post infection. Differential expression analysis of 50 M pair-end read per samples showed overexpression of neurogenesis, blood vessel and proliferation related genes and downregulation of chondroitin sulphate metabolic process, nitric oxide production and innate immune response genes. Overall design: Examination of whole transcriptome following concurrent overexpression of Stella, Oct4 and Nanos2 in MEFs.
Suppression of dsRNA response genes and innate immunity following Oct4, Stella, and Nanos2 overexpression in mouse embryonic fibroblasts.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesThe overall cellular response to oxidative stress generated by Ero1 in the lumen of the mammalian endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is poorly characterized. Here, we investigate the effects of overexpressing a hyperactive mutant (C104A/C131A) of Ero1.
Hyperactivity of the Ero1α oxidase elicits endoplasmic reticulum stress but no broad antioxidant response.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesPreviously, it has been demonstrated that formate can be utilized by Saccharomyces cerevisiae as additional energy source using cells grown in a glucose-limited chemostat. Here, we investigated utilization of formaldehyde as co-substrate. Since endogenous formaldehyde dehydrogenase activities were insufficient to allow co-feeding of formaldehyde, the Hansenula polymorpha FLD1, encoding formaldehyde dehydrogenase, was introduced in S. cerevisiae. Chemostat cultivations revealed that formaldehyde was co-utilized with glucose, but the yield was lower than predicted. Moreover, formate was secreted by the cells. Upon co-expression of the H. polymorpha gene encoding formate dehydrogenase, FMD, the levels of secreted formate decreased, but the biomass yield was still lower than anticipated.
Engineering and analysis of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain that uses formaldehyde as an auxiliary substrate.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesIn this study, we take advantage of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived neural stem cells to study the role of p53 during human brain development. We knocked down (KD) p53 in human neuroepithelial stem (NES) cells derived from iPS cells. Upon p53KD, NES cells rapidly show centrosome amplification and genomic instability. Gene expression analysis show downregulation of genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) upon loss of p53. In addition, p53KD neural stem cells upregulate genes involved in neuronal differentiation and display an increased pace of differentiating into neurons and exhibit a phenotype corresponding to more mature neurons compared to control neurons. Taken together, this demonstrates an important role for p53 in controlling genomic stability of neural stem cells and regulation of neuronal differentiation.
p53 controls genomic stability and temporal differentiation of human neural stem cells and affects neural organization in human brain organoids.
Specimen part
View SamplesConventional anti-cancer drug screening is typically performed in the absence of accessory cells (e.g. stromal cells) of the tumor microenvironment, which can profoundly alter anti-tumor drug activity. To address this major limitation, we have developed assays (e.g. the tumor cell-specific in vitro bioluminescence imaging (CS-BLI) assay) to selectively quantify tumor cell viability, in presence vs. absence of non-malignant stromal cells or drug treatment. These assays have allowed us to identify that neoplastic cells from diverse malignancies exhibit stroma-induced resistance to different anti-tumor agents. In this analysis, we evaluated the molecular changes triggered in myeloma cells by their in vitro interaction with stromal cells. The transcriptional profile of 3 human multiple myeloma (MM) cell lines (MM.1S, MM.1R, INA-6) co-cultured with stromal cells vs. when cultured alone was characterized by oligonucleotide microarray analysis, using the human U133 plus 2.0 Affymetrix GeneChip.
Tumor cell-specific bioluminescence platform to identify stroma-induced changes to anticancer drug activity.
Cell line
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