The target of rapamycin (TOR) plays a central role in eukaryotic cell growth control. With prevalent hyper-activation of the mTOR pathway in human cancers, novel strategies to enhance TOR pathway inhibition are highly desirable.
Chemical genetics screen for enhancers of rapamycin identifies a specific inhibitor of an SCF family E3 ubiquitin ligase.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesMelanoma resistant to MAPK inhibitors (MAPKi) displays loss of fitness upon experimental MAPKi withdrawal and, clinically, may be resensitized to MAPKi therapy after a drug holiday. Here, we uncovered and therapeutically exploited the mechanisms of MAPKi addiction in MAPKi-resistant BRAF MUT or NRAS MUT melanoma. MAPKi-addiction phenotypes evident upon drug withdrawal spanned transient cell-cycle slowdown to cell-death responses, the latter of which required a robust phosphorylated ERK (pERK) rebound. Generally, drug withdrawal–induced pERK rebound upregulated p38–FRA1–JUNB–CDKN1A and downregulated proliferation, but only a robust pERK rebound resulted in DNA damage and parthanatos-related cell death. Importantly, pharmacologically impairing DNA damage repair during MAPKi withdrawal augmented MAPKi addiction across the board by converting a cell-cycle deceleration to a caspase-dependent cell-death response or by furthering parthanatos related cell death. Specifically in MEKi-resistant NRAS MUT or atypical BRAF MUT melanoma, treatment with a type I RAF inhibitor intensified pERK rebound elicited by MEKi withdrawal, thereby promoting a cell death–predominant MAPKi-addiction phenotype. Thus, MAPKi discontinuation upon disease progression should be coupled with specific strategies that augment MAPKi addiction. Overall design: BRAF/MEK inhibitors resistant cell lines M249DDR5 and SKMEL28DDR1 were assayed for their responses after 6 hr of BRAF/MEK inhibitor treatment and after inhibitors withdrawal (by washin) for 6 and 24 hours
Exploiting Drug Addiction Mechanisms to Select against MAPKi-Resistant Melanoma.
Cell line, Subject
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Recurrent Tumor Cell-Intrinsic and -Extrinsic Alterations during MAPKi-Induced Melanoma Regression and Early Adaptation.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesTreatment of advanced V600BRAF mutant melanoma using a BRAF inhibitor (BRAFi) or its combination with a MEKi typically elicits partial responses. We compared the transcriptomes of patient-derived tumors regressing on MAPKi therapy against MAPKi-induced temporal transcriptomic states in human melanoma cell lines or murine melanoma in immune-competent mice. Despite heterogeneous dynamics of clinical tumor regression, residual tumors displayed highly recurrent transcriptomic alterations and enriched processes, which were also observed in MAPKi-selected cell lines (implying tumor cell-intrinsic reprogramming) or in bulk mouse tumors (and the CD45-negative or -positive fractions,, implying tumor cell-intrinsic or stromal/immune alterations, respectively). Tumor cell-intrinsic reprogramming attenuated MAPK-dependency, while enhancing mesenchymal, angiogenic and IFN-inflammatory features and growth/survival dependence on multi-RTKs and PD-L2. In the immune compartment, PD-L2 upregulation in CD11c+ immunocytes drove the loss of T-cell inflammation and promoted BRAFi resistance. Thus, residual melanoma early on MAPKi therapy already displays potentially exploitable adaptive transcriptomic, epigenomic, immune-regulomic alterations. Overall design: Paired melanoma biopsies/cell lines before treatment, during treatment and after resistance to MAPKi were sent for transcriptomic analysis by paired end 2x100bp HiSeq 2000 RNAseq analysis
Recurrent Tumor Cell-Intrinsic and -Extrinsic Alterations during MAPKi-Induced Melanoma Regression and Early Adaptation.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesPD-1 immune checkpoint blockade provides significant clinical benefits for cancer patients. However, factors influencing innate sensitivity remain incompletely catalogued. We analyzed the somatic mutanomes and transcriptomes of pretreatment melanoma biopsies. Mutations in cell adhesion genes and the DNA repair gene BRCA2 were enriched in responding tumors, and a high mutational load associated with improved survival. Innately resistant tumors displayed frequent transcriptomic up-expression of genes that enriched for mesenchymal transition, cell adhesion, ECM organization, wound-healing and angiogenesis. The transcriptomes of innate resistance also enriched for signatures indicating up-regulation of these processes. Notably, MAPK-targeted therapy (MAPKi) induced similar signatures in melanoma, suggesting that a form of MAPKi resistance mediates cross-resistance to anti-PD-1 therapy. Co-enrichment of IPRIM (Innate anti-PD-1 Resistance Induced by MAPKi) signatures defined a transcriptomic subset across advanced cancers, suggesting that attenuating processes underlying these signatures may augment anti-PD1 responses. Thus, multi-factorial determinants influence anti-PD-1 patterns in melanoma. Overall design: Melanoma biopsies pre-anti-PD-1 therapy were sent for transcriptomic analysis by paired-end RNAseq analysis to find the correlates of response vs. non-response to the therapy
Genomic and Transcriptomic Features of Response to Anti-PD-1 Therapy in Metastatic Melanoma.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesTreatment of advanced V600BRAF mutant melanoma using a BRAF inhibitor (BRAFi) or its combination with a MEKi typically elicits partial responses. We compared the transcriptomes of patient-derived tumors regressing on MAPKi therapy against MAPKi-induced temporal transcriptomic states in human melanoma cell lines or murine melanoma in immune-competent mice. Despite heterogeneous dynamics of clinical tumor regression, residual tumors displayed highly recurrent transcriptomic alterations and enriched processes, which were also observed in MAPKi-selected cell lines (implying tumor cell-intrinsic reprogramming) or in bulk mouse tumors (and the CD45-negative or -positive fractions,, implying tumor cell-intrinsic or stromal/immune alterations, respectively). Tumor cell-intrinsic reprogramming attenuated MAPK-dependency, while enhancing mesenchymal, angiogenic and IFN-inflammatory features and growth/survival dependence on multi-RTKs and PD-L2. In the immune compartment, PD-L2 upregulation in CD11c+ immunocytes drove the loss of T-cell inflammation and promoted BRAFi resistance. Thus, residual melanoma early on MAPKi therapy already displays potentially exploitable adaptive transcriptomic, epigenomic, immune-regulomic alterations.
Recurrent Tumor Cell-Intrinsic and -Extrinsic Alterations during MAPKi-Induced Melanoma Regression and Early Adaptation.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesGene expression analysis of hypothalami from female animals at different juvenile developmental reproductive stages. Results provide insight into the role of the hypothalamus in controlling the onset of puberty. Overall design: SD rats were housed (8/cage) in a controlled environment and euthanized at different ages (PND=7, PND=14, Early Juvenile: 21 days, Late Juvenile: 28 days, Late Proestus (the day of first ovulation): 30-33 days. Rats were anesthetized and brains were rapidly removed. The medial basal hypothalamus (MBH) was dissected away from the rest of the brain and flash frozen. Total RNA was isolated from each sample using Qiagen''s RNeasy Mini Kit (Valencia, CA). Samples were bioanalyzed on a RNA 6000 Nano chip kit to check for integrity and concentration before sending it to OHSU''s Massively Parallel Sequencing Shared Resource for library preparation and sequencing.
Trithorax dependent changes in chromatin landscape at enhancer and promoter regions drive female puberty.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesADHD is the most common neurobehavioral disorder in school-aged children. In addition to genetic factors, environmental influences or gene x environmental interactions also play an important role in ADHD. One example of a well studied environmental risk factor for ADHD is exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). In this study, we investigated whether the well-established genetic model of ADHD based on the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat (SHR) and a well established PCB-based model of ADHD exhibited similar molecular changes in brain circuits involved in ADHD. The brains from 28 male rats (8 SHR, 8 Sprague-Dawley (SD) controls, 8 Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) controls, and 4 PCB-exposed SD rats) were harvested at postnatal day 55-65 and RNA was isolated from six brain regions of interest. The RNA was analyzed for differences in expression of a set of 308 probe sets interrogating 218 unique genes considered highly relevant to ADHD or epigenetic gene regulation using the Rat RAE 230 2.0 GeneChip (Affymetrix). Selected observations were confirmed by real time quantitative RT-PCR. The results show that the expression levels of genes Gnal, COMT, Adrbk1, Ntrk2, Hk1, Syt11 and Csnk1a1 were altered in both the SHR rats and the PCB-exposed SD rats. Arrb2, Stx12, Aqp6, Syt1, Ddc and Pgk1 expression levels were changed only in the PCB-exposed SD rats. Genes with altered expression only in the SHRs included Oprm1, Calcyon, Calmodulin, Lhx1 and Hes6.The epigenetic genes Crebbp, Mecp2 and Hdac5 are significantly altered in both models. The data provide strong evidence that genes and environment can affect different set of genes in two different models of ADHD and yet result in the similar disease-like symptoms.
A comparison of molecular alterations in environmental and genetic rat models of ADHD: a pilot study.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesSky1 is a Saccharomyces cerevisiae rich serine-arginine (SR) protein-specific kinase and its enzymatic activity is essential in the cytotoxicity caused by cisplatin, although the molecular mechanisms supporting this function are not understood. We present a transcriptome analysis discriminating between RNA changes induced by cisplatin which are dependent or independent of the Sky1 function.
Sky1 regulates the expression of sulfur metabolism genes in response to cisplatin.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesBackground: Survival and function of insulin-secreting pancreatic -cells are markedly altered by changes in nutrient availability. In vitro, culture in 10 rather than 2mM glucose improves rodent -cell survival and function whereas glucose concentrations above 10mM are deleterious. Aim-Method: To identify the mechanisms of such -cell plasticity, we tested the effects of a 18h culture at 2, 5, 10 and 30mM glucose on the transcriptome of rat islets precultured for 1 week at 10mM glucose (Affymetrix Rat 230.2 arrays). Results: Culture in either 2-5mM or 30mM instead of 10mM glucose markedly impaired -cell function without affecting islet cell survival. Of ~16000 probe sets reliably detected in islets, ~5000 were significantly regulated at least 1.4-fold by glucose. Analysis of these probe sets with GeneCluster software identified 10 mRNA profiles with unidirectional up- or down-regulation between 2 and 10, 2 and 30, 5 and 10, 5 and 30 or 10 and 30 mM glucose, and 8 complex V-shaped or inverse V-shaped profiles with a nadir or peak level of expression in 5 or 10mM glucose. Analysis of genes belonging to these various clusters with Onto-express and GenMapp software revealed several signaling and metabolic pathways that may contribute to the induction of -cell dysfunction and apoptosis after culture in low or high vs. intermediate glucose concentration. Conclusion: We have identified 18 distinct mRNA profiles of glucose-induced changes in islet gene mRNA levels that should help understanding the mechanisms by which glucose affects -cell survival and function under states of chronic hypo- or hyperglycemia.
Cluster analysis of rat pancreatic islet gene mRNA levels after culture in low-, intermediate- and high-glucose concentrations.
No sample metadata fields
View Samples