Background and Aim: Fra-1 (Fos-related antigen-1) is a member of the AP1 (activator protein-1) family of transcription factors. We have recently shown that Fra-1 is necessary for breast cancer cells to metastasize in vivo, and that breast cancer outcome can be predicted by a classifier comprising genes that are expressed in a Fra-1-dependent fashion. Here, we show that Fra-1 plays an important role also in colon cancer progression. Methods: We compared proliferation rates of parental and Fra-1-depleted colon cancer cells in vitro under 2D, 3D, and attachment-free conditions and in vivo upon subcutaneous and intravenous injections into mice. We also compared RNA expression profiles of colon cancer cells with and without Fra-1 expression. Results: Fra-1 depletion impair colony outgrowth of human colon cancer cells in soft agar and in suspension, whereas it does not affect proliferation on 2D culture plates. Consistent with this, upon subcutaneous injection into mice, tumors formed by Fra-1-depleted colon cancer cells are only three times smaller than those produced by control cells. In contrast, when injected intravenously, Fra-1 depletion causes 200-fold reduction in tumor burden. Consistent with the more aggressive characteristics of Fra-1-proficient tumors, the prognosis of colon cancer patients can be predicted by a Fra-1 classifier generated by comparing RNA profiles of parental and Fra-1-depleted colon cancer cells. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that Fra-1 is an important determinant of the metastatic potential of human colon cancer cells, and suggest that a Fra-1 classifier can be used as a prognostic predictor in colon cancer patients. Overall design: HT29 cell line, two shRNAs against Fra-1, one empty vector control, three biological replicates
Fra-1 is a key driver of colon cancer metastasis and a Fra-1 classifier predicts disease-free survival.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesBackground. Cellular senescence is a mechanism that virtually irreversibly suppresses the proliferative capacity of cells in response to various stress signals. This includes the expression of activated oncogenes, which cause Oncogene-Induced Senescence (OIS). A body of evidence points to the involvement of chromatin reorganization, including the formation of senescence-associated heterochromatic foci (SAHF). The nuclear lamina (NL) is an important contributor to genome organization and has been involved in cellular senescence and organismal aging. It interacts with multiple regions of the genome called lamina-associated domains (LADs). Some LADs are cell type-specific, while others are conserved between cell types and are referred to as constitutive LADs. Here, we used DamID to investigate the changes in genome-NL interactions in a model of OIS triggered by the expression of the BRAFV600E oncogene.Results. We found that OIS cells lose most of their constitutive LADs (cLADS), suggesting the loss of a specific mechanism that targets cLADs to the NL. In addition, multiple genes relocated to the NL. Unexpectedly, they were not repressed, implying the abrogation of the repressive activity of the NL during OIS. Finally, OIS cells displayed an increased association of telomeres with the NL.Conclusions. Our study reveals that senescent cells acquire a new type of LAD organization and suggest the existence of as yet unknown mechanisms that tether cLADs to the NL and repress gene expression at the NL.
Massive reshaping of genome-nuclear lamina interactions during oncogene-induced senescence.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject, Time
View SamplesIn this study we investigate the mechanism of drug addiction Overall design: Drug was withdrawn from wt / MAPK1 KO / JUNB KO double drug resistant mel888 (DR Mel888) cells, and gene expression profiling was performed upon drug withdrawal
Cancer drug addiction is relayed by an ERK2-dependent phenotype switch.
Cell line, Subject
View SamplesThe Androgen Receptor (AR) is the key-driving transcription factor in prostate cancer, tightly controlled by epigenetic regulation. To date, most epigenetic profiling has been performed in cell lines or limited tissue samples. To comprehensively study the epigenetic landscape, we complemented RNA-seq with ChIP-seq for AR and histone modification marks (H3K27ac, H3K4me3, H3K27me3) in 100 primary prostate carcinomas. Integrative molecular subtyping of the five data streams revealed three major subtypes of which two were clearly TMPRSS2-ERG dictated. Importantly, a third novel subtype was identified, with low AR chromatin binding and activity, even though the receptor was clearly expressed. While positive for neuroendocrine-hallmark genes, these tumors were copy number-neutral with low mutation burden, significantly depleted for genes characteristic of poor-outcome associated luminal B-subtype. We present a rich novel resource on transcriptional and epigenetic control in prostate cancer, revealing a tight control of gene regulation differentially dictated by AR over the three subtypes. Overall design: RNA-seq data for primary prostate carcinomas
Integrative epigenetic taxonomy of primary prostate cancer.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesA panel of 29 melanoma cell lines were gene expression profiled by RNA-Seq. Overall design: mRNA profiles of 29 melanoma cell lines
Low MITF/AXL ratio predicts early resistance to multiple targeted drugs in melanoma.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe therapeutic landscape of melanoma is rapidly changing. While targeted inhibitors yield significant responses, their clinical benefit is often limited by the early onset of drug resistance. This motivates the pursuit to establish more durable clinical responses, by developing combinatorial therapies. But while potential new combinatorial targets steadily increase in numbers, they cannot possibly all be tested in patients. Similarly, while genetically engineered mouse melanoma models have great merit, they do not capture the enormous genetic diversity and heterogeneity typical in human melanoma. Furthermore, whereas in vitro studies have many advantages, they lack the presence of micro-environmental factors, which can have a profound impact on tumor progression and therapy response. This prompted us to develop an in vivo model for human melanoma that allows for studying the dynamics of tumor progression and drug response, with concurrent evaluation and optimization of new treatment regimens. Here, we present a collection of patient-derived xenografts (PDX), derived from BRAFV600E, NRASQ61 or BRAFWT/NRASWT melanoma metastases. The BRAFV600E PDX melanomas were acquired both prior to treatment with the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib and after resistance had occurred, including six matched pairs. We find that PDX resemble their human donors' melanomas regarding biomarkers, chromosomal aberrations, RNA expression profiles, mutational spectrum and targeted drug resistance patterns. Mutations, previously identified to cause resistance to BRAF inhibitors, are captured in PDX derived from resistant melanomThis melanoma PDX platform represents a comprehensive public resource to study both fundamental and translational aspects of melanoma progression and treatment in a physiologically relevant setting. Overall design: Melanoma samples pre and post Vemurafenib treatment from patient and matching patient derived xenografts (PDX)
XenofilteR: computational deconvolution of mouse and human reads in tumor xenograft sequence data.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesIncreased MITF expression contributes to melanoma progression and resistance to BRAF pathway inhibition. We show that, unexpectedly, lack of MITF is associated with more severe resistance to a range of inhibitors. Indeed, the presence of endogenous MITF was essential for robust drug responses. Both in primary and acquired resistance, MITF levels inversely correlated with expression of several activated receptor tyrosine kinases, most commonly AXL. The MITF-low/AXL-high/drug resistance phenotype was seen in roughly half of BRAF mutant and the majority of NRAS mutant melanoma cell lines. The dichotomous behavior of MITF in drug response was corroborated in vemurafenib-resistant biopsies, including MITF high and low clones in a relapsed patient. Drug cocktails containing AXL inhibitor enhanced melanoma cell elimination by BRAF or ERK inhibition. Our results demonstrate that a low MITF/AXL ratio predicts early resistance to multiple targeted drugs, and warrant clinical validation of AXL inhibitors to combat resistance of BRAF and NRAS mutant MITF-low melanomas. Overall design: Experssion analysis by RNAseq of 14 melanoma cell lines.
Low MITF/AXL ratio predicts early resistance to multiple targeted drugs in melanoma.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThe therapeutic landscape of melanoma is rapidly changing. While targeted inhibitors yield significant responses, their clinical benefit is often limited by the early onset of drug resistance. This motivates the pursuit to establish more durable clinical responses, by developing combinatorial therapies. But while potential new combinatorial targets steadily increase in numbers, they cannot possibly all be tested in patients. Similarly, while genetically engineered mouse melanoma models have great merit, they do not capture the enormous genetic diversity and heterogeneity typical in human melanoma. Furthermore, whereas in vitro studies have many advantages, they lack the presence of micro-environmental factors, which can have a profound impact on tumor progression and therapy response. This prompted us to develop an in vivo model for human melanoma that allows for studying the dynamics of tumor progression and drug response, with concurrent evaluation and optimization of new treatment regimens. Here, we present a collection of patient-derived xenografts (PDX), derived from BRAFV600E, NRASQ61 or BRAFWT/NRASWT melanoma metastases. The BRAFV600E PDX melanomas were acquired both prior to treatment with the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib and after resistance had occurred, including six matched pairs. We find that PDX resemble their human donors’ melanomas regarding biomarkers, chromosomal aberrations, RNA expression profiles, mutational spectrum and targeted drug resistance patterns. Mutations, previously identified to cause resistance to BRAF inhibitors, are captured in PDX derived from resistant melanomThis melanoma PDX platform represents a comprehensive public resource to study both fundamental and translational aspects of melanoma progression and treatment in a physiologically relevant setting. Overall design: RNA sequencing of 4 melanoma PDX samples to validate the effects of a structural variant on BRAF mRNA in BRAF inhibitor resistant melanoma.
BRAF(V600E) Kinase Domain Duplication Identified in Therapy-Refractory Melanoma Patient-Derived Xenografts.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Plasticity and virus specificity of the airway epithelial cell immune response during respiratory virus infection.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesTo study the transcriptional profile of patients with acute RSV or Influenza infection,children of median age 2.4 months (range 1.5-8.6) hospitalized with acute RSV and influenza virus infection were offered study enrollment after microbiologic confirmation of the diagnosis. Blood samples were collected from them within 42-72 hours of hospitalization. We excluded children with suspected or proven polymicrobial infections, with underlying chronic medical conditions (i.e congenital heart disease, renal insufficiency), with immunodeficiency, or those who received systemic steroids or other immunomodulatory therapies. The RSV cohort consisted of 51 patients with median age of 2 months (range 1.5-3.9) and the influenza cohort had 28 patients with median age of 5.5 months (range 1.4-21). Control samples were obtained from healthy children undergoing elective surgical procedures or at outpatient clinic visits. To exclude viral co-infections we performed nasopharyngeal viral cultures of all subjects. We recruited 10 control patients for the RSV cohort with median age of 6.7 months (range 5-10), and 12 control patients for the influenza cohort with median age of18.5 months (range 10.5-26).
Plasticity and virus specificity of the airway epithelial cell immune response during respiratory virus infection.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View Samples