This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Distinct cachexia profiles in response to human pancreatic tumours in mouse limb and respiratory muscle.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesBackground: Cancer cachexia is a life-threatening metabolic syndrome that causes significant loss of skeletal muscle mass and significantly increases mortality in cancer patients. Currently, there is an urgent need for better understanding of the molecular pathophysiology of this disease, so that effective therapies can be developed. Almost all pre-clinical studies evaluating skeletal muscle’s response to cancer have focused on one or two pre-clinical models, and almost all have focused specifically on limb muscles. In the current study, we reveal key differences in the histology and transcriptomic signatures of a limb muscle and a respiratory muscle in orthotopic pancreatic cancer patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mice. Methods: To create the four cohorts of PDX mice evaluated in this study, tumors resected from four pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients were portioned and attached to the pancreas of immunodeficient NSG mice. Results: Body weight, muscle mass, and fat mass were significantly decreased in each PDX line. Histological assessment of cryosections taken from the tibialis anterior (TA) and diaphragm (DIA) revealed differential effects of tumor-burden on their morphology. Subsequent genome-wide microarray analysis on TA and DIA revealed key differences between their transcriptomes in response to cancer as well. Indeed, upregulated genes in the diaphragm were enriched for extracellular matrix (ECM) protein-encoding genes and genes related to the inflammatory response, and downregulated genes were enriched for mitochondria related protein-encoding genes. Conversely, the TA showed upregulation of canonical atrophy-associated pathways such as ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation and apoptosis and enrichment of downregulated genes encoding ECM proteins. Conclusions: These data suggest that distinct biological processes account for wasting in different skeletal muscles in response to the same tumor burden. Further investigation into these differences will be critical for the future development of effective clinical strategies to counter cancer cachexia.
Distinct cachexia profiles in response to human pancreatic tumours in mouse limb and respiratory muscle.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesSerum levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) are increased in the serum of people with pancreatic cancer and associated with the loss of body weight and low muscle mass. We have identified that systemic (intraperitoneal) injection of IL-8 into mice induces significant skeletal muscle atrophy. Transcriptional profiling of muscle harvested from these same mice identified the genes and biological processes associated with this IL-8 induced atrophy including gene clusters related to chromatin modification, muscle cell differentiation, and ubiquitin ligase complex.
IL-8 Released from Human Pancreatic Cancer and Tumor-Associated Stromal Cells Signals through a CXCR2-ERK1/2 Axis to Induce Muscle Atrophy.
Treatment
View SamplesAndrogenic steroids are increasingly used for hormone therapy of postmenopausal women and abused as life style drugs and for doping purposes, though knowledge about associated health risks in females is very limited. In order to understand more about short- and long-term androgen effects on a molecular level, we have analyzed hepatic gene expression in female C57BL/6 mice immediately after subcutaneous treatment with testosterone for 3 weeks and after 12 weeks hormone withdrawal using Affymetrix array technology and quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Among about 14,000 genes examined, 48 were up- and 65 genes were downregulated by testosterone after 3-weeks treatment and about 50% of these changes persisted even 12 weeks after testostrone withdrawal. In addition to obvious risks such as induction of hepatocellular carcinomas and virilization of liver metabolism, testosterone induced a series of changes, as e.g. dysregulation of hepatic gene expression due to incomplete conversion of female to male phenotype in particular downregulation of cytochrom P450 isoforms and sulfotransferases. As a long-term testosterone effect, transcripts emerged in the liver that are normally specific for the exocine pancreas including amylase 2, ribonuclease 1, and several trypsin-, chymotrypsin-, and elastase-like proteases. This transdifferentiation of hepatic to exocrine pancreatic tissue indicates that testosterone can initiate long-lasting differentiation programs, which once induced progress even after androgen withdrawal. This may have far-reaching consequences difficult to foresee implying long-term hazards of testosterone-treatment for female health that have not been taken into account yet.
Testosterone-induced upregulation of miRNAs in the female mouse liver.
Sex, Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesFanconi anemia (FA) is a genetic disorder characterized by congenital abnormalities, bone marrow failure and increased susceptibility to cancer. Of the fifteen FA proteins, Fanconi anemia group C (FANCC) is one of eight FA core complex components of the FA pathway. Unlike other FA core complex proteins, FANCC is mainly localized in the cytoplasm, where it is thought to function in apoptosis, redox regulation, cytokine signaling and other processes. Previously, we showed that regulation of FANCC involved proteolytic processing during apoptosis. To elucidate the biological significance of this proteolytic modification, we searched for molecular interacting partners of proteolytic FANCC fragments. Among the candidates obtained, the transcriptional corepressor protein C-terminal binding protein-1 (CtBP1) interacted directly with FANCC and other FA core complex proteins. Although not required for stability of the FA core complex or ubiquitin ligase activity, CtBP1 is essential for proliferation, cell survival and maintenance of chromosomal integrity. Expression profiling of CtBP1-depleted and FA-depleted cells revealed that several genes were commonly up- and down-regulated, including the Wnt antagonist Dickkopf-1 (DKK1). These findings suggest that FA and Wnt signaling via CtBP1 could share common effectors.
Fanconi anemia proteins interact with CtBP1 and modulate the expression of the Wnt antagonist Dickkopf-1.
Cell line
View SamplesThe cellular origin of Ewing tumor (ET), a tumor of bone or soft tissues characterized by specific fusions between EWS and ETS genes, is highly debated. Through gene expression analysis comparing ETs with a variety of normal tissues, we show that the profiles of different EWS-FLI1-silenced Ewing cell lines converge toward that of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). Moreover, upon EWS-FLI1 silencing, two different Ewing cell lines can differentiate along the adipogenic lineage when incubated in appropriate differentiation cocktails. In addition, Ewing cells can also differentiate along the osteogenic lineage upon long-term inhibition of EWS-FLI1. These in silico and experimental data strongly suggest that the inhibition of EWS-FLI1 may allow Ewing cells to recover the phenotype of their MSC progenitor.
Mesenchymal stem cell features of Ewing tumors.
Specimen part
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
A novel crosstalk between CCAR2 and AKT pathway in the regulation of cancer cell proliferation.
Cell line
View SamplesCCAR2 is a nuclear protein recently emerged as a pivotal player of the DNA damage response since it has been found involved in both apoptosis induction and DNA repair. Differently, its role in tumorigenesis and cancer progression is still elusive. In our studies we found that CCAR2 depletion impairs the proliferation of human cancer cell lines, but leaves unaffected the growth of normal immortalized cells. To better investigate this point we performed a genome wide gene expression analyses in U2OS and BJ-hTERT depleted of CCAR2 and we found that loss of this protein causes the deregulation of genes implicated in the AKT pathway specifically in U2OS cells, but not in BJ-hTERT. In accordance with these results we found a reduction in AKT activation in all the tested cancer cell lines depleted of CCAR2, but not in the normal ones. The defective activation of AKT is caused by the upregulation of TRB3 gene in cancer cells depleted of CCAR2 and finally results in the reduction of GSK3 phosphorylation, prevention of G1/S transition and inhibition of cancer cell growth.
A novel crosstalk between CCAR2 and AKT pathway in the regulation of cancer cell proliferation.
Cell line
View SamplesCCAR2 is a nuclear protein recently emerged as a pivotal player of the DNA damage response since it has been found involved in both apoptosis induction and DNA repair. Differently, its role in tumorigenesis and cancer progression is still elusive. In our studies we found that CCAR2 depletion impairs the proliferation of human cancer cell lines, but leaves unaffected the growth of normal immortalized cells. To better investigate this point we performed a genome wide gene expression analyses in U2OS and BJ-hTERT depleted of CCAR2 and we found that loss of this protein causes the deregulation of genes implicated in the AKT pathway specifically in U2OS cells, but not in BJ-hTERT. In accordance with these results we found a reduction in AKT activation in all the tested cancer cell lines depleted of CCAR2, but not in the normal ones. The defective activation of AKT is caused by the upregulation of TRB3 gene in cancer cells depleted of CCAR2 and finally results in the reduction of GSK3 phosphorylation, prevention of G1/S transition and inhibition of cancer cell growth.
A novel crosstalk between CCAR2 and AKT pathway in the regulation of cancer cell proliferation.
Cell line
View SamplesABSTRACT
Increased expression of bcl11b leads to chemoresistance accompanied by G1 accumulation.
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