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Savino A, Provero P, Poli V. Differential Co-Expression Analyses Allow the Identification of Critical Signalling Pathways Altered during Tumour Transformation and Progression. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:E9461. [PMID: 33322692 PMCID: PMC7764314 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21249461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 12/02/2020] [Accepted: 12/09/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Biological systems respond to perturbations through the rewiring of molecular interactions, organised in gene regulatory networks (GRNs). Among these, the increasingly high availability of transcriptomic data makes gene co-expression networks the most exploited ones. Differential co-expression networks are useful tools to identify changes in response to an external perturbation, such as mutations predisposing to cancer development, and leading to changes in the activity of gene expression regulators or signalling. They can help explain the robustness of cancer cells to perturbations and identify promising candidates for targeted therapy, moreover providing higher specificity with respect to standard co-expression methods. Here, we comprehensively review the literature about the methods developed to assess differential co-expression and their applications to cancer biology. Via the comparison of normal and diseased conditions and of different tumour stages, studies based on these methods led to the definition of pathways involved in gene network reorganisation upon oncogenes' mutations and tumour progression, often converging on immune system signalling. A relevant implementation still lagging behind is the integration of different data types, which would greatly improve network interpretability. Most importantly, performance and predictivity evaluation of the large variety of mathematical models proposed would urgently require experimental validations and systematic comparisons. We believe that future work on differential gene co-expression networks, complemented with additional omics data and experimentally tested, will considerably improve our insights into the biology of tumours.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurora Savino
- Molecular Biotechnology Center, Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Turin, Via Nizza 52, 10126 Turin, Italy
| | - Paolo Provero
- Department of Neurosciences “Rita Levi Montalcini”, University of Turin, Corso Massimo D’Ázeglio 52, 10126 Turin, Italy;
- Center for Omics Sciences, Ospedale San Raffaele IRCCS, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy
| | - Valeria Poli
- Molecular Biotechnology Center, Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Turin, Via Nizza 52, 10126 Turin, Italy
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Molecular and evolutionary processes generating variation in gene expression. Nat Rev Genet 2020; 22:203-215. [PMID: 33268840 DOI: 10.1038/s41576-020-00304-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Heritable variation in gene expression is common within and between species. This variation arises from mutations that alter the form or function of molecular gene regulatory networks that are then filtered by natural selection. High-throughput methods for introducing mutations and characterizing their cis- and trans-regulatory effects on gene expression (particularly, transcription) are revealing how different molecular mechanisms generate regulatory variation, and studies comparing these mutational effects with variation seen in the wild are teasing apart the role of neutral and non-neutral evolutionary processes. This integration of molecular and evolutionary biology allows us to understand how the variation in gene expression we see today came to be and to predict how it is most likely to evolve in the future.
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Li S, Ma L, Ou M, Feng J, Liao Y, Wang G, Tang L. A novel inducible lentiviral system for multi-gene expression with human HSP70 promoter and tetracycline-induced promoter. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2017; 101:3689-3702. [PMID: 28160047 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-017-8132-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2016] [Revised: 01/03/2017] [Accepted: 01/10/2017] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Despite lentiviral system's predominance, its ultimate potential for gene therapy has not been fully exploited. Currently, most lentivirus vectors are non-inducible expression system or single-gene-induced system, which limits the extensive application in gene therapy. In this study, we designed a novel lentiviral vector containing HSP70 promoter and TRE promoter. Compared to traditional lentiviral vectors and inducible vectors, our controllable system has many advantages. Firstly, it contains multiple gene or shRNA targets. Secondly, genes expression is on/off in response to heat shock and DOX induction in time of need respectively with high effectivity and sensitivity. Thirdly, TRE promoter and HSP70 promoter can work with no interference from each other in the same inducible lentiviral vector. In addition, our study also shows that our novel vector has a higher downstream gene expression efficiency than co-transfection method and can co-position multi-genes in single cell effectively. Finally, we propose four derived models based on our vector at the end, which may be useful in biological research and clinical research in the future. Therefore, we believe that this novel lentiviral system could be promising in gene therapy for tumor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shun Li
- Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China
- State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Vascular Implants, Chongqing, 400044, China
| | - Lunkun Ma
- Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China
- State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Vascular Implants, Chongqing, 400044, China
| | - Mengting Ou
- Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China
- State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Vascular Implants, Chongqing, 400044, China
| | - Jianguo Feng
- Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China
- State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Vascular Implants, Chongqing, 400044, China
- Department of Anesthesiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan Province, 646000, China
| | - Yi Liao
- Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China
- State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Vascular Implants, Chongqing, 400044, China
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400044, China
| | - Guixue Wang
- Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China
- State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Vascular Implants, Chongqing, 400044, China
| | - Liling Tang
- Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China.
- State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Vascular Implants, Chongqing, 400044, China.
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Bussemaker HJ, Causton HC, Fazlollahi M, Lee E, Muroff I. Network-based approaches that exploit inferred transcription factor activity to analyze the impact of genetic variation on gene expression. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017; 2:98-102. [PMID: 28691107 DOI: 10.1016/j.coisb.2017.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Over the past decade, a number of methods have emerged for inferring protein-level transcription factor activities in individual samples based on prior information about the structure of the gene regulatory network. We discuss how this has enabled new methods for dissecting trans-acting mechanisms that underpin genetic variation in gene expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harmen J Bussemaker
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027.,Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032
| | - Helen C Causton
- Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032
| | - Mina Fazlollahi
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029
| | - Eunjee Lee
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029
| | - Ivor Muroff
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
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5
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Thompson DA, Cubillos FA. Natural gene expression variation studies in yeast. Yeast 2016; 34:3-17. [PMID: 27668700 DOI: 10.1002/yea.3210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2016] [Revised: 09/16/2016] [Accepted: 09/18/2016] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
The rise of sequence information across different yeast species and strains is driving an increasing number of studies in the emerging field of genomics to associate polymorphic variants, mRNA abundance and phenotypic differences between individuals. Here, we gathered evidence from recent studies covering several layers that define the genotype-phenotype gap, such as mRNA abundance, allele-specific expression and translation efficiency to demonstrate how genetic variants co-evolve and define an individual's genome. Moreover, we exposed several antecedents where inter- and intra-specific studies led to opposite conclusions, probably owing to genetic divergence. Future studies in this area will benefit from the access to a massive array of well-annotated genomes and new sequencing technologies, which will allow the fine breakdown of the complex layers that delineate the genotype-phenotype map. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Francisco A Cubillos
- Centro de Estudios en Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Millennium Nucleus for Fungal Integrative and Synthetic Biology.,Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Química y Biología, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile
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