The tissue-specific pathways regulating cell proliferation are inherited independently in somatic hybrid between thyroid and liver cells

Identification, using cDNA macroarray analysis, of distinct gene expression profiles associated with pathological and virological features of hepatocellular carcinoma

It is still unclear as to whether the gene expression profile in HCV- or HBV-related HCC exhibits a degree of specificity and whether the development of HCC in a context of cirrhosis influences this gene profile. To address these issues, the expression profiles of 15 cases of HCC were analysed using cDNA macroarray. A global analysis and hierarchical clustering, demonstrated the heterogeneity of HCC patterns, with a majority of down-regulated genes. Statistical analysis clearly showed a distinction between the gene expression profiles of HCV- and HBV-related HCC. HBV-associated HCC exhibited involvement of different cellular pathways, those controlling apoptosis, p53 signalling and G1/S transition. In HCV-related HCC we identified a more heterogenous pattern with an over-expression of the TGF-beta induced gene. In HCC developing on non-cirrhotic tissues, beta-catenin encoding gene and genes implicated in the PKC pathway were specifically up-regulated. In addition, our investigation highlighted a distinct profiles of TGF-beta superfamily encoding genes in well, moderately or poorly differentiated HCC. Overall, our study supports the hypothesis that despite the heterogeneity of the HCC pattern, the large-scale screening of gene expression may provide data significant to our understanding of the mechanism of liver carcinogenesis.

Regulation of thyroid cell proliferation by TSH and other factors: a critical evaluation of in vitro models

TSH via cAMP, and various growth factors, in cooperation with insulin or IGF-I stimulate cell cycle progression and proliferation in various thyrocyte culture systems, including rat thyroid cell lines (FRTL-5, WRT, PC Cl3) and primary cultures of rat, dog, sheep and human thyroid. The available data on cell signaling cascades, cell cycle kinetics, and cell cycle-regulatory proteins are thoroughly and critically reviewed in these experimental systems. In most FRTL-5 cells, TSH (cAMP) merely acts as a priming/competence factor amplifying PI3K and MAPK pathway activation and DNA synthesis elicited by insulin/IGF-I. In WRT cells, TSH and insulin/IGF-I can independently activate Ras and PI3K pathways and DNA synthesis. In dog thyroid primary cultures, TSH (cAMP) does not activate Ras and PI3K, and cAMP must be continuously elevated by TSH to directly control the progression through G(1) phase. This effect is exerted, at least in part, via the cAMP-dependent activation of the required cyclin D3, itself synthesized in response to insulin/IGF-I. This and other discrepancies show that the mechanistic logics of cell cycle stimulation by cAMP profoundly diverge in these different in vitro models of the same cell. Therefore, although these different thyrocyte systems constitute interesting models of the wide diversity of possible mechanisms of cAMP-dependent proliferation in various cell types, extrapolation of in vitro mechanistic data to TSH-dependent goitrogenesis in man can only be accepted in the cases where independent validation is provided.

A mechanism generating heterogeneity in thyroid epithelial cells: suppression of the thyrotropin/cAMP-dependent mitogenic pathway after cell division induced by cAMP-independent factors

The mechanisms that generate the intercellular heterogeneity of functional and proliferation responses in a tissue are generally unknown. In the thyroid gland, this heterogeneity is peculiarly marked and it has been proposed that it could result from the coexistence of genetically different subpopulations of thyrocytes. To evaluate the heterogeneity of proliferative responses in primary culture of dog thyrocytes, we asked whether the progeny of cells having incorporated 3H thymidine in a first period of the culture could have a distinct proliferative fate during a second labeling period (incorporation of bromodeoxyuridine revealed by immunofluorescence staining combined with autoradiography of 3H thymidine). No growth-prone subpopulations were detected and the great majority of cells were found to response to either EGF or thyrotropin (TSH) through cAMP. However, only a fraction of cells replicated DNA at one given period and a clustered distribution of labeled cells within the monolayer, which was different for thymidine- or bromodeoxyuridine-labeled cells, indicates some local and temporal synchrony of neighboring cells. The TSH/cAMP-dependent division of thyrocytes preserved their responsiveness to both TSH and EGF mitogenic pathways. By contrast, cells that had divided during a momentary treatment with EGF lost the mitogenic sensitivity to TSH and cAMP (forskolin) but retained the sensitivity to EGF. Since cells that had not divided kept responsiveness to both TSH and EGF, this generated two subpopulations differing in mitogen responsiveness. The extinction of the TSH/cAMP-dependent mitogenic pathway was delayed (1-2 d) but stable. Cell fusion experiments suggest it was due to the induction of a diffusible intracellular inhibitor of the cAMP-dependent growth pathway. These findings provide a useful model of the generation of a qualitative heterogeneity in the cell sensitivity to various mitogens, which presents analogies with other epigenetic processes, such as differentiation and senescence. They shed a new light on the significance of the coexistence of different modes of cell cycle controls in thyroid epithelial cells.