1
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Agioti S, Zaravinos A. Immune Cytolytic Activity and Strategies for Therapeutic Treatment. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:3624. [PMID: 38612436 PMCID: PMC11011457 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25073624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2024] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Intratumoral immune cytolytic activity (CYT), calculated as the geometric mean of granzyme-A (GZMA) and perforin-1 (PRF1) expression, has emerged as a critical factor in cancer immunotherapy, with significant implications for patient prognosis and treatment outcomes. Immune checkpoint pathways, the composition of the tumor microenvironment (TME), antigen presentation, and metabolic pathways regulate CYT. Here, we describe the various methods with which we can assess CYT. The detection and analysis of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) using flow cytometry or immunohistochemistry provide important information about immune cell populations within the TME. Gene expression profiling and spatial analysis techniques, such as multiplex immunofluorescence and imaging mass cytometry allow the study of CYT in the context of the TME. We discuss the significant clinical implications that CYT has, as its increased levels are associated with positive clinical outcomes and a favorable prognosis. Moreover, CYT can be used as a prognostic biomarker and aid in patient stratification. Altering CYT through the different methods targeting it, offers promising paths for improving treatment responses. Overall, understanding and modulating CYT is critical for improving cancer immunotherapy. Research into CYT and the factors that influence it has the potential to transform cancer treatment and improve patient outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Agioti
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus;
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus;
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
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2
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Tsiatsianis GC, Chan CSY, Mouratidis I, Chantzi N, Tsiatsiani AM, Yee NS, Zaravinos A, Kantere V, Georgakopoulos-Soares I. Peptide absent sequences emerging in human cancers. Eur J Cancer 2024; 196:113421. [PMID: 37952501 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejca.2023.113421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 11/01/2023] [Accepted: 11/01/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023]
Abstract
Early diagnosis of cancer can significantly improve survival of cancer patients; however sensitive and highly specific biomarkers for cancer detection are currently lacking for most cancer types. Nullpeptides are short peptides that are absent from the human proteome. Here, we examined the emergence of nullpeptides during cancer development. We analyzed 3,600,964 somatic mutations across 10,064 whole exome sequencing tumor samples spanning 32 cancer types. We analyze RNA-seq data from primary tumor samples to identify the subset of nullpeptides that emerge in highly expresed genes. We show that nullpeptides, and particularly the subset that is highly recurrent across cancer patients, can be identified in tumor biopsy samples. We find that cancer genes show an excess of nullpeptides and detect nullpeptide hotspots in specific loci of oncogenes and tumor suppressors. We also observe that recurrent nullpeptides are more likely to be found in neoantigens, which have been shown to be effective targets for immunotherapy, suggesting that they can be used to prioritize candidates. Our findings provide evidence for the utility of nullpeptides as cancer detection and therapeutic biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgios Christos Tsiatsianis
- Institute for Personalized Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA; National Technical University of Athens, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Athens, Greece
| | - Candace S Y Chan
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Ioannis Mouratidis
- Institute for Personalized Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Nikol Chantzi
- Institute for Personalized Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Anna Maria Tsiatsiani
- National Technical University of Athens, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Athens, Greece; School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Nelson S Yee
- Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Next-Generation Therapies Program, Penn State Cancer Institute, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus; Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | - Verena Kantere
- School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ottawa, Canada
| | - Ilias Georgakopoulos-Soares
- Institute for Personalized Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA.
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3
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Vryza P, Fischer T, Mistakidi E, Zaravinos A. Tumor mutation burden in the prognosis and response of lung cancer patients to immune-checkpoint inhibition therapies. Transl Oncol 2023; 38:101788. [PMID: 37776617 PMCID: PMC10542015 DOI: 10.1016/j.tranon.2023.101788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 09/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) therapies have reshaped the therapeutic landscape in lung cancer management, providing first-time improvements in patient response, prognosis, and overall survival. Despite their clinical effectiveness, variability in treatment responsiveness, as well as drug resistance, have led to a compelling need for predictive biomarkers facilitating the individualized selection of the most efficient therapeutic approach. Significant progress has been made in the identification of such biomarkers, with tumor mutation burden (ΤΜΒ) appearing as the leading and most promising predictive biomarker for the efficacy of ICIs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) among other tumors. Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies have been extensively studied and clinically utilized. However, the overall efficiency of these drugs remains unsatisfactory, urging for the investigation of novel inhibitors, such as those targeting LAG-3, TIM-3, TIGIT and VISTA, which could be used either as a monotherapy or synergistically with the PD-1/PD-L1 or CTLA-4 blockers. Here, we investigate the role of TMB and cancer neoantigens as predictive biomarkers in the response of lung cancer patients to different ICI therapies, specifically focusing on the most recent immune checkpoint inhibitors, against LAG-3, TIM-3, TIGIT and VISTA. We further discuss the new trends in immunotherapies, including CAR T-cell therapy and personalized tumor vaccines. We also review further potential biomarkers that could be used in lung cancer response to immunotherapy, such as PD-L1+ IHC, MSI/dMMR, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), as well as the role of the microbiome and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). Finally, we discuss the limitations and challenges of each.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paraskevi Vryza
- School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus; Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | - Timo Fischer
- School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus; Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | - Elena Mistakidi
- School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus; Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus; Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus.
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4
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Bui I, Baritaki S, Libra M, Zaravinos A, Bonavida B. Cancer Resistance Is Mediated by the Upregulation of Several Anti-Apoptotic Gene Products via the Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase/Nitric Oxide Pathway: Therapeutic Implications. Antioxid Redox Signal 2023; 39:853-889. [PMID: 37466477 DOI: 10.1089/ars.2023.0250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
Abstract
Significance: Several therapeutic strategies for cancer treatments have been developed with time, and significant milestones have been achieved recently. However, with these novel therapies, not all cancer types respond and in the responding cancer types only a subset is affected. The failure to respond is principally the result that these cancers develop several mechanisms of resistance. Thus, a focus of current research investigations is to unravel the various mechanisms that regulate resistance and identify suitable targets for new therapeutics. Recent Advances: Hence, many human cancer types have been reported to overexpress the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and it has been suggested that iNOS/nitric oxide (NO) plays a pivotal role in the regulation of resistance. We have postulated that iNOS overexpression or NO regulates the overexpression of pivotal anti-apoptotic gene products such as B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), B-cell lymphoma extra large (Bcl-xL), myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1), and survivin. In this report, we describe the various mechanisms, transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and post-translational, by which iNOS/NO regulates the expression of the above anti-apoptotic gene products. Critical Issues: The iNOS/NO-mediated regulation of the four gene products is not the same with both specific and overlapping pathways. Our findings are, in large part, validated by bioinformatic analyses demonstrating, in several cancers, several direct correlations between the expression of iNOS and each of the four examined anti-apoptotic gene products. Future Directions: We have proposed that targeting iNOS may be highly efficient since it will result in the underexpression of multiple anti-apoptotic proteins and shifting the balance toward the proapoptotic gene products and reversal of resistance. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 39, 853-889.
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Affiliation(s)
- Indy Bui
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Stavroula Baritaki
- Laboratory of Experimental Oncology, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
| | - Massimo Libra
- Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
- Italian League Against Cancer, Catania, Italy
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Benjamin Bonavida
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
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Baritaki S, Zaravinos A. Cross-Talks between RKIP and YY1 through a Multilevel Bioinformatics Pan-Cancer Analysis. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:4932. [PMID: 37894300 PMCID: PMC10605344 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15204932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies suggest that PEBP1 (also known as RKIP) and YY1, despite having distinct molecular functions, may interact and mutually influence each other's activity. They exhibit reciprocal control over each other's expression through regulatory loops, prompting the hypothesis that their interplay could be pivotal in cancer advancement and resistance to drugs. To delve into this interplay's functional characteristics, we conducted a comprehensive analysis using bioinformatics tools across a range of cancers. Our results confirm the association between elevated YY1 mRNA levels and varying survival outcomes in diverse tumors. Furthermore, we observed differing degrees of inhibitory or activating effects of these two genes in apoptosis, cell cycle, DNA damage, and other cancer pathways, along with correlations between their mRNA expression and immune infiltration. Additionally, YY1/PEBP1 expression and methylation displayed connections with genomic alterations across different cancer types. Notably, we uncovered links between the two genes and different indicators of immunosuppression, such as immune checkpoint blockade response and T-cell dysfunction/exclusion levels, across different patient groups. Overall, our findings underscore the significant role of the interplay between YY1 and PEBP1 in cancer progression, influencing genomic changes, tumor immunity, or the tumor microenvironment. Additionally, these two gene products appear to impact the sensitivity of anticancer drugs, opening new avenues for cancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stavroula Baritaki
- Laboratory of Experimental Oncology, Division of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece;
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 2404 Nicosia, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Group, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
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6
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Zaravinos A. Special Issue "Latest Review Papers in Molecular Genetics and Genomics 2023". Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:14171. [PMID: 37762474 PMCID: PMC10532209 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241814171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
In the rapidly evolving landscape of molecular genetics and genomics, this Special Issue brings together a collection of insightful review articles that delve into the forefront of scientific exploration [...].
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Affiliation(s)
- Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 2404 Nicosia, Cyprus;
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), 2404 Nicosia, Cyprus
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7
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Decock J, Comito G, Zaravinos A. Editorial: Tumor microenvironment, inflammation, and resistance to immunotherapies. Front Oncol 2023; 13:1215332. [PMID: 37324002 PMCID: PMC10265629 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1215332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Julie Decock
- Translational Cancer and Immunity Center (TCIC), Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Qatar Foundation (QF), Doha, Qatar
- College of Health and Life Sciences (CHLS), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Qatar Foundation (QF), Doha, Qatar
| | - Giuseppina Comito
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences, School of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia, Cyprus
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8
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Georgakopoulos-Soares I, Zaravinos A. Editorial: Mutational signatures and immune response in cancer. Front Genet 2023; 14:1215326. [PMID: 37265964 PMCID: PMC10230049 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1215326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/03/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ilias Georgakopoulos-Soares
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute for Personalized Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia, Cyprus
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9
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Christodoulou MI, Zaravinos A. Single-Cell Analysis in Immuno-Oncology. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24098422. [PMID: 37176128 PMCID: PMC10178969 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24098422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2023] [Revised: 05/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The complexity of the cellular and non-cellular milieu surrounding human tumors plays a decisive role in the course and outcome of disease. The high variability in the distribution of the immune and non-immune compartments within the tumor microenvironments (TME) among different patients governs the mode of their response or resistance to current immunotherapeutic approaches. Through deciphering this diversity, one can tailor patients' management to meet an individual's needs. Single-cell (sc) omics technologies have given a great boost towards this direction. This review gathers recent data about how multi-omics profiling, including the utilization of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with sequencing (scATAC-seq), T-cell receptor sequencing (scTCR-seq), mass, tissue-based, or microfluidics cytometry, and related bioinformatics tools, contributes to the high-throughput assessment of a large number of analytes at single-cell resolution. Unravelling the exact TCR clonotype of the infiltrating T cells or pinpointing the classical or novel immune checkpoints across various cell subsets of the TME provide a boost to our comprehension of adaptive immune responses, their antigen specificity and dynamics, and grant suggestions for possible therapeutic targets. Future steps are expected to merge high-dimensional data with tissue localization data, which can serve the investigation of novel multi-modal biomarkers for the selection and/or monitoring of the optimal treatment from the current anti-cancer immunotherapeutic armamentarium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria-Ioanna Christodoulou
- Tumor Immunology and Biomarkers Group, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 2404 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 2404 Nicosia, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Group, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
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10
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Moeckel C, Bakhl K, Georgakopoulos-Soares I, Zaravinos A. The Efficacy of Tumor Mutation Burden as a Biomarker of Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24076710. [PMID: 37047684 PMCID: PMC10095310 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24076710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 03/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 04/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world; therefore, extensive research has been dedicated to exploring potential therapeutics, including immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Initially, programmed-death ligand-1 was the biomarker utilized to predict the efficacy of ICIs. However, its heterogeneous expression in the tumor microenvironment, which is critical to cancer progression, promoted the exploration of the tumor mutation burden (TMB). Research in various cancers, such as melanoma and lung cancer, has shown an association between high TMB and response to ICIs, increasing its predictive value. However, the TMB has failed to predict ICI response in numerous other cancers. Therefore, future research is needed to analyze the variations between cancer types and establish TMB cutoffs in order to create a more standardized methodology for using the TMB clinically. In this review, we aim to explore current research on the efficacy of the TMB as a biomarker, discuss current approaches to overcoming immunoresistance to ICIs, and highlight new trends in the field such as liquid biopsies, next generation sequencing, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, and personalized tumor vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camille Moeckel
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute for Personalized Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA
| | - Katrina Bakhl
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute for Personalized Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA
| | - Ilias Georgakopoulos-Soares
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute for Personalized Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, European University Cyprus, Diogenis Str., 6, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
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11
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Ioannou I, Chatziantoniou A, Drenios C, Christodoulou P, Kourti M, Zaravinos A. Signatures of Co-Deregulated Genes and Their Transcriptional Regulators in Kidney Cancers. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24076577. [PMID: 37047552 PMCID: PMC10094846 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24076577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023] Open
Abstract
There are several studies on the deregulated gene expression profiles in kidney cancer, with varying results depending on the tumor histology and other parameters. None of these, however, have identified the networks that the co-deregulated genes (co-DEGs), across different studies, create. Here, we reanalyzed 10 Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) studies to detect and annotate co-deregulated signatures across different subtypes of kidney cancer or in single-gene perturbation experiments in kidney cancer cells and/or tissue. Using a systems biology approach, we aimed to decipher the networks they form along with their upstream regulators. Differential expression and upstream regulators, including transcription factors [MYC proto-oncogene (MYC), CCAAT enhancer binding protein delta (CEBPD), RELA proto-oncogene, NF-kB subunit (RELA), zinc finger MIZ-type containing 1 (ZMIZ1), negative elongation factor complex member E (NELFE) and Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4)] and protein kinases [Casein kinase 2 alpha 1 (CSNK2A1), mitogen-activated protein kinases 1 (MAPK1) and 14 (MAPK14), Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), Cyclin dependent kinases 1 (CDK1) and 4 (CDK4), Homeodomain interacting protein kinase 2 (HIPK2) and Extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2)], were computed using the Characteristic Direction, as well as GEO2Enrichr and X2K, respectively, and further subjected to GO and KEGG pathways enrichment analyses. Furthermore, using CMap, DrugMatrix and the LINCS L1000 chemical perturbation databases, we highlight putative repurposing drugs, including Etoposide, Haloperidol, BW-B70C, Triamterene, Chlorphenesin, BRD-K79459005 and β-Estradiol 3-benzoate, among others, that may reverse the expression of the identified co-DEGs in kidney cancers. Of these, the cytotoxic effects of Etoposide, Catecholamine, Cyclosporin A, BW-B70C and Lasalocid sodium were validated in vitro. Overall, we identified critical co-DEGs across different subtypes in kidney cancer, and our results provide an innovative framework for their potential use in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioanna Ioannou
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Group, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | - Angeliki Chatziantoniou
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Group, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | - Constantinos Drenios
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
| | | | - Malamati Kourti
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
- Angiogenesis and Cancer Drug Discovery Group, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Group, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
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12
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Moeckel C, Zaravinos A, Georgakopoulos-Soares I. Strand Asymmetries Across Genomic Processes. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2023; 21:2036-2047. [PMID: 36968020 PMCID: PMC10030826 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2023.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Revised: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 03/08/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Across biological systems, a number of genomic processes, including transcription, replication, DNA repair, and transcription factor binding, display intrinsic directionalities. These directionalities are reflected in the asymmetric distribution of nucleotides, motifs, genes, transposon integration sites, and other functional elements across the two complementary strands. Strand asymmetries, including GC skews and mutational biases, have shaped the nucleotide composition of diverse organisms. The investigation of strand asymmetries often serves as a method to understand underlying biological mechanisms, including protein binding preferences, transcription factor interactions, retrotransposition, DNA damage and repair preferences, transcription-replication collisions, and mutagenesis mechanisms. Research into this subject also enables the identification of functional genomic sites, such as replication origins and transcription start sites. Improvements in our ability to detect and quantify DNA strand asymmetries will provide insights into diverse functionalities of the genome, the contribution of different mutational mechanisms in germline and somatic mutagenesis, and our knowledge of genome instability and evolution, which all have significant clinical implications in human disease, including cancer. In this review, we describe key developments that have been made across the field of genomic strand asymmetries, as well as the discovery of associated mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camille Moeckel
- Institute for Personalized Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, European University Cyprus, Diogenis Str., 6, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
- Corresponding author at: Department of Life Sciences, European University Cyprus, Diogenis Str., 6, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus.
| | - Ilias Georgakopoulos-Soares
- Institute for Personalized Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
- Corresponding author.
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13
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Eptaminitaki GC, Zaravinos A, Stellas D, Panagopoulou M, Karaliota S, Baltsavia I, Iliopoulos I, Chatzaki E, Iliopoulos D, Baritaki S. Genome-Wide Analysis of lncRNA-mRNA Co-Expression Networks in CD133+/CD44+ Stem-like PDAC Cells. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:cancers15041053. [PMID: 36831395 PMCID: PMC9954787 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15041053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Revised: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the second most prevalent gastrointestinal malignancy and the most common type of pancreatic cancer is linked with poor prognosis and, eventually, with high mortality rates. Early detection is seldom, while tumor heterogeneity and microarchitectural alterations benefit PDAC resistance to conventional therapeutics. Although emerging evidence suggest the core role of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in PDAC aggressiveness, unique stem signatures are poorly available, thus limiting the efforts of anti-CSC-targeted therapy. Herein, we report the findings of the first genome-wide analyses of mRNA/lncRNA transcriptome profiling and co-expression networks in PDAC cell line-derived CD133+/CD44+ cells, which were shown to bear a CSC-like phenotype in vitro and in vivo. Compared to CD133-/CD44- cells, the CD133+/CD44+ population demonstrated significant expression differences in both transcript pools. Using emerging bioinformatic tools, we performed lncRNA target coding gene prediction analysis, which revealed significant Gene Ontology (GO), pathway, and network enrichments in many dyregulated lncRNA nearby (cis or trans) mRNAs, with reported involvement in the regulation of CSC phenotype and functions. In this context, the construction of lncRNA/mRNA networks by ingenuity platforms identified the lncRNAs ATF2, CHEK1, DCAF8, and PAX8 to interact with "hub" SC-associated mRNAs. In addition, the expressions of the above lncRNAs retrieved by TCGA-normalized RNAseq gene expression data of PAAD were significantly correlated with clinicopathological features of PDAC, including tumor grade and stage, nodal metastasis, and overall survival. Overall, our findings shed light on the identification of CSC-specific lncRNA signatures with potential prognostic and therapeutic significance in PDAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giasemi C. Eptaminitaki
- Laboratory of Experimental Oncology, Division of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Cancer Genetics, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
| | - Dimitris Stellas
- Institute of Chemical Biology, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 11635 Athens, Greece
| | - Maria Panagopoulou
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace, 68100 Alexandroupolis, Greece
- Institute of Agri-Food and Life Sciences, Hellenic Mediterranean University Research Centre, 71410 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Sevasti Karaliota
- Laboratory of Experimental Oncology, Division of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Ismini Baltsavia
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, Division of Basic Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Ioannis Iliopoulos
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, Division of Basic Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Ekaterini Chatzaki
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace, 68100 Alexandroupolis, Greece
- Institute of Agri-Food and Life Sciences, Hellenic Mediterranean University Research Centre, 71410 Heraklion, Greece
| | | | - Stavroula Baritaki
- Laboratory of Experimental Oncology, Division of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +30-281-039-4727
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Christou C, Christodoulou MI, Zaravinos A, Gkretsi V. Ras suppressor 1 long form (RSU1L) silencing promotes apoptosis in invasive breast cancer cells. Cell Signal 2023; 101:110522. [PMID: 36375714 DOI: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2022.110522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2022] [Revised: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Ras Suppressor-1 (RSU1) is a cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion protein implicated in breast cancer (BC) cell metastasis. Nevertheless, its role in apoptosis is yet unknown. In the present study, we used bioinformatics tools to evaluate the association of RSU1 expression and BC patient survival, the expression of basic pro- and anti-apoptotic genes in metastatic BC samples and their correlation with the expression of RSU1. Then, we specifically depleted RSU1 long form (RSU1L) using a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) silencing approach in two BC cell lines, the non-invasive MCF-7 and the highly invasive MDA-MB-231-LM2 cells and assessed gene expression of pro-and anti-apoptotic genes, as well as cell survival and apoptosis. Our results showed that high RSU1 expression was correlated with poor survival and significant changes were found in the expression of apoptosis-related genes (PUMA, TP53, BCL-2 and BCL-XL) in metastatic BC. Moreover, silencing of the long and most common isoform of RSU1 (RSU1L) resulted in the upregulation of PUMA and TP53 and concomitant downregulation of anti-apoptotic BCL-2 and BCL-XL, with the effect being more prominent in invasive MDA-MB-231-LM2 cells. Finally, RSU1L depletion leads to a dramatic increase in apoptosis of MDA-MB-231-LM2 cells, while no change was observed in the apoptotic rate of MCF-7 cells. This is the first study linking RSU1L with apoptosis and provides evidence for its differential role in cell lines of different invasive potential. This indicates that RSU1L represses apoptosis in aggressive BC cells helping them evade cell death and survive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christiana Christou
- Cancer Metastasis and Adhesion Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia, Cyprus.
| | - Maria-Ioanna Christodoulou
- Biomedical Sciences Program, Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus; Tumor Immunology and Biomarkers Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia, Cyprus.
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Biological Sciences Program, Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus; Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia, Cyprus.
| | - Vasiliki Gkretsi
- Cancer Metastasis and Adhesion Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia, Cyprus; Biomedical Sciences Program, Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
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Georgoulias G, Zaravinos A. Genomic landscape of the immunogenicity regulation in skin melanomas with diverse tumor mutation burden. Front Immunol 2022; 13:1006665. [PMID: 36389735 PMCID: PMC9650672 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1006665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Skin melanoma cells are tightly interconnected with their tumor microenvironment (TME), which influences their initiation, progression, and sensitivity/resistance to therapeutic interventions. An immune-active TME favors patient response to immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI), but not all patients respond to therapy. Here, we assessed differential gene expression in primary and metastatic tumors from the TCGA-SKCM dataset, compared to normal skin samples from the GTEx project and validated key findings across 4 independent GEO datasets, as well as using immunohistochemistry in independent patient cohorts. We focused our attention on examining the expression of various immune receptors, immune-cell fractions, immune-related signatures and mutational signatures across cutaneous melanomas with diverse tumor mutation burdens (TMB). Globally, the expression of most immunoreceptors correlated with patient survival, but did not differ between TMBhigh and TMBlow tumors. Melanomas were enriched in "naive T-cell", "effector memory T-cell", "exhausted T-cell", "resting Treg T-cell" and "Th1-like" signatures, irrespective of their BRAF, NF1 or RAS mutational status. Somatic mutations in IDO1 and HLA-DRA were frequent and could be involved in hindering patient response to ICI therapies. We finally analyzed transcriptome profiles of ICI-treated patients and associated their response with high levels of IFNγ, Merck18, CD274, CD8, and low levels of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and M2 macrophages, irrespective of their TMB status. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of pre-existing T-cell immunity in ICI therapeutic outcomes in skin melanoma and suggest that TMBlow patients could also benefit from such therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Georgoulias
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia, Cyprus
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Chartoumpekis DV, Zaravinos A, Apidianakis Y, Lagoumintzis G. Editorial: Microbiota and mitochondria: Impact on cell signaling, physiology, and disease. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:1056499. [PMID: 36329843 PMCID: PMC9623293 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1056499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Dionysios V. Chartoumpekis
- Service of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, Lausanne University Hospital, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia, Cyprus
| | | | - George Lagoumintzis
- Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
- *Correspondence: George Lagoumintzis
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Cessna H, Baritaki S, Zaravinos A, Bonavida B. The Role of RKIP in the Regulation of EMT in the Tumor Microenvironment. Cancers (Basel) 2022; 14:cancers14194596. [PMID: 36230521 PMCID: PMC9559516 DOI: 10.3390/cancers14194596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Revised: 09/21/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) expression in cancer cells is significantly reduced and promoting cancer cells growth and invasiveness. Overexpresssion of RKIP has been reported to mediate pleiotropic anti-cancer activities including the inhibition of survival signaling pathways, sensitization to cell death by cytotoxic drugs, inhibition of invasion, EMT and metastasis. The molecular mechanism by which RKIP inhibits EMT is not clear. In this review, we have examined how RKIP inhibits the selected EMT gene products (Snail, vimentin, N-cadherin, laminin alpha) and found that it involves signaling cross-talks between RKIP and each of the EMT gene products. These findings were validated by bioinformatic analyses demonstrating in various human cancers a negative correlation between the expression of RKIP and the expression of the EMT gene products. These findings suggest that targeting RKIP induction in cancer cells will result in multiple hits by inhibiting tumor growth, metastasis and reversal of chemo-immuno resistance. Abstract The Raf Kinase Inhibitor Protein (RKIP) is a unique gene product that directly inhibits the Raf/Mek/Erk and NF-kB pathways in cancer cells and resulting in the inhibition of cell proliferation, viability, EMT, and metastasis. Additionally, RKIP is involved in the regulation of cancer cell resistance to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The low expression of RKIP expression in many cancer types is responsible, in part, for the pathogenesis of cancer and its multiple properties. The inhibition of EMT and metastasis by RKIP led to its classification as a tumor suppressor. However, the mechanism by which RKIP mediates its inhibitory effects on EMT and metastases was not clear. We have proposed that one mechanism involves the negative regulation by RKIP of the expression of various gene products that mediate the mesenchymal phenotype as well as the positive regulation of gene products that mediate the epithelial phenotype via signaling cross talks between RKIP and each gene product. We examined several EMT mesenchymal gene products such as Snail, vimentin, N-cadherin, laminin and EPCAM and epithelial gene products such as E-cadherin and laminin. We have found that indeed these negative and positive correlations were detected in the signaling cross-talks. In addition, we have also examined bioinformatic data sets on different human cancers and the findings corroborated, in large part, the findings observed in the signaling cross-talks with few exceptions in some cancer types. The overall findings support the underlying mechanism by which the tumor suppressor RKIP regulates the expression of gene products involved in EMT and metastasis. Hence, the development of agent that can selectively induce RKIP expression in cancers with low expressions should result in the activation of the pleiotropic anti-cancer activities of RKIP and resulting in multiple effects including inhibition of tumor cell proliferation, EMT, metastasis and sensitization of resistant tumor cells to respond to both chemotherapeutics and immunotherapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah Cessna
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Stavroula Baritaki
- Laboratory of Experimental Oncology, Division of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
- Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | - Benjamin Bonavida
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Correspondence:
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Katsaounou K, Nicolaou E, Vogazianos P, Brown C, Stavrou M, Teloni S, Hatzis P, Agapiou A, Fragkou E, Tsiaoussis G, Potamitis G, Zaravinos A, Andreou C, Antoniades A, Shiammas C, Apidianakis Y. Colon Cancer: From Epidemiology to Prevention. Metabolites 2022; 12:metabo12060499. [PMID: 35736432 PMCID: PMC9229931 DOI: 10.3390/metabo12060499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent cancers affecting humans, with a complex genetic and environmental aetiology. Unlike cancers with known environmental, heritable, or sex-linked causes, sporadic CRC is hard to foresee and has no molecular biomarkers of risk in clinical use. One in twenty CRC cases presents with an established heritable component. The remaining cases are sporadic and associated with partially obscure genetic, epigenetic, regenerative, microbiological, dietary, and lifestyle factors. To tackle this complexity, we should improve the practice of colonoscopy, which is recommended uniformly beyond a certain age, to include an assessment of biomarkers indicative of individual CRC risk. Ideally, such biomarkers will be causal to the disease and potentially modifiable upon dietary or therapeutic interventions. Multi-omics analysis, including transcriptional, epigenetic as well as metagenomic, and metabolomic profiles, are urgently required to provide data for risk analyses. The aim of this article is to provide a perspective on the multifactorial derailment of homeostasis leading to the initiation of CRC, which may be explored via multi-omics and Gut-on-Chip analysis to identify much-needed predictive biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyriaki Katsaounou
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 2109, Cyprus; (K.K.); (S.T.)
| | | | - Paris Vogazianos
- Stremble Ventures Ltd., Limassol 4042, Cyprus; (P.V.); (C.B.); (A.A.)
| | - Cameron Brown
- Stremble Ventures Ltd., Limassol 4042, Cyprus; (P.V.); (C.B.); (A.A.)
| | - Marios Stavrou
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 2109, Cyprus; (M.S.); (C.A.)
| | - Savvas Teloni
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 2109, Cyprus; (K.K.); (S.T.)
| | - Pantelis Hatzis
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research, Biomedical Sciences Research Center Alexander Fleming, Vari 16672, Greece;
| | - Agapios Agapiou
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 2109, Cyprus;
| | | | | | | | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus;
- Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | - Chrysafis Andreou
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 2109, Cyprus; (M.S.); (C.A.)
| | - Athos Antoniades
- Stremble Ventures Ltd., Limassol 4042, Cyprus; (P.V.); (C.B.); (A.A.)
| | | | - Yiorgos Apidianakis
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 2109, Cyprus; (K.K.); (S.T.)
- Correspondence:
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C T, Zaravinos A, Tsartsalis AN, Tagka A, Kotoulas A, Geronikolou SA, Braoudaki M, Lambrou GI. Systems Approaches in the Common Metabolomics in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Rhabdomyosarcoma Cells: A Computational Approach. Adv Exp Med Biol 2022; 1338:55-66. [PMID: 34973010 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-78775-2_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common childhood malignancy. Rhabdomyosarcoma, on the other hand, is a rare type of malignancy which belongs to the primitive neuroectodermal family of tumors. The aim of the present study was to use computational methods in order to examine the similarities and differences of the two different tumors using two cell lines as a model, the T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia CCRF-CEM and rhabdomyosarcoma TE-671, and, in particular, similarities of the metabolic pathways utilized by two different cell types in vitro. Both cell lines were studied using microarray technology. Differential expression profile has revealed genes with similar expression, suggesting that there are common mechanisms between the two cell types, where some of these mechanisms are preserved from their ancestor embryonic cells. Expression of identified species was modeled using known functions, in order to find common patterns in metabolism-related mechanisms. Species expression manifested very interesting dynamics, and we were able to model the system with elliptical/helical functions. We discuss the results of our analysis in the context of the commonly occurring genes between the two cell lines and the respective participating pathways as far as extracellular signaling and cell cycle regulation/proliferation are concerned. In the present study, we have developed a methodology, which was able to unravel some of the underlying dynamics of the metabolism-related species of two different cell types. Such approaches could prove useful in understanding the mechanisms of tumor ontogenesis, progression, and proliferation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tselios C
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Laboratory for the Research of Musculoskeletal Disorders, Athens, Greece
| | | | - Athanasios N Tsartsalis
- Naval Hospital of Athens, Department of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism, Athens, Greece
| | - Anna Tagka
- First Department of Dermatology and Venereology, "Andreas Syggros" Hospital National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Athanasios Kotoulas
- National Technical University of Athens, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, Athens, Greece
| | - Styliani A Geronikolou
- Biomedical Research Foundation of Academy of Athens, Clinical, Translational, Experimental Surgery Research Centerment of Pediatrics, Choremeio Research Laboratory, Athens, Greece
| | - Maria Braoudaki
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, England
| | - George I Lambrou
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, First Department of Pediatrics, Choremeio Research Laboratory, Athens, Greece.
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Roufas C, Georgakopoulos-Soares I, Zaravinos A. Distinct genomic features across cytolytic subgroups in skin melanoma. Cancer Immunol Immunother 2021; 70:3137-3154. [PMID: 33779796 PMCID: PMC8505325 DOI: 10.1007/s00262-021-02918-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2020] [Accepted: 03/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Skin melanoma is a highly immunogenic cancer. The intratumoral immune cytolytic activity (CYT) reflects the ability of cytotoxic T and NK cells to eliminate cancer cells, and is associated with improved patient survival. Despite the enthusiastic clinical results seen in advanced-stage metastatic melanoma patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors, a subgroup of them will later relapse and develop acquired resistance. We questioned whether CYT associates with different genomic profiles and thus, patient outcome, in skin melanoma. METHODS We explored the TCGA-SKCM dataset and stratified patients to distinct subgroups of cytolytic activity. The tumor immune contexture, somatic mutations and recurrent copy number aberrations were calculated using quanTIseq, MutSigCV and GISTIC2. Chromothriptic events were explored using CTLPScanner and cancer neoepitopes were predicted with antigen garnish. Each tumor's immunophenoscore was calculated using Immunophenogram. Mutational signatures and kataegis were explored using SigProfiler and compared to the known single or doublet base substitution signatures from COSMIC. RESULTS Metastatic skin melanomas had significantly higher CYT levels compared to primary tumors. We assessed enrichment for immune-related gene sets within CYT-high tumors, whereas, CYT-low tumors were enriched for non-immune related gene sets. In addition, distinct mutational and neoantigen loads, primarily composed of C > T transitions, along with specific types of copy number aberrations, characterized each cytolytic subgroup. We found a broader pattern of chromothripsis across CYT-low tumors, where chromosomal regions harboring chromothriptic events, contained a higher number of cancer genes. SBS7a/b, SBS5 and SBS1 were the most prevalent mutational signatures across both cytolytic subgroups, but SBS1 differed significantly between them. SBS7a/b was mutually exclusive with SBS5 and SBS1 in both CYT subgroups. CYT-high patients had markedly higher immunophenoscore, suggesting that they should display a clinical benefit upon treatment with immune checkpoint inhibition therapy, compared to CYT-low patients. CONCLUSIONS Overall, our data highlight the existence of distinct genomic features across cytolytic subgroups in skin melanoma, which might affect the patients' relapse rate or their acquisition of resistance to immune checkpoint inhibition therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Constantinos Roufas
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Ilias Georgakopoulos-Soares
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158 USA
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143 USA
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, 2713 Doha, Qatar
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Lambrou GI, Poulou M, Giannikou K, Themistocleous M, Zaravinos A, Braoudaki M. Differential and Common Signatures of miRNA Expression and Methylation in Childhood Central Nervous System Malignancies: An Experimental and Computational Approach. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:cancers13215491. [PMID: 34771655 PMCID: PMC8583574 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13215491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2021] [Revised: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 10/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Epigenetic modifications are considered of utmost significance for tumor ontogenesis and progression. Especially, it has been found that miRNA expression, as well as DNA methylation plays a significant role in central nervous system tumors during childhood. A total of 49 resected brain tumors from children were used for further analysis. DNA methylation was identified with methylation-specific MLPA and, in particular, for the tumor suppressor genes CASP8, RASSF1, MGMT, MSH6, GATA5, ATM1, TP53, and CADM1. miRNAs were identified with microarray screening, as well as selected samples, were tested for their mRNA expression levels. CASP8, RASSF1 were the most frequently methylated genes in all tumor samples. Simultaneous methylation of genes manifested significant results with respect to tumor staging, tumor type, and the differentiation of tumor and control samples. There was no significant dependence observed with the methylation of one gene promoter, rather with the simultaneous presence of all detected methylated genes' promoters. miRNA expression was found to be correlated to gene methylation. Epigenetic regulation appears to be of major importance in tumor progression and pathophysiology, making it an imperative field of study.
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Affiliation(s)
- George I. Lambrou
- Choremeio Research Laboratory, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece;
| | - Myrto Poulou
- Department of Medical Genetics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece;
| | - Krinio Giannikou
- Cancer Genetics Laboratory, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and of Genetics, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA;
| | - Marios Themistocleous
- Department of Neurosurgery, “Aghia Sofia” Children’s Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece;
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
- Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Group, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
- Correspondence: (A.Z.); (M.B.)
| | - Maria Braoudaki
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK
- Correspondence: (A.Z.); (M.B.)
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Kouvela A, Zaravinos A, Stamatopoulou V. Adaptor Molecules Epitranscriptome Reprograms Bacterial Pathogenicity. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:8409. [PMID: 34445114 PMCID: PMC8395126 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22168409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2021] [Revised: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The strong decoration of tRNAs with post-transcriptional modifications provides an unprecedented adaptability of this class of non-coding RNAs leading to the regulation of bacterial growth and pathogenicity. Accumulating data indicate that tRNA post-transcriptional modifications possess a central role in both the formation of bacterial cell wall and the modulation of transcription and translation fidelity, but also in the expression of virulence factors. Evolutionary conserved modifications in tRNA nucleosides ensure the proper folding and stability redounding to a totally functional molecule. However, environmental factors including stress conditions can cause various alterations in tRNA modifications, disturbing the pathogen homeostasis. Post-transcriptional modifications adjacent to the anticodon stem-loop, for instance, have been tightly linked to bacterial infectivity. Currently, advances in high throughput methodologies have facilitated the identification and functional investigation of such tRNA modifications offering a broader pool of putative alternative molecular targets and therapeutic avenues against bacterial infections. Herein, we focus on tRNA epitranscriptome shaping regarding modifications with a key role in bacterial infectivity including opportunistic pathogens of the human microbiome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adamantia Kouvela
- Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece;
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Group, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
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Themistocleous SC, Yiallouris A, Tsioutis C, Zaravinos A, Johnson EO, Patrikios I. Clinical significance of P-class pumps in cancer. Oncol Lett 2021; 22:658. [PMID: 34386080 PMCID: PMC8298992 DOI: 10.3892/ol.2021.12919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
P-class pumps are specific ion transporters involved in maintaining intracellular/extracellular ion homeostasis, gene transcription, and cell proliferation and migration in all eukaryotic cells. The present review aimed to evaluate the role of P-type pumps [Na+/K+ ATPase (NKA), H+/K+ ATPase (HKA) and Ca2+-ATPase] in cancer cells across three fronts, namely structure, function and genetic expression. It has been shown that administration of specific P-class pumps inhibitors can have different effects by: i) Altering pump function; ii) inhibiting cell proliferation; iii) inducing apoptosis; iv) modifying metabolic pathways; and v) induce sensitivity to chemotherapy and lead to antitumor effects. For example, the NKA β2 subunit can be downregulated by gemcitabine, resulting in increased apoptosis of cancer cells. The sarcoendoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase can be inhibited by thapsigargin resulting in decreased prostate tumor volume, whereas the HKA α subunit can be affected by proton pump inhibitors in gastric cancer cell lines, inducing apoptosis. In conclusion, the present review highlighted the central role of P-class pumps and their possible use and role as anticancer cellular targets for novel therapeutic chemical agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophia C Themistocleous
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, 2404 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Andreas Yiallouris
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, 2404 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Constantinos Tsioutis
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, 2404 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 2404 Nicosia, Cyprus.,College of Medicine, Member of Qatar University Health, Qatar University, 2713 Doha, Qatar
| | - Elizabeth O Johnson
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, 2404 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Ioannis Patrikios
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, 2404 Nicosia, Cyprus
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Lambrou GI, Zaravinos A, Braoudaki M. Co-Deregulated miRNA Signatures in Childhood Central Nervous System Tumors: In Search for Common Tumor miRNA-Related Mechanics. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:cancers13123028. [PMID: 34204289 PMCID: PMC8235499 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13123028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Revised: 06/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Childhood tumors of the central nervous system (CNS) constitute a grave disease and their diagnosis is difficult to be handled. To gain better knowledge of the tumor’s biology, it is essential to understand the underlying mechanisms of the disease. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that are dysregulated in many types of CNS tumors and regulate their occurrence and development through specific signal pathways. However, different types of CNS tumors’ area are characterized by different deregulated miRNAs. Here, we hypothesized that CNS tumors could have commonly deregulated miRNAs, i.e., miRNAs that are simultaneously either upregulated or downregulated in all tumor types compared to the normal brain tissue, irrespectively of the tumor sub-type and/or diagnosis. The only criterion is that they are present in brain tumors. This approach could lead us to the discovery of miRNAs that could be used as pan-CNS tumoral therapeutic targets, if successful. Abstract Despite extensive experimentation on pediatric tumors of the central nervous system (CNS), related to both prognosis, diagnosis and treatment, the understanding of pathogenesis and etiology of the disease remains scarce. MicroRNAs are known to be involved in CNS tumor oncogenesis. We hypothesized that CNS tumors possess commonly deregulated miRNAs across different CNS tumor types. Aim: The current study aims to reveal the co-deregulated miRNAs across different types of pediatric CNS tumors. Materials: A total of 439 CNS tumor samples were collected from both in-house microarray experiments as well as data available in public databases. Diagnoses included medulloblastoma, astrocytoma, ependydoma, cortical dysplasia, glioblastoma, ATRT, germinoma, teratoma, yoc sac tumors, ocular tumors and retinoblastoma. Results: We found miRNAs that were globally up- or down-regulated in the majority of the CNS tumor samples. MiR-376B and miR-372 were co-upregulated, whereas miR-149, miR-214, miR-574, miR-595 and miR-765 among others, were co-downregulated across all CNS tumors. Receiver-operator curve analysis showed that miR-149, miR-214, miR-574, miR-595 and miR765 could distinguish between CNS tumors and normal brain tissue. Conclusions: Our approach could prove significant in the search for global miRNA targets for tumor diagnosis and therapy. To the best of our knowledge, there are no previous reports concerning the present approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- George I. Lambrou
- Choremeio Research Laboratory, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Thivon & Levadeias 8, Goudi, 11527 Athens, Greece;
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, European University Cyprus, Diogenis Str., 6, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
- Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Group, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
- Correspondence: (A.Z.); (M.B.); Tel.: +974-4403-7819 (A.Z.); +44-(0)-1707286503 (ext. 3503) (M.B.)
| | - Maria Braoudaki
- Department of Clinical, Pharmaceutical and Biological Science, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB, Hertfordshire, UK
- Correspondence: (A.Z.); (M.B.); Tel.: +974-4403-7819 (A.Z.); +44-(0)-1707286503 (ext. 3503) (M.B.)
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Lambrou GI, Karakonstantakis T, Vlahopoulos S, Zaravinos A. Dual Mechanisms of Metabolism and Gene Expression of the CCRF-CEM Leukemia Cells under Glucocorticoid Treatment. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22115889. [PMID: 34072627 PMCID: PMC8198442 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22115889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Revised: 10/25/2020] [Accepted: 10/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Glucocorticoids play an essential part in anti-leukemic therapies, but resistance is a crucial event for the prognosis of the disease. Glucocorticoids influence the metabolic properties of leukemic cells. The inherent plasticity of clinically evolving cancer cells justifies the characterization of drug-induced early oncogenic pathways, which represent a likely source of detrimental secondary effects. AIM The present work aims to investigate the effect of glucocorticoids in metabolic pathways in the CCRF-CEM leukemic cells. Metabolic factors and gene expression profiles were examined in order to unravel the possible mechanisms of the CCRF-CEM leukemic cell growth dynamics. METHODS CCRF-CEM cells were used as a model. Cells were treated with prednisolone with concentrations 0-700 μM. Cell culture supernatants were used for glucose, lactic acid, LDH, Na+, K+ and Ca++ measurements. Cytotoxicity was determined with flow cytometry. Microarray analysis was performed using two different chips of 1.2 k and 4.8 k genes. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis was applied to find metabolism- and GC-related genes. RESULTS Higher prednisolone concentrations inhibited glucose uptake, without exhibiting any cytotoxic effects. Glucose consumption did not correlate with the total cell population, or the viable population, indicating that growth is not directly proportional to glucose consumption. Neither of the subpopulations, i.e., viable, necrotic, or apoptotic cells, contributed to this. CONCLUSIONS Different types of leukemic cells seem to exhibit different patterns of glucose metabolism. Both resistant and sensitive CCRF-CEM cells followed the aerobic pathway of glycolysis. There is probably a rapid change in membrane permeability, causing a general shutdown towards everything that is outside the cell. This could in part also explain the observed resistance. Glucocorticoids do not enter the cell passively anymore and therefore no effects are observed. Based on our observations, ion concentrations are measurable factors both in vitro and in vivo, which makes them possible markers of glucocorticoid cytotoxic action.
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Affiliation(s)
- George I. Lambrou
- Choremeio Research Laboratory, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Thivon & Levadeias 8, Goudi, 11527 Athens, Greece;
- Correspondence: (G.I.L.); (A.Z.); Tel.: +30-210-746-7427 (G.I.L.)
| | | | - Spiros Vlahopoulos
- Choremeio Research Laboratory, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Thivon & Levadeias 8, Goudi, 11527 Athens, Greece;
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
- Correspondence: (G.I.L.); (A.Z.); Tel.: +30-210-746-7427 (G.I.L.)
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Roufas C, Georgakopoulos-Soares I, Zaravinos A. Molecular correlates of immune cytolytic subgroups in colorectal cancer by integrated genomics analysis. NAR Cancer 2021; 3:zcab005. [PMID: 34316699 PMCID: PMC8210146 DOI: 10.1093/narcan/zcab005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2020] [Revised: 02/03/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Although immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) has shown promising results in metastatic dMMR/MSI-H colorectal cancer (CRC), the majority of pMMR/MSS patients do not respond to such therapies. To systematically evaluate the determinants of immune response in CRC, we explored whether patients with diverse levels of immune cytolytic activity (CYT) have different patterns of chromothripsis and kataegis. Analysis of CRC genomic data from the TCGA, indicated an excess of chromothriptic clusters among CYT-low colon adenocarcinomas, affecting known cancer drivers (APC, KRAS, BRAF, TP53 and FBXW7), immune checkpoints (CD274, PDCD1LG2, IDO1/2 and LAG3) and immune-related genes (ENTPD1, PRF1, NKG7, FAS, GZMA/B/H/K and CD73). CYT-high tumors were characterized by hypermutation, enrichment in APOBEC-associated mutations and kataegis events, as well as APOBEC activation. We also assessed differences in the most prevalent mutational signatures (SBS15, SBS20, SBS54 and DBS2) across cytolytic subgroups. Regarding the composition of immune cells in the tumor milieu, we found enrichment of M1 macrophages, CD8+ T cells and Tregs, as well as higher CD8+ T-cells/Tregs ratio among CYT-high tumors. CYT-high patients had higher immunophenoscores, which is predictive of their responsiveness if they were to be treated with anti-PD-1 alone or in combination with anti-CTLA-4 drugs. These results could have implications for patient responsiveness to immune checkpoint inhibitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Constantinos Roufas
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Ilias Georgakopoulos-Soares
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, 2713 Doha, Qatar
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Abstract
Melanoma is the most aggressive and deadliest form of skin cancer, and its prognosis is very poor. Although the early detection is responsive to many treatments, metastatic melanoma is refractory to most of them. In the United States, skin melanoma is the fifth most common type of cancer in men and the sixth in women. Current treatment modalities, depending on the cancer stage, consist primarily of surgical excision, chemotherapy, adjuvant therapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapy. Despite the wide range of therapeutic options and the steadily increasing response rates, a large subset of the treated patients relapse and develop resistance to further treatments. One novel approach in preclinical and clinical trials in immunotherapy is the adaptation of natural killer (NK) cells against resistant cancer cells. NK cells can kill a variety of cancer cell types, as well as the cancer stem cells, while leaving normal cells intact. In skin melanoma, as in most cancers, NK cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) are functionally impaired. Several factors underlie the defective cause of NK cells, one of which is the dysregulation of the activating receptor NKG2D. This is the dominant receptor in regulating the cytotoxic activity, cytokine production, and regulation of other receptors expressed on NK cells and other lymphocytes. The defective NK cells in cancer models were associated with tumor growth and metastasis. In this review, we discuss the role of NK cells and their phenotypic variants in skin melanoma. Using bioinformatics, we have further analyzed the expression of NKG2D, confirming its low transcript levels in patients with skin melanoma. Furthermore, we show that the CD133 subset of cancer stem cells expresses low levels of NKG2D. Based on these findings we discuss the potential therapeutic approaches that can be exploited to upregulate NKG2D in patients' NK cells and restore their anti-melanoma effects, resulting in tumor regression and prolonged survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roni Touboul
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California at Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Specialization in Systems Biology & Genomics, Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus; Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, 2713 Doha, Qatar
| | - Benjamin Bonavida
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, & Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, Johnson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90025-1747, USA
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Abstract
The circadian rhythms regulate physiological and cellular processes that maintain normal homeostasis, keeping our cells synchronized to the dark-light cycle. The disruption of circadian clock genes has been associated with various diseases, including cancer. The clock genes impact several cancer-related signaling trajectories, including the tumor suppressor's p53 pathway involvement in the regulation of the cell cycle and apoptosis. In most human cancers, p53 loses its normal functions and tumor-suppressive activity through function-inactivating mutations. Herein, we review the roles of each of the clock genes (PER1-3, CRY1/2, BMAL1, CLOCK, REV-ERBα/β, RORα, and SIRT1) in their association and regulation of p53. We analyzed by bioinformatics the expression of several clock genes (CLOCK, CRY1-2, PER1-3), p53, and apoptotic and metabolic genes across all tumors in the TCGA platform, and found deregulated patterns in many cases. Our findings support the development of new therapies targeted against some clock genes to restore p53 activities and the inhibition of tumor development. Such therapies will complement a large number of currently tested treatments targeting the restoration of wild-type p53 to prevent tumor growth and lead cancer cells to apoptosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon Valafar
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus; Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center (BTCRC), Cancer Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology Laboratory, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | - Benjamin Bonavida
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, & Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, Johnson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90025-1747, USA
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Lambrou GI, Hatziagapiou K, Zaravinos A. The Non-Coding RNA GAS5 and Its Role in Tumor Therapy-Induced Resistance. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:ijms21207633. [PMID: 33076450 PMCID: PMC7588928 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21207633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2020] [Revised: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The growth arrest-specific transcript 5 (GAS5) is a >200-nt lncRNA molecule that regulates several cellular functions, including proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and metastasis, across different types of human cancers. Here, we reviewed the current literature on the expression of GAS5 in leukemia, cervical, breast, ovarian, prostate, urinary bladder, lung, gastric, colorectal, liver, osteosarcoma and brain cancers, as well as its interaction with various miRNAs and its effect on therapy-related resistance in these malignancies. The general consensus is that GAS5 acts as a tumor suppressor across different tumor types and that its up-regulation results in tumor sensitization to chemotherapy or radiotherapy. GAS5 seems to play a previously unappreciated, but significant role in tumor therapy-induced resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- George I. Lambrou
- Choremeio Research Laboratory, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Thivon & Levadeias 8, 11527 Goudi, Athens, Greece;
- Correspondence: (G.I.L.); (A.Z.); Tel.: +30-210-7467427 (G.I.L.); +974-4403-7819 (A.Z.)
| | - Kyriaki Hatziagapiou
- Choremeio Research Laboratory, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Thivon & Levadeias 8, 11527 Goudi, Athens, Greece;
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, 2713 Doha, Qatar
- Correspondence: (G.I.L.); (A.Z.); Tel.: +30-210-7467427 (G.I.L.); +974-4403-7819 (A.Z.)
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Mastrogamvraki N, Zaravinos A. Author Correction: Signatures of co-deregulated genes and their transcriptional regulators in colorectal cancer. NPJ Syst Biol Appl 2020; 6:30. [PMID: 32929096 PMCID: PMC7490362 DOI: 10.1038/s41540-020-00149-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Mastrogamvraki
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
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Christodoulou MI, Zaravinos A. New Clinical Approaches and Emerging Evidence on Immune-Checkpoint Inhibitors as Anti-Cancer Therapeutics: CTLA-4 and PD-1 Pathways and Beyond. Crit Rev Immunol 2020; 39:379-408. [PMID: 32422018 DOI: 10.1615/critrevimmunol.2020033340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Background-The development of immune checkpoint blockers, primarily comprising the anti-PD-1/an-ti-PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibodies, has formed the therapeutic landscape of quite a few different cancer types. In spite of the great clinical results produced by some inhibitors in some cases, most cancer patients still present de novo or adaptive resistance, and thus, the overall efficacy of this type of immunotherapy is not sufficient. Here, we explore emerging immune checkpoint molecules apart from anti-PD-1/anti-PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4, presently being used in the clinical setting as mono- or combinatorial therapy against various cancer types. Methods-Primary publications with results between January 2014 and December 2019 were investigated on PubMed. ClinicalTrials.gov was screened for finding phase I/II/III cancer trials on the use of new immune checkpoint targets, including LAG-3, TIM-3, TIGIT, and VISTA, which are active (recruiting or not) or completed. Results-We recapitulate the clinical data associated with these immune checkpoint inhibitors and analyze their application prospects. The investigation about such emerging molecules has produced encouraging outcomes in preclinical studies and/or clinical trials. Conclusions-Although monotherapy treatment has yielded impressive results in some cases, the current attempts emphasize more the design of combinatorial immune checkpoint inhibition that targets non-redundant pathways to achieve a synergistic effect against cancer cells. It seems that such new combinatorial checkpoint inhibition schemes will achieve better outcomes for the patients than the ones witnessed with CTLA-4 or PD-1/PD-L1 blockers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus; College of Medicine, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
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Mastrogamvraki N, Zaravinos A. Signatures of co-deregulated genes and their transcriptional regulators in colorectal cancer. NPJ Syst Biol Appl 2020; 6:23. [PMID: 32737302 PMCID: PMC7395738 DOI: 10.1038/s41540-020-00144-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/19/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The deregulated genes in colorectal cancer (CRC) vary significantly across different studies. Thus, a systems biology approach is needed to identify the co-deregulated genes (co-DEGs), explore their molecular networks, and spot the major hub proteins within these networks. We reanalyzed 19 GEO gene expression profiles to identify and annotate CRC versus normal signatures, single-gene perturbation, and single-drug perturbation signatures. We identified the co-DEGs across different studies, their upstream regulating kinases and transcription factors (TFs). Connectivity Map was used to identify likely repurposing drugs against CRC within each group. The functional changes of the co-upregulated genes in the first category were mainly associated with negative regulation of transforming growth factor β production and glomerular epithelial cell differentiation; whereas the co-downregulated genes were enriched in cotranslational protein targeting to the membrane. We identified 17 hub proteins across the co-upregulated genes and 18 hub proteins across the co-downregulated genes, composed of well-known TFs (MYC, TCF3, PML) and kinases (CSNK2A1, CDK1/4, MAPK14), and validated most of them using GEPIA2 and HPA, but also through two signature gene lists composed of the co-up and co-downregulated genes. We further identified a list of repurposing drugs that can potentially target the co-DEGs in CRC, including camptothecin, neostigmine bromide, emetine, remoxipride, cephaeline, thioridazine, and omeprazole. Similar analyses were performed in the co-DEG signatures in single-gene or drug perturbation experiments in CRC. MYC, PML, CDKs, CSNK2A1, and MAPKs were common hub proteins among all studies. Overall, we identified the critical genes in CRC and we propose repurposing drugs that could be used against them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Mastrogamvraki
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
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Kitsou M, Ayiomamitis GD, Zaravinos A. High expression of immune checkpoints is associated with the TIL load, mutation rate and patient survival in colorectal cancer. Int J Oncol 2020; 57:237-248. [PMID: 32468013 PMCID: PMC7252459 DOI: 10.3892/ijo.2020.5062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Adoptive cell therapy with the use of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is a very promising immunotherapeutic approach for the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). However, within the tumor microenvironment, co-inhibitory immune checkpoints can inactivate TILs. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between the TIL load, the mutation rate and the clinical outcome in the immune landscape of patients with CRC. RNA-seq and whole exome seq data of 453 colon adenocarcinomas (COAD) and rectal adenocarcinomas (READ), along with the TIL load and clinicopathological information of each patient, were extracted from the TCGA GDC Data Portal and analyzed computationally. The expression of immune checkpoint molecules was compared between colon cancer and normal tissue. A total of 9 immune-related gene signatures were investigated in CRC. Spearman's correlation analysis was performed to examine the correlation between the TIL load with the expression of each immune checkpoint molecule. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) was found to be significantly overexpressed in CRC, whereas V-domain Ig suppressor of T cell activation (VISTA) and lymphocyte activating 3 (LAG3) were markedly downregulated. A high expression of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4), IDO1, programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and T-cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains (TIGIT), tended to be associated with a better overall survival of the patients. In COAD, the TIL load positively correlated with the expression of adenosine A2A receptor (ADORA2A), CTLA-4, hepatitis A virus cellular receptor 2 (HAVCR2), lymphocyte activating 3 (LAG3), programmed death-ligand PD-L1, PD-L2, TIGIT and VISTA, whereas in READ, such positive correlations were noted only between the TIL load and LAG3 or PD-L2. The 'central memory T-cell' and 'exhausted T-cell' gene signatures were significantly lower among the READ tumors. The expression of PD-1, PD-L1, PD-L2, CTLA-4 and IDO1 was significantly higher among COAD patients with a high mutation rate (>34 mutations/Mb) compared to those with a lower rate. Somatic mutations in PD-1, PD-L1, CTLA-4 and other checkpoint molecules did not seem to affect their expression levels. On the whole, the data of the present study highlight the association of immune checkpoint molecules with the TIL load, patient survival and a high mutation rate in CRC. The data corroborate that patients with colon cancer with higher PD1, PD-L1/2, CTLA-4 and IDO1 expression, and a high mutation rate, are the ones who will benefit more from the respective immune checkpoint inhibition therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mara Kitsou
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | | | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- College of Medicine, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713 Doha, Qatar
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Gkretsi V, Stylianou A, Kalli M, Louca M, Voutouri C, Zaravinos A, Stylianopoulos T. Silencing of Growth Differentiation Factor-15 Promotes Breast Cancer Cell Invasion by Down-regulating Focal Adhesion Genes. Anticancer Res 2020; 40:1375-1385. [PMID: 32132034 DOI: 10.21873/anticanres.14079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2020] [Revised: 01/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIM As metastasis accounts for most breast cancer (BC)-related deaths, identifying key players becomes research priority. Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF15), a member of the transforming growth factor-β superfamily, is affected by the actin cytoskeleton and has been associated with cancer. However, its exact role in BC cell invasiveness is vague. MATERIALS AND METHODS GDF15 short-hairpin (shRNA)-mediated silencing was used to inhibit GDF15 expression in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 BC cells and gene expression of relevant focal adhesion (FA) genes, cell migration, invasion and tumor spheroid invasion were subsequently analyzed. RESULTS GDF15 silencing promoted cell migration, cell invasion as well as tumor spheroid invasion and up-regulated urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and FA genes, integrin-linked kinase (ILK), LIM zinc finger domain containing 1 (LIMS1), α-parvin (PARVA), and RAS suppressor-1 (RSU1). Computational analysis of Cancer Genome Atlas BC dataset however, revealed no significant correlation between GDF15 expression and metastasis pointing towards a more complex molecular interplay between GDF15, actin cytoskeleton and FA-related genes which ultimately affects their expression pattern, in vivo. CONCLUSION GDF15 suppresses BC cell invasion in vitro through down-regulation of FA genes but its role in BC is more complicated in vivo and warrants further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vasiliki Gkretsi
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Andreas Stylianou
- Cancer Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Maria Kalli
- Cancer Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Maria Louca
- Cancer Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Chrysovalantis Voutouri
- Cancer Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.,College of Medicine, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Triantafyllos Stylianopoulos
- Cancer Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
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Georgakopoulos-Soares I, Chartoumpekis DV, Kyriazopoulou V, Zaravinos A. EMT Factors and Metabolic Pathways in Cancer. Front Oncol 2020; 10:499. [PMID: 32318352 PMCID: PMC7154126 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2020.00499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 169] [Impact Index Per Article: 42.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2020] [Accepted: 03/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) represents a biological program during which epithelial cells lose their cell identity and acquire a mesenchymal phenotype. EMT is normally observed during organismal development, wound healing and tissue fibrosis. However, this process can be hijacked by cancer cells and is often associated with resistance to apoptosis, acquisition of tissue invasiveness, cancer stem cell characteristics, and cancer treatment resistance. It is becoming evident that EMT is a complex, multifactorial spectrum, often involving episodic, transient or partial events. Multiple factors have been causally implicated in EMT including transcription factors (e.g., SNAIL, TWIST, ZEB), epigenetic modifications, microRNAs (e.g., miR-200 family) and more recently, long non-coding RNAs. However, the relevance of metabolic pathways in EMT is only recently being recognized. Importantly, alterations in key metabolic pathways affect cancer development and progression. In this review, we report the roles of key EMT factors and describe their interactions and interconnectedness. We introduce metabolic pathways that are involved in EMT, including glycolysis, the TCA cycle, lipid and amino acid metabolism, and characterize the relationship between EMT factors and cancer metabolism. Finally, we present therapeutic opportunities involving EMT, with particular focus on cancer metabolic pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilias Georgakopoulos-Soares
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.,Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Dionysios V Chartoumpekis
- Service of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.,Division of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
| | - Venetsana Kyriazopoulou
- Division of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- College of Medicine, Member of QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.,Department of Life Sciences European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
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Ayiomamitis GD, Notas G, Vasilakaki T, Tsavari A, Vederaki S, Theodosopoulos T, Kouroumalis E, Zaravinos A. Understanding the Interplay between COX-2 and hTERT in Colorectal Cancer Using a Multi-Omics Analysis. Cancers (Basel) 2019; 11:cancers11101536. [PMID: 31614548 PMCID: PMC6827032 DOI: 10.3390/cancers11101536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2019] [Revised: 09/07/2019] [Accepted: 10/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) is involved in the initial steps of colorectal cancer (CRC) formation, playing a key role in the catalysis of arachidonic acid to prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). The human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT or TERT) also plays an important role in colorectal cancer growth, conferring sustained cell proliferation and survival. Although hTERT induces COX-2 expression in gastric and cervical cancer, their interaction has not been investigated in the context of CRC. Methods: COX-2, PGE2 levels, and telomerase activity were evaluated by immunohistochemistry, ELISA, and TRAP assay in 49 colorectal cancer samples. PTGS1, PTGS2, PTGES3, TERT mRNA, and protein levels were investigated using RNA-seq and antibody-based protein profiling data from the TCGA and HPA projects. A multi-omics comparison was performed between PTGS2 and TERT, using RNAseq, DNA methylation, copy number variations (CNVs), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and insertions/deletions (Indels) data. Results: COX-2 expression was positive in 40/49 CRCs, bearing cytoplasmic and heterogeneous staining, from moderate to high intensity. COX-2 staining was mainly detected in the stroma of the tumor cells and the adjacent normal tissues. PGE2 expression was lower in CRC compared to the adjacent normal tissue, and inversely correlated to telomerase activity in right colon cancers. COX-1 and COX-2 were anticorrelated with TERT. Isoform structural analysis revealed the most prevalent transcripts driving the differential expression of PTGS1, PTGS2, PTGES3, and TERT in CRC. COX-2 expression was significantly higher among B-Raf proto-oncogene, serine/threonine kinase, mutant (BRAFmut) tumors. Kirsten ras oncogene (KRAS) mutations did not affect COX-2 or TERT expression. The promoter regions of COX-2 and TERT were reversely methylated. Conclusions: Our data support that COX-2 is involved in the early stages of colorectal cancer development, initially affecting the tumor’s stromal microenvironment, and, subsequently, the epithelial cells. They also highlight an inverse correlation between COX-2 expression and telomerase activity in CRC, as well as differentially methylated patterns within the promoter regions of COX-2 and TERT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgios D Ayiomamitis
- Laboratory of Gastroenterology Research, University of Crete, School of Medicine, 71013 Heraklion, Greece.
- 1st Department of Surgery, Tzaneio General Hospital, 18536 Piraeus, Greece.
| | - George Notas
- Laboratory of Gastroenterology Research, University of Crete, School of Medicine, 71013 Heraklion, Greece.
- Laboratory of Experimental Endocrinology, University of Crete, School of Medicine, 71013 Heraklion, Greece.
| | - Thivi Vasilakaki
- Department of Pathology, Tzaneio General Hospital, 18536 Piraeus, Greece.
| | - Aikaterini Tsavari
- Department of Pathology, Tzaneio General Hospital, 18536 Piraeus, Greece.
| | - Styliani Vederaki
- 1st Department of Surgery, Tzaneio General Hospital, 18536 Piraeus, Greece.
| | - Theodosis Theodosopoulos
- 2nd Department of Surgery, Aretaieion Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11528 Athens, Greece.
| | - Elias Kouroumalis
- Laboratory of Gastroenterology Research, University of Crete, School of Medicine, 71013 Heraklion, Greece.
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospital of Heraklion, 71013 Heraklion, Greece.
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences European University Cyprus, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus.
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Abstract
Post-transcriptional modifications have been recently expanded with the addition of RNA editing, which is predominantly mediated by adenosine and cytidine deaminases acting on DNA and RNA. Here, we review the full spectrum of physiological processes in which these modifiers are implicated, among different organisms. Adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) editors, members of the ADAR and ADAT protein families are important regulators of alternative splicing and transcriptional control. On the other hand, cytidine to uridine (C-to-U) editors, members of the AID/APOBEC family, are heavily implicated in innate and adaptive immunity with important roles in antibody diversification and antiviral response. Physiologically, these enzymes are present in the nucleus and/or the cytoplasm, where they modify various RNA molecules, including miRNAs, tRNAs apart from mRNAs, whereas DNA editing is also possible by some of them. The expansion of next generation sequencing technologies provided a wealth of data regarding such modifications. RNA editing has been implicated in various disorders including cancer, and neurological diseases of the brain or the central nervous system. It is also related to cancer heterogeneity and the onset of carcinogenesis. Response to treatment can also be affected by the RNA editing status where drug efficacy is significantly compromised. Studying RNA editing events can pave the way to the identification of new disease biomarkers, and provide a more personalised therapy to various diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theodoulakis Christofi
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 2404, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 2404, Nicosia, Cyprus. .,Centre for Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES), 2404, Nicosia, Cyprus.
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Zaravinos A, Roufas C, Nagara M, de Lucas Moreno B, Oblovatskaya M, Efstathiades C, Dimopoulos C, Ayiomamitis GD. Cytolytic activity correlates with the mutational burden and deregulated expression of immune checkpoints in colorectal cancer. J Exp Clin Cancer Res 2019; 38:364. [PMID: 31429779 PMCID: PMC6701076 DOI: 10.1186/s13046-019-1372-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2019] [Accepted: 08/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Background Microsatellite unstable colorectal cancers (MSI+ CRCs) expressing PD-L1, respond to anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 checkpoint blockade, whereas microsatellite-stable tumors do not respond the same. Our aim was to examine how the immune landscape relates to different aspects of the CRC’s biology, including neoepitope burden. Methods We used TCGA data to stratify patients based on a cytolytic T-cell activity expression index and correlated immune cytolytic activity (CYT) with mutational, structural, and neoepitope features of each tumor sample. The expression of several immune checkpoints was verified in an independent cohort of 72 CRC patients, relative to their MSI status, using immunohistochemistry and RT-qPCR. Results CRC exhibits a range of intertumoral cytolytic T-cell activity, with lower cytolytic levels in the tumor, compared to the normal tissue. We separated CRC patients into CYT-high and CYT-low subgroups. High cytolytic activity correlated with increased mutational load in colon tumors, the count of MHC-I/−II classically defined and alternatively defined neoepitopes, high microsatellite instability and deregulated expression of several inhibitory immune checkpoints (VISTA, TIGIT, PD-1, IDO1, CTLA-4, and PD-L1, among others). Many immune checkpoint molecules (IDO1, LAG3, TIGIT, VISTA, PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4) expressed significantly higher in MSI+ CRCs compared to MSS tumors. The expression of Treg markers was also significantly higher in CYT-high tumors. Both individual and simultaneous high levels of CTLA-4 and PD-L1 had a positive effect on the patients’ overall survival. On the reverse, simultaneous low expression of both genes led to a significant shift towards negative effect. Assessed globally, CYT-low CRCs contained more recurrent somatic copy number alterations. PD-L1 protein was absent in most samples in the independent cohort and stained lowly in 33% of MSI CRCs. PD-L1+ CRCs stained moderately for CD8 and weakly for FOXP3. CYT-high colon tumors had higher TIL load, whereas CYT-high rectum tumors had higher TAN load compared to their CYT-low counterparts. Conclusions Overall, we highlight the link between different genetic events and the immune microenvironment in CRC, taking into consideration the status of microsatellite instability. Our data provide further evidence that MSI+ and CYT-high tumors are better candidates for combinatorial checkpoint inhibition. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-019-1372-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus. .,Centre for Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES), 2404, Nicosia, Cyprus.
| | - Constantinos Roufas
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus.,Department of Computer Science & Engineering, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Majdi Nagara
- Inserm, UMR-S 1251, MMG, Faculté de Médecine, Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Beatriz de Lucas Moreno
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus.,Center for Research in Health and Life Sciences, European University Madrid, 28670, Madrid, Spain
| | - Maria Oblovatskaya
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Christodoulos Efstathiades
- Centre for Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES), 2404, Nicosia, Cyprus.,Department of Computer Science & Engineering, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Christos Dimopoulos
- Centre for Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES), 2404, Nicosia, Cyprus.,Department of Computer Science & Engineering, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus
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Mammas IN, Dalianis T, Doukas SG, Zaravinos A, Achtsidis V, Thiagarajan P, Theodoridou M, Spandidos DA. Paediatric virology and human papillomaviruses: An update. Exp Ther Med 2019; 17:4337-4343. [PMID: 31186676 PMCID: PMC6507507 DOI: 10.3892/etm.2019.7516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2019] [Accepted: 04/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Almost 10 years ago, in October, 2008, the scientist who reported for the first time the association between human papillomaviruses (HPV) and cervical cancer, was awarded with the Nobel prize. In the years that followed, Professor Harald zur Hausen actively supported the value of the HPV vaccination in the prevention of different types of cancer and highlighted the necessity of its introduction in both girls and boys. However, to date, in the majority of countries, HPV vaccination among male adolescents has not been implemented into the national vaccination schemes, while in several countries, including Greece, the participation rate to HPV vaccination among female adolescents still remains low. Recent data indicate that catch-up HPV vaccination among young women has been extremely useful and has exhibited a significant effect in decreasing the prevalence of HPV. While the marketed current HPV vaccines prevent anogenital HPV infection, their impact on the natural history of oral HPV and their efficacy in preventing HPV-related head and neck carcinomas need to be further investigated. Juvenile onset recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, as well as HPV-associated conjunctival papillomas continue to be observed in childhood and their clinical management involves different therapeutic approaches with controversial outcomes. This review article provides an overview of recent views and advances on HPV infections and prevention in childhood that were presented at the '4th Workshop on Paediatric Virology' on Saturday September 22, 2018 in Athens, Greece.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioannis N. Mammas
- Department of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Tina Dalianis
- Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, SE-117 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Sotiros G. Doukas
- Department of Surgery (Otolaryngology), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519, USA
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Vassilis Achtsidis
- Department of Ophthalmology, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, TR1 3LQ Cornwall, UK
| | - Prakash Thiagarajan
- Neonatal Unit, Division for Women and Children's Health, Noble's Hospital, IM4 4RJ Douglas, Isle of Man, British Isles
| | - Maria Theodoridou
- First Department of Paediatrics, ‘Aghia Sophia’ Children's Hospital, University of Athens School of Medicine, 115 27 Athens, Greece
| | - Demetrios A. Spandidos
- Department of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece
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Demetriadou C, Pavlou D, Mpekris F, Achilleos C, Stylianopoulos T, Zaravinos A, Papageorgis P, Kirmizis A. NAA40 contributes to colorectal cancer growth by controlling PRMT5 expression. Cell Death Dis 2019; 10:236. [PMID: 30858358 PMCID: PMC6411749 DOI: 10.1038/s41419-019-1487-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2018] [Revised: 02/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
N-alpha-acetyltransferase 40 (NAA40) catalyzes the transfer of an acetyl moiety to the alpha-amino group of serine 1 (S1) on histones H4 and H2A. Our previous studies linked NAA40 and its corresponding N-terminal acetylation of histone H4 (N-acH4) to colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the role of NAA40 in CRC development was not investigated. Here, we show that NAA40 protein and mRNA levels are commonly increased in CRC primary tissues compared to non-malignant specimens. Importantly, depletion of NAA40 inhibits cell proliferation and survival of CRC cell lines and increases their sensitivity to 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) treatment. Moreover, the absence of NAA40 significantly delays the growth of human CRC xenograft tumors. Intriguingly, we found that NAA40 knockdown and loss of N-acH4 reduce the levels of symmetric dimethylation of histone H4 (H4R3me2s) through transcriptional downregulation of protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5). NAA40 depletion and subsequent repression of PRMT5 results in altered expression of key oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes leading to inhibition of CRC cell growth. Consistent with this, NAA40 mRNA levels correlate with those of PRMT5 in CRC patient tissues. Taken together, our results establish the oncogenic function of the epigenetic enzyme NAA40 in colon cancer and support its potential as a therapeutic target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina Demetriadou
- Epigenetics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, 2109, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Demetria Pavlou
- Epigenetics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, 2109, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Fotios Mpekris
- Cancer Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Cyprus, 1678, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Charis Achilleos
- Tumor Viruses and Cancer Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, 2109, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Triantafyllos Stylianopoulos
- Cancer Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Cyprus, 1678, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | | | - Antonis Kirmizis
- Epigenetics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, 2109, Nicosia, Cyprus.
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Chinello C, Stella M, Piga I, Smith AJ, Bovo G, Varallo M, Ivanova M, Denti V, Grasso M, Grasso A, Del Puppo M, Zaravinos A, Magni F. Proteomics of liquid biopsies: Depicting RCC infiltration into the renal vein by MS analysis of urine and plasma. J Proteomics 2018; 191:29-37. [PMID: 29689304 DOI: 10.1016/j.jprot.2018.04.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2017] [Revised: 04/03/2018] [Accepted: 04/14/2018] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Liquid biopsies, as blood and urine, could offer an invaluable, easily accessible source of biomarkers, and evidences for elucidating the pathological processes. Only few studies integrated the proteomes driven by more than one biofluid. Furthermore, it is not clear which biofluid better mirrors the alterations triggered by disease. Venous infiltrating RCC(Renal Cell Carcinoma) could represent an advantageous model for exploring this aspect. Herein, we investigate how blood and urine "proteomically" reflect the changes occurring during RCC infiltration into renal vein(RV) by label-free nLC-ESI-MS/MS. We found 574 and 58 differentially expressed proteins(DEPs) in response to vascular involvement. To the augment of vascular involvement, the abundance of only three proteins in urine(UROM,RALA,CNDP1) and two in plasma(APOA1,K2C1) diminished while increased for twenty-six urinary proteins. 80 proteins were found both in urine and plasma, among which twenty-eight were DEPs. A huge overlap between the two biofluids was highlighted, as expected, being urine the filtrate of blood. However, this consistency decreases when RV-occlusion occurs suggesting alternative protein releases, and a loss of kidney architecture. Moreover, several proteomic and functional signatures were biofluid-specific. In conclusion, the complementarity between the specimens allowed to achieve a deeper level of molecular complexity of the RCC venous infiltration. SIGNIFICANCE: Although plasma and urine are strongly interconnected, only few proteomic studies investigated the complementarity of these fluids as bio-sources of information. Moreover, none of them was focused to their analysis and comparison in the context of vascular infiltration of renal cancer. Herein, new insights were gained regarding the impact into urinary and plasma proteome of the changes triggered by the ccRCC invasion into vascular system and renal vein. Furthermore, the integration of the information driven by the two liquid biopsies permits to unravel biological processes otherwise lost.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clizia Chinello
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Clinical Proteomics and Metabolomics Unit, Vedano al Lambro, Italy.
| | - Martina Stella
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Clinical Proteomics and Metabolomics Unit, Vedano al Lambro, Italy
| | - Isabella Piga
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Clinical Proteomics and Metabolomics Unit, Vedano al Lambro, Italy
| | - Andrew James Smith
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Clinical Proteomics and Metabolomics Unit, Vedano al Lambro, Italy
| | - Giorgio Bovo
- Pathology Unit, Vimercate Hospital, Vimercate, Italy
| | | | - Mariia Ivanova
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Clinical Proteomics and Metabolomics Unit, Vedano al Lambro, Italy
| | - Vanna Denti
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Clinical Proteomics and Metabolomics Unit, Vedano al Lambro, Italy
| | | | | | - Marina Del Puppo
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Clinical Proteomics and Metabolomics Unit, Vedano al Lambro, Italy
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Fulvio Magni
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Clinical Proteomics and Metabolomics Unit, Vedano al Lambro, Italy
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Chartoumpekis DV, Yagishita Y, Fazzari M, Palliyaguru DL, Rao UN, Zaravinos A, Khoo NK, Schopfer FJ, Weiss KR, Michalopoulos GK, Sipula I, O'Doherty RM, Kensler TW, Wakabayashi N. Nrf2 prevents Notch-induced insulin resistance and tumorigenesis in mice. JCI Insight 2018. [PMID: 29515034 DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.97735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Insulin resistance is associated with increased incidence and enhanced progression of cancers. However, little is known about strategies that can effectively ameliorate insulin resistance and consequently halt cancer progression. Herein, we propose that the transcription factor Nrf2 (also known as Nfe2l2) may be such a target, given its central role in disease prevention. To this end, we developed a mouse that overexpresses the Notch intracellular domain in adipocytes (AdNICD), leading to lipodystrophy-induced severe insulin resistance and subsequent development of sarcomas, as a model reflecting that Notch signaling is deregulated in cancers and shows positive associations with insulin resistance and fatty liver disease in humans. Nrf2 pathway activation was achieved by knocking down Keap1, a repressor of Nrf2, in the AdNICD background. Constitutively enhanced Nrf2 signaling in this setting led to prevention of hepatic steatosis, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance by repressing hepatic lipogenic pathways and restoration of the hepatic fatty acid profile to control levels. This protective effect of Nrf2 against diabetes extended to significant reduction and delay in sarcoma incidence and latency. Our study highlights that the Nrf2 pathway, which has been induced by small molecules in clinical trials, is a potential therapeutic target against insulin resistance and subsequent risk of cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dionysios V Chartoumpekis
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Yoko Yagishita
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Marco Fazzari
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.,Fondazione Ri.MED, Palermo, Italy
| | - Dushani L Palliyaguru
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Uma Nm Rao
- Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Nicholas Kh Khoo
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Francisco J Schopfer
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | | | | | - Ian Sipula
- Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Robert M O'Doherty
- Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Thomas W Kensler
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Nobunao Wakabayashi
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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Roufas C, Chasiotis D, Makris A, Efstathiades C, Dimopoulos C, Zaravinos A. The Expression and Prognostic Impact of Immune Cytolytic Activity-Related Markers in Human Malignancies: A Comprehensive Meta-analysis. Front Oncol 2018. [PMID: 29515971 PMCID: PMC5826382 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2018.00027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Recently, immune-checkpoint blockade has shown striking clinical results in different cancer patients. However, a significant inter-individual and inter-tumor variability exists among different cancers. The expression of the toxins granzyme A (GZMA) and perforin 1 (PRF1), secreted by effector cytotoxic T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, were recently used as a denominator of the intratumoral immune cytolytic activity (CYT). These levels are significantly elevated upon CD8+ T-cell activation as well as during a productive clinical response against immune-checkpoint blockade therapies. Still, it is not completely understood how different tumors induce and adapt to immune responses. Methods Here, we calculated the CYT across different cancer types and focused on differences between primary and metastatic tumors. Using data from 10,355, primary tumor resection samples and 2,787 normal samples that we extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Genotype-Tissue Expression project databases, we screened the variation of CYT across 32 different cancer types and 28 different normal tissue types. We correlated the cytolytic levels in each cancer type with the corresponding patient group's overall survival, the expression of several immune-checkpoint molecules, as well as with the load of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) in these tumors. Results We found diverse levels of CYT across different cancer types, with highest levels in kidney, lung, and cervical cancers, and lowest levels in glioma, adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), and uveal melanoma. GZMA protein was either lowly expressed or absent in at least half of these tumors; whereas PRF1 protein was not detected in almost any of the different tumor types, analyzing tissue microarrays from 20 different tumor types. CYT was significantly higher in metastatic skin melanoma and correlated significantly to the TIL load. In TCGA-ACC, skin melanoma, and bladder cancer, CYT was associated with an improved patient outcome and high levels of both GZMA and PRF1 synergistically affected patient survival in these cancers. In bladder, breast, colon, esophageal, kidney, ovarian, pancreatic, testicular, and thyroid cancers, high CYT was accompanied by upregulation of at least one immune-checkpoint molecule, indicating that similar to melanoma and prostate cancer, immune responses in cytolytic-high tumors elicit immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment. Conclusion Overall, our data highlight the existence of diverse levels of CYT across different cancer types and suggest that along with the existence of complicated associations among various tumor-infiltrated immune cells, it is capable to promote or inhibit the establishment of a permissive tumor microenvironment, depending on the cancer type. High levels of immunosuppression seem to exist in several tumor types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Constantinos Roufas
- Department of Life Sciences, Biomedical Sciences Program, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.,The Center for Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES), Department of Computer Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Dimitrios Chasiotis
- Department of Life Sciences, Biomedical Sciences Program, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Anestis Makris
- Department of Life Sciences, Biomedical Sciences Program, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Christodoulos Efstathiades
- The Center for Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES), Department of Computer Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Christos Dimopoulos
- The Center for Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES), Department of Computer Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, Biomedical Sciences Program, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
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Abstract
Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing can identify women at risk of cervical cancer. Currently, molecular detection methods are the gold standard for identification of HPV. The three categories of molecular assays that are available are based on the detection of HPV DNA and include (1) non-amplified hybridization assays, such as Southern transfer hybridization (STH), dot blot hybridization (DB) and in situ hybridization (ISH); (2) signal amplified hybridization assays, such as hybrid capture assays (HC2); (3) target amplification assays, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and in situ PCR. STH requires large amounts of DNA, is laborious and not reproducible, while ISH has only moderate sensitivity for HPV. The sensitivity of the HC2 assay is similar to that of PCR-based assays, with high sensitivity being achieved by signal rather than target amplification. PCR-based detection is both highly sensitive and specific. Since PCR can be performed on very small amounts of DNA, it is ideal for use on specimens with low DNA content. In the future, with the advance of technology, viral DNA extraction and amplification systems will become more rapid, more sensitive, and more automated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete - Greece
| | - Ioannis N. Mammas
- Department of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete - Greece
| | - George Sourvinos
- Department of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete - Greece
| | - Demetrios A. Spandidos
- Department of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete - Greece
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Symvoulakis EK, Zaravinos A, Panutsopulos D, Zoras O, Papalambros E, Sigala F, Spandidos DA. Highly Conserved Sequence of Exon 15 BRAF Gene and KRAS Codon 12 Mutation among Greek Patients with Colorectal Cancer. Int J Biol Markers 2018; 22:12-8. [PMID: 17393356 DOI: 10.1177/172460080702200102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Background The RAS/RAF/MEK/MAP kinase pathway is essential to intracellular signaling transduction regulating cell proliferation, differentiation and death. We investigated the occurrence of exon 15 BRAF and KRAS codon 12 mutations among Greek patients with colorectal cancer. Methods Sixty-one samples from patients with sporadic colorectal adenocarcinomas were studied for exon 15 BRAF mutations. DNA from surgically resected specimens was analyzed by a combination of polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing. KRAS codon 12 mutational analysis was technically possible in 58 samples (58/61) by a combination of polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. Results No exon 15 BRAF mutations were detected in any of the colon cancer specimens. The frequency of KRAS codon 12 mutations was 29.3% (17/58). Patients aged <70 years more frequently presented carcinomas harboring KRAS codon 12 mutations than patients aged >70 years (p=0.028). Patients between 61 and 70 years of age were more likely to be carriers of this mutation (p=0.040). Conclusions Despite the limited study sample, our data suggest that BRAF mutations might be present less frequently than KRAS mutations in Greek patients with colorectal carcinomas. Further research involving larger patient series will be necessary to confirm these findings and to assess possible ethnic, environmental and lifestyle influences on BRAF and KRAS mutagenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- E K Symvoulakis
- Laboratory of Virology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
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46
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Abstract
Purpose Mutational activation of the MAP kinase pathway is frequently found in many types of cancer. Recently, activating mutations in the BRAF gene, an important activator of this pathway, have been described in several tumor types including melanoma, colorectal and papillary thyroid cancer. The most frequent mutation in exon 15 (V600E) as well as several other mutations within exons 11 and 15 result in constitutive activation of the oncoprotein. Materials and methods Our study aimed to investigate BRAF mutations in 30 human bladder tumors and their adjacent normal tissues. The V600E mutation was screened by PCR/RFLP and exons 11, 14 and 15 of BRAF including intron-exon boundaries were sequenced. Results We detected two tumor specimens bearing two different mutations, both of which were found in exon 15. One sample showed the T1799A (V600E) and the other the G1798T (V600L) mutation. The first specimen was stage pT1a and grade II, whereas the second was stage pT2b and grade III. No mutations within the coding region of exons 11, 14, 15 and the intron-exon junctions for the remaining samples were found. Conclusions Our results suggest that involvement of BRAF mutations in the development of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder is infrequent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioannis Boulalas
- Department of Urology, Asklipieio General Hospital, Voula, Athens
- Contributed equally to this work and should be considered as first authors
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Laboratory of Virology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete - Greece
- Contributed equally to this work and should be considered as first authors
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47
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Abstract
Ovarian cancer (OC) is the most lethal gynecological malignancy. Its insidious nature, manifesting with little to no symptoms until the disease progresses to metastasis, along with a wide diversity of histological subtypes and corresponding clinical behavior, poses significant therapeutic challenges. The genetic profiling of this aggressive tumor and its subtypes has led to the identification of various molecular markers of prognosis. Among these, the miR-200 family of miRNAs appears to play an important role. The deregulated expression of the miR-200 family members has been detected in a variety of OC studies. The present review examines the potential usefulness of the miR-200 family members as prognostic indicators in ovarian cancer and their impact across different OC publications, with a particular focus on prognostic features, such as disease stage, tumor histology, survival and response to chemotherapy. We present the potential usefulness of the miR-200 family genes as prognostic indicators in OC and highlight the tendency that miR-200 overexpression corresponds with an advanced cancer stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Koutsaki
- 3rd Department of Pediatrics of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Attikon University Hospital, 12462 Athens, Greece
| | - Massimo Libra
- Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Laboratory of Translational Oncology and Functional Genomics, Section of General and Clinical Pathology and Oncology, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy
| | - Demetrios A Spandidos
- Laboratory of Virology, Medical School, University of Crete, 71110 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
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48
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Mammas IN, Theodoridou M, Kramvis A, Thiagarajan P, Gardner S, Papaioannou G, Melidou A, Koutsaki M, Kostagianni G, Achtsidis V, Koutsaftiki C, Calachanis M, Zaravinos A, Greenough A, Spandidos DA. Paediatric Virology: A rapidly increasing educational challenge. Exp Ther Med 2017; 13:364-377. [PMID: 28352303 PMCID: PMC5348700 DOI: 10.3892/etm.2016.3997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2016] [Accepted: 12/16/2016] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The '2nd Workshop on Paediatric Virology', which took place on Saturday the 8th of October 2016 in Athens, Greece, provided an overview on recent views and advances on Paediatric Virology. Emphasis was given to HIV-1 management in Greece, a country under continuous financial crisis, hepatitis B vaccination in Africa, treatment options for hepatitis C virus in childhood, Zika virus in pregnancy and infancy, the burden of influenza on childhood, hand-foot-mouth disease and myocarditis associated with Coxsackie viruses. Other general topics covered included a critical evaluation of Paediatric Accident and Emergency viral infections, multimodality imaging of viral infections in children, surgical approaches of otolaryngologists to complex viral infections, new advances in the diagnosis and treatment of viral conjunctivitis and novel molecular diagnostic methods for HPV in childhood. A brief historical overview of the anti-vaccination movement was also provided, as well as presentations on the educational challenge of Paediatric Virology as a new subspecialty of Paediatrics. This review highlights selected lectures and discussions of the workshop.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioannis N. Mammas
- Department of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion 71003, Greece
| | - Maria Theodoridou
- 1st Department of Paediatrics, ‘Aghia Sophia’ Children's Hospital, University of Athens School of Medicine, Athens 11527, Greece
| | - Anna Kramvis
- Hepatitis Virus Diversity Research Unit, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa
| | - Prakash Thiagarajan
- Neonatal Unit, Division for Women's and Children's Health, Noble's Hospital, Douglas, Isle of Man IM4 4RJ, British Isles
| | - Sharryn Gardner
- Department of Children's Accident and Emergency, Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, Ormskirk L39 2AZ, UK
| | - Georgia Papaioannou
- Department of Paediatric Radiology, ‘Mitera’ Children's Hospital, Athens 15123, Greece
| | - Angeliki Melidou
- 2nd Laboratory of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece
| | - Maria Koutsaki
- Paediatric Neurology Division, 3rd Department of Paediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Athens, ‘Attikon’ University Hospital, Athens 12462, Greece
| | - Georgia Kostagianni
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, ‘Triassio’ General Hospital, Elefsina 19200, Greece
| | - Vassilis Achtsidis
- Department of Ophthalmology, Royal Cornwall Hospitals, Truro, Cornwall TR1 3LQ, UK
| | - Chryssie Koutsaftiki
- Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), ‘Penteli’ Children's Hospital, Penteli 15236, Greece
| | - Marcos Calachanis
- Department of Paediatric Cardiology, ‘Penteli’ Children's Hospital, Penteli 15236, Greece
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | - Anne Greenough
- Division of Asthma, Allergy and Lung Biology, King's College London, London SE5 9RS, UK
| | - Demetrios A. Spandidos
- Department of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion 71003, Greece
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49
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Abstract
The RAS oncogenes are the most commonly mutated genes across human cancers. This review is a look back at the discovery of the RAS genes, how we came to understand their function, and how these oncogenes are aberrantly activated, driving cancer development and growth. It also highlights the comprehensive efforts made during the last 30 years to develop therapeutic strategies against the oncogenic mutant RAS. Although there have been many lost battles in the war against mutant RAS-bearing cancer cells, and we have yet to determine which is the "best" path for inhibition of the mutated RAS, a better understanding of the protein's structure combined with technological advances in the field has allowed the development of new strategies to make anti-RAS therapies a reality. The state-of-the-art for each strategy is discussed, focusing on the promises and potential pitfalls of each of them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Apostolos Zaravinos
- Biomedical Sciences Program, Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
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50
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Wang Z, Monteiro CD, Jagodnik KM, Fernandez NF, Gundersen GW, Rouillard AD, Jenkins SL, Feldmann AS, Hu KS, McDermott MG, Duan Q, Clark NR, Jones MR, Kou Y, Goff T, Woodland H, Amaral FMR, Szeto GL, Fuchs O, Schüssler-Fiorenza Rose SM, Sharma S, Schwartz U, Bausela XB, Szymkiewicz M, Maroulis V, Salykin A, Barra CM, Kruth CD, Bongio NJ, Mathur V, Todoric RD, Rubin UE, Malatras A, Fulp CT, Galindo JA, Motiejunaite R, Jüschke C, Dishuck PC, Lahl K, Jafari M, Aibar S, Zaravinos A, Steenhuizen LH, Allison LR, Gamallo P, de Andres Segura F, Dae Devlin T, Pérez-García V, Ma'ayan A. Extraction and analysis of signatures from the Gene Expression Omnibus by the crowd. Nat Commun 2016; 7:12846. [PMID: 27667448 PMCID: PMC5052684 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 156] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2015] [Accepted: 08/05/2016] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Gene expression data are accumulating exponentially in public repositories. Reanalysis and integration of themed collections from these studies may provide new insights, but requires further human curation. Here we report a crowdsourcing project to annotate and reanalyse a large number of gene expression profiles from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Through a massive open online course on Coursera, over 70 participants from over 25 countries identify and annotate 2,460 single-gene perturbation signatures, 839 disease versus normal signatures, and 906 drug perturbation signatures. All these signatures are unique and are manually validated for quality. Global analysis of these signatures confirms known associations and identifies novel associations between genes, diseases and drugs. The manually curated signatures are used as a training set to develop classifiers for extracting similar signatures from the entire GEO repository. We develop a web portal to serve these signatures for query, download and visualization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zichen Wang
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Caroline D. Monteiro
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Kathleen M. Jagodnik
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
- Fluid Physics and Transport Processes Branch, NASA Glenn Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Rd, Cleveland, Ohio 44135, USA
- Center for Space Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
| | - Nicolas F. Fernandez
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Gregory W. Gundersen
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Andrew D. Rouillard
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Sherry L. Jenkins
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Axel S. Feldmann
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Kevin S. Hu
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Michael G. McDermott
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Qiaonan Duan
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Neil R. Clark
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Matthew R. Jones
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Yan Kou
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | - Troy Goff
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
| | | | - Fabio M R. Amaral
- School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Sutton Bonington, Leicestershire LE12 5RD, UK
| | - Gregory L. Szeto
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
- David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
- Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
- The Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, 400 Technology Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Oliver Fuchs
- Paediatric Allergology and Pulmonology, Dr von Hauner University Children's Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Member of the German Centre for Lung Research (DZL), Lindwurmstrasse 4, Munich 80337, Germany
| | - Sophia M. Schüssler-Fiorenza Rose
- Spinal Cord Injury Service, Veteran Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94304, USA
| | - Shvetank Sharma
- Department of Research, Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences, D1, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070, India
| | - Uwe Schwartz
- Department of Biochemistry III, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstrasse 31, Regensburg 93053, Germany
| | - Xabier Bengoetxea Bausela
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Irunlarrea 1, Pamplona 31008, Spain
| | - Maciej Szymkiewicz
- Warsaw School of Information Technology under the auspices of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 6 Newelska St, Warsaw 01–447, Poland
| | | | - Anton Salykin
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno 625 00, Czech Republic
| | - Carolina M. Barra
- IMIM-Hospital Del Mar, PRBB Barcelona, Dr Aiguader, Barcelona 88.08003, Spain
| | | | - Nicholas J. Bongio
- Department of Biology, Shenandoah University, 1460 University Dr Winchester, Winchester, Virginia 22601, USA
| | | | | | - Udi E. Rubin
- Department of Biological Sciences, 600 Fairchild Center, Mail Code 2402, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA
| | - Apostolos Malatras
- Center for Research in Myology, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, INSERM UMRS975, CNRS FRE3617, 47 Boulevard de l'hôpital, Paris 75013, France
| | - Carl T. Fulp
- 13-1, Higashi 4-chome Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0011, Japan
| | - John A. Galindo
- Department of Biology and Institute of Genetics, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Cr. 30 # 45-08, Colombia
| | - Ruta Motiejunaite
- Center for Interdisciplinary Cardiovascular Sciences, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | - Christoph Jüschke
- Department of Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Oldenburg, Ammerländer Heerstrasse 114-118, Oldenburg 26129, Germany
| | | | - Katharina Lahl
- Technical University of Denmark, National Veterinary Institute, Bülowsvej 27 Building 2-3, Frederiksberg C 1870, Denmark
| | - Mohieddin Jafari
- Protein Chemistry and Proteomics Unit, Biotechnology Research Center, Pasteur Institute of Iran, No. 358, 12th Farwardin Ave, Jomhhoori St, Tehran 13164, Iran
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute for Researches in Fundamental Sciences, Niavaran Square, P.O.Box, Tehran 19395-5746, Iran
| | - Sara Aibar
- University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Madrid 37008, Spain
| | - Apostolos Zaravinos
- Division of Clinical Immunology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Alfred Nobels Allé 8, level 7, Stockholm SE141 86, Sweden
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 6 Diogenes Str. Engomi, P.O.Box 22006, Nicosia 1516, Cyprus
| | | | | | | | - Fernando de Andres Segura
- CICAB, Clinical Research Centre, Extremadura University Hospital, Elvas Av., s/n. 06006 Badajoz 06006, Spain
| | | | - Vicente Pérez-García
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Department of Immunology and Oncology, c/Darwin, 3 Madrid 28049, Spain
| | - Avi Ma'ayan
- Department of Pharmacological Sciences, BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center, Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1215, New York, New York 10029, USA
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