1
|
Pouliou M, Koutsi MA, Champezou L, Giannopoulou AI, Vatsellas G, Piperi C, Agelopoulos M. MYCN Amplifications and Metabolic Rewiring in Neuroblastoma. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:4803. [PMID: 37835497 PMCID: PMC10571721 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15194803] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Revised: 09/20/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Cancer is a disease caused by (epi)genomic and gene expression abnormalities and characterized by metabolic phenotypes that are substantially different from the normal phenotypes of the tissues of origin. Metabolic reprogramming is one of the key features of tumors, including those established in the human nervous system. In this work, we emphasize a well-known cancerous genomic alteration: the amplification of MYCN and its downstream effects in neuroblastoma phenotype evolution. Herein, we extend our previous computational biology investigations by conducting an integrative workflow applied to published genomics datasets and comprehensively assess the impact of MYCN amplification in the upregulation of metabolism-related transcription factor (TF)-encoding genes in neuroblastoma cells. The results obtained first emphasized overexpressed TFs, and subsequently those committed in metabolic cellular processes, as validated by gene ontology analyses (GOs) and literature curation. Several genes encoding for those TFs were investigated at the mechanistic and regulatory levels by conducting further omics-based computational biology assessments applied on published ChIP-seq datasets retrieved from MYCN-amplified- and MYCN-enforced-overexpression within in vivo systems of study. Hence, we approached the mechanistic interrelationship between amplified MYCN and overexpression of metabolism-related TFs in neuroblastoma and showed that many are direct targets of MYCN in an amplification-inducible fashion. These results illuminate how MYCN executes its regulatory underpinnings on metabolic processes in neuroblastoma.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marialena Pouliou
- Center of Basic Research, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 4 Soranou Ephessiou St., 11527 Athens, Greece; (M.P.); (M.A.K.); (L.C.); (G.V.)
| | - Marianna A. Koutsi
- Center of Basic Research, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 4 Soranou Ephessiou St., 11527 Athens, Greece; (M.P.); (M.A.K.); (L.C.); (G.V.)
| | - Lydia Champezou
- Center of Basic Research, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 4 Soranou Ephessiou St., 11527 Athens, Greece; (M.P.); (M.A.K.); (L.C.); (G.V.)
| | - Angeliki-Ioanna Giannopoulou
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 75 M. Asias Street Bldg 16, 11527 Athens, Greece;
| | - Giannis Vatsellas
- Center of Basic Research, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 4 Soranou Ephessiou St., 11527 Athens, Greece; (M.P.); (M.A.K.); (L.C.); (G.V.)
| | - Christina Piperi
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 75 M. Asias Street Bldg 16, 11527 Athens, Greece;
| | - Marios Agelopoulos
- Center of Basic Research, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 4 Soranou Ephessiou St., 11527 Athens, Greece; (M.P.); (M.A.K.); (L.C.); (G.V.)
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Zogopoulos VL, Malatras A, Kyriakidis K, Charalampous C, Makrygianni EA, Duguez S, Koutsi MA, Pouliou M, Vasileiou C, Duddy WJ, Agelopoulos M, Chrousos GP, Iconomidou VA, Michalopoulos I. HGCA2.0: An RNA-Seq Based Webtool for Gene Coexpression Analysis in Homo sapiens. Cells 2023; 12:cells12030388. [PMID: 36766730 PMCID: PMC9913097 DOI: 10.3390/cells12030388] [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] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Revised: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Genes with similar expression patterns in a set of diverse samples may be considered coexpressed. Human Gene Coexpression Analysis 2.0 (HGCA2.0) is a webtool which studies the global coexpression landscape of human genes. The website is based on the hierarchical clustering of 55,431 Homo sapiens genes based on a large-scale coexpression analysis of 3500 GTEx bulk RNA-Seq samples of healthy individuals, which were selected as the best representative samples of each tissue type. HGCA2.0 presents subclades of coexpressed genes to a gene of interest, and performs various built-in gene term enrichment analyses on the coexpressed genes, including gene ontologies, biological pathways, protein families, and diseases, while also being unique in revealing enriched transcription factors driving coexpression. HGCA2.0 has been successful in identifying not only genes with ubiquitous expression patterns, but also tissue-specific genes. Benchmarking showed that HGCA2.0 belongs to the top performing coexpression webtools, as shown by STRING analysis. HGCA2.0 creates working hypotheses for the discovery of gene partners or common biological processes that can be experimentally validated. It offers a simple and intuitive website design and user interface, as well as an API endpoint.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vasileios L. Zogopoulos
- Centre of Systems Biology, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
- Section of Cell Biology and Biophysics, Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15701 Athens, Greece
| | - Apostolos Malatras
- Biobank.cy Center of Excellence in Biobanking and Biomedical Research, University of Cyprus, 2029 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Konstantinos Kyriakidis
- Centre of Systems Biology, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
- School of Pharmacy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Chrysanthi Charalampous
- Centre of Basic Research, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
| | - Evanthia A. Makrygianni
- University Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health and Precision Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
| | - Stéphanie Duguez
- Personalised Medicine Centre, School of Medicine, Ulster University, Derry-Londonderry BT47 6SB, UK
| | - Marianna A. Koutsi
- Centre of Basic Research, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
| | - Marialena Pouliou
- Centre of Basic Research, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
| | - Christos Vasileiou
- Centre of Systems Biology, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
- Engineering Design and Computing Laboratory, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - William J. Duddy
- Personalised Medicine Centre, School of Medicine, Ulster University, Derry-Londonderry BT47 6SB, UK
| | - Marios Agelopoulos
- Centre of Basic Research, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
| | - George P. Chrousos
- University Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health and Precision Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
| | - Vassiliki A. Iconomidou
- Section of Cell Biology and Biophysics, Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15701 Athens, Greece
| | - Ioannis Michalopoulos
- Centre of Systems Biology, Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
- Correspondence:
| |
Collapse
|