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- Pandzic, Tatjana, et al.
(author)
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Somatic PRDM2 c.4467delA mutations in colorectal cancers control histone methylation and tumor growth
- 2017
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In: Oncotarget. - : Impact Journals, LLC. - 1949-2553. ; 8:58, s. 98646-98659
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The chromatin modifier PRDM2/RIZ1 is inactivated by mutation in several forms of cancer and is a putative tumor suppressor gene. Frameshift mutations in the C-terminal region of PRDM2, affecting (A)8 or (A)9 repeats within exon 8, are found in one third of colorectal cancers with microsatellite instability, but the contribution of these mutations to colorectal tumorigenesis is unknown. To model somatic mutations in microsatellite unstable tumors, we devised a general approach to perform genome editing while stabilizing the mutated nucleotide repeat. We then engineered isogenic cell systems where the PRDM2 c.4467delA mutation in human HCT116 colorectal cancer cells was corrected to wild-type by genome editing. Restored PRDM2 increased global histone 3 lysine 9 dimethylation and reduced migration, anchorage-independent growth and tumor growth in vivo. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed regulation of several hallmark cancer pathways, particularly of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), with VIM being the most significantly regulated gene. These observations provide direct evidence that PRDM2 c.4467delA is a driver mutation in colorectal cancer and confirms PRDM2 as a cancer gene, pointing to regulation of EMT as a central aspect of its tumor suppressive action.
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- Glimelius, Bengt, et al.
(author)
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U-CAN : a prospective longitudinal collection of biomaterials and clinical information from adult cancer patients in Sweden.
- 2018
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In: Acta Oncologica. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0284-186X .- 1651-226X. ; 57:2, s. 187-194
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Progress in cancer biomarker discovery is dependent on access to high-quality biological materials and high-resolution clinical data from the same cases. To overcome current limitations, a systematic prospective longitudinal sampling of multidisciplinary clinical data, blood and tissue from cancer patients was therefore initiated in 2010 by Uppsala and Umeå Universities and involving their corresponding University Hospitals, which are referral centers for one third of the Swedish population.Material and Methods: Patients with cancer of selected types who are treated at one of the participating hospitals are eligible for inclusion. The healthcare-integrated sampling scheme encompasses clinical data, questionnaires, blood, fresh frozen and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue specimens, diagnostic slides and radiology bioimaging data.Results: In this ongoing effort, 12,265 patients with brain tumors, breast cancers, colorectal cancers, gynecological cancers, hematological malignancies, lung cancers, neuroendocrine tumors or prostate cancers have been included until the end of 2016. From the 6914 patients included during the first five years, 98% were sampled for blood at diagnosis, 83% had paraffin-embedded and 58% had fresh frozen tissues collected. For Uppsala County, 55% of all cancer patients were included in the cohort.Conclusions: Close collaboration between participating hospitals and universities enabled prospective, longitudinal biobanking of blood and tissues and collection of multidisciplinary clinical data from cancer patients in the U-CAN cohort. Here, we summarize the first five years of operations, present U-CAN as a highly valuable cohort that will contribute to enhanced cancer research and describe the procedures to access samples and data.
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- Larsson, Chatarina, 1979-, et al.
(author)
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Loss of DIP2C in RKO cells stimulates changes in DNA methylation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition
- 2017
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In: BMC Cancer. - : BIOMED CENTRAL LTD. - 1471-2407. ; 17
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: The disco-interacting protein 2 homolog C (DIP2C) gene is an uncharacterized gene found mutated in a subset of breast and lung cancers. To understand the role of DIP2C in tumour development we studied the gene in human cancer cells.Methods: We engineered human DIP2C knockout cells by genome editing in cancer cells. The growth properties of the engineered cells were characterised and transcriptome and methylation analyses were carried out to identify pathways deregulated by inactivation of DIP2C. Effects on cell death pathways and epithelial-mesenchymal transition traits were studied based on the results from expression profiling.Results: Knockout of DIP2C in RKO cells resulted in cell enlargement and growth retardation. Expression profiling revealed 780 genes for which the expression level was affected by the loss of DIP2C, including the tumour-suppressor encoding CDKN2A gene, the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulator-encoding ZEB1, and CD44 and CD24 that encode breast cancer stem cell markers. Analysis of DNA methylation showed more than 30,000 sites affected by differential methylation, the majority of which were hypomethylated following loss of DIP2C. Changes in DNA methylation at promoter regions were strongly correlated to changes in gene expression, and genes involved with EMT and cell death were enriched among the differentially regulated genes. The DIP2C knockout cells had higher wound closing capacity and showed an increase in the proportion of cells positive for cellular senescence markers.Conclusions: Loss of DIP2C triggers substantial DNA methylation and gene expression changes, cellular senescence and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cancer cells.
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- Larsson, Chatarina, 1979-, et al.
(author)
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Restoration of KMT2C/MLL3 in human colorectal cancer cells reinforces genome-wide H3K4me1 profiles and influences cell growth and gene expression
- 2020
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In: Clinical Epigenetics. - : Springer Nature. - 1868-7083 .- 1868-7075. ; 12:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background The histone 3 lysine 4 (H3K4) monomethylase KMT2C is mutated across several cancer types; however, the effects of mutations on epigenome organization, gene expression, and cell growth are not clear. A frequently recurring mutation in colorectal cancer (CRC) with microsatellite instability is a single nucleotide deletion within the exon 38 poly-A(9) repeat (c.8390delA) which results in frameshift preceding the functional carboxy-terminal SET domain. To study effects ofKMT2Cexpression in CRC cells, we restored one allele to wild typeKMT2Cin the two CRC cell lines RKO and HCT116, which both are homozygous c.8390delA mutant. Results Gene editing resulted in increasedKMT2Cexpression, increased H3K4me1 levels, altered gene expression profiles, and subtle negative effects on cell growth, where higher dependence and stronger effects ofKMT2Cexpression were observed in RKO compared to HCT116 cells. Surprisingly, we found that the two RKO and HCT116 CRC cell lines have distinct baseline H3K4me1 epigenomic profiles. In RKO cells, a flatter genome-wide H3K4me1 profile was associated with more increased H3K4me1 deposition at enhancers, reduced cell growth, and more differential gene expression relative to HCT116 cells when KMT2C was restored. Profiling of H3K4me1 did not indicate a highly specific regulation of gene expression as KMT2C-induced H3K4me1 deposition was found globally and not at a specific enhancer sub-set in the engineered cells. Although we observed variation in differentially regulated gene sets between cell lines and individual clones, differentially expressed genes in both cell lines included genes linked to known cancer signaling pathways, estrogen response, hypoxia response, and aspects of immune system regulation. Conclusions Here, KMT2C restoration reduced CRC cell growth and reinforced genome-wide H3K4me1 deposition at enhancers; however, the effects varied depending upon the H3K4me1 status of KMT2C deficient cells. Results indicate that KMT2C inactivation may promote colorectal cancer development through transcriptional dysregulation in several pathways with known cancer relevance.
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- Larsson, Chatarina, 1979-
(author)
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Single-molecule Detection in situ
- 2009
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The human body contains a variety of different cell types that share a common genome, but differ in how they use the information encoded therein. Variation in molecular content exists even at the level of individual cells, and to provide deeper insight into complex cellular processes methods that permit analysis of each cell on its own are needed. This thesis presents molecular methods for localized detection of individual nucleic acid molecules. The developed methods are based on padlock probes and target-primed rolling circle amplification. Single-molecule detection sensitivity in combination with single-nucleotide genotyping selectivity enables detection of allelic DNA variants and closely related target sequences directly in cells. Padlock probes further enable multiplex detection of targets, and in combination with image analysis quantitative molecular data for individual cells can be acquired for large cell populations at a resolution that no other in situ detection method can provide at present. In this thesis, the in situ target-primed rolling circle amplification technique was first used for genotyping of a point mutation in the mitochondrial genome with padlock probes. This displayed mitochondrial DNA heterogeneity in cell populations. Application of the method on comet assay preparations showed that mitochondrial genomes are lost from these samples prior to analysis. Nuclear DNA targets, however, can be efficiently detected in corresponding samples. Padlock probes and rolling circle amplification are thus an attractive alternative to FISH analysis for localized DNA detection in comet assay samples. A method was also developed for localized detection of individual mRNA molecules with padlock probes and rolling circle amplification. This method provides unique possibilities to genotype allelic variants of transcripts in situ. mRNA expression is associated with substantial cell-to-cell variation and our presented method permits simultaneous visualization of multiple transcripts directly in complex tissue samples. Application of the methods presented in this thesis will enable new types of studies of biological samples from both normal and disease states.
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- Mezheyeuski, Artur, et al.
(author)
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An immune score reflecting pro- and anti-tumoural balance of tumour microenvironment has major prognostic impact and predicts immunotherapy response in solid cancers
- 2023
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In: EBioMedicine. - : Elsevier. - 2352-3964. ; 88
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Cancer immunity is based on the interaction of a multitude of cells in the spatial context of the tumour tissue. Clinically relevant immune signatures are therefore anticipated to fundamentally improve the accuracy in predicting disease progression.Methods: Through a multiplex in situ analysis we evaluated 15 immune cell classes in 1481 tumour samples. Single-cell and bulk RNAseq data sets were used for functional analysis and validation of prognostic and predictive associations.Findings: By combining the prognostic information of anti-tumoural CD8+ lymphocytes and tumour supportive CD68+CD163+ macrophages in colorectal cancer we generated a signature of immune activation (SIA). The prognostic impact of SIA was independent of conventional parameters and comparable with the state-of-art immune score. The SIA was also associated with patient survival in oesophageal adenocarcinoma, bladder cancer, lung adenocarcinoma and melanoma, but not in endometrial, ovarian and squamous cell lung carcinoma. We identified CD68+CD163+ macrophages as the major producers of complement C1q, which could serve as a surrogate marker of this macrophage subset. Consequently, the RNA-based version of SIA (ratio of CD8A to C1QA) was predictive for survival in independent RNAseq data sets from these six cancer types. Finally, the CD8A/C1QA mRNA ratio was also predictive for the response to checkpoint inhibitor therapy.Interpretation: Our findings extend current concepts to procure prognostic information from the tumour immune microenvironment and provide an immune activation signature with high clinical potential in common human cancer types.
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