Work

A Novel Subset of Human tumors that Simultaneously Overexpress Multiple E2F-responsive Genes Found in Breast, Ovarian, and Prostate Cancers

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: Reasoning that overexpression of multiple E2F-responsive genes might be a useful marker for RB1 dysfunction, we compiled a list of E2F-responsive genes from the literature and evaluated their expression in publicly available gene expression microarray data of patients with breast cancer, serous ovarian cancer, and prostate cancer. In breast cancer, a group of tumors was identified, each of which simultaneously overexpressed multiple E2F-responsive genes. Seventy percent of these genes were concerned with cell cycle progression, DNA repair, or mitosis. These E2F-responsive gene overexpressing (ERGO) tumors frequently exhibited additional evidence of Rb/E2F axis dysfunction, were mostly triple negative, and preferentially overexpressed multiple basal cytokeratins, suggesting that they overlapped substantially with the basal-like tumor subset. ERGO tumors were also identified in serous ovarian cancer and prostate cancer. In these cancer types, there was no evidence for a tumor subset comparable to the breast cancer basal-like subset. A core group of about 30 E2F-responsive genes were overexpressed in all three cancer types. Thus, it appears that disorders of the Rb/E2F axis can arise at multiple organ sites and produce tumors that simultaneously overexpress multiple E2F-responsive genes.

Source: Cancer Informatics

DOI: 10.4137/cin.s14062

Authors: Stanley E. Shackney, Salim Akhter Chowdhury, Russell Schwartz

Institutions: University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University

Language: English

Topic: Breast Cancer Treatment Studies

Subfield: Cancer Research

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,650