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Despite recent advances in the management of BRCA1 mutated high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC), the physiology of these tumors remains poorly understood. Here we provide a comprehensive molecular understanding of the signaling processes that drive HGSC pathogenesis with the addition of valuable ubiquitination profiling, and their dependency on BRCA1 mutation-state directly in patient-derived tissues. Using a multilayered proteomic approach, we show the tight coordination between the ubiquitination and phosphorylation regulatory layers and their role in key cellular processes related to BRCA1-dependent HGSC pathogenesis. In addition, we identify key bridging proteins, kinase activity, and post-translational modifications responsible for molding distinct cancer phenotypes, thus providing new opportunities for therapeutic intervention, and ultimately advance towards a more personalized patient care. ; This work was supported by the PhD4MD collaborative research program between the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG). The CRG/UPF Proteomics Unit is part of the Spanish Infrastructure for Omics Technologies (ICTS OmicsTech) and it is a member of the ProteoRed PRB3 consortium which is supported by grant PT17/0019 of the PE I+D+i 2013-2016 from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and ERDF. We acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, (CTQ2016-80364-P and "Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2013-2017", SEV-2012-0208), and "Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Economia i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya" (2017SGR595 and 2017SGR1661). This project has also received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 823839 (EPIC-XS). It has also been supported by grants from the Instituto Carlos III (PI15/00238, PI18/01017, PI21/00977), the Miguel Servet Program (CP13/00158 and CPII18/00027) and the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad y ...

Background: About 20% of patients diagnosed with endometrial cancer (EC) are considered high-risk with unfavorable prognosis. In the framework of the European Network for Individualized Treatment in EC (ENITEC), we investigated the presence and phenotypic features of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC) in high-risk EC patients. Methods: CTC isolation was carried out in peripheral blood samples from 34 patients, ranging from Grade 3 Stage IB to Stage IV carcinomas and recurrences, and 27 healthy controls using two methodologies. Samples were subjected to EpCAM-based immunoisolation using the CELLection™ Epithelial Enrich kit (Invitrogen, Dynal) followed by RTqPCR analysis. The phenotypic determinants of endometrial CTC in terms of pathogenesis, hormone receptor pathways, stem cell markers and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) drivers were asked. Kruskal-Wallis analysis followed by Dunn's post-test was used for comparisons between groups. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: EpCAM-based immunoisolation positively detected CTC in high-risk endometrial cancer patients. CTC characterization indicated a remarkable plasticity phenotype defined by the expression of the EMT markers ETV5, NOTCH1, SNAI1, TGFB1, ZEB1 and ZEB2. In addition, the expression of ALDH and CD44 pointed to an association with stemness, while the expression of CTNNB1, STS, GDF15, RELA, RUNX1, BRAF and PIK3CA suggested potential therapeutic targets. We further recapitulated the EMT phenotype found in endometrial CTC through the up-regulation of ETV5 in an EC cell line, and validated in an animal model of systemic dissemination the propensity of these CTC in the accomplishment of metastasis. Conclusions: Our results associate the presence of CTC with high-risk EC. Gene-expression profiling characterized a CTC-plasticity phenotype with stemness and EMT features. We finally recapitulated this CTC-phenotype by over-expressing ETV5 in the EC cell line Hec1A and demonstrated an advantage in the promotion of metastasis in an in vivo mouse model of CTC dissemination and homing. ; ISCIII PI11/00873; Fundación Asociación Española Contra el Cancer (AECC), Grupos Estables 2011; InveNNta (Innovation in Nanomedicine), co-financed by the European Union (EU) through the Operational Programme for Cross-border Cooperation, Spain-Portugal (POCTEP 2007-2013), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); Helse Vest, Research Council of Norway, Norwegian Cancer Society and Harald Andersens legat (H.B.S.); L. Alonso-Alconada is recipient of fellowship from the Basque Government (Spain).