scholarly journals A Large-Scale Gene Expression Intensity-Based Similarity Metric for Drug Repositioning

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen-Tsung Huang ◽  
Chiao-Hui Hsieh ◽  
Yen-Jen Oyang ◽  
Hsuan-Cheng Huang ◽  
Hsueh-Fen Juan
iScience ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 40-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen-Tsung Huang ◽  
Chiao-Hui Hsieh ◽  
Yen-Jen Oyang ◽  
Hsuan-Cheng Huang ◽  
Hsueh-Fen Juan

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ok-Seon Kwon ◽  
Haeseung Lee ◽  
Hyeon-Joon Kong ◽  
Ji Eun Park ◽  
Wooin Lee ◽  
...  

AbstractAlthough many molecular targets for cancer therapy have been discovered, they often show poor druggability, which is a major obstacle to develop targeted drugs. As an alternative route to drug discovery, we adopted anin silicodrug repositioning (in silicoDR) approach based on large-scale gene expression signatures, with the goal of identifying inhibitors of lung cancer metastasis. Our analysis of clinicogenomic data identified GALNT14, an enzyme involved in O-linked N-acetyl galactosamine glycosylation, as a putative driver of lung cancer metastasis leading to poor survival. To overcome the poor druggability of GALNT14, we leveraged Connectivity Map approach, anin silicoscreening for drugs that are likely to revert the metastatic expression patterns. It leads to identification of bortezomib (BTZ) as a potent metastatic inhibitor, bypassing direct inhibition of poorly druggable target, GALNT14. The anti-metastatic effect of BTZ was verifiedin vitroandin vivo. Notably, both BTZ treatment andGALNT14knockdown attenuated TGFβ-mediated gene expression and suppressed TGFβ-dependent metastatic genes, suggesting that BTZ acts by modulating TGFβ signalingTaken together, these results demonstrate that ourin silicoDR approach is a viable strategy to identify a candidate drug for undruggable targets, and to uncover its underlying mechanisms.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lungwani Muungo

The purpose of this review is to evaluate progress inmolecular epidemiology over the past 24 years in canceretiology and prevention to draw lessons for futureresearch incorporating the new generation of biomarkers.Molecular epidemiology was introduced inthe study of cancer in the early 1980s, with theexpectation that it would help overcome some majorlimitations of epidemiology and facilitate cancerprevention. The expectation was that biomarkerswould improve exposure assessment, document earlychanges preceding disease, and identify subgroupsin the population with greater susceptibility to cancer,thereby increasing the ability of epidemiologic studiesto identify causes and elucidate mechanisms incarcinogenesis. The first generation of biomarkers hasindeed contributed to our understanding of riskandsusceptibility related largely to genotoxic carcinogens.Consequently, interventions and policy changes havebeen mounted to reduce riskfrom several importantenvironmental carcinogens. Several new and promisingbiomarkers are now becoming available for epidemiologicstudies, thanks to the development of highthroughputtechnologies and theoretical advances inbiology. These include toxicogenomics, alterations ingene methylation and gene expression, proteomics, andmetabonomics, which allow large-scale studies, includingdiscovery-oriented as well as hypothesis-testinginvestigations. However, most of these newer biomarkershave not been adequately validated, and theirrole in the causal paradigm is not clear. There is a needfor their systematic validation using principles andcriteria established over the past several decades inmolecular cancer epidemiology.


Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
He-Gang Chen ◽  
Xiong-Hui Zhou

Drug repurposing/repositioning, which aims to find novel indications for existing drugs, contributes to reducing the time and cost for drug development. For the recent decade, gene expression profiles of drug stimulating samples have been successfully used in drug repurposing. However, most of the existing methods neglect the gene modules and the interactions among the modules, although the cross-talks among pathways are common in drug response. It is essential to develop a method that utilizes the cross-talks information to predict the reliable candidate associations. In this study, we developed MNBDR (Module Network Based Drug Repositioning), a novel method that based on module network to screen drugs. It integrated protein–protein interactions and gene expression profile of human, to predict drug candidates for diseases. Specifically, the MNBDR mined dense modules through protein–protein interaction (PPI) network and constructed a module network to reveal cross-talks among modules. Then, together with the module network, based on existing gene expression data set of drug stimulation samples and disease samples, we used random walk algorithms to capture essential modules in disease development and proposed a new indicator to screen potential drugs for a given disease. Results showed MNBDR could provide better performance than popular methods. Moreover, functional analysis of the essential modules in the network indicated our method could reveal biological mechanism in drug response.


Author(s):  
Ekaterina Bourova-Flin ◽  
Samira Derakhshan ◽  
Afsaneh Goudarzi ◽  
Tao Wang ◽  
Anne-Laure Vitte ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Large-scale genetic and epigenetic deregulations enable cancer cells to ectopically activate tissue-specific expression programmes. A specifically designed strategy was applied to oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) in order to detect ectopic gene activations and develop a prognostic stratification test. Methods A dedicated original prognosis biomarker discovery approach was implemented using genome-wide transcriptomic data of OSCC, including training and validation cohorts. Abnormal expressions of silent genes were systematically detected, correlated with survival probabilities and evaluated as predictive biomarkers. The resulting stratification test was confirmed in an independent cohort using immunohistochemistry. Results A specific gene expression signature, including a combination of three genes, AREG, CCNA1 and DDX20, was found associated with high-risk OSCC in univariate and multivariate analyses. It was translated into an immunohistochemistry-based test, which successfully stratified patients of our own independent cohort. Discussion The exploration of the whole gene expression profile characterising aggressive OSCC tumours highlights their enhanced proliferative and poorly differentiated intrinsic nature. Experimental targeting of CCNA1 in OSCC cells is associated with a shift of transcriptomic signature towards the less aggressive form of OSCC, suggesting that CCNA1 could be a good target for therapeutic approaches.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley A. Krull ◽  
Deborah O. Setter ◽  
Tania F. Gendron ◽  
Sybil C. L. Hrstka ◽  
Michael J. Polzin ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been studied with increasing intensity as clinicians and researchers strive to understand the ability of MSCs to modulate disease progression and promote tissue regeneration. As MSCs are used for diverse applications, it is important to appreciate how specific physiological environments may stimulate changes that alter the phenotype of the cells. One need for neuroregenerative applications is to characterize the spectrum of MSC responses to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) environment after their injection into the intrathecal space. Mechanistic understanding of cellular biology in response to the CSF environment may predict the ability of MSCs to promote injury repair or provide neuroprotection in neurodegenerative diseases. Methods In this study, we characterized changes in morphology, metabolism, and gene expression occurring in human adipose-derived MSCs cultured in human (hCSF) or artificial CSF (aCSF) as well as examined relevant protein levels in the CSF of subjects treated with MSCs for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Results Our results demonstrated that, under intrathecal-like conditions, MSCs retained their morphology, though they became quiescent. Large-scale transcriptomic analysis of MSCs revealed a distinct gene expression profile for cells cultured in aCSF. The aCSF culture environment induced expression of genes related to angiogenesis and immunomodulation. In addition, MSCs in aCSF expressed genes encoding nutritional growth factors to expression levels at or above those of control cells. Furthermore, we observed a dose-dependent increase in growth factors and immunomodulatory cytokines in CSF from subjects with ALS treated intrathecally with autologous MSCs. Conclusions Overall, our results suggest that MSCs injected into the intrathecal space in ongoing clinical trials remain viable and may provide a therapeutic benefit to patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 6394
Author(s):  
Jacob Spinnen ◽  
Lennard K. Shopperly ◽  
Carsten Rendenbach ◽  
Anja A. Kühl ◽  
Ufuk Sentürk ◽  
...  

For in vitro modeling of human joints, osteochondral explants represent an acceptable compromise between conventional cell culture and animal models. However, the scarcity of native human joint tissue poses a challenge for experiments requiring high numbers of samples and makes the method rather unsuitable for toxicity analyses and dosing studies. To scale their application, we developed a novel method that allows the preparation of up to 100 explant cultures from a single human sample with a simple setup. Explants were cultured for 21 days, stimulated with TNF-α or TGF-β3, and analyzed for cell viability, gene expression and histological changes. Tissue cell viability remained stable at >90% for three weeks. Proteoglycan levels and gene expression of COL2A1, ACAN and COMP were maintained for 14 days before decreasing. TNF-α and TGF-β3 caused dose-dependent changes in cartilage marker gene expression as early as 7 days. Histologically, cultures under TNF-α stimulation showed a 32% reduction in proteoglycans, detachment of collagen fibers and cell swelling after 7 days. In conclusion, thin osteochondral slice cultures behaved analogously to conventional punch explants despite cell stress exerted during fabrication. In pharmacological testing, both the shorter diffusion distance and the lack of need for serum in the culture suggest a positive effect on sensitivity. The ease of fabrication and the scalability of the sample number make this manufacturing method a promising platform for large-scale preclinical testing in joint research.


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