Melatonergic index as a prognostic biomarker of reproductive organ cancers: correlations with metabolic parameters as well as clock genes PER1 and TIMELESS

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-315
Author(s):  
Luiz Gustavo De Almeida Chuffa ◽  
Robson F Carvalho ◽  
Fábio R Seiva ◽  
Debora Aparecida Pires de Campos Zuccari ◽  
Russel J Reiter

Cancers of the reproductive organs are often hard to be detected, and patients’ survival rate drops considerably even when the tumor is removed. Based on the fact that melatonin levels are significantly lower in cancer cells than that in the healthy cells, and this melatonin suppression remains during tumor progression, we have examined a simple two-gene-based melatonergic system [the indices of melatonin synthesis and metabolism (ASMT:CYP1A1, ASMT:CYP1A2, ASMT:CYP1B1)] as a prognostic factor for reproductive organ cancer survival rate. RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) of seven types of human reproductive organ tumors (n = 3571 samples) were analyzed. By stratifying the set of index values into high vs low risk, we observed that patients with a high melatonergic index had improved survival rates for cervical, ovarian, and endometrial cancers. Patients at high-risk (low melatonergic index) showed a trend of diagnosis of breast, prostate, and testicular cancers at the younger age, while patients with cervical, ovarian, and endometrial cancers presented with higher tumor staging. The melatonergic indices, especially the ASMT:CYP1B1, positively correlated with the clock gene PER1 while negatively correlated with the clock gene TIMELESS in all reproductive organ cancers. We further analyzed the correlation between the expression profiles of the melatonin-synthesizing enzyme (ASMT gene) with metabolic enzyme-encoding genes. Notably, LDHA, PDK1, and PDHA1 showed a higher correlation in male and female reproductive organ tumors, while IDH1, SDHB, GLS, and ATP1A1 had a positive correlation in breast, testicular, and endometrial cancers. These results have provided a comprehensive evaluation of the melatonergic system in relation to the reproductive organ tumor microenvironment and identified promising gene signatures as potential biomarkers for cancer diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics.

2005 ◽  
Vol 84 (12) ◽  
pp. 1193-1197 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Furukawa ◽  
T. Kawamoto ◽  
M. Noshiro ◽  
K.K. Honda ◽  
M. Sakai ◽  
...  

Clock genes, which mediate molecular circadian rhythms, are expressed in a circadian fashion in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and in various peripheral tissues. To establish a molecular basis for circadian regulation in the salivary glands, we examined expression profiles of clock-related genes and salivary gland-characteristic genes. Clock-related genes—including Per1, Per2, Cry1, Bmal1, Dec1, Dec2, Dbp, and Reverbα—showed robust circadian expression rhythms in the submandibular glands in 12:12-hour light-dark conditions. In addition, a robust circadian rhythm was observed in amylase 1 mRNA levels, whereas the expression of other salivary-gland-characteristic genes examined was not rhythmic. The Clock mutation resulted in increased or decreased mRNA levels of Per2, Bmal1, Dec1, Dec2, and Dbp, and in Cry1− /− background, Cry2 disruption also increased or decreased mRNA levels of these clock-related genes and the amylase 1 gene. These findings indicate that the Clock- and Cry-dependent molecular clock system is active in the salivary glands.


2018 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 991-996
Author(s):  
Marzena Anna Lewandowska ◽  
Łukasz Żołna ◽  
Krzysztof Roszkowski ◽  
Janusz Kowalewski

Fifteen years after the publication of the full sequence of the human genome which revolutionized medicine and biotechnology, profound elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of genetic disorders remains a challenge. National and international institutions conduct a number of research projects in genomics. Some of them are focused on the characterization of functional elements of the genome (e.g., the Genome Browser database by the ENCODE consortium), some gather information on polymorphisms (HapMap, The 1000 Genomes Project) and mutations (The Human Gene Mutation Database), while other are specifically dedicated to the genomic characterization of cancer (The Cancer Genome Atlas, The Pediatric Cancer Genome Project). Even though the projects are conducted independently, juxtapositions of the constantly updated project data may be performed, leading to interesting results. The genome-wide association studies (GWAS) allowed the identification of millions of SNPs and short insertions/deletions, as well as thousands of structural variants of polymorphic gene products. Further data-mining studies allowed the distinction between synonymous and nonsynonymous SNPs, which became the basis for the epidemiological studies of various types of genetic disorders. The results of the sequencing of entire genomes and transcriptomes may be useful in the identification of novel prognostic and predictive markers. High-throughput technologies are emerging methods in molecular diagnostics, furthermore the correlation of DNA methylation patterns and gene expression profiles may also provide useful results in cancer diagnostics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A66-A67
Author(s):  
Audrey L Earnhardt ◽  
David G Riley ◽  
Noushin Ghaffari ◽  
Penny K Riggs ◽  
Charles R Long ◽  
...  

Abstract The primary objective of this investigation was to determine whether circadian clock genes were differentially expressed within or among bovine hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), anterior pituitary gland (AP), adrenocortical (AC) and adrenomedullary (AM) tissues. The PVN, AP, AC, and AM were isolated from 5-yr-old Brahman cows (n = 8) harvested humanely at an abattoir between 0800-1100 h. Expression of target genes in each sample was evaluated via RNA-sequencing analyses. Gene counts were normalized using the trimmed mean of M values (TMM) method in the edgeR Package from Bioconductor, R. The normalized gene counts of genes important for circadian rhythm were statistically analyzed using the GLM Procedure of SAS. The genes analyzed were circadian locomotor output cycles protein kaput (CLOCK), cryptochrome circadian regulator 1 and 2 (CRY1 and CRY2), aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator like (ARNTL), period circadian regulator 1 and 2 (PER1 and PER2), neuronal PAS domain protein 2 (NPAS2), and nuclear receptor subfamily 1 group D member 1 (NR1D1). Overall, relative expression profiles of clock genes differed (P < 0.01) within each tissue with PER1 having greater expression in all tissues (P < 0.01). Within the PVN expression of CLOCK, CRY1, ARNTL, and PER2 was less than that of CRY2, NPAS2, and NR1D1 (P < 0.01). In the AP, with the exception of PER1, no other clock gene differed in degree of expression. In the AC, expression of CLOCK and NPAS2 was greater than CRY1, ARNTL, PER2, and NR1D1 (P < 0.05), whereas CRY2 expression exceeded only CRY1 (P < 0.05). Within the AM, CLOCK and CRY2 expression was greater than CRY1 and ARNTL (P < 0.05). Overall, clock gene expression among tissues differed (P < 0.01) for each individual clock gene. The AC and AM had similar clock gene expression, except expression of CRY2 and PER2 was greater in AM (P < 0.05). The AC and AM had greater expression of CLOCK than the PVN and AP (P < 0.01), with PVN having greater expression than AP (P < 0.01). The AP had greater expression of NPAS2, followed by PVN, with the least expression in the AC and AM (P < 0.01). Both PVN and AP had greater CRY1 and NR1D1 expression than AC or AM (P < 0.01). The AP had greater PER1 expression than PVN, AC, and AM (P < 0.01), whereas PVN, AC, and AM had greater ARNTL expression than AP (P < 0.05). Both AP and AM had greater expression of PER2 than PVN or AC (P < 0.01). The PVN had greater expression of CRY2 than the AP, AC, and AM (P < 0.01). These results indicated that within each tissue the various clock genes were expressed in different quantities. Also, the clock genes were expressed differentially among the tissues of the bovine neuroendocrine adrenal system. Temporal relationships of these genes with the primary endocrine products of these tissues should be investigated to define the roles of peripheral clock genes in regulation of metabolism and health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 318 (1) ◽  
pp. E1-E10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Sardon Puig ◽  
Nicolas J. Pillon ◽  
Erik Näslund ◽  
Anna Krook ◽  
Juleen R. Zierath

The molecular circadian clock plays a role in metabolic homeostasis. We tested the hypothesis obesity and systemic factors associated with insulin resistance affect skeletal muscle clock gene expression. We determined clock gene expression in skeletal muscle of obese women ( n = 5) and men ( n = 18) before and 6 mo after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery and normal-weight controls (women n = 6, men n = 8). Skeletal muscle clock gene expression was affected by obesity and weight loss. CRY1 mRNA ( P = 0.05) was increased and DBP mRNA ( P < 0.05) was decreased in obese vs. normal weight women and restored to control levels after RYGB-induced weight loss. CLOCK, CRY1, CRY2, and DBP mRNA ( P < 0.05) was decreased in obese men compared with normal weight men. Expression of all other clock genes was unaltered by obesity or weight loss in both cohorts. We correlated clock gene expression with clinical characteristics of the participants. Among the genes studied, DBP and PER3 expression was inversely correlated with plasma lipids in both cohorts. Circadian time-course studies revealed that core clock genes oscillate over time ( P < 0.05), with BMAL1, CIART, CRY2, DBP, PER1, and PER3 expression profiles altered by palmitate treatment. In conclusion, skeletal muscle clock gene expression and function is altered by obesity, coincident with changes in plasma lipid levels. Palmitate exposure disrupts clock gene expression in myotubes, indicating that dyslipidemia directly alters the circadian program. Strategies to reduce lipid overload and prevent elevations in nonesterified fatty acid and cholesterol levels may sustain circadian clock signals in skeletal muscle.


2014 ◽  
Vol 306 (4) ◽  
pp. G346-G356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenka Polidarová ◽  
Lucie Olejníková ◽  
Lucia Paušlyová ◽  
Martin Sládek ◽  
Matúš Soták ◽  
...  

Colonic morphology and function change significantly during ontogenesis. In mammals, many colonic physiological functions are temporally controlled by the circadian clock in the colon, which is entrained by the central circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). The aim of this present study was to ascertain when and how the circadian clock in the colon develops during the perinatal period and whether maternal cues and/or the developing pup SCN may influence the ontogenesis of the colonic clock. Daily profiles of clock genes Per1, Per2, Cry1, Cry2, Rev-erbα, Bmal1, and Clock expression in the colon underwent significant modifications since embryonic day 20 (E20) through postnatal days (P) 2, 10, 20, and 30 via changes in the mutual phasing among the individual clock gene expression rhythms, their relative phasing to the light-dark regime, and their amplitudes. An adult-like state was achieved around P20. The foster study revealed that during the prenatal period, the maternal circadian phase may partially modulate development of the colonic clock. Postnatally, the absence and/or presence of rhythmic maternal care affected the phasing of the clock gene expression profiles in pups at P10 and P20. A reversal in the colonic clock phase between P10 and P20 occurred in the absence of rhythmic signals from the pup SCN. The data demonstrate ontogenetic maturation of the colonic clock and stress the importance of prenatal and postnatal maternal rhythmic signals for its development. These data may contribute to the understanding of colonic function-related diseases in newborn children.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2756
Author(s):  
Julianie De La Cruz Minyety ◽  
Dorela D. Shuboni-Mulligan ◽  
Nicole Briceno ◽  
Demarrius Young ◽  
Mark R. Gilbert ◽  
...  

Circadian clock genes have been linked to clinical outcomes in cancer, including gliomas. However, these studies have not accounted for established markers that predict the prognosis, including mutations in Isocitrate Dehydrogenase (IDH), which characterize the majority of lower-grade gliomas and secondary high-grade gliomas. To demonstrate the connection between circadian clock genes and glioma outcomes while accounting for the IDH mutational status, we analyzed multiple publicly available gene expression datasets. The unsupervised clustering of 13 clock gene transcriptomic signatures from The Cancer Genome Atlas showed distinct molecular subtypes representing different disease states and showed the differential prognosis of these groups by a Kaplan–Meier analysis. Further analyses of these groups showed that a low period (PER) gene expression was associated with the negative prognosis and enrichment of the immune signaling pathways. These findings prompted the exploration of the relationship between the microenvironment and clock genes in additional datasets. Circadian clock gene expression was found to be differentially expressed across the anatomical tumor location and cell type. Thus, the circadian clock expression is a potential predictive biomarker in glioma, and further mechanistic studies to elucidate the connections between the circadian clock and microenvironment are warranted.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Feng Xie ◽  
Xiaofeng Liu ◽  
Hua Liu ◽  
Min Wei ◽  
Wei Liu

Background. Advanced cervical carcinoma carries a particularly poor prognosis, and few treatment options exist. It is very important to find a method to evaluate the prognosis and survival rate of cervical carcinoma. The metastasis and invasion of cervical carcinoma are closely related to tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), and immune related genes (IRGs) are involved in the regulation of TIME. However, the role of IRGs in the prognosis of patients with cervical carcinoma remains unclear. Methods. The gene expression profiles of cervical carcinoma were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, and IRG information were obtained from the ImmPort database. The IRGs were screened by coexpression analysis and were also performed function enrichment and pathway analyses. A prognosis model was built based on IRGs, and the risk score (RS) was calculated by Cox regression analysis. The accuracy was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Besides, the relationship between RS and TIMER-generating immune cell content was performed by immune infiltration analysis. Results. In a total of 2503 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), 204 genes were IRGs, 20 of which were crucially correlated with the survival rate of cervical carcinoma. On the basis of Cox regression analysis, 6 IRGs were included in the prognosis model to calculate the RS. Kaplan-Meier survival and ROC analyses showed that the prognostic function of the model was superior to the current model constructed by clinicopathological risk factors. In addition, these 6 IRG signatures were related to the immune infiltration levels of six immune cells and the overall survival (OS) of cervical carcinoma. Finally, C-terminal Src kinase (CSK) gene is related to tumor metastasis, and Slit guidance ligand 2 (Slit2) is related to tumor clinical stage. Conclusion. The IRGs may contribute to the stratification of prognosis, and CSK/Slit2 may be two suppressor genes for cervical carcinoma.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (Supplement_6) ◽  
pp. vi207-vi207
Author(s):  
Julianie De La Cruz Minyety ◽  
Dorela Shuboni-Mulligan ◽  
Nicole Briceno ◽  
Demarrius Young Jr. ◽  
Mark Gilbert ◽  
...  

Abstract Circadian clock genes have been linked to differences in clinical outcomes in cancer, including gliomas. However, these studies have not accounted for established prognostic markers, including mutations in Isocitrate Dehydrogenase (IDH). To study the connection between circadian clock genes and glioma outcomes while accounting for IDH mutational status, we analyzed multiple publicly available gene expression datasets. Unsupervised clustering of 13 clock gene transcriptomic signatures from The Cancer Genome Atlas resulted in four distinct transcriptomic clusters, two clusters were enriched for IDH mutant (Circadian 1-2) and the others for IDH wild-type gliomas (Circadian 3-4). Within these clusters we observed differential prognosis of the patients by Kaplan–Meier analysis (Circadian 1-2, p=0.0001; Circadian 3-4, p=0.0002) suggesting that these transcriptomic circadian subtypes might reflect different disease states. Further analyses using Cox Proportional Hazards Regression showed that lower Period (PER) gene expression was associated with worse prognosis (increasing PER expression HR=0.655, p=0.007) independent of IDH wild-type status (HR=5.312, p&lt; 0.001) and increasing age (HR = 1.04, p&lt; 0.001). Lower PER expression was associated with enrichment of a number of immune signaling pathways. These findings prompted the exploration of the relationship between microenvironment and clock genes using the Ivy GAP dataset to explore tumor location-specific differences and single cell RNA sequencing data from Darmanis (accession: GSE84465) to explore cell-specific differences. Circadian clock genes were found to be differentially expressed across anatomical tumor locations and cell types, including microglia. In ongoing studies we are examining the role of the microenvironment and PER2 expression on tumor growth by disrupting PER2 expression in tumor cells and microglia using IDH mutant and wild-type in vitro models. Clock gene expression is a potential prognostic biomarker in glioma and further studies to elucidate the importance of circadian rhythms in other cell types beyond the tumor are warranted.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delong Zhang ◽  
Huanggui Zhou ◽  
Jun Liu ◽  
Jie Mao

Glioma is a lethal, malignant intracranial tumor that becomes progressively common. It has been shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) serve important roles in numerous diseases such as gliomas. lncRNAs can regulate the expression of targeted genes through various mechanisms. To identify a novel lncRNA that may be critical in glioma, the present study downloaded the RNA expression profiles of 171 glioma tissues and 5 normal tissues from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database using the TCGAbiolinks package in R. Then, lncRNAs in the downloaded TCGA data were identified using the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC). Based on the fragments per kilobase million value, differential expression analysis was conducted using the limma package in R. In addition, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed, and the area under the curve (AUC) was evaluated using the ROCR package in R. A total of 178 lncRNAs corresponding to differentially expressed genes with an AUC >0.85 were selected. Upon identifying the differential lncRNAs, ceRNA networks were constructed with these differential lncRNAs using the starbase database. From these networks, the top 10% hub genes were selected. In addition, the present study randomly selected 4 lncRNAs for quantitative polymerase chain reaction validation in tissue samples. The results revealed that lncRNA ASB16-AS1 exhibited significantly differential expression in tissue samples and was significantly associated with tumor staging and grading. Furthermore, the proliferation, invasion, and migration of U87MG and U251 glioblastoma stem-like cells (U87GS, U251GS) were significantly inhibited upon inhibition of ASB16-AS1, and the expression of key proteins in the EMT signaling pathway was affected by knocking down ASB16-AS1. Overall, the present study revealed that lncRNA ASB16-AS1 improves the proliferation, migration, and invasion of glioma cells.


BMC Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Yan ◽  
Zuotian Huang ◽  
Tong Mou ◽  
Yunhai Luo ◽  
Yanyao Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and deadly malignant tumors, with a high rate of recurrence worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the mechanism underlying the progression of HCC and to identify recurrence-related biomarkers. Methods We first analyzed 132 HCC patients with paired tumor and adjacent normal tissue samples from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The expression profiles and clinical information of 372 HCC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were next analyzed to further validate the DEGs, construct competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks and discover the prognostic genes associated with recurrence. Finally, several recurrence-related genes were evaluated in two external cohorts, consisting of fifty-two and forty-nine HCC patients, respectively. Results With the comprehensive strategies of data mining, two potential interactive ceRNA networks were constructed based on the competitive relationships of the ceRNA hypothesis. The ‘upregulated’ ceRNA network consists of 6 upregulated lncRNAs, 3 downregulated miRNAs and 5 upregulated mRNAs, and the ‘downregulated’ network includes 4 downregulated lncRNAs, 12 upregulated miRNAs and 67 downregulated mRNAs. Survival analysis of the genes in the ceRNA networks demonstrated that 20 mRNAs were significantly associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS). Based on the prognostic mRNAs, a four-gene signature (ADH4, DNASE1L3, HGFAC and MELK) was established with the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm to predict the RFS of HCC patients, the performance of which was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curves. The signature was also validated in two external cohort and displayed effective discrimination and prediction for the RFS of HCC patients. Conclusions In conclusion, the present study elucidated the underlying mechanisms of tumorigenesis and progression, provided two visualized ceRNA networks and successfully identified several potential biomarkers for HCC recurrence prediction and targeted therapies.


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