Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND: Copy number gains and amplifications are characteristic feature of cervical cancer (CC) genomes for which the underlying mechanisms are unclear. These changes may possess oncogenic properties by deregulating tumor-related genes. Gain of short arm of chromosome 5 (5p) is the most frequent karyotypic change in CC. METHODS: To examine the role of 5p gain, we performed a combination of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and gene expression analyses on invasive cancer and in various stages of CC progression. RESULTS: The SNP and FISH analyses revealed copy number increase (CNI) of 5p in 63% of invasive CC, which arises at later stages of precancerous lesions in CC development. We integrated chromosome 5 genomic copy number and gene expression data to identify key target over expressed genes as a consequence of 5p gain. One of the candidates identified was Drosha (RNASEN), a gene that is required in the first step of microRNA (miRNA) processing in the nucleus. Other 5p genes identified as targets of CNI play a role in DNA repair and cell cycle regulation (BASP1, TARS, PAIP1, BRD9, RAD1, SKP2, and POLS), signal transduction (OSMR), and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (NNT, SDHA, and NDUFS6), suggesting that disruption of pathways involving these genes may contribute to CC progression. CONCLUSION: Taken together, we demonstrate the power of integrating genomics data with expression data in deciphering tumor-related targets of CNI. Identification of 5p gene targets in CC denotes an important step towards biomarker development and forms a framework for testing as molecular therapeutic targets

Recurrent karyotypic abnormalities are a characteristic feature of cervical cancer (CC) cells, which may result in deregulated expression of important genes that contribute to tumor initiation and progression. To examine the role of gain of the long arm of chromosome 20 (20q), one of the common chromosomal gains in CC, we evaluated CC at various stages of progression using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, gene expression profiling, and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses. This analysis revealed copy number increase (CNI) of 20q in >50% of invasive CC and identified two focal amplicons at 20q11.2 and 20q13.13 in a subset of tumors. We further demonstrate that the acquisition of 20q gain occurs at an early stage in CC development and the high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) that exhibit 20q CNI are associated (P = 0.05) with persistence or progression to invasive cancer. We identified a total of 26 overexpressed genes as consequence of 20q gain (N = 14), as targets of amplicon 1 (N = 9; two genes also commonly expressed with 20q gain) and amplicon 2 (N = 6; one gene also commonly expressed with 20q gain). These include a number of functionally important genes in cell cycle regulation (E2F1, TPX2, KIF3B, PIGT, and B4GALT5), nuclear function (CSEL1), viral replication (PSMA7 and LAMA5), methylation and chromatin remodeling (ASXL1, AHCY, and C20orf20), and transcription regulation (TCEA2). Our findings implicate a role for these genes in CC tumorigenesis, represent an important step toward the development of clinically significant biomarkers, and form a framework for testing as molecular therapeutic targets

Cervical cancer (CC) cells exhibit complex karyotypic alterations, which is consistent with deregulation of numerous critical genes in its formation and progression. To characterize this karyotypic complexity at the molecular level, we used cDNA array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) to analyze 29 CC cases and identified a number of over represented and deleted genes. The aCGH analysis revealed at least 17 recurrent amplicons and six common regions of deletions. These regions contain several known tumor-associated genes, such as those involved in transcription, apoptosis, cytoskeletal remodeling, ion-transport, drug metabolism, and immune response. Using the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) approach we demonstrated the presence of high-level amplifications at the 8q24.3, 11q22.2, and 20q13 regions in CC cell lines. To identify amplification-associated genes that correspond to focal amplicons, we examined one or more genes in each of the 17 amplicons by Affymetrix U133A expression arrays and semiquantitative reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR) in 31 CC tumors. This analysis exhibited frequent and robust upregulated expression in CC relative to normal cervix for genes EPHB2 (1p36), CDCA8 (1p34.3), AIM2 (1q22-23), RFC4, MUC4, and HRASLS (3q27-29), SKP2 (5p12-13), CENTD3 (5q31.3), PTK2, RECQL4 (8q24), MMP1 and MMP13 (11q22.2), AKT1 (14q32.3), ABCC3 (17q21-22), SMARCA4 (19p13.3) LIG1 (19q13.3), UBE2C (20q13.1), SMC1L1 (Xp11), KIF4A (Xq12), TMSNB (Xq22), and CSAG2 (Xq28). Thus, the gene dosage and expression profiles generated here have enabled the identification of focal amplicons characteristic for the CC genome and facilitated the validation of relevant genes in these amplicons. These data, thus, form an important step toward the identification of biologically relevant genes in CC pathogenesis. This article contains Supplementary Material available at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/1045-2257/suppmat

BACKGROUND: Cervical Cancer (CC) exhibits highly complex genomic alterations. These include hemizygous deletions at 4p15.3, 10q24, 5q35, 3p12.3, and 11q24, the chromosomal sites of Slit-Robo pathway genes. However, no candidate tumor suppressor genes at these regions have been identified so far. Slit family of secreted proteins modulates chemokine-induced cell migration of distinct somatic cell types. Slit genes mediate their effect by binding to its receptor Roundabout (Robo). These genes have shown to be inactivated by promoter hypermethylation in a number of human cancers. RESULTS: To test whether Slit-Robo pathway genes are targets of inactivation at these sites of deletion, we examined promoter hypermethylation of SLIT1, SLIT2, SLIT3, ROBO1, and ROBO3 genes in invasive CC and its precursor lesions. We identified a high frequency of promoter hypermethylation in all the Slit-Robo genes resulting in down regulated gene expression in invasive CC, but the inhibitors of DNA methylation and histone deacetylases (HDACs) in CC cell lines failed to effectively reactivate the down-regulated expression. These results suggest a complex mechanism of inactivation in the Slit-Robo pathway in CC. By analysis of cervical precancerous lesions, we further show that promoter hypermethylation of Slit-Robo pathway occurs early in tumor progression. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these findings suggest that epigenetic alterations of Slit-Robo pathway genes (i) play a role in CC development, (ii) further delineation of molecular basis of promoter methylation-mediated gene regulation provides a potential basis for epigenetic-based therapy in advanced stage CC, and (iii) form epigenetic signatures to identify precancerous lesions at risk to progression