Novel Somatic Mutations to PI3K Pathway Genes in Metastatic Melanoma
Abstract
Background: BRAFV600 inhibitors have offered a new gateway for better treatment of metastatic melanoma. However, the overall efficacy of BRAFV600 inhibitors has been lower than expected in clinical trials, and many patients have shown resistance to the drugâ s effect. We hypothesized that somatic mutations in the Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase (PI3K) pathway, which promotes proliferation and survival, may coincide with BRAFV600 mutations and contribute to chemotherapeutic resistance.Methods: We performed a somatic mutation profiling study using the 454 FLX pyrosequencing platform in order to identify candidate cancer genes within the MAPK and PI3K pathways of melanoma patients. Somatic mutations of theses candidate cancer genes were then confirmed using Sanger sequencing.
Results: As expected, BRAFV600 mutations were seen in 51% of the melanomas, whereas NRAS mutations were seen in 19% of the melanomas. However, PI3K pathway mutations, though more heterogeneous, were present in 41% of the melanoma, with PTEN being the highest mutated PI3K gene in melanomas (22%). Interestingly, several novel PI3K pathway mutations were discovered in MTOR, IRS4, PIK3R1, PIK3R4, PIK3R5, and NFKB1. PI3K pathway mutations co-occurred with BRAFV600 mutations in 17% of the tumors and co-occurred with 9% of NRAS mutant tumors, implying cooperativity between these pathways in terms of melanoma progression.
Conclusions: These novel PI3K pathway somatic mutations could provide alternative survival and proliferative pathways for metastatic melanoma cells. They therefore may be potential chemotherapeutic targets for melanoma patients who exhibit resistance to BRAFV600 inhibitors.
Citation
PLoS One. 2012 Aug 17; 7(8):e43369Scopus Count
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Linear Approaches to Intramolecular Forster Resonance Energy Transfer Probe Measurements for Quantitative ModelingNumerous unimolecular, genetically-encoded Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) probes for monitoring biochemical activities in live cells have been developed over the past decade. As these probes allow for collection of high frequency, spatially resolved data on signaling events in live cells and tissues, they are an attractive technology for obtaining data to develop quantitative, mathematical models of spatiotemporal signaling dynamics. However, to be useful for such purposes the observed FRET from such probes should be related to a biological quantity of interest through a defined mathematical relationship, which is straightforward when this relationship is linear, and can be difficult otherwise. First, we show that only in rare circumstances is the observed FRET linearly proportional to a biochemical activity. Therefore in most cases FRET measurements should only be compared either to explicitly modeled probes or to concentrations of products of the biochemical activity, but not to activities themselves. Importantly, we find that FRET measured by standard intensity-based, ratiometric methods is inherently non-linear with respect to the fraction of probes undergoing FRET. Alternatively, we find that quantifying FRET either via (1) fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) or (2) ratiometric methods where the donor emission intensity is divided by the directly-excited acceptor emission intensity (denoted Ralt) is linear with respect to the fraction of probes undergoing FRET. This linearity property allows one to calculate the fraction of active probes based on the FRET measurement. Thus, our results suggest that either FLIM or ratiometric methods based on Ralt are the preferred techniques for obtaining quantitative data from FRET probe experiments for mathematical modeling purposes.
-
Niclosamide Suppresses Cancer Cell Growth By Inducing Wnt Co-Receptor LRP6 Degradation and Inhibiting the Wnt/β-Catenin PathwayThe Wnt/b-catenin signaling pathway is important for tumor initiation and progression. The low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein-6 (LRP6) is an essential Wnt co-receptor for Wnt/b-catenin signaling and represents a promising anticancer target. Recently, the antihelminthic drug, niclosamide was found to inhibit Wnt/b-catenin signaling, although the mechanism was not well defined. We found that niclosamide was able to suppress LRP6 expression and phosphorylation, block Wnt3A-induced b-catenin accumulation, and inhibit Wnt/b-catenin signaling in HEK293 cells. Furthermore, the inhibitory effects of niclosamide on LRP6 expression/phosphorylation and Wnt/b-catenin signaling were conformed in human prostate PC-3 and DU145 and breast MDA-MB-231 and T-47D cancer cells. Moreover, we showed that the mechanism by which niclosamide suppressed LRP6 resulted from increased degradation as evident by a shorter half-life. Finally, we demonstrated that niclosamide was able to induce cancer cell apoptosis, and displayed excellent anticancer activity with IC50 values less than 1 mM for prostate PC-3 and DU145 and breast MDA-MB-231 and T-47D cancer cells. The IC50 values are comparable to those shown to suppress the activities of Wnt/b-catenin signaling in prostate and breast cancer cells. Our data indicate that niclosamide is a unique small molecule Wnt/b-catenin signaling inhibitor targeting the Wnt co-receptor LRP6 on the cell surface, and that niclosamide has a potential to be developed a novel chemopreventive or therapeutic agent for human prostate and breast cancer.
-
The Transcriptional Profile of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Populations in Primary Osteoporosis Is Distinct and Shows Overexpression of Osteogenic InhibitorsPrimary osteoporosis is an age-related disease characterized by an imbalance in bone homeostasis. While the resorptive aspect of the disease has been studied intensely, less is known about the anabolic part of the syndrome or presumptive deficiencies in bone regeneration. Multipotent mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are the primary source of osteogenic regeneration. In the present study we aimed to unravel whether MSC biology is directly involved in the pathophysiology of the disease and therefore performed microarray analyses of hMSC of elderly patients (79â 94 years old) suffering from osteoporosis (hMSC-OP). In comparison to age-matched controls we detected profound changes in the transcriptome in hMSC-OP, e.g. enhanced mRNA expression of known osteoporosis-associated genes (LRP5, RUNX2, COL1A1) and of genes involved in osteoclastogenesis (CSF1, PTH1R), but most notably of genes coding for inhibitors of WNT and BMP signaling, such as Sclerostin and MAB21L2. These candidate genes indicate intrinsic deficiencies in self-renewal and differentiation potential in osteoporotic stem cells. We also compared both hMSC-OP and non-osteoporotic hMSC-old of elderly donors to hMSC of â ¼30 years younger donors and found that the transcriptional changes acquired between the sixth and the ninth decade of life differed widely between osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic stem cells. In addition, we compared the osteoporotic transcriptome to long term-cultivated, senescent hMSC and detected some signs for pre-senescence in hMSC-OP.
