There will be an estimated 60,000 new cases and nearly 8000 deaths in the US this year due to malignant melanoma. People living in the US are expected to have a 1 in 71 lifetime risk of developing the disease. Activating mutations in BRAF occur in approximately 60% of melanomas and in 80% of benign melanocytic nevi. PTEN is a tumor suppressor that has been shown to be deleted or epigenetically silenced in approximately 30% of melanomas. Cdkn2a is a locus encoding 2 tumor suppressors in alternate reading frames that has been found to be mutated in up to 40% of familial melanomas and is near universally lost in human melanoma cell lines. We used these data to generate novel mouse models of metastatic melanoma involving an inducible Cre transgenic mouse (Tyr::CreER-T2). We demonstrate that Pten loss, Cdkn2a loss or Braf activation in isolation does not induce melanoma. In contrast, when Braf activation is combined with Pten loss, mice develop aggressive pigmented melanomas with 100% penetrance and a mean tumor free survival of 19.5 days. Melanocytic proliferation occurs immediately following induction with virtually no latency. Expansile metastases are observed in lymph nodes and isolated tumor cells are present in the lungs and brain. Both incipient and established melanomas are sensitive to the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin. Furthermore, mTORC1 signaling is prevented upon rapamycin treatment, but mTORC2, MAPK, and Akt signaling appear to be unaffected. Additionally, when Cdkn2a loss is combined with Braf activation, the mice develop a nevic phenotype with complete penetrance and stochastic progression to melanoma. Median melanoma free survival is 85.5 days and tumors are metastatic to lymph nodes in 100% of mice. These novel mouse models of melanoma will likely be useful in the study of the biology of metastasis, in tumor immunology, and in new models of preclinical testing.

A incidência do melanoma, tumor maligno que se origina dos melanócitos, vem crescendo em todo o mundo. História familial positiva da doença tem sido relatada em 8 a 14% dos pacientes afetados. Muitos estudos sugeriram o envolvimento da região 9p21, onde se encontra o gene CDKN2A, no surgimento dessa neoplasia. Este é um gene supressor tumoral clássico e a inativação dos dois alelos tem sido detectadas em linhagens celulares tumorais de famílias com melanoma hereditário e esporádico. Mutações em linhagens germinativas do gene CDKN2A têm sido identificadas em aproximadamente 20% das famílias com melanoma familial. Utilizando técnicas de biologia molecular como Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase (PCR), Conformação Estrutural de Fita Simples (SSCP) e seqüenciamento, este projeto estudou 22 pacientes com critérios clínicos de melanoma hereditário e encontrou uma mutação (P48T) em um paciente numa família de três afetados. Em 13 casos foi identificado pelo menos um dos três polimorfismos: 500 C>G (31,9%), 540 C>T (27,3%) e A148T (4,5%). Os resultados demonstram a importância da pesquisa de mutações no gene CDKN2A principalmente em famílias com dois ou mais membros afetados pela doença. / The incidence of melanoma, malign tumor that originates from melanocytes, is increasing all over the world. Positive familial history of disease has been related in 8 to 14% of affected patients. Several studies have suggest the 9p21 region evolvement, where is located the CDKN2A gene, in the arising of this neoplasia. It is a classic tumor suppressor gene and the inactivation of two alleles has been detected in tumor cells lines of families with hereditary and sporadic melanoma. Nowadays germeline mutations in CDKN2A gene have been identified in almost 20% of families with familial melanoma. Using molecular biology techniques like Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), Single Strand Conformational Polymorphism (SSCP) and sequencing, this project studied 22 patients with clinical pattern of hereditary melanoma and it found one mutation (P48T) in one patient belonged to a three affected family. Thirteen cases had at least one of the three polymorphisms: 500 C>G (31,9%), 540 C>T (27,3%) e A148T (4,5%). The results show the importance of the search for mutations in the CDKN2A gene mainly in families with two or more affected by disease.

Angesichts der nach wie vor hohen Mortalität und Morbidität des Bronchialkarzinoms ist die Entwicklung geeigneter Methoden zur früheren Diagnostik eine wichtige Notwendigkeit, um die geringe durchschnittliche 5-Jahres-Überlebensrate von 15% – 18% zu steigern. Unter diesem Gesichtspunkt wurde in der vorliegenden Arbeit das Atemkondensat von Patienten mit Bronchialkarzinom als nicht-invasiv und kostengünstig zu gewinnendes Medium auf das Vorliegen eines potentiellen Screeningmarkers – dem methylierten Tumorsuppressor-Gen p16 – untersucht. Dazu wurde ein Versuchsablauf entwickelt, bei dem trotz des geringen DNA-Gehaltes im Atemkondensat p16-Methylierungen nachgewiesen werden konnten. Die letztendlich etablierte Methode war eine methylierungsspezifische nested-PCR mit anschließendem Restriktionsverdau durch das Restriktionsenzym BstUI. Des Weiteren erfolgte die Untersuchung von in Paraffin eingebetteten Tumorpräparaten der Patienten. In der anschließenden statistischen Auswertung wurde der Einfluss von verschiedenen Faktoren wie COPD-Grad, Tumorlage, Tumorart, Nikotinabusus und stattgehabte Chemo- oder Strahlentherapie auf den Methylierungsstatus des p16-Gens analysiert.

A incidência do melanoma, tumor maligno que se origina dos melanócitos, vem crescendo em todo o mundo. História familial positiva da doença tem sido relatada em 8 a 14% dos pacientes afetados. Muitos estudos sugeriram o envolvimento da região 9p21, onde se encontra o gene CDKN2A, no surgimento dessa neoplasia. Este é um gene supressor tumoral clássico e a inativação dos dois alelos tem sido detectadas em linhagens celulares tumorais de famílias com melanoma hereditário e esporádico. Mutações em linhagens germinativas do gene CDKN2A têm sido identificadas em aproximadamente 20% das famílias com melanoma familial. Utilizando técnicas de biologia molecular como Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase (PCR), Conformação Estrutural de Fita Simples (SSCP) e seqüenciamento, este projeto estudou 22 pacientes com critérios clínicos de melanoma hereditário e encontrou uma mutação (P48T) em um paciente numa família de três afetados. Em 13 casos foi identificado pelo menos um dos três polimorfismos: 500 C>G (31,9%), 540 C>T (27,3%) e A148T (4,5%). Os resultados demonstram a importância da pesquisa de mutações no gene CDKN2A principalmente em famílias com dois ou mais membros afetados pela doença. / The incidence of melanoma, malign tumor that originates from melanocytes, is increasing all over the world. Positive familial history of disease has been related in 8 to 14% of affected patients. Several studies have suggest the 9p21 region evolvement, where is located the CDKN2A gene, in the arising of this neoplasia. It is a classic tumor suppressor gene and the inactivation of two alleles has been detected in tumor cells lines of families with hereditary and sporadic melanoma. Nowadays germeline mutations in CDKN2A gene have been identified in almost 20% of families with familial melanoma. Using molecular biology techniques like Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), Single Strand Conformational Polymorphism (SSCP) and sequencing, this project studied 22 patients with clinical pattern of hereditary melanoma and it found one mutation (P48T) in one patient belonged to a three affected family. Thirteen cases had at least one of the three polymorphisms: 500 C>G (31,9%), 540 C>T (27,3%) e A148T (4,5%). The results show the importance of the search for mutations in the CDKN2A gene mainly in families with two or more affected by disease.

Recent European legislation has enforced a reduction in the use of animal models for safety assessment purposes and carcinogenicity testing. The Syrian hamster embryo cell transformation assay (SHE CTA) has been proposed as a suitable animal alternative, but its implementation into test batteries has been delayed. This is due to concerns regarding the assay’s endpoint subjectivity and, moreover, the model’s relevance to carcinogenicity remains mostly unexplored. Senescence is an essential barrier against uncontrolled cell proliferation and its evasion is necessary for clonal evolution and tumour development. Carcinogenesis can be modelled by reproducing underlying mechanisms leading to senescence bypass. In this project, the SHE CTA was performed using the known mutagen and human carcinogen, benzo(a)pyrene, and the resulting SHE colonies were analysed. It was found that morphological transformation (MT) does not guarantee senescence bypass and cell immortalisation, but increases the likelihood of MT-derived cells subsequently acquiring unlimited growth potential. A limited number (between 10 and 20 %) of MT colonies produced cell clones capable of sustained proliferation and in most cases secondary events were necessary for the evasion of senescence barriers. With regard to mechanisms, p53 point mutations were present in 30 % of immortal B(a)P-induced MT colony-derived cells and located within the protein’s DNA binding domain. No p16 mutations were identified. Expression of p16 mRNA was commonly silenced or markedly reduced by a combination of mechanisms including monoallelic deletion, promoter methylation and BMI-1 overexpression. Taking advantage of the recently available Syrian hamster genomic sequence information generated by the Broad Institute, the coding regions of the Syrian hamster CDKN2A/B locus were shown to have good homology to human nucleotide sequences and confirmed the exonic structures of SH p16, ARF and p15. The findings further implicate the importance of p16 in regulating senescence while providing a molecular evaluation of SHE CTA-derived MT clones.

Prostate cancer (PCa) accounts for an estimated 20% of new cancer cases and 10% of deaths in just US males in 2020. Despite this prevalence, the molecular basis of its development and initiation remains unclear. To help identify the molecular basis of PCa progression, it is important to generate a collection of human prostate epithelial cells (hPrEC) that remain karyotypically normal and represent the epithelial cell types present in the human prostate. hPrEC can only go through a limited number of passages before they become senescent. Immortalization prevents senescence and enables continuous cell division. Our lab previously immortalized hPrEC cells by the expression of human telomerase (hTERT) with concomitant CRISPR inactivation of the CDKN2A locus, which directs the expression of both p16INK4A and p14ARF genes.Characterization of the two clonal cell lines that were generated showed that they maintained normal cell growth characteristics with intact p53 and pRb pathways, near normal karyotypes and have characteristics of basal cell origin. Subsequently, our lab sought to determine if expression of hTERT with knockout of just p16INK4A alone was also sufficient for immortalization, using CRISPR technology to inactivate exon 1α of the CDKN2A locus along with ectopic expression of the hTERT transgene. Knockout of p16INK4A but not p14ARF along with exogenous expression of hTERT resulted in the generation of a new immortal clone. Using these immortalized clones, along with primary hPrEC from ATCC our goal is to further characterize these cells to aid in future attempts aimed at immortalizing normal PrEC from multiple individuals and for the efficient establishment of a primary prostate cancer cell line. Our first approach included immunophenotyping our generated immortal hPrEC clones and ATCC hPrEC’s to identify the cell populations defining each of our clones and the different cell populations present in the primary hPrEC. We also characterized the expression of cells using 3D cell culture to determine their morphology and the expression of relevant markers. Finally, we identified the differentially expressed genes by RNA-seq in our immortalized hPrEC clones and ATCC hPrEC to determine their closest lineage identity as well as find suitable markers to use for future studies. These cell lines will also serve as a model to study transformation of PrEC in culture and xenograft tumorigenesis in mice. / Biomedical Sciences

No description available.

BAP1 (BRCA-Associated Protein1) is a tumor suppressor gene encoding a deubiquitinating enzyme (DUB) that regulates many facets of cellular biology. Genetic studies have demonstrated that somatic BAP1 mutations occur in numerous cancer types and that germline BAP1 mutations lead to a cancer susceptibility disorder that predisposes individuals to various tumors, in particular malignant mesothelioma (MM) and both uveal melanoma (UM) and cutaneous melanoma (CM). The Testa laboratory has identified several families (including one in Louisiana, designated Lou) with germline BAP1 mutations, in which there were recurrent cases of MM, UM, and CM. We generated a Bap1 mutant mouse model with a knockin mutation identical to that observed in the Lou family (Bap1+/Lou ) to test whether this mutation alone confers susceptibility to ultraviolet (UV) light-induced melanomagenesis either alone or in combination with a mutation found in a well-established Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF)/Scatter Factor transgenic mouse model. Neither Bap1+/Lou, HGF, nor Bap1+/Lou;HGF mice showed a significantly higher incidence or shorter latency of UV light-induced melanoma than wild type (WT) mice. The study also suggests that germline mutation of Bap1 alone does not cause an increased incidence of UV-induced melanomas under the conditions used in this investigation. Recent evidence indicates that BAP1 participates in the DNA damage repair response, suggesting that BAP1’s role in tumorigenesis could be particularly important in cancers associated with environmental carcinogens such as ultraviolet irradiation (UVR). To further investigate the role of BAP1 (Bap1 in the mouse) in DNA damage, we first knocked down BAP1 in human melanocytes as well as Melan-A and Melan-C mouse melanocytes and then exposed the cells to UVR, followed by analysis of DNA damage repair. UVR-induced and steady state levels of DNA damage were higher in BAP1-knockdown cells compared to shGFP-control cells. Levels of UVR-related DNA damage markers such as p53, γH2AX and CPD (cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers) were increased following BAP1 loss and UVR treatment. Cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry demonstrated that cells with knockdown of BAP1 and post UVR treatment showed a higher proportion of cells in S/G2 phase. Such an effect could be due to BAP1 loss and consequent inability to repair DNA damage and/or cell cycle progression. These data are consistent with a role for BAP1 in UVR-induced DNA damage repair. In MM, it is unclear to what extent BAP1 mutations cooperate tumorigenically with mutations of other tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) implicated in MM, such as CDKN2A and NF2. While germline mutations of BAP1 clearly predispose to MM, whether somatic mutations of BAP1 drive a more aggressive, metastatic tumor phenotype may depend on the disease type. For such studies, we used conditional knockout (CKO) mice along with intrathoracic (IT) or intraperitoneal (IP) injection of adenovirus expressing Cre recombinase (Adeno-Cre) to excise critical homozygously floxed TSGs in the mesothelial lining. These labor-intensive experiments demonstrated that while homozygous deletion of Bap1, Cdkn2a, or Nf2 alone in the pleural cavity (IT) of genetically engineered mouse (GEM) models gave rise to few or no MMs, inactivation of Bap1 cooperated with loss of either Nf2 or Cdkn2a to drive development of MM in ~20% of double CKO mice, and a high incidence (22/26, 85%) of MMs with short latency (12 weeks) was observed in Bap1;Nf2;Cdkn2a (triple)-CKO mice. The same trend was confirmed when the same gene combinations were homozygously deleted IP in these same GEM models, except that a much higher incidence of MM was observed in homozygously floxed Bap1 (Bap1f/f) mice injected IP versus IT, which may be due to a larger cell surface area of the peritoneum. Adeno-Cre treatment of normal mesothelial cells from Bap1f/f;Nf2 f/f;Cdkn2 f/f mice, but not from mice with knockout of one or any two of these tumor suppressor genes, resulted in robust spheroid formation in vitro, suggesting that homozygous deletion of all three of these TSGs is sufficient to drive a cancer stem cell-like potential. RNA-seq analysis of pleural MMs from triple-CKO mice revealed enrichment of many genes transcriptionally regulated by the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2). Other genes upregulated in MMs from triple-CKO mice included Vegfd and Pak3, which encode proteins involved in angiogenic and cell motility pathways. In conclusion, we hypothesize that inherited mutations of BAP1 may increase susceptibility to certain environmental factors that may induce DNA damage and contribute to cancer development. Our data also indicate that cooperative somatic inactivation of Bap1, Nf2, and Cdkn2a results in rapid, highly aggressive MMs, and that deletion of Bap1 contributes to tumorigenesis, in part, by loss of PRC2-mediated gene repression of tumorigenic target genes and by acquisition of stem-cell potential. Thus, our studies suggest a potential avenue for therapeutic intervention. / Biomedical Sciences

Angesichts der nach wie vor hohen Mortalität und Morbidität des Bronchialkarzinoms ist die Entwicklung geeigneter Methoden zur früheren Diagnostik eine wichtige Notwendigkeit, um die geringe durchschnittliche 5-Jahres-Überlebensrate von 15% – 18% zu steigern. Unter diesem Gesichtspunkt wurde in der vorliegenden Arbeit das Atemkondensat von Patienten mit Bronchialkarzinom als nicht-invasiv und kostengünstig zu gewinnendes Medium auf das Vorliegen eines potentiellen Screeningmarkers – dem methylierten Tumorsuppressor-Gen p16 – untersucht. Dazu wurde ein Versuchsablauf entwickelt, bei dem trotz des geringen DNA-Gehaltes im Atemkondensat p16-Methylierungen nachgewiesen werden konnten. Die letztendlich etablierte Methode war eine methylierungsspezifische nested-PCR mit anschließendem Restriktionsverdau durch das Restriktionsenzym BstUI. Des Weiteren erfolgte die Untersuchung von in Paraffin eingebetteten Tumorpräparaten der Patienten. In der anschließenden statistischen Auswertung wurde der Einfluss von verschiedenen Faktoren wie COPD-Grad, Tumorlage, Tumorart, Nikotinabusus und stattgehabte Chemo- oder Strahlentherapie auf den Methylierungsstatus des p16-Gens analysiert.

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the second most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). FL is clinically designated as an indolent disease with a long median survival of 8-10 years. However, the clinical and biological behavior of FL shows considerable variability, with some patients showing aggressive disease progression and very short survival. Because defects in the regulation of apoptotic cell death are fundamental in FL pathogenesis, we hypothesized that deregulated expression of components of the pRb signaling pathway may promote cell proliferation, thereby complementing antecedent anti-apoptotic mutations and producing more aggressive disease. In the present study we undertook an immunohistochemical (IHC) evaluation of expression of key cell-cycle regulatory proteins in diagnostic biopsies from 127 cases of FL using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues (FFPE) in tissue microarray (TMA) sections immunostained for p53, pRb, p16INK4A and cyclin D3. Data analysis revealed that increased abundance of p53 or p16INK4A is associated with reduced overall survival (OS) (p=0.005 and p=0.014 respectively), and with conventional pathological markers of tumour aggressiveness including high histologic grade. Encouraged by this remarkable finding of a counterintuitive association between p16INK4A expression and clinical outcome, we analyzed CDKN2A gene deletion and methylation, as these are the most frequent mechanisms of the CDKN2A gene inactivation in NHL including FL. We determined the deletion and methylation status of CDKN2A in 105 FL cases. Laser-capture microdissection was used to enrich the samples for lymphoma cells. CDKN2A was deleted in 9 cases and methylated in 22 cases. The 29 cases (28%) with CDKN2A deletion or methylation had decreased overall survival (OS) (p=0.046) in all cases and in cases treated with rituximab (p<0.001). Our findings indicate that deleterious alterations of CDKN2A are relatively prevalent in FL at diagnosis and can predict poor clinical outcome. In summary, our data reveal novel insights into the pathogenesis of FL and suggest a relationship between increased p16INK4A expression and CDKN2A deletion or methylation and unfavorable clinical outcome in FL. We hope that the work presented herein will provide a useful prognostic tool for predicting the prognosis and choosing optimal treatment approaches to help patients suffering from FL. / Thesis (Ph.D, Pathology & Molecular Medicine) -- Queen's University, 2013-03-12 23:49:44.541