6 research outputs found

    Interleukin-8 is the single most up-regulated gene in whole genome profiling of H. pylori exposed gastric epithelial cells

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The association between <it>Helicobacter pylori </it>infection and upper gastrointestinal disease is well established. However, only a small fraction of <it>H. pylori </it>carriers develop disease, and there are great geographical differences in disease penetrance. The explanation to this enigma lies in the interaction between the bacterium and the host. <it>H. pylori </it>Outer Membrane Phospholipase A (OMPLA) has been suggested to play a role in the virulence of this bacterium. The aim of this study was to profile the most significant cellular pathways and biological processes affected in gastric epithelial cells during 24 h of <it>H. pylori </it>exposure, and to study the inflammatory response to OMPLA<sup>+ </sup>and OMPLA<sup>- </sup><it>H. pylori </it>variants.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Interleukin-8 was the most significantly up-regulated gene and appears to play a paramount role in the epithelial cell response to <it>H. pylori </it>infection and in the pathological processes leading to gastric disease. MAPK and NF-kappaB cellular pathways were powerfully activated, but did not seem to explain the impressive <it>IL-8 </it>response. There was marked up-regulation of <it>TP53BP2</it>, whose corresponding protein ASPP2 may interact with <it>H. pylori </it>CagA and cause marked p53 suppression of apoptosis. Other regulators of apoptosis also showed abberant regulation. We also identified up-regulation of several oncogenes and down-regulation of tumor suppressor genes as early as during the first 24 h of infection. <it>H. pylori </it>OMPLA phase variation did not seem to influence the inflammatory epithelial cell gene response in this experiment.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In whole genome analysis of the epithelial response to <it>H. pylori </it>exposure, <it>IL-8 </it>demonstrated the most marked up-regulation, and was involved in many of the most important cellular response processes to the infection. There was dysregulation of apoptosis, tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes as early as in the first 24 h of <it>H. pylori </it>infection, which may represent early signs of gastric tumorigenesis. OMPLA<sup>+/-</sup>did not affect the acute inflammatory response to <it>H. pylori</it>.</p

    Discovery and validation of breast cancer subtypes

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    This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract Background Previous studies demonstrated breast cancer tumor tissue samples could be classified into different subtypes based upon DNA microarray profiles. The most recent study presented evidence for the existence of five different subtypes: normal breast-like, basal, luminal A, luminal B, and ERBB2+. Results Based upon the analysis of 599 microarrays (five separate cDNA microarray datasets) using a novel approach, we present evidence in support of the most consistently identifiable subtypes of breast cancer tumor tissue microarrays being: ESR1+/ERBB2-, ESR1-/ERBB2-, and ERBB2+ (collectively called the ESR1/ERBB2 subtypes). We validate all three subtypes statistically and show the subtype to which a sample belongs is a significant predictor of overall survival and distant-metastasis free probability. Conclusion As a consequence of the statistical validation procedure we have a set of centroids which can be applied to any microarray (indexed by UniGene Cluster ID) to classify it to one of the ESR1/ERBB2 subtypes. Moreover, the method used to define the ESR1/ERBB2 subtypes is not specific to the disease. The method can be used to identify subtypes in any disease for which there are at least two independent microarray datasets of disease samples

    Expression of BMI-1 and Mel-18 in breast tissue - a diagnostic marker in patients with breast cancer

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Polycomb Group (PcG) proteins are epigenetic silencers involved in maintaining cellular identity, and their deregulation can result in cancer. Expression of Mel-18 and Bmi-1 has been studied in tumor tissue, but not in adjacent non-cancerous breast epithelium. Our study compares the expression of the two genes in normal breast epithelium of cancer patients and relates it to the level of expression in the corresponding tumors as well as in breast epithelium of healthy women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 79 tumors, of which 71 malignant tumors of the breast, 6 fibroadenomas, and 2 DCIS were studied and compared to the reduction mammoplastic specimens of 11 healthy women. In addition there was available adjacent cancer free tissue for 23 of the malignant tumors. The tissue samples were stored in RNAlater, RNA was isolated to create expression microarray profile. These two genes were then studied more closely first on mRNA transcription level by microarrays (Agilent 44 K) and quantitative RT-PCR (TaqMan) and then on protein expression level using immunohistochemistry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Bmi-1 mRNA is significantly up-regulated in adjacent normal breast tissue in breast cancer patients compared to normal breast tissue from noncancerous patients. Conversely, mRNA transcription level of Mel-18 is lower in normal breast from patients operated for breast cancer compared to breast tissue from mammoplasty. When protein expression of these two genes was evaluated, we observed that most of the epithelial cells were positive for Bmi-1 in both groups of tissue samples, although the expression intensity was stronger in normal tissue from cancer patients compared to mammoplasty tissue samples. Protein expression of Mel-18 showed inversely stronger intensity in tissue samples from mammoplasty compared to normal breast tissue from patients operated for breast cancer.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Bmi-1 mRNA level is consistently increased and Mel-18 mRNA level is consistently decreased in adjacent normal breast tissue of cancer patients as compared to normal breast tissue in women having had reduction mammoplasties. Bmi-1/Mel-18 ratio can be potentially used as a tool for stratifying women at risk of developing malignancy.</p

    Correction: Discovery and validation of breast cancer subtypes

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Following the publication of our recent article (Kapp <it>et al.</it>, <it>BMC Genomics 2006</it>, 7:231), we (the authors) regrettably found several errors in the published Table 5. This correction article not only describes what makes the published Table 5 incorrect, it also presents the correct Table 5.</p
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