A Study on Biomarkers of Endometrial Cancer Progression

Posted by

Oncotarget

Oncotarget’s cover paper this week (Volume 12, Issue 26) is entitled, "Comparative transcriptome analysis between patient and endometrial cancer cell lines to determine common signaling pathways and markers linked to cancer progression," by researchers from the Department of Gynecologic Surgery & Obstetrics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD; Collaborative Health Initiative Research Program, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD; National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD. Abstract: The rising incidence and mortality of endometrial cancer (EC) in the United States calls for an improved understanding of the disease's progression. Current methodologies for diagnosis and treatment rely on the use of cell lines as models for tumor biology. However, due to inherent heterogeneity and differential growing environments between cell lines and tumors, these comparative studies have found little parallels in molecular signatures. As a consequence, the development and discovery of preclinical models and reliable drug targets are delayed. In this study, we established transcriptome parallels between cell lines and tumors from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) with the use of optimized normalization methods. We identified genes and signaling pathways associated with regulating the transformation and progression of EC. Specifically, the LXR/RXR activation, neuroprotective role for THOP1 in Alzheimer’s disease, and glutamate receptor signaling pathways were observed to be mostly downregulated in advanced cancer stage. While some of these highlighted markers and signaling pathways are commonly found in the central nervous system (CNS), our results suggest a novel function of these genes in the periphery. Finally, our study underscores the value of implementing appropriate normalization methods in comparative studies to improve the identification of accurate and reliable markers. Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://oncotarget.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Foncotarget.28161 DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28161 Full text - https://www.oncotarget.com/article/28161/text/ Correspondence to - T. John Wu - twu@usuhs.edu Keywords - endometrial cancer, cancer stage, comparative transcriptome analysis, signaling pathways, normalization About Oncotarget Oncotarget is a bi-weekly, peer-reviewed, open access biomedical journal covering research on all aspects of oncology. To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com or connect with: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/oncotarget Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/oncotargetjrnl/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/OncotargetYouTube/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/ Oncotarget is published by Impact Journals, LLC please visit https://www.ImpactJournals.com or connect with @ImpactJrnls Media Contact MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM 18009220957