Cancer Research Cell Death Mechanisms and Cancer Therapy  Protein Translation and Cancer
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cancer Research Clinical Cancer Research
Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention Molecular Cancer Therapeutics
Molecular Cancer Research Cancer Prevention Research
Cancer Prevention Journals Portal Cancer Reviews Online
Annual Meeting Education Book Meeting Abstracts Online

This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wittig, R.
Right arrow Articles by Poustka, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wittig, R.
Right arrow Articles by Poustka, A.
[Cancer Research 62, 6698-6705, November 15, 2002]
© 2002 American Association for Cancer Research


Tumor Biology

Candidate Genes for Cross-Resistance against DNA-damaging Drugs1 ,2

Rainer Wittig, Michelle Nessling, Rainer D. Will, Jan Mollenhauer, Rüdiger Salowsky, Ewald Münstermann, Matthias Schick, Heike Helmbach, Brigitte Gschwendt, Bernhard Korn, Petra Kioschis, Peter Lichter, Dirk Schadendorf and Annemarie Poustka3

Department of Molecular Genome Analysis [R. W., R. D. W., J. M., R. S., E. M., P. K., A. P.], Department of Molecular Genetics, [M. N., P. L.], and Skin Cancer Unit [H. H., B. G., D. S.], Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, and Resource Center for Genome Research [M. S., B. K.], D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany


    ABSTRACT
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Drug resistance of tumor cells leads to major drawbacks in the treatment of cancer. To identify candidate genes for drug resistance, we compared the expression patterns of the drug-sensitive human malignant melanoma cell line MeWo and three derived sublines with acquired resistance to the DNA-damaging agents cisplatin, etoposide, and fotemustine. Subarray analyses confirmed 57 candidate genes recovered from a genome-wide scan for differential expression. By specifically addressing cancer genes we retrieved another set of 209 candidates. Exemplary Northern blot studies indicated qualitative concordance for 110 of 135 (81.4%) data points. Whereas the etoposide-resistant line showed constant expression patterns over a period of ~2.5 years, the fotemustine- and cisplatin-resistant sublines exhibited considerable variability. Initially representing distinct entities, these two sublines finally converged in their expression patterns. A total of 110 genes was transiently or permanently deregulated in at least two resistant sublines. Fourteen genes displayed differential expression in all three of the sublines. We hypothesize that the variations in fotemustine and cisplatin resistance are based on progressive optimization and/or polyclonality. This, in addition to genomic alterations investigated by comparative genomic hybridization and evaluation of short-term response genes, can be used as a criterion for the selection of promising candidates. Among these are CYR61, AHCYL1, and MPP1, as well as several apoptosis-related genes, in particular STK17A and CRYAB. As MPP1 and CRYAB are also among the 14 genes differentially expressed in all three of the drug-resistant sublines, they represent the strongest candidates for resistance against DNA-damaging drugs.


    INTRODUCTION
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Drug resistance represents a major problem in cancer therapy. The use of in vitro systems has been valuable for the identification and functional verification of several resistance mechanisms. The energy-dependent drug efflux mediated by members of the ATP binding cassette transporter protein superfamily (1 , 2) is one of the most important mechanisms for multidrug resistance, and the modulation of this pathway is in the focus of intense research (3) . Other well-characterized mechanisms of cellular drug resistance include the detoxification of drugs via glutathione conjugation (4) and alterations in the activities or properties of DNA topoisomerases (5) . More recently, cellular drug resistance has been associated with alterations in cell death pathways (6 , 7) , but to date the exact mechanisms remain unclear. Highly parallelized gene expression analyses have been used to identify additional resistance-associated genes (8, 9, 10) , because the presently known mechanisms cannot sufficiently explain the resistance of several tumors. Among these is malignant melanoma, which has experienced an increasing attention because of its high and still rising incidence, and the poor prognosis associated with this particular kind of skin cancer (11) .

In general, the response of malignant melanoma to chemotherapy is poor, and an improvement of therapeutic protocols is highly desirable. Several well-characterized drug resistance mechanisms have been studied in regard to their importance for malignant melanoma. Divergent results have been obtained by these analyses indicating that the molecular mechanisms underlying drug resistance in melanoma may be multifaceted and poorly understood (12 , 13) .

The malignant melanoma cell line MeWo has been treated with various cytotoxic compounds, among these the commonly used anticancer drugs cisplatin, fotemustine, and etoposide, to give rise to sublines with resistance to different concentrations of the respective drugs (14) . Whereas cisplatin and fotemustine are thought to form DNA adducts, etoposide interferes with topoisomerase II resulting in double strand breaks (5 , 15, 16, 17) . Thus, the three drugs have in common the ability to either directly or indirectly lead to DNA damage.

The resistant cell lines have been characterized in regard to their pharmacological properties and genomic alterations (14 , 18) . Differences in gene expression have initially been determined using differential display reverse transcription-PCR and two-dimensional protein gel electrophoresis (19 , 20) . These efforts have retrieved 15 primary candidate genes for resistance against the three DNA-damaging drugs, of which one has been confirmed to date by functional assays (21) . The sublines with resistance to DNA-damaging agents have been shown to display alterations of pathways involved in the maintenance of DNA integrity (22, 23, 24, 25) .

In specific regard to melanoma therapy cisplatin, but not fotemustine or etoposide, presently plays a central role (26) . However, the three MeWo sublines with the highest levels of resistance to cisplatin, (MeWoCis1), fotemustine (MeWoFote40), and etoposide (MeWoEto1), offer the opportunity to reveal communities in the resistance to DNA-damaging drugs under standardized conditions. Because this is of importance for a series of cancer types, we conducted a comprehensive and detailed analysis of differential gene expression specifically in these three MeWo sublines.


    MATERIALS AND METHODS
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Cell Culture and Cell Lines.
Drug-resistant derivatives of MeWo had been selected as described by Kern et al. (14) . MeWo cells were grown in RPMI 1640 supplemented with 10% FCS, the antibiotics penicillin and streptomycin (100 units/ml each), and L-glutamine (2 mM). Stable chemoresistant MeWo sublines were grown in supplemented RPMI 1640 with the respective drugs: MeWoCis1 with additional cisplatin (1 µg/ml), MeWoEto1 with additional etoposide (1 µg/ml), and MeWoFote40 with additional fotemustine (40 µg/ml). In general, cells were grown to 80–90% confluence, and then harvested for RNA and DNA isolation. Drug treatment of MeWo cells occurred at ~80% confluence for 24 h with the concentrations depicted above. In parallel, MeWo control cells were cultivated for the same time without drugs. For the determination of the effects of etoposide treatment on gene expression in MeWoEto1, we grew cells with and without etoposide supplementation. For the array hybridizations, RNA was prepared from at least three different time points (t1-t3) for each of the cell lines. The cell lines were reconstituted from frozen stocks collected during continuous growth over a period of ~2.5 years. For the sensitive MeWo reference, the time point t1 represents the parental cells from which the drug-resistant sublines were established. The time points t2 and t3 represent cells that were continuously cultured for an additional 23 and 42 months, respectively. For all of the drug-resistant sublines, t1 denotes the time point of the definition of drug resistance (14) . The nomenclature for additional time points of drug-resistant sublines is as follows: MeWoCis1, t2: 12 months and t3: 31 months; MeWoFote40, t2: 11 months and t3: 30 months; and MeWoEto1, t2: 3 months, t3: 22 months, and t4: 46 months after definition of drug resistance. In CGH4 analyses, t1+ of MeWoCis1 and MeWoFote40 corresponds to t1 + 8–9 months.

cDNA Arrays.
The genome-wide cDNA array (RZPD p950 UniGene1) was manufactured as described previously (27) . The drug resistance subarray was composed of the 126 candidate genes retrieved from the initial screening of the UniGene array, 52 control genes, and 1143 genes amplified from the RZPD Onco-library. The entire RZPD Onco-library comprises ~2800 cancer candidate genes. For the subarray, cluster-specific oligonucleotides (based on the NCBI UniGene built 90, September 1999) were selected for the amplification of 300-bp cluster segments that are free of low complexity regions and corresponding to 3' termini of mRNA molecules. For the PCR amplification we used pools of plasmid DNA (1 ng/reaction, 96–384 different template species per pool) as templates. PCR was performed in 96-well plates for 30 cycles (20 s 94°C, 15 s 46°C, and 30 s 72°C). These elements were spotted in a 3 x 3 pattern on a 7 x 10 cm nylon membrane. All of the PCR products were spotted in duplicate as described before (27) to provide internal controls. For image processing, each block was provided with a guide spot that contains heterologous DNA from the bacterial kanamycin resistance gene.

Complex cDNA Hybridization.
mRNA was isolated using the RNeasy kit and the Oligotex mRNA kit (Qiagen) according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. The mRNA integrity was confirmed by electrophoresis in denaturing 1% agarose gels with formaldehyde, blotting to Hybond N+ Nylon membranes (Amersham-Pharmacia Biotech), and hybridization with radiolabeled dT18V oligonucleotide. The generation of complex cDNA probes was performed as described previously (27) . After purification, the specific activity of the probes was determined, and volumes of the probes were adjusted to ascertain equivalent conditions for the array hybridizations. The arrays were hybridized under the conditions described before (27) . UniGene arrays were hybridized at 65°C, whereas the drug resistance subarray was hybridized at 63°C to adjust for the smaller average fragment length.

Image Acquisition and Analysis of Array Hybridizations.
For RZPD UniGene 1 arrays, image acquisition, grid alignment, and spot quantification was performed as described previously (27) . Spot by spot comparison, normalization, and determination of differential expression was carried out using fdiffs, an algorithm developed by Tim Beissbarth (Theoretical Bioinformatics, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum) based on the matlab package (MathWorks, Natick, MA). For the analysis of the drug resistance subarrays we used ArrayVision Software (Imaging Research). Here, after spot finding using an automated algorithm, signal intensities were calculated as mean pixel values minus a regional background calculated for each 3 x 3 spot group, respectively. For array comparisons, signal intensities were then normalized to the mean of all human cDNA containing spots on one filter, and expression ratios for single spots were calculated. Ratios of 2.5 and 1/2.5 were set as thresholds to identify differentially expressed genes from the UniGene arrays. For the drug resistance subarray, we used ratios of 1.5 and 1/1.5 as the threshold values to adapt to the decrease in the average size of the array elements.

Northern Blot Analyses.
Fifteen µg of total RNA was separated by electrophoresis in 1% agarose gels under denaturing conditions in the presence of 2.2 M formaldehyde, and stained with SYBR Green II (FMC, Rockland, ME) for visualization under UV light. RNA was transferred to Hybond N+ Nylon membranes (Amersham-Pharmacia Biotech) by capillary transfer overnight and subsequently immobilized by UV cross-linking. Hybridizations were performed with 32P-labeled cDNA probes in 500 mM Na2HPO4 (pH 7.2), 7% SDS, and 10 mM EDTA at 65°C overnight. After washing (2 x 10 min in 0.5 x SSC, 0.1% SDS at 65°C) membranes were exposed to X-ray films and imaging plates. In the latter case image acquisition was done using a Fuji FLA3000 phosphorimager and AIDA software.

CGH.
Cells were lysed by incubation in 50 mM Tris, 100 mM EDTA, and 200 mM NaCl (pH 9) with 1% SDS and 0.5 mg/ml proteinase K at 37°C overnight. Genomic DNA was purified by a standard phenol-chloroform extraction procedure and subsequent ethanol precipitation. Genomic DNA was reconstituted in 10 mM Tris and 1 mM EDTA (pH 7.5). Probe preparation, hybridization, image acquisition, and analysis of CGH were performed as described previously (28) .


    RESULTS
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Genome-wide Screen for Differentially Expressed Genes in Drug-resistant Melanoma Cell Lines.
We used UniGene filter arrays with ~31,500 elements (RZPD p950 UniGene 1; Ref. 27 ) for a genome-wide analysis of differentially expressed genes in drug-resistant MeWo sublines. For the initial selection of drug resistance candidate genes, mRNA obtained from three different time points of cultivation under permanent selective pressure (t1 to t3, see "Materials and Methods") was separately compared with an mRNA pool of three different time points (t1 to t3, see "Materials and Methods") of the long-term cultivated, drug-sensitive parental MeWo cell line. This was intended to select for stable alterations in the expression pattern of the drug-resistant sublines and against genes that may be transiently deregulated because of differences in the cell culture conditions. Genes showing distorted ratios of least 2.5 or 1/2.5, respectively, in at least two of three comparisons were selected for additional evaluation. This resulted in an initial number of 139 candidate genes, of which 87 were retrieved from MeWoEto1. From MeWoCis1 and MeWoFote40, respectively, only 23 and 29 candidate genes were recovered. Seven genes were deregulated in two resistances, whereas 3 genes displayed an overlap in all three of the sublines, so that, after elimination of these redundancies, a final set of 126 genes was obtained.

Candidate Gene Evaluation.
To additionally confirm and evaluate candidate genes, a drug resistance subarray with a final number of 1321 elements was composed. These elements included the 126 candidate genes retrieved from the initial screen, 52 control elements for monitoring the hybridization quality, and 1143 additional elements from the RZPD Onco-library. The latter ones were included to specifically and more sensitively address known and putative cancer candidate genes in regard to their differential expression. For the complex hybridizations, we used the same mRNA populations as in the initial analyses, i.e., t1 to t3 for each resistant subline.

The subarray analyses indicated consistent changes in the expression patterns of all three of the time points investigated for MeWoEto1. Stable gene deregulation in MeWoEto1 was additionally confirmed by analysis of mRNA of a fourth time point (t4). In contrast, the different time points of sublines MeWoCis1 and MeWoFote40 showed substantial variations. This was confirmed by two to three independent hybridization experiments as well as by Northern blot analyses of selected candidates (Fig. 1)Citation . Thus, we concluded that the differences in the stability of the transcriptomes had led to a differential efficacy in recovering candidates from the three sublines. To adjust to this phenomenon, we applied subline-specific criteria to identify primary candidates. For MeWoEto1, only genes showing consistent quantitative changes in all of the data points for three of four analyzed time points were scored as primarily confirmed candidates. For MeWoCis1 and MeWoFote40, genes displaying consistent changes in at least five of six data points for t1 and t2 and in at least three of four data points for t3, respectively, were scored as primarily confirmed candidates. Using these subline-specific criteria, 57 of the initial 126 genes (45%) were confirmed as being deregulated in at least one of the drug-resistant sublines. Remarkably, 209 of the 1143 (18%) included Onco-library elements were suggested to be differentially expressed compared with the sensitive parental MeWo cell line. Thus, a total of 266 candidate genes resulted from these efforts (for the primary data, see supplementary data2 ). We selected a subset of 15 genes for additional verification by Northern blot analyses. The expression of these candidates was analyzed for the three drug-resistant sublines at time points t1 to t3 so that a total of 135 data points was investigated. For 110 of the 135 data points (81.4%) we obtained qualitatively concordant results (Fig. 1Citation ; Fig 2FCitation ), confirming the applicability of the subline-specific criteria that were set previously.



View larger version (90K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
[Download PPT slide]
 
Fig. 1. Verification of differential expression of selected drug resistance candidate genes by Northern blot analysis. Radiolabeled cDNA fragments specific for the candidate genes depicted in rows A–O (nomenclature corresponds to official HGNC gene symbols) were hybridized to Northern blots containing total RNA. The RNAs were taken from different time points (t1 to t3) of cultivation of the resistant sublines and untreated MeWo. MeWoEto1 time point t4 was either cultivated in presence (+) or absence (-) of etoposide. In addition, RNA from 24 h drug-treated MeWo cells (Lane 8: C+, cisplatin; Lane 12: E+, etoposide; Lane 18: F+, fotemustine) and the respective untreated control (Lane 4) was included in the analyses. The panels denoted as 28S show 28S rRNA bands of the RNA gels before blotting to demonstrate the RNA integrity and equal loading. Arrows at the right mark differently sized bands obtained for five of the genes. The respective sizes in kb are specified at the right of the panels.

 


View larger version (63K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
[Download PPT slide]
 
Fig. 2. Cluster analysis. Different array elements (2 per gene) are displayed in rows. Pairwise comparisons between a sensitive reference probe and different resistant or drug-treated cell populations are depicted in columns. Up-regulation of expression compared with the reference is depicted by nuances of red, down-regulation by nuances of green color. Black color reports equal expression levels, and gray color marks fields for which the data were not taken into consideration for cluster analyses because of divergent expression ratios within duplicate spots (>50% of the larger value) or immeasurable expression levels. For the raw data please refer to the supplementary material. Gene nomenclature corresponds to HGNC, NCBI LocusLink IDs (LL), and the annotated chromosomal localizations are listed. The dendrograms at the top of the two panels base on the cluster analysis of the entire set of 266 genes. The degree of similarity between the analyzed samples corresponds to vertical branch lengths of the evolutionary tree, which is generated as a graphical result of pairwise similarity assessment. The different time points (t1 to t3) of the resistant cell lines MeWoFote40 (columns 01–08), MeWoCis1 (columns 09–16), and MeWoEto1 [columns 17–27, t4 cultivated in the presence (+) and absence (-) of etoposide] were compared with the sensitive reference. Columns 28–30 depict the results of the comparison of 24 h etoposide-treated MeWo cells to the untreated control. A–D, expression patterns of cross-resistance candidate genes. A, genes deregulated in MeWoCis1 and MeWoFote40; B, genes deregulated in MeWoCis1 and MeWoEto1; C, genes deregulated in MeWoEto1 and MeWoFote40; D, genes deregulated in all three drug resistant sublines. E, expression patterns of deregulated genes with relationship to apoptosis. F, expression patterns of the differentially expressed genes that have been verified by Northern blot analyses shown in Fig. 1Citation .

 
For 5 of the 15 genes analyzed, we obtained more than one hybridizing band (Fig. 1, A, C, H, J, O)Citation . The clone ID133864 mapped to two UniGene clusters, Hs.24305 and Hs.191045, and therefore was represented by two elements on the drug resistance subarray (Fig. 1A)Citation . By reverse transcription-PCR analyses, we identified the sequence of ID133864 as part of the 3'-untranslated region of the PDE3A gene. In Northern blot analysis using a PDE3A open reading frame sequence as a probe, a 7-kb transcript was detected (data not shown) pointing to the 7-kb PDE3A transcript as the gene identified as differentially regulated in the etoposide- and fotemustine-resistant cell lines. In the case of MPP1 (Fig. 1C)Citation , array data matched to the expression of the 2.2-kb variant, which is likely to represent the annotated mRNA (NM_002436). Both recently reported variants of the PDCD6IP gene (29) displayed a down-regulation in MeWoEto1, which was congruent with the array results (Fig. 1OCitation ; Fig. 2FCitation ). For EGR1 (Fig. 1H)Citation , the expression pattern of the 3.2-kb variant correlated with the array data, and the size of this variant corresponded to the annotated mRNA sequence (X52541). The STMN3 gene (Fig. 1J)Citation had been reported to give rise to a 2.3-kb transcript (NM_015894), which could be detected in Northern blot analysis. The quantitative changes in the levels of this transcript corresponded to the array data. For these 5 genes, other hybridizing bands may represent alternative splice forms, polyadenylation variants, or closely related genes. In the remaining 10 cases, the detected transcript sizes corresponded to the annotated mRNA sequences in GenBank.

Genotype-Transcriptome Correlations.
A comparison between the original CGH data (18) and CGH data obtained from the resistant sublines at t3 indicated consistent genomic alterations on eight chromosomes (Fig. 3)Citation . The specific genomic alterations allowed verifying the integrity of the respective sublines. We determined the cytogenetic localizations of the candidate genes by screening of NCBI5 (LocusLink; UniGene), RZPD,6 and Genome7 databases. The differential expression of 28 genes could be correlated with gains and losses of the respective chromosomal regions (Table 1)Citation .



View larger version (43K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
[Download PPT slide]
 
Fig. 3. CGH. Regions with chromosomal alterations are marked by colored bars (MeWo, gray; MeWoEto1, green; MeWoCis1, red; MeWoFote40, blue) beneath the particular chromosome ideograms. The CGH ratio profiles at the different time points are arranged at the right of the respective ideograms and are averaged from data of n metaphase cells. For the time point definitions refer to "Materials and Methods." In the profiles, the central black line represents the balanced value 1. The adjacent lines represent the thresholds for under representation (0.75, red line) and overrepresentation (1.25, green line). Additional lines are arranged in 0.25 ratio value intervals. The chromosomal region 1p32-p36 (marked by black dots) as well as the gray shaded areas of tandem repetitive DNA clusters were excluded from the evaluation, because no representative fluorescence intensities could be measured in these regions because of suppression with Cot-1 DNA (28) .

 

View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
Table 1 Genes with correlation between alterations at the genomic and transcriptional level

The corresponding CGH profiles for affected regions are depicted in Fig. 3Citation . Expression data for all deregulated genes are disposed in the supplementary material. -, genomic losses; +, genomic gains; o, not changed in drug resistant sublines.

 
Cluster and Northern Blot Analyses Reveal Convergence of Expression Patterns in Cisplatin and Fotemustine Resistance.
On the basis of the 266 differentially expressed genes, we performed cluster analysis (8 , 30 , 31) using the freely available8 GeneCluster and TreeView software (30) to reveal common patterns of alterations. In accordance with the previous results, t1 to t4 of MeWoEto1 located within one cluster (Fig. 2Citation , columns 17–27). MeWoCis1t1 (Fig. 2Citation , columns 14–16) was related to MeWoEto1 according to the clustering, whereas MeWoFote40t1 and t2 (Fig. 2Citation , columns 01–06) represented a distinct entity. However, MeWoCis1t2/t3 (Fig. 2Citation , columns 09–13) and MeWoFote40t3 (Fig. 2Citation , columns 07–08) deviated from their original patterns and appeared to finally converge in regard to their expression patterns. We verified these results by Northern blot analysis of selected candidates. Twelve of 15 genes showed consistent quantitative changes over all MeWoEto1 time points analyzed (for example ID133864, APOD, CRYAB, and AHCYL1 in Fig. 1Citation ) Six of the 15 genes displayed convergence in their expression levels at the later time points when comparing MeWoCis1 and MeWoFote40 (see ID133864, APOD, CRYAB, PEPP2, PLAB, IFITM3 in Fig. 1Citation ). CRYAB, one of the genes represented and up-regulated in both groups, has been related to the repression of apoptosis (32) .

Evaluation of Short-Term Response and Cross-Resistance Candidate Genes.
To distinguish between stably deregulated genes and genes deregulated because of the presence of the drugs, we conducted a series of additional experiments. At first, we included RNA samples of the sensitive parental MeWo cell line treated for 24 h with cisplatin and fotemustine in the Northern blot analyses. Secondly, we additionally carried out Northern blot and subarray analyses with 24-h etoposide-induced MeWo cells as well as with MeWoEto1 omitting the etoposide from the culture medium. The latter subarray analyses indicated no major influence of etoposide on the overall expression pattern in MeWoEto1, as suggested by clustering (Fig. 2Citation , columns 17–24). In contrast, the patterns observed for short-term treated MeWo substantially differed from both untreated MeWo and drug-resistant MeWoEto1 (Fig. 2Citation , columns 28–30). These data suggested that genes deregulated because of the short-term response to the presence of the drug are represented only to a minor extent in the candidate panel. Basically, these data were confirmed by the Northern blot analyses. Twelve of the 15 genes showing quantitative differences in the resistant sublines were not responsive to short-term drug treatment. Remarkably, however, 3 of the 15 genes (AHCYL1, CYR61, and the 4.5-kb variant of STMN3) displayed a down-regulation in the course of the short-term response to all three of the DNA-damaging drugs. The down-regulation of all 3 of the genes became manifested in the long-term resistant cell line MeWoEto1, and 2 of these (CYR61 and the 4.5-kb transcript of STMN3) were also transiently down-regulated at one of the time points in MeWoCis1. The transcriptional repression of the 3 genes in MeWoEto1 was maintained even in the absence of etoposide (Fig. 1)Citation . Moreover, 2 of these short-term response genes mapped close to a region at chromosome 1 identified as genomic loss in MeWoEto1 by CGH (Table 1Citation Fig. 3Citation ). CYR61 was located at 1p31-p22 (1p22.3 according to GeneCards), whereas AHCYL1 had been mapped to 1p12.

To identify potential cross-resistance candidates, we compared the data obtained for the three different drug-resistant sublines from the subarray analyses. This revealed substantial overlaps in the differential expression of genes during acquired drug resistance. In total, 110 differentially expressed genes showed overlaps in their deregulation (Fig. 2, A–D)Citation . Fourteen of these were found to be deregulated in all three of the drug-resistant cell lines (Fig. 2D)Citation .

Arrangement According to Common Pathways Points to Frequent Deregulation of Apoptosis-related Genes.
Subsets of the deregulated genes could be identified to belong to common pathways. For example, 6 genes, G1P3, ISG15, IFI27, IFITM1, IFITM3, and PRKR, represent a group of IFN-inducible genes. These genes were highly overexpressed in MeWoEto1 and in MeWoCis1t1, which is in agreement with the data obtained for a paclitaxel-resistant subline of the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 (33) . However, whereas these changes were persistent in MeWoEto1, these genes again displayed the lower levels of the parental MeWo cells in MeWoCis1t2/t3 (Fig. 2B)Citation . Secondly, several stress-inducible genes, e.g., PLAB, HSPA5, HSPA9B, DDIT3, and GADD45A, were often down-regulated in the drug-resistant sublines, to the major part in MeWoEto1 (Figs. 1Citation and 2)Citation . Remarkably, 12 genes belonging to apoptosis-related pathways were commonly found to be deregulated, as for example CRYAB, DFFA, PDCD6IP, or SH3BP5 (Fig. 1Citation ; Fig. 2ECitation ).


    DISCUSSION
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Drug resistance is considered to represent a complex pleiotropic response (5 , 34, 35, 36) . In vitro systems can reflect fundamental mechanisms of acquired drug resistance under simplified but standardized experimental conditions. When investigating primary tumor cells, parameters introducing variations are clonal heterogeneity of the tumor cells, variable genetic backgrounds of donors, contamination with other cell types, and cross-talk with other nontumor structures. Although extrapolation to the in vivo situation is linked with certain limitations, because additional factors have to be taken into consideration, the limited sources of external variations in in vitro systems provide important entry points to the mechanisms of drug resistance (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) . We selected a well-defined in vitro system (14) to comprehensively analyze differential gene expression and genomic alterations during acquired resistance to DNA-damaging drugs. It is remarkable that, independent of the perspective, deregulation of apoptosis-related genes appears to play a role.

Starting from a genome-wide scan for differentially expressed genes, we identified 57 genes confirmed by subarray analyses. Inclusion of genes of the Onco-library to more specifically address known and putative cancer genes retrieved an additional set of 209 candidates. The recovery of the latter genes presumably bases on the redefinition of the parameters for the subarray analyses, which was necessary to adapt for the decrease of the mean element length, and for the fluctuations in MeWoCis1 and MeWoFote40. Because Northern blot analyses suggested an 81.4% concordance with the subarray analyses for the genes tested, we hypothesize that a major subset of the 266 genes is truly differentially expressed in the drug-resistant sublines. Twelve of these genes are involved in the modulation of apoptosis pathways. Three of these originated from the 57 confirmed UniGene clones, whereas 9 derived from the 209 genes recovered from the Onco-library. This suggests that by using genes from the Onco-library for the subarray no bias toward the isolation of apoptosis-related genes was introduced.

The genes recovered may basically subdivide into two categories with differential importance for drug resistance itself. The first category comprises genes that could directly be related to the phenotypes. The second category may represent genes of which the deregulation is rather caused by genomic rearrangements or coactivation, or corepression because of deregulation of transcription factors. In fact, at least 35 of 266 deregulated genes have known or putative functions in the regulation of transcription. To date, a clear distinction between genes belonging to these two groups is not possible, because this would require assays for high throughput screening. However, based on the design of our experiments and the definition of subgroups, we can encircle the most promising candidates.

Primarily, the comparison of the expression patterns over ~2.5 years may point to certain limitations, even within this well-defined in vitro system of acquired drug resistance. The constant deregulation of some genes as well as the consistency of the genomic alterations confirmed the integrity of MeWoCis1 and MeWoFote40. Although being resistant to exposure to the respective drugs, the two sublines showed considerable variations in their expression patterns over the time course. However, we speculate that one can take several advantages out of this phenomenon.

At first, both cluster analyses and Northern blot studies suggest distinct changes in the gene expression profiles of MeWoCis1 and MeWoFote40 at early time points but convergence at later time points. We hypothesize that this convergence reflects progressive optimization of the drug resistance response. Moreover, convergence because of optimization would be in line with the similar mode of action of cisplatin and fotemustine (15, 16, 17) . Indeed, earlier studies support the view that MeWoCis1 and MeWoFote40 exert cross-resistance against cisplatin and fotemustine (14) . Thus, converging genes identify as strong candidates for drug resistance. PEPP2 and CRYAB, for example, are noteworthy. PEPP2, which has been suggested to take part in phosphoinositide-mediated signaling (37) , is successively silenced over the time course. In contrast, CRYAB, an antagonist of caspase 3-mediated apoptosis (32) , is consecutively up-regulated.

Secondly, however, progressive optimization cannot completely explain the variations in the expression pattern of MeWoFote40. When overlaying the expression levels of the genes PLAB, SH3BP5, PDE3A, and CRYAB in t2 and t3 (Fig. 1)Citation , the combinatorial pattern agrees with the one obtained for t1. Thus, most probably, a split of the cell population has taken place. Consequently, MeWoFote40 was polyclonal at t1. Possibly, differential reconstitution from the frozen stocks has led to shifts in the otherwise stable polyclonal population. Under this premise, genes with differential behavior in t2 and t3 would participate in alternative pathways of fotemustine resistance. A very suggestive example is that t3 shows an activation of the apoptosis antagonist CRYAB, whereas it is absent from t2. Strikingly, however, t2 shows a repression of the proapoptotic genes CRADD (38) , RIPK1 (39) , DFFA (40) , and DAPK3 (41) , which, in fact, could be able to compensate for the lack of the antagonistic action of CRYAB (Fig. 2E)Citation .

We determined correlations between chromosomal aberrations and up- or down-regulation for 28 genes. This is particularly helpful for candidate evaluation. STK17A, which has a stimulatory effect on apoptosis (42) , is down-regulated in MeWoEto1 and locates to chromosome 7p that has undergone a loss in this subline. The perfect agreement between genomic, expression, and functional data points to this gene as a considerably strong candidate. MPP1 at Xq28 is to date poorly characterized at the functional level. Its up-regulation in MeWoFote40 attributes to the amplification of the respective genomic locus, which was additionally confirmed by Southern blot analyses (data not shown). In MeWoEto1 and MeWoCis1 a distinct mechanism must be responsible for the MPP1 up-regulation, because neither CGH nor additional Southern blot studies (data not shown) suggested the presence of an amplification at the gene locus. Thus, this phenomenon argues for a role in multidrug resistance and against being a bystander. Correlation with genomic data also allows resolving apparent contradictions between functional data and the direction of deregulation. For example, RAF1, an antagonist of apoptosis (43) , is down-regulated in MeWoEto1. Obviously, this is based on the loss of the respective chromosomal region, i.e., 3p. Thus, its down-regulation is likely a gene dosage effect attributable to the genomic alterations.

In association with data obtained from the experiments on the short-term responses, the genomic alterations provide additional valuable information. For example, the genes AHCYL1 and CYR61 reveal down-regulation in MeWo already during the short-term response to drug exposure. Apparently, this down-regulation became manifested in MeWoEto1, independently of the presence of etoposide in growth medium. This is possibly caused by a loss of the respective chromosomal region at 1p.

The utilization of a homogenous source offered the opportunity to identify genes commonly deregulated in more than one drug resistance phenotype basically independent of external variations such as different genetic backgrounds or tumor architecture. According to subarray analyses, a total number of 110 genes matches this criterion. The most promising candidates are 14 genes either up- or down-regulated in each of the three drug resistance phenotypes (Fig. 2D)Citation , among these the 4 IFN-inducible genes G1P3, ISG15, IFITM1, and IFITM3, as well as MPP1 and UP, which has also been shown to be down-regulated in gastric cancer cells with cross-resistance to cisplatin and doxorubicin (44) , and again the apoptosis antagonist CRYAB. In specific regard to chemotherapy in melanoma, the consistent up-regulation of the four IFN-inducible genes may be noteworthy. Similar observations were made in the acquired resistance of the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 against the antimicrotubule agent paclitaxel. However, the resistant MCF-7 cells exerted no cross-resistance against the DNA-damaging drug doxorubicin (33) . Nevertheless, it seems worthwhile to conduct additional studies on these 4 IFN-inducible genes, because IFN therapy is presently evaluated for its usefulness in melanoma treatment (26) .

In conclusion, we present a set of 266 genes deregulated in melanoma cell lines resistant to etoposide, fotemustine, and cisplatin. Of these 110 are deregulated in more than one and 14 are differentially expressed in all three of the drug resistant phenotypes. Among the latter are MPP1 and CRYAB, which identify as excellent candidates.


    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
We thank the Bioinformatics Section (Oliver Heil, Lars Ebert, Daniel Bongartz, and Frank Schwarz) of the RZPD in Heidelberg for excellent computational support. We also thank Christian Maercker, Daniel Mertens, and Jan Tuckermann for additional computational support and critical discussions, Holger Sueltmann for critical reading of the manuscript, Sara Burmester and Ute Ernst for sequencing, and Effi Rees and Markus Schuster for technical support in composition of the drug resistance subarray.


    FOOTNOTES
 
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

1 Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Grants Scha 422/7-2 and Scha 422/7-3 (to D. S.), and the Forschungsfond Mannheim (to D. S.). Back

2 Supplementary data in this article are available at Cancer Research Online (http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org). Back

3 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Molecular Genome Analysis, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Phone: 49-6221-424742; Fax: 49-6221-423454; E-mail: a.poustka{at}dkfz-heidelberg.de Back

4 The abbreviations used are: CGH, comparative genomic hybridization; RZPD, Resource Center for Genome Research; NCBI, National Center for Biotechnology Information; HGNC, Human Genome Organisation Gene Nomenclature Committee. Back

5 Internet address: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/. Back

6 Internet address: http://www.rzpd.de/. Back

7 Internet address: http://www.gdb.org/. Back

8 Internet address: http://rana.lbl.gov/EisenSoftware.htm. Back

Received 5/ 6/02. Accepted 9/13/02.


    REFERENCES
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 

  1. Chen C. J., Chin J. E., Ueda K., Clark D. P., Pastan I., Gottesman M. M., Roninson I. B. Internal duplication and homology with bacterial transport proteins in the mdr1 (P-glycoprotein) gene from multidrug-resistant human cells. Cell, 47: 381-389, 1986.[Medline]
  2. Cole S. P., Bhardwaj G., Gerlach J. H., Mackie J. E., Grant C. E., Almquist K. C., Stewart A. J., Kurz E. U., Duncan A. M., Deeley R. G. Overexpression of a transporter gene in a multidrug-resistant human lung cancer cell line. Science (Wash. DC), 258: 1650-1654, 1992.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  3. Persidis A. Cancer multidrug resistance. Nat. Biotechnol., 17: 94-95, 1999.[Medline]
  4. Zhang K., Mack P., Wong K. P. Glutathione-related mechanisms in cellular resistance to anticancer drugs. Int. J. Oncol., 12: 871-882, 1998.[Medline]
  5. Larsen A. K., Skladanowski A. Cellular resistance to topoisomerase-targeted drugs: from drug uptake to cell death. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1400: 257-274, 1998.[Medline]
  6. Los M., Herr I., Friesen C., Fulda S., Schulze-Osthoff K., Debatin K. M. Cross-resistance of CD95- and drug-induced apoptosis as a consequence of deficient activation of caspases (ICE/Ced-3 proteases). Blood, 90: 3118-3129, 1997.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  7. Makin G., Hickman J. A. Apoptosis and cancer chemotherapy. Cell Tissue Res., 301: 143-152, 2000.[Medline]
  8. Scherf U., Ross D. T., Waltham M., Smith L. H., Lee J. K., Tanabe L., Kohn K. W., Reinhold W. C., Myers T. G., Andrews D. T., Scudiero D. A., Eisen M. B., Sausville E. A., Pommier Y., Botstein D., Brown P. O., Weinstein J. N. A gene expression database for the molecular pharmacology of cancer. Nat. Genet., 24: 236-244, 2000.[Medline]
  9. Kudoh K., Ramanna M., Ravatn R., Elkahloun A. G., Bittner M. L., Meltzer P. S., Trent J. M., Dalton W. S., Chin K-V. Monitoring the expression profiles of doxorubicin-induced and doxorubicin-resistant cancer cells by cDNA microarray. Cancer Res., 60: 4161-4166, 2000.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  10. Perou C. M., Sorlie T., Eisen M. B., van de Rijn M., Jeffrey S. S., Rees C. A., Pollack J. R., Ross D. T., Johnsen H., Akslen L. A., Fluge O., Pergamenschikov A., Williams C., Zhu S. X., Lonning P. E., Borresen-Dale A. L., Brown P. O., Botstein D. Molecular portraits of human breast tumours. Nature (Lond.), 406: 747-752, 2000.[Medline]
  11. Hall H. I., Miller D. R., Rogers J. D., Bewerse B. Update on the incidence and mortality from melanoma in the United States. J. Am. Acad. Dermatol., 40: 35-42, 1999.[Medline]
  12. Serrone L., Hersey P. The chemoresistance of human malignant melanoma: an update. Melanoma Res., 9: 51-58, 1999.[Medline]
  13. Helmbach H., Rossmann E., Kern M. A., Schadendorf D. Drug-resistance in human melanoma. Int. J. Cancer, 93: 617-622, 2001.[Medline]
  14. Kern M. A., Helmbach H., Artuc M., Karmann M., Jurgovsky K., Schadendorf D. Human melanoma cell lines selected in vitro displaying various levels of drug resistance against cisplatin, fotemustine, vindesine or etoposide: Modulation of proto-oncogene expression. Anticancer Res., 17: 4359-4370, 1997.[Medline]
  15. Lage H., Dietel M. Involvement of the DNA mismatch repair system in antineoplastic drug resistance. J. Cancer Res. Clin. Oncol., 125: 156-165, 1999.[Medline]
  16. Fink D., Aebi S., Howell S. B. The role of DNA mismatch repair in drug resistance. Clin. Cancer Res., 4: 1-6, 1998.[Abstract]
  17. Coultas L., Strasser A. The molecular control of DNA damage-induced cell death. Apoptosis, 5: 491-507, 2000.[Medline]
  18. Nessling M., Kern M. A., Schadendorf D., Lichter P. Association of genomic imbalances with resistance to therapeutic drugs in human melanoma cell lines. Cytogenet. Cell Genet., 87: 286-290, 1999.[Medline]
  19. Sinha P., Kohl S., Fischer J., Hutter G., Kern M., Kottgen E., Dietel M., Lage H., Schnolzer M., Schadendorf D. Identification of novel proteins associated with the development of chemoresistance in malignant melanoma using two-dimensional electrophoresis. Electrophoresis, 21: 3048-3057, 2000.[Medline]
  20. Grottke C., Mantwill K., Dietel M., Schadendorf D., Lage H. Identification of differentially expressed genes in human melanoma cells with acquired resistance to various antineoplastic drugs. Int. J. Cancer, 88: 535-546, 2000.[Medline]
  21. Lage H., Helmbach H., Grottke C., Dietel M., Schadendorf D. DFNA5 (ICERE-1) contributes to acquired etoposide resistance in melanoma cells. FEBS Lett., 494: 54-59, 2001.[Medline]
  22. Runger T. M., Emmert S., Schadendorf D., Diem C., Epe B., Hellfritsch D. Alterations of DNA repair in melanoma cell lines resistant to cisplatin, fotemustine or etoposide. J. Investig. Dermatol., 114: 34-39, 2000.[Medline]
  23. Lage H., Christmann M., Kern M. A., Dietel M., Pick M., Kaina B., Schadendorf D. Expression of DNA repair proteins hMSH2, hMSH6, hMLH1. O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase and N-methylpurine-DNA glycosylase in melanoma cells with acquired drug resistance. Int. J. Cancer, 80: 744-750, 1999.[Medline]
  24. Lage H., Helmbach H., Dietel M., Schadendorf D. Modulation of topoisomerase II activity and expression in melanoma cells with acquired drug resistance. Br. J. Cancer, 82: 488-491, 2000.[Medline]
  25. Christmann M., Pick M., Lage H., Schadendorf D., Kaina B. Acquired resistance of melanoma cells to the antineoplastic agent fotemustine is caused by reactivation of the DNA repair gene MGMT. Int. J. Cancer, 92: 123-129, 2001.[Medline]
  26. Retsas S. Adjuvant therapy of malignant melanoma: Is there a choice?. Crit. Rev. Oncol. Hematol., 40: 187-193, 2001.[Medline]
  27. Boer J. M., Huber W. K., Sueltmann H., Wilmer F., von Heidebreck A., Haas S., Korn B., Gunawan B., Vente A., Fuezesi L., Vingron M., Poustka A. Identification and classification of differentially expressed genes in renal cell carcinoma by expression profiling on a global human 31, 500 element cDNA array. Genome Res., 11: 1861-1870, 2001.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  28. Lichter P., Bentz M., Joos S. Detection of chromosomal aberrations by means of molecular cytogenetics: painting of chromosomes and chromosomal subregions and comparative genomic hybridization. Methods Enzymol., 254: 334-359, 1995.[Medline]
  29. Vito P., Pellegrini L., Guiet C., D’Adamio L. Cloning of AIP1, a novel protein that associates with the apoptosis-linked gene ALG-2 in a Ca2+-dependent reaction. J. Biol. Chem., 274: 1533-1540, 1999.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  30. Eisen M. B., Spellman P. T., Brown P. O., Botstein D. Cluster analysis and display of genome-wide expression patterns. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 95: 14863-14868, 1998.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  31. Ross D. T., Scherf U., Eisen M. B., Perou C. M., Rees C., Spellman P., Iyer V., Jeffrey S. S., Van de Rijn M., Waltham M., Pergamenschikov A., Lee J. C., Lashkari D., Shalon D., Myers T. G., Weinstein J. N., Botstein D., Brown P. O. Systematic variation in gene expression patterns in human cancer cell lines. Nat. Genet., 24: 227-235, 2000.[Medline]
  32. Kamradt M. C., Chen F., Cryns V. L. The small heat shock protein {alpha} B-crystallin negatively regulates cytochrome c- and caspase-8-dependent activation of caspase-3 by inhibiting its autoproteolytic maturation. J. Biol. Chem., 276: 16059-16063, 2001.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  33. Luker K. E., Pica C. M., Schreiber R. D., Piwnica-Worms D. Overexpression of IRF9 confers resistance to antimicrotubule agents in breast cancer cells. Cancer Res., 61: 6540-6547, 2001.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  34. Tew K. D., O’Brien M., Laing N. M., Shen H. Coordinate changes in expression of protective genes in drug-resistant cells. Chem. Biol. Interact., 111–112: 199-211, 1998.
  35. Akiyama S., Chen Z. S., Sumizawa T., Furukawa T. Resistance to cisplatin. Anticancer Drug Des., 14: 143-151, 1999.[Medline]
  36. Kartalou M., Essigmann J. M. Mechanisms of resistance to cisplatin. Mutat. Res., 478: 23-43, 2001.[Medline]
  37. Dowler S., Currie R. A., Campbell D. G., Deak M., Kular G., Downes C. P., Alessi D. R. Identification of pleckstrin-homology-domain-containing proteins with novel phosphoinositide-binding specificities. Biochem. J., 351: 19-31, 2000.[Medline]
  38. Ahmad M., Srinivasula S. M., Wang L., Talanian R. V., Litwack G., Fernandes-Alnemri T., Alnemri E. S. CRADD, a novel human apoptotic adaptor molecule for caspase-2, and FasL/tumor necrosis factor receptor-interacting protein RIP. Cancer Res., 57: 615-619, 1997.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  39. Hsu H., Huang J., Shu H. B., Baichwal V., Goeddel D. V. TNF-dependent recruitment of the protein kinase RIP to the TNF receptor-1 signaling complex. Immunity, 4: 387-396, 1996.[Medline]
  40. Liu X., Zou H., Slaughter C., Wang X. DFF, a heterodimeric protein that functions downstream of caspase-3 to trigger DNA fragmentation during apoptosis. Cell, 89: 175-184, 1997.[Medline]
  41. Kawai T., Matsumoto M., Takeda K., Sanjo H., Akira S. ZIP kinase, a novel serine/threonine kinase which mediates apoptosis. Mol. Cell. Biol., 18: 1642-1651, 1998.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  42. Sanjo H., Kawai T., Akira S. DRAKs, novel serine/threonine kinases related to death-associated protein kinase that trigger apoptosis. J. Biol. Chem., 273: 29066-29071, 1998.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  43. Majewski M., Nieborowska-Skorska M., Salomoni P., Slupianek A., Reiss K., Trotta R., Calabretta B., Skorski T. Activation of mitochondrial Raf-1 is involved in the antiapoptotic effects of Akt. Cancer Res., 59: 2815-2819, 1999.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  44. Chung Y. M., Park S., Park J. K., Kim Y., Kang Y., Yoo Y. D. Establishment and characterization of 5-fluorouracil-resistant gastric cancer cells. Cancer Lett., 159: 95-101, 2000.[Medline]



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
Clin. Cancer Res.Home page
R. Ria, K. Todoerti, S. Berardi, A. M. L. Coluccia, A. De Luisi, M. Mattioli, D. Ronchetti, F. Morabito, A. Guarini, M. T. Petrucci, et al.
Gene Expression Profiling of Bone Marrow Endothelial Cells in Patients with Multiple Myeloma
Clin. Cancer Res., September 1, 2009; 15(17): 5369 - 5378.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
CarcinogenesisHome page
K. Ridd, S.-D. Zhang, R. E. Edwards, R. Davies, P. Greaves, A. Wolfreys, A. G. Smith, and T. W. Gant
Association of gene expression with sequential proliferation, differentiation and tumor formation in murine skin
Carcinogenesis, August 1, 2006; 27(8): 1556 - 1566.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
BloodHome page
C. S. Wilson, G. S. Davidson, S. B. Martin, E. Andries, J. Potter, R. Harvey, K. Ar, Y. Xu, K. J. Kopecky, D. P. Ankerst, et al.
Gene expression profiling of adult acute myeloid leukemia identifies novel biologic clusters for risk classification and outcome prediction
Blood, July 15, 2006; 108(2): 685 - 696.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Clin. Cancer Res.Home page
A. A. Jazaeri, C. S. Awtrey, G. V.R. Chandramouli, Y. E. Chuang, J. Khan, C. Sotiriou, O. Aprelikova, C. J. Yee, K. K. Zorn, M. J. Birrer, et al.
Gene Expression Profiles Associated with Response to Chemotherapy in Epithelial Ovarian Cancers
Clin. Cancer Res., September 1, 2005; 11(17): 6300 - 6310.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Nucleic Acids ResHome page
R. Konig, D. Baldessari, N. Pollet, C. Niehrs, and R. Eils
Reliability of gene expression ratios for cDNA microarrays in multiconditional experiments with a reference design
Nucleic Acids Res., February 13, 2004; 32(3): e29 - e29.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wittig, R.
Right arrow Articles by Poustka, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wittig, R.
Right arrow Articles by Poustka, A.


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cancer Research Clinical Cancer Research
Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention Molecular Cancer Therapeutics
Molecular Cancer Research Cancer Prevention Research
Cancer Prevention Journals Portal Cancer Reviews Online
Annual Meeting Education Book Meeting Abstracts Online