5th International Conference on
Conference Series LLC Ltd invites all the participants across the globe to attend 5th International Conference on Cancer Genomics Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
National Institutes of Health, USA
Seoul National University, South Korea
Time : 11:20-11:50
Jasmonic acid (JA) is an important hormone mediating stress response in plant. JA response has been widely studied for the purpose of developing stress-resistant transgenic crops. Increasing numbers of studies reported that enhanced JA response improves resistance against stresses, but also induces negative effects on plant growth and productivity. Understanding of JA inhibition mechanism against growth is essential to develop transgenic plants carrying both stress-resistance and enhanced growth. To understand the JA-mediated growth inhibition mechanism, function of OsJAZ9 responsible for JA signaling was studied through genome editing by CRYSPR/CAS9 system. We traced temporal and spatial expression pattern of OsJAZ9, and also analyzed its mutant Osjaz9 generated by CRISPR/Cas9 system that can modify response of target genes with high accuracy. Through Agrobacterium-mediated callus transformation and selection, we collected 30 individual transgenic plants. Among them 8 individual plants (around 30%) carried mutated OsJAZ9 gene in their genome. From this study we found that expression pattern of OsJAZ9 changes along developmental stages, predominant expression in leaf at early developmental stage but in roots at late developmental stage. Further characterization of Osjaz9 mutants will expand our understanding how JA allows plants to coordinate dynamics of stress response and growth.
American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Time : 11:50-12:20
Hala Gali-Muhtasib is currently a Professor of Cell Biology at the American University of Beirut. She has received her PhD from Kansas State University, USA. Her research interests are in studying the role of natural products in cancer prevention and therapy. Her research focuses on cancer chemoprevention and chemotherapy; in particular, study of plant derived compounds. She has explored novel drugs that inhibit the mechanisms involved in colon cancer such as naturally occurring plant tannins, vitamin E and essential oils of the Lebanese sage plant, thymoquinone extract from black seed and extracts from Lebanese indigenous plants, all of which are ingested regularly by humans and thus may hold promise as anticancer agents. Her efforts have been directed towards understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of action of various anticancer agents using cellular biology techniques as well as an emerging array of molecular technologies. She has numerous publications on mechanisms of action of anticancer drugs. She is the recipient of three research achievement awards, Suad Al-Sabbah, Abdul Hameed Shoman Prize for Young Arab Researchers and ISESCO Science Prize for contributions in Biology.
Thymoquinone (TQ) is a promising anticancer molecule but its development is hindered by its limited bioavailability. Drug nanoparticle formulation is commonly used to overcome low drug solubility, limited bioavailability and nonspecific targeting. This project aimed at synthesizing different TQ nanoparticles (TQ-NP), characterizing them and assessing their uptake and delivery mechanisms as well as their anticancer potential in a panel of breast cancer cells. TQ-NP was prepared by flash nanoprecipitation. Dynamic light scattering and scanning electron microscopy were used for the characterization of the size, morphology and stability of the NPs. The anticancer activity was assessed by MTT. The uptake and subcellular intake mechanism of fluorescent TQ-NP were evaluated by both fluorometry and confocal microscopy. Four different TQ-NPs were formulated. The average diameter size ranged between 45-130 nm. All TQ-NPs were stable and had high entrapment efficiency (75-80%) and loading content (36-50%). In vitro, TQ-NP had equal or enhanced anticancer activity effects compared to TQ, in MCF-7 and aggressive MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines. No significant cytotoxicity of the blank NP was noted. The uptake of fluorescent TQ-NP occurred in a time and concentration dependent manner. Treatment with inhibitors of endocytosis revealed the involvement of caveolin mediated endocytic pathway in TQ-NP uptake. This was also confirmed by subcellular localization findings, showing the colocalization of TQ-NP with both caveolin and transferrin as well as with the early and late markers of endocytosis, EEA-1 and lamp-1 proteins. Altogether, the results describe an approach for the enhancement of TQ anticancer activity and uncover the mechanisms behind cell-TQ-NP interaction, uptake and biodistribution.
Chonnam National University, South Korea
Time : 12:20-12:50
Young Hee Joung has completed her PhD from Korea University in South Korea and Postdoctoral studies from ARS, USDA. She is a Professor of School of Biological Sciences and Technology, Chonnam National University. She has published several papers in journals about plant molecular farming field.
The GA733-2, colorectal carcinoma associated antigen and epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), is highly expressed on the surfaces of human colorectal carcinoma cells. It was utilized to produce a vaccine for colorectal cancer in a plant system. To develop a vaccine using a plant system, recombinant protein rGA733-2 and rGA733-2-Fc genes were cloned into plant expression vector (pBINPLUS) with an ER targeted signal peptide and KDEL retention codon. The cloned vectors were introduced into tobacco plants using Agrobacterium mediated stable transformation or agro-infiltrated transient transformation. The recombinant proteins, rGA733-2, rGA733-Fc and Fc were purified from transgenic tobacco leaves and evaluate their anti-cancer effects using MC38 cancer cells. Only the rGA733-Fc showed anti-cancer effects. To develop an edible colorectal cancer vaccine, the rGA733-Fc gene was introduced into tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum cv. Micro-Tom). The rGA733- Fc expressed transgenic tomato fruits were administered orally to C57BL/6J mic and then colorectal cancer was induced in the oral treatment mice using MC38 cells injection. The plant derived rGA733-Fc treated mice showed amelioration of colorectal cancer is caused by rGA733-Fc induced anti-cancer immune response stimulation.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Time : 12:50-13:20
Benjamin Yat Ming Yung has obtained his PhD in Pharmacology from Baylor College of Medicine. He did his Postdoctoral training in the Lab of the Nobel Laureate Arthur Kornberg at Stanford University. He is currently Chair-Professor of Biomedical Sciences. For the past 30 years, he has systematically explored the biological role of NPM in cancer. He has published over 100 scientific papers that cover broad range of scientific disciplines and techniques. His achievements and recognitions are reflected in many prestigious awards including Outstanding Researcher Award, Outstanding Cancer Research Award and Ministry of Education Outstanding Teacher Award.
Wayne State University, USA
Time : 14:05-14:35
Zeng-Quan Yang has completed his PhD from Tokyo Medical and Dental University and Post-doctoral studies from University of Michigan School of Medicine. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the department of oncology, Wayne State University. His research interest is focused on investigating the genetic and epigenetic bases of human breast cancers and identifying novel therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. He has published more than 30 papers in reputed journals.
Methylation of lysine and arginine residues on histones and non-histone proteins plays critical roles in chromatin function, transcriptional regulation, genomic stability, cell differentiation and survival. These epigenetic methylations are mediated by antagonistic sets of enzymatic complexes—the methyl transferases, which catalyze methylation in a site-specific manner and the demethylases, which remove the methylation marks. Such methylation marks are interpreted by “reader” proteins that specifically bind to the modified histone. The largest and most diverse set of reader proteins includes the Tudor domain and plant homeodomain (PHD)-containing proteins. Accumulating evidence suggests that histone methylation pathways play an integral role in the sequential progression of cancer. It is shown that many histone methyl transferases/demethylases and “readers” are targeted for mutation and deregulation in cancer patients. However, the genomic landscape and clinical significance of these histone methylation modifiers in breast cancer remain poorly characterized. Here, we performed an integrated genomic and transcriptomic analysis of histone methyl transferases/demethylases and Tudor-containing “reader” proteins in breast cancer. We identified associations among recurrent copy number alterations, gene expressions, clinicopathological features and survival of patients. Furthermore, we interrogated cancer genomics data and functional small-interfering RNA (siRNA) screens to pinpoint potential oncogenes and novel targets, focusing on histone methylation modifiers in breast cancer. Integrative analysis identified a subset of histone methylation modifiers that are dysregulated by genetic alterations, classifying them as candidate therapeutic targets. Together, our findings provide a strong foundation for further mechanistic research and therapeutic options that target these histone methylation modifiers to treat breast cancer.
Seoul National University, South Korea
Time : 14:35-15:05
Plant transcriptome profiling has provided a tool for understanding the mechanisms by which plants respond to stress conditions. Analysis of genome-wide transcriptome will provides a useful dataset of drought responsive non-coding RNAs and their candidate target genes that may be involved in drought stress responses. Here RNA-seq analyses of leaves from drought stressed rice plants were performed, producing differential expression profiles of non-coding RNAs. We found that the transcript levels of 66 miRNAs changed significantly in response to drought conditions and that they were negatively correlated with putative target genes during the treatments. The negative correlations were further validated by qRT-PCR using total RNAs from both drought-treated leaves and various tissues at different developmental stages. The drought responsive miRNA/target pairs were confirmed by the presence of decay intermediates generated by miRNA-guided cleavages in Parallel Analysis of RNA Ends (PARE) libraries. We observed that the precursor miR171f produced two different mature miRNAs, miR171f-5p and miR171f-3p with 4 candidate target genes, the former of which was responsive to drought conditions. We found that the expression levels of the miR171f precursor negatively correlated with those of one candidate target gene but not with the others, suggesting that miR171f-5p was drought-responsive with Os03g0828701-00 being a likely target. Pre-miRNA expression profiling indicated that miR171f is involved in the progression of rice root development and growth, as well as the response to drought stress. Ninety-eight lncRNAs were also identified, together with their corresponding antisense transcripts, some of which were responsive to drought conditions.
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA
Time : 15:05-15:35
Rajesh R Singh has completed his PhD in Biochemistry from The University of Mysore, India and Postdoctoral research from University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has extensive experience in cancer biology focusing on the deregulated oncogenic and tumor suppressor pathways in the origin and maintenance of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. He is an Assistant Professor and Director of Clinical NGS Development in the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at MD Anderson, where he supervises the design, validation and implementation of NGS assays for routine mutational screening of tumors. He has published more than 50 papers and 8 review articles in reputed journals.
Massively parallel sequencing capability of Next-generation sequencing technologies have made them genome sequencing platforms of choice for routine screening of clinically significant markers in tumors. Most popular approach generally includes screening of limited areas (mutational hotspots) of limited number of relevant genes in order to restrict costs and practical turn-around-time (TAT) for the results. However, rapid discovery of markers warrants increasing the number genes for routine screening which is challenging due to increased costs, complexity of interpretation and decreasing sequencing throughput. In this talk, the experience of implementing progressively large gene panels in a high-volume molecular diagnostic laboratory will be highlighted. The logistic issues of implementing large NGS panels and the steps taken to meet these challenges in the laboratory will be discussed.
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, USA
Time : 15:35-16:05
Aditya Bardia is a board certified Medical Oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center of Harvard Medical School, USA. He has been involved in clinical development of tumor genotyping and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) to facilitate therapy selection. He is the Principal Investigator of several clinical trials investigating the role of targeted therapy combinations for breast cancer. He is on the Editorial Board of the ASCO University. He has received various research awards and is interested in developing successful targeted and personalized therapies to improve the outcomes of patients and families afflicted with breast cancer.
It is now well recognized that cancer is not one disease. Molecular characterization of tumor is particularly important because identification of actionable targets could potentially lead to rational therapy selection and enhance access to matched personalized therapy for that individual. Our group along with others recently demonstrated the presence of acquired mutations in the ligand binding domain of estrogen receptor (ESR1) which can lead to constitutional activation of the estrogen receptor in the absence of ligand (estrogen) and thereby result in resistance to standard endocrine therapies particularly aromatase inhibitors. Furthermore, genotyping can also help identify the molecular traits associated with “exceptional responders” and help select “right drug for the right patient”. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can serve as potential “liquid biopsies” offering a potential relatively non-invasive tool for tumor genotyping as well generation of ex vivo cultures as demonstrated by our group. In this talk we will review how routine genotyping of tumor and circulating tumor cells could be utilized in the clinic for targeted therapy selection and development of personalized therapies for patients with cancer.
Beijing New Oriental Foreign Language School at Yangzhou, China
Time : 16:25-16:55
Yikun Cheng, as an Intern, participated in the study of “Screening chemo-resistant related genes via digital gene expression profiling and small RNA sequencing in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma”, which was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81330063) and the Key Project of Chinese Ministry of Education (NO213005A).
Esophageal cancer (EC) represents the sixth leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Although many reports have indicated that patients who receive chemoradiation therapy had a significantly better 5 year survival rate, it is unclear why certain patients respond better than others to chemotherapy. Unambiguous molecular markers are needed to identify which patients are likely to respond best to particular treatments. To identify potential genes and miRNAs associated with chemoresistance in chemo-sensitive and chemo-resistant esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cell lines, a variety of ESCC cell lines were treated with different kind of chemotherapy drugs. By comparison of IC50, the chemo-sensitive and chemoresistant cell lines were obtained and subjected to digital gene expression profiling (DGE) and small RNA sequencing analyses. In total of 238 candidate genes including two well-known chemo-resistant related genes (MDR1 and ZEB2) and some novel chemo-resistant related genes (such as PHF15, MYO15B, FAM84B, DSEL) were up-regulated in chemo-resistant cell lines with more than 5 fold compared to that of chemo-sensitive cell lines. KEGG Pathway analyses showed these genes involved in tumor angiogenesis, tumor occurrence, tumor development and metabolism process control. Moreover, 224 of novel chemoresistant related miRNA were identified via small RNA-seq (>5 fold); of which, 27 of miRNA showed statistical significance between chemo-resistant and chemo-sensitive cells (P<0.0001), which involving in Notch and cell cycle pathways. The miR- 140-3p is one of the miRNAs with dramatically statistical significance among three resistant/sensitive cells (>20 fold, P<0.0001) and its potential target gene (NFYA) were also identified by the DGE profiling screening. Further study demonstrated that overexpression of miR-140-3p down-regulated the NFYA mRNA level. Collectively, our study identified a set of key genes and miRNAs associated with chemo-resistance in ESCC. Of note, miR-140-3p may play critical roles via regulating its target gene NFYA in chemo-resistance in ESCC.
National Institute of Biology, Slovenia
Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology, France
Time : 11:20-11:50
Nithyha Parameswaran Kalaivani has completed her Master of Science from King’s College London, UK and is currently a Doctoral student in IGBMC, France.
Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of histones have emerged as key players in the regulation of gene expression. However, little is known to what extent PTMs can directly impact chromatin. It has been suggested that PTMs of core histones (H2A, H2B, H3 and H4) have the potential to govern chromatin function according to the so called “histone code” hypothesis by recruiting specific binding proteins. The goal of my project is to gain insight in the function acetylation within the globular domain of H3 (H3K56/64/115/122) and to compare these modifications with histone tail modifications, in vivo by using the mouse ES cells. To study the impact of PTMs in vivo, all endogenous wild type (WT) H3 gene copies have to be replaced with mutant copies. Hence, the primary focus of my project is to establish a model system that exclusively express mutated H3 (e.g., mimicking acetylation) in order to study effects of H3 globular domain modifications on gene expression, chromatin architecture as well as to study, cross talks and synergisms between globular domain modifications and compare the effects with tail modifications.
University of Tampere, Finland
Time : 11:50-12:20
Gashaw Mekuria is currently a PhD candidate in Biostatistics at University of Tampere School of Health Sciences, Finland. He holds an MSc in Bioinformatics from University of Turku, Finland and a BSc in Statistics from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
Advancements in high-throughput genetic screening technologies have enabled us to systematically study how gene interactions between pairs of genes can affect phenotypes of certain traits. However, these advancements also pose other challenges to researchers in the management and analysis of the vast amount of data being produced. One of the problems related with this is the significant amount of missing interaction scores that cannot be scanned by the screening technologies or were filtered out from the datasets for technical reasons. This will significantly affect and bias downstream analysis. Therefore, there is an immediate need to impute those missing data more precisely. This study evaluates existing missing value imputation techniques on large-scale quantitative data matrices from synthetic genetic array (SGA) and epistatic mini array profiling (E-MAP) screening technologies. Different existing methods that are usually applied for imputation purposes were evaluated against various conditions and performance accuracies. This best performing imputation approach, based on weighted correlation between nearest-neighbors’, is now modified and can be used in any gene interaction data. Hereby, this study removed the limitation of a method already developed for this purpose and gives a more flexible, optimized and best performing method. This method can now be effectively used in the pre-processing of gene interaction scores by researchers towards a genome-wide analysis such as identification of global functional networks, gene clustering, etc. for a more accurate and less biased results and biological interpretations.
Pfizer Inc., USA
Time : 12:20-12:50
Jiyang Yu received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Zhejiang University, China in 2006. In 2008-2012, he did his PhD in Biomedical Informatics with Dr. Andrea Califano at Columbia University. After his PhD, he joined Pfizer Oncology as a Senior Scientist in Department of Precision Medicine. His PhD work has successfully launched two clinical trials and one biomarker patent in breast cancer. He has numerous publications in top journals including Cancer Cell, Genes & Dev, Leukemia, Cancer Research, Oncotarget and Bioinformatics, among others.
Data-driven precision or genomic medicine is coming of age. It’s increasingly easy to collect relevant “big data” from genomics to clinics. However, the interpretation of “big data” and translation into down-stream testable experimental hypotheses and patient-beneficial clinical applications or therapeutics remain difficult. In this talk, I will demonstrate how to leverage and integrate computational & systems biology analysis of cancer genomics data and genome-wide functional genomics screens by RNAi or CRISPR to identify novel driver-type therapeutic targets as well as predictive biomarkers to overcome drug-resistance and to treat aggressive human cancers. Specifically I will introduce a network-based systems biology framework to computationally infer disease drivers from large volumes of cancer genomics data and sophisticated statistical algorithms to deconvolute and analyze noisy high-throughput microarray or NGS-based functional genomics screening data. I will talk three application stories in details, two of which have successfully launched two clinical trials and one biomarker patent for specific subtypes of breast cancer.
Iran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Time : 12:50-13:20
Azadeh Memarian has completed his Expertise in forensics from Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. She is Assistant Professor of Forensic Medicine. She has published more than 25 papers in journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of Tehran University Medical Journal.
Clinical symptoms of female genital tract lymphoma are often non-specific and mimic other more common gynecological malignancies. Diagnosis can only be confirmed by histology. A 48-year-old multiparous woman was referred to the gynecology clinic because of enlarged myomatous uterus and persistent heavy vaginal bleeding. She underwent a subtotal hysterectomy and unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy in a Hospital in Yazd (Iran). Intraoperatively severe bleeding occurred and dense cervical adhesions to peripheral tissues were found. Pathology report indicated benign leiomyoma. After a few months, an abdomino-pelvic CT scan was performed because of flank pain that revealed bilateral hydronephrosis. The patient was referred to the Gynecology Oncology clinic of Bahman hospital in Tehran. Pelvic and rectovaginal exam and colposcopy were performed. Biopsy report was negative, after which mycobacterium tuberculosis test showed negative results. Under general anesthesia, multiple deep cervical biopsies revealed no malignancy again. The slides were reviewed by another “referral” pathologist who reported a typical lymphoid infiltration, consistent with malignant lympho-proliferative disorder in parametrial biopsies. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the diagnosis. The stony appearance of the cervix and a concomitant frozen pelvis strongly supported the diagnosis of cervical malignancy. The role of gynecological examination in the diagnosis of genital cancer is essential. When frozen pelvis and a fixed stony cervix are present, it is necessary to perform multiple deep biopsies in spite of previous negative pathologies. Review of the slides by qualified pathologists can help achieve an accurate diagnosis. Despite histopathological errors, lymphoma should always be considered by pathologists, particularly in these unusual cases.
Shandong University, China
Time : 14:05-14:35
Xiaobo Guo has completed his PhD from Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Post-doctoral studies from Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University. He is an Associate Professor in the department of gastrointestinal surgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to university. He has published more than 15 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of repute.
The contribution of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) to metastasis of gastric cancer remains largely unknown. In this study lncRNAs that were differentially expressed between normal gastric tissues and gastric cancer tissues were identified by microarray and validated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Our data showed that the expression level of olfactory receptor, family 3, subfamily A, member 4 (OR3A4) was significantly associated with lymphatic metastasis, depth of cancer invasion and distal metastasis in 130 paired gastric cancer tissues. The effects of OR3A4 were assessed by over-expressing and silencing the lncRNA in gastric cancer cells. We found that OR3A4 promoted cancer cell growth, angiogenesis, metastasis, and tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. Using global microarray analysis combined with RTPCR, RNA immunoprecipitation and RNA pull-down analysis after OR3A4 transfection, we showed that OR3A4 influenced biologic function in gastric cancer cells by regulating the activation of PDLIM2, MACC1, NTN4 and GNB2L1. Together, our results indicate that OR3A4 is an oncogenic lncRNA that promotes tumor progression and led us to propose that lncRNAs might function as key regulatory hubs in gastric cancer progression.
Badji-Mokhtar University, Algeria
Time : 14:35-15:05
Adel Gouri has completed his PharmD from Badji Mokhtar University and Postdoctoral studies in Clinical Biochemistry from Badji Mokhtar University School of Medicine. He is a Lecturer and Research Scientist in Ibn Rochd-Annaba Hospital University. He has published more than 25 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as Editor In Chief and Editorial Board Member of repute.
Nucleoside analogues such as gemcitabine and cytarabine are widely prescribed in pediatric and adult oncology. However, large variability in clinical outcome and efficacy has been observed. Therefore, new biomarkers with predictive power to assess inter-individuals differences in clinical outcome are urgently warranted. Cytidine Deaminase (CDA) is a liver enzyme that plays a crucial role in the metabolism of nucleoside analogues, coded by a gene displaying several genetic and epigenetic polymorphisms. Consequently, CDA activity is present various phenotypes, ranging from deficient (Poor Metabolizer patients, PM), to ultra-rapid deaminator patients (Ultra-Metabolizer patients, UM), with subsequent impact on drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics eventually. Several studies showed that CDA status was well correlated with clinical outcomes in patients undergoing nucleosidic analogs-based chemotherapy. Therefore, a low CDA activity is associated with more toxicity but a higher efficacy, while a high activity will lead to a lower efficacy but less toxicity. CDA phenotypic screening and prior stratification of patients’ status should be considered as relevant strategy to personalize dosing and to improve efficacy/toxicity ratio.
Alexandria Faculty of Medicine, Egypt
Time : 15:05-15:35
Hend Abdel Gawad Shakshouk is currently an Intern at the Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt. She has earned her MBBCh degree and realized her passion for stem cells and regenerative medicine. She wrote her first article review about stem cells and breast cancer which has been accepted for publication. She has joined the Stem Cell Research Team at the Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt.
Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are recruited to the stroma of cancers. They interact with cancer cells to promote invasion and metastasis or to suppress tumor growth. The unique tumor-homing capacity of MSCs makes them a promising vehicle to deliver various anticancer agents.
Aim: The aim of this study was to detect the possibility of using mesenchymal stem cells as a future weapon against breast cancer.
Methods: PubMed, PubMed central, Springer and Cochrane databases were searched using specified terms.
Results: Literature search yielded 17 manuscripts; seven of which suggested the use of MSCs in breast cancer therapy, while six studies raised the possibility that MSCs may promote tumor growth and four other studies assumed a dual role for MSCs.
Conclusions: The role of MSCs in breast cancer therapy is still debatable. We recommend future research in the field of MSCs in Alexandria University as it is our hope in the fight against breast cancer.
IUniversity of Queensland, Australia
Time : 15:35-16:05
Lutz Krause undertook his undergraduate studies in Computer Science and completed his PhD in Bioinformatics and Genome Research. In 2008 he has joined the Nestle in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he studied the role of the gut microbiota in health and disease. In 2010 he moved to Australia to the QIMR Berghofer Institute and in 2014 he joined the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, to pursue his research on biomarker discovery and genetics of complex diseases. In collaboration with the Princess Alexandra Hospital, his research aims at the identification of biomarkers that help clinicians choosing the optimal treatment for individual EAC patients.
This study describes the esophageal cancer methylation landscape and its impact on gene expression. Genes aberrantly methylated suggest a mechanism that could lead to genomic instability and chromothripsis. A CIMP-like subtype with potentially worse clinical outcome was also identified. The incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) has risen more than 600% in the last 30 years. EAC has a poor outcome with only 13-20% of patients surviving five years. Barrett’s esophagus (BE) is a precancerous precursor of EAC. This is the first study to explore methylome, transcriptome and encode data to characterize the role of methylation in EAC. We investigate the genome-wide methylation profile of 125 EAC, 19 Barrett’s esophagus (BE), 85 squamous esophagus and 21 normal stomach. Transcriptome data of 70 samples were used to identify changes in methylation associated with gene expression. BE and EAC showed similar methylation profiles, which differed from squamous tissue. Hyper-methylated sites in EAC and BE were mainly located in CpG-rich promoters. Genes aberrantly methylated showed enrichment for pathways involved in tumorigenesis including cell adhesion, TGF and WNT signaling. Also genes involved in chromosomal segregation and spindle formation were aberrantly methylated. The methylation profiles revealed two EAC subtypes, one associated with widespread CpG island hyper-methylation overlapping H3K27me3 marks and binding sites of the Polycomb proteins. These subtypes were supported by an independent set of 89 esophageal cancer samples. The most hyper-methylated tumors showed worse patient survival.
Aljouf University, KSA
Time : 16:25-16:55
Mousa O Germoush has completed his PhD from Saudi Arabia in 2009 from King Saud University after 22 years experimental period as a Biology teacher. He is an Associate Professor in Biology Department in Aljouf University, KSA. He is very much interested in researching about anticancer drugs and liver functions. He is also a Member in associations, like ACCR, US, EACR, UK and INCTR, Belgium.
The present study was conducted to evaluate the metabolic profiling, antioxidant capacity and anticancer activities of some common widely grown plants of the family Compositae. The total phenolics, flavonoids, anthocyanins, saponins, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and 2,2-diphenyl1picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays were determined in the selected plant extracts. In vitro anticancer activity was also assessed using human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG-2) and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cell lines. The plant species revealed different metabolomic profiling. Artemisia showed the highest contents of the detected secondary metabolites compared to other plant extracts. Pulcaria crispa showed the highest inhibition concentration 50% (IC50) among the screened extracts against HepG-2 (8.9 μg/ml) and MCF-7 (8.14 μg/ml). The high performance liquid chromatography analysis (HPLC) of P. crispa extract revealed the presence of high content of three phenolic compounds, benzoic, chlorogenic acid and vanillic acid, along with two polyphenolic compounds, hesperidin and quercetrin. In summary, among the screened extracts, P. crispa has the most potent anti-tumor activity in vitro against HepG-2 and MCF-7 cell lines.
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
Time : 16:55-17:25
Qian Chen has completed her PhD from Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland and Postdoctoral studies from National Institute of Health, USA. She serves as a Physician & Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, Gastrointestinal Department and Endoscopy Unit at Affiliated Tongji Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China. She has published more than 11 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of repute.
Epigenetic alterations such as aberrant DNA methylation of promoter and enhancer regions, which lead to atypical gene expression has been associated with carcinogenesis. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), genome-wide analysis of methylation has only recently been used. For a better understanding of hepatocarcinogenesis, we applied an even higher resolution of the promoter methylome analysis to identify previously unknown regions and genes differentially methylated in HCC. Optimized liquid hybridization capture-based bisulfite sequencing (LHC-BS) was developed to quantitatively analyze 1.86 million CpG sites of individual sample from 8 pairs of HCC and adjacent tissues. By linking the differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in promoters to the differentially expressed genes (DEGs), we identified 12 DMR associated genes. We further utilized Illumina MiSeq combining bisulfite sequencing PCR approach to validate the 12 candidate genes. Seven genes, including SMAD6, IFITM1, LRRC4, CHST4 and TBX15 with promoter hyper-methylation and CCL20 and NQO1 with promoter hypo-methylation in HCC were confirmed in additional 78 HCC pairs by Illumina MiSeq platform. These data highlight the novel methylome profiling provides a cost-efficient approach to determine candidate genes in human HCC that may contribute to hepatocarcinogenesis. Our work provides further information critical for understanding the epigenetic processes underlying tumorigenesis and prognosis of HCC.
National Institutes of Health, USA
