Amyloid-ß oligomers induce differential gene expression in adult human brain slices.

Cognitive decline in Alzheimer disease (AD) is increasingly attributed to the neuronal impact of soluble oligomers of the amyloid-ß peptide (AßOs). Current knowledge on the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the toxicity of AßOs stems largely from rodent-derived cell/tissue culture experiments or from transgenic models of AD, which do not necessarily recapitulate the complexity of the human disease. Here, we used DNA microarray and RT-PCR to investigate changes in transcription in adult human cortical slices exposed to sublethal doses of AßOs. The results revealed a set of 27 genes that showed consistent differential expression upon exposure of slices from three different donors to AßOs. Functional classification of differentially expressed genes revealed that AßOs impact pathways important for neuronal physiology and known to be dysregulated in AD, including vesicle trafficking, cell adhesion, actin cytoskeleton dynamics, and insulin signaling. Most genes (70%) were down-regulated by AßO treatment, suggesting a predominantly inhibitory effect on the corresponding pathways. Significantly, AßOs induced down-regulation of synaptophysin, a presynaptic vesicle membrane protein, suggesting a mechanism by which oligomers cause synapse failure. The results provide insight into early mechanisms of pathogenesis of AD and suggest that the neuronal pathways affected by AßOs may be targets for the development of novel diagnostic or therapeutic approaches.

Gene expression profile of residual breast cancer after doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

In breast cancer patients, primary chemotherapy is associated with the same survival benefits as adjuvant chemotherapy. Residual tumors represent a clinical challenge, as they may be resistant to additional cycles of the same drugs. Our aim was to identify differential transcripts expressed in residual tumors, after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, that might be related with tumor resistance. Hence, 16 patients with paired tumor samples, collected before and after treatment (4 cycles doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide, AC) had their gene expression evaluated on cDNA microarray slides containing 4,608 genes. Three hundred and eighty-nine genes were differentially expressed (paired Student's t-test, pFDR<0.01) between pre- and post-chemotherapy samples and among the regulated functions were the JNK cascade and cell death. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering identified one branch comprising exclusively, eight pre-chemotherapy samples and another branch, including the former correspondent eight post-chemotherapy samples and other 16 paired pre/post-chemotherapy samples. No differences in clinical and tumor parameters could explain this clustering. Another group of 11 patients with paired samples had expression of selected genes determined by real-time RT-PCR and CTGF and DUSP1 were confirmed more expressed in post- as compared to pre-chemotherapy samples. After neoadjuvant chemotherapy some residual samples may retain their molecular signature while others present significant changes in their gene expression, probably induced by the treatment. CTGF and DUSP1 overexpression in residual samples may be a reflection of resistance to further administration of AC regimen.

Molecular profiling of isolated histological components of wilms tumor implicates a common role for the Wnt signaling pathway in kidney and tumor development.

Wilms tumor (WT), a tumor composed of three histological components - blastema (BL), epithelia and stroma - is considered an appropriate model system to study the biological relationship between differentiation and tumorigenesis. To investigate molecular associations between nephrogenesis and WT, the gene expression pattern of individual cellular components was analyzed, using a customized platform containing 4,608 genes. WT gene expression patterns were compared to genes regulated during kidney differentiation. BL had a closer gene expression pattern to the earliest stage of normal renal development. The BL gene expression pattern was compared to that of fetal kidney (FK) and also between FK and mature kidney, identifying 25 common deregulated genes supposedly involved in the earliest events of WT onset. Quantitative RT-PCR was performed, confirming the difference in expression levels for 13 of 16 genes (81.2%) in the initial set and 8 of 13 (61.5%) in an independent set of samples. An overrepresentation of genes belonging to the Wnt signaling pathway was identified, namely PLCG2, ROCK2 and adenomatous polyposis coli (APC). Activation of the Wnt pathway was confirmed in WT, using APC at protein level and PLCG2 at mRNA and protein level. APC showed positive nuclear immunostaining for an independent set of WT samples, similarly to the FK in week 11. Lack of PLCG2 expression was confirmed in WT and in FK until week 18. Taken together, these results provided molecular evidence of the recapitulation of the embryonic kidney by WT as well as involvement of the Wnt pathway in the earliest events of WT onset.