Browsing by Author "Chuang, Yi-Hsuan"

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An Integrated Genomic Strategy to Identify CHRNB4 as a Diagnostic/Prognostic Biomarker for Targeted Therapy in Head and Neck Cancer
(2020-05-01)
Chuang, Yi-Hsuan
;
Lee, Chia-Hwa
;
Lin, Chun-Yu
;
Liu, Chia-Lin
;
Huang, Sing-Han
Although many studies have shown the association between smoking and the increased incidence and adverse prognosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), the mechanisms and pharmaceutical targets involved remain unclear. Here, we integrated gene expression signatures, genetic alterations, and survival analyses to identify prognostic indicators and therapeutic targets for smoking HNSCC patients, and we discovered that the FDA-approved drug varenicline inhibits the target for cancer cell migration/invasion. We first identified 18 smoking-related and prognostic genes for HNSCC by using RNA-Seq and clinical follow-up data. One of these genes, CHRNB4 (neuronal acetylcholine receptor subunit beta-4), increased the risk of death by approximately threefold in CHRNB4-high expression smokers compared to CHRNB4-low expression smokers (log rank, p = 0.00042; hazard ratio, 2.82; 95% CI, 1.55-5.14), former smokers, and non-smokers. Furthermore, we examined the functional enrichment of co-regulated genes of CHRNB4 and its 246 frequently occurring copy number alterations (CNAs). We found that these genes were involved in promoting angiogenesis, resisting cell death, and sustaining proliferation, and contributed to much worse outcomes for CHRNB4-high patients. Finally, we performed CHRNB4 gene editing and drug inhibition assays, and the results validate these observations. In summary, our study suggests that CHRNB4 is a prognostic indicator for smoking HNSCC patients and provides a potential new therapeutic drug to prevent recurrence or distant metastasis.
Identification of the PCa28 gene signature as a predictor in prostate cancer
(2018-01-01)
Lee, Jung-Yu
;
Lin, Si-Yu
;
Chuang, Yi-Hsuan
;
Huang, Sing-Han
;
Tseng, Yu-Yao
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second-leading cause of cancer death among men in the worldwide. Most PCa is slowly growing and usually early symptomless. About 70% of PCa patients were diagnosed at later stage and metastasis has been observed. Additionally, the cure rate of PCa closely relies on the early diagnosis with biomarkers. Prostatic Specific Antigen (PSA) is currently the only clinical biomarker for PCa diagnosis. However, the PSA test has inherent limitations and has about 75% of false-positive results. The identification of a set of genes (as biomarkers) for diagnosis and prognosis is an urgent clinical issue for PCa. Here, we integrated genome-wide analysis and protein-protein interaction network to identify potential genes for early diagnostic biomarkers of PCa. First, we collected gene expression datasets of 145 PCa samples, consisting of both tumor and corresponding normal tissues, from two different sources in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). We found 158 and 268 significantly highly and lowly expressed genes, respectively, in tumor samples. Moreover, we proposed cluster score (CS) and predicting score (PS) to select 28 prostate cancer-related genes (called PCa28). The results indicate that PCa28 can discriminate between the normal/tumor tissues and are specific for prostate cancer. Finally, we examined 8 genes in PCa28 on four PCa cell lines by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Experimental results show that up-regulated genes have higher expression level in tumor cells in comparison to normal cells, and down-regulated genes have lower expression level in tumor cells. We believe that our method is useful and PCa28 are potential biomarkers that provide the clues to develop targeting therapy for PCa.
Membrane protein-regulated networks across human cancers
(2019-07-16)
Lin, Chun-Yu
;
Lee, Chia-Hwa
;
Chuang, Yi-Hsuan
;
Lee, Jung-Yu
;
Chiu, Yi-Yuan
Alterations in membrane proteins (MPs) and their regulated pathways have been established as cancer hallmarks and extensively targeted in clinical applications. However, the analysis of MP-interacting proteins and downstream pathways across human malignancies remains challenging. Here, we present a systematically integrated method to generate a resource of cancer membrane protein-regulated networks (CaMPNets), containing 63,746 high-confidence protein-protein interactions (PPIs) for 1962 MPs, using expression profiles from 5922 tumors with overall survival outcomes across 15 human cancers. Comprehensive analysis of CaMPNets links MP partner communities and regulated pathways to provide MP-based gene sets for identifying prognostic biomarkers and druggable targets. For example, we identify CHRNA9 with 12 PPIs (e.g., ERBB2) can be a therapeutic target and find its anti-metastasis agent, bupropion, for treatment in nicotine-induced breast cancer. This resource is a study to systematically integrate MP interactions, genomics, and clinical outcomes for helping illuminate cancer-wide atlas and prognostic landscapes in tumor homo/heterogeneity.