Oligonucleotide microarray analysis of distinct gene expression patterns in colorectal cancer tissues harboring BRAF and K-ras mutations.
Various types of human cancers harbor BRAF somatic mutations, leading researchers to seek molecular targets for BRAF inhibitors. A mutually exclusive relationship has been observed between the BRAF-V600E mutation and K-ras mutations, suggesting that the BRAF-V600E mutation may differ from the other BRAF mutant types. Here, we used microarray analysis to examine differences between the BRAF and K-ras mutant colorectal samples and within the BRAF group (V600E versus non-V600E), in the hope that the identified gene sets could form the basis for new target development. Eleven colorectal cancers (CRCs) with BRAF mutations and nine with K-ras mutations were examined by high-density microarray analysis. We also tested whether other significant genetic or clinical status involved in CRC development, such as APC and TP53 mutations, MSI and TNM-Duke's staging, were related with the observed BRAF- or K-ras associated expression profiles. Unsupervised two-way hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling revealed that the differentially expressed genes clustered according to the mutation status of BRAF and K-ras, and that samples with the BRAF-V600E and non-V600E mutants could be distinguished from each other by gene profiling. Examination of TNM-Duke's staging, MSI and mutations in APC and TP53 revealed that these significant mutations could not account for the hierarchical clustering results observed in our study. We herein identified distinct gene expression patterns and gene sets that may form the basis for identification of BRAF-targeting molecules or provide researchers with a better understanding of the molecular pathogenesis underlying RAS-RAF signaling.
Kim
Il-Jin
IJ
Korean Hereditary Tumor Registry, Cancer Research Institute and Cancer Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Kang
Hio Chung
HC
Jang
Sang-Geun
SG
Kim
Kun
K
Ahn
Sun-A
SA
Yoon
Hyun-Ju
HJ
Yoon
Sang Nam
SN
Park
Jae-Gahb
JG
D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D011905:Genes, ras; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000502:physiology
C482119:BRAF protein, human; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf; D018631:ras Proteins