A growing body of research has shown that the stroma plays a significant role in the maintenance and growth of carcinomas, but little is known about the different types of stroma that exist in tumors. Moreover, as the stromal cells within the tumor are thought to be """"""""normal"""""""" and less genetically labile than the neoplastic cells, development of acquired resistance to therapy is thought to be less likely and as such, the tumor stroma may be an excellent target for directed therapy. Tumor stroma contains a variety of mesenchymal cell types that include fibroblasts, myofibroblasts, endothelial cells, and adipocytes. The expression profiles of these lineages are only partially known and it is likely that several currently unrecognized subtypes of these cells exist. We hypothesize that within a particular group of tumors (e.g. breast carcinoma) there exist distinct types of stroma that affect tumor growth in different ways. We further hypothesize that soft tissue tumors (STTs), thought to be derived from different stromal precursors, could function as discovery tools for the various stroma types. Soft tissue tumors (including the malignant variants called sarcomas) are derived from a wide variety of normal connective tissue cells and can be thought of as clonal outgrowths of different subtypes of mesenchymal cells such as fibroblasts and myofibroblasts, and other, as yet undiscovered, stromal components. We propose to use STTs as """"""""discovery tools"""""""" in a genome-wide search to discover groups of novel markers that identify distinct types of tumor stroma and that recognize the normal connective tissue counterparts from which these types of stroma are derived. By identifying subsets of genes that distinguish different STT, our project will examine how these gene sets can differentiate between carcinomas with distinct stroma types. In two separate studies we have shown that this is feasible and that in fact the different stroma types are associated with different clinical outcomes. In the proposed project, we will perform gene expression profiling on additional STTs to discover further new types of carcinoma stroma. Subsequently, we will verify and extend our findings on tissue micro arrays containing hundreds of specimens of several carcinomas from patients with known clinical follow-up. Finally, we will identify epithelial-stromal gene-pairs involved in the """"""""cross-talk"""""""" between cancer and stromal cells. This grant proposal aims to expand our understanding of stromal responses to cancer and, by finding new genes and pathways involved in this response, identify new targets for tumor microenvironment-targeted therapy. In addition to their use as prognostic markers, we believe that potential therapeutic targets may also be discovered in the group of genes, especially those involved in """"""""cross-talk"""""""" between cancer and stromal cells. Our studies will also help identify which subsets of cancers would response to these stroma-targeted therapies. The fact that different carcinomas share expression of these targets would mean that large groups of patients suffering from a variety of tumors could benefit.

Public Health Relevance

This grant proposal aims to expand our understanding of stromal responses to cancer and, by finding new genes and pathways involved in this response, identify new targets for tumor microenvironment-targeted therapy. In addition to their use as prognostic markers, we believe that potential therapeutic targets may also be discovered in the group of genes, especially those involved in cross-talk between cancer and stromal cells. The fact that different carcinomas share expression of these targets would mean that large groups of patients suffering from a variety of tumors could benefit.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA129927-06
Application #
8394921
Study Section
Tumor Microenvironment Study Section (TME)
Program Officer
Lively, Tracy (LUGO)
Project Start
2009-01-10
Project End
2014-11-30
Budget Start
2012-12-01
Budget End
2014-11-30
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$356,582
Indirect Cost
$130,897
Name
Stanford University
Department
Pathology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
009214214
City
Stanford
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94305
West, Robert B; van de Rijn, Matt; Chen, Julia L (2014) Stromal responses among carcinomas--response. Clin Cancer Res 20:1397
Nair, Viswam S; Gevaert, Olivier; Davidzon, Guido et al. (2014) NF-?B protein expression associates with (18)F-FDG PET tumor uptake in non-small cell lung cancer: a radiogenomics validation study to understand tumor metabolism. Lung Cancer 83:189-96
Brunner, Alayne L; Li, Jun; Guo, Xiangqian et al. (2014) A shared transcriptional program in early breast neoplasias despite genetic and clinical distinctions. Genome Biol 15:R71
Guo, Xiangqian; Zhu, Shirley X; Brunner, Alayne L et al. (2013) Next generation sequencing-based expression profiling identifies signatures from benign stromal proliferations that define stromal components of breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res 15:R117
Chen, Julia L-Y; Espinosa, IƱigo; Lin, Albert Y et al. (2013) Stromal responses among common carcinomas correlated with clinicopathologic features. Clin Cancer Res 19:5127-35
Chisholm, Karen M; Wan, Yue; Li, Rui et al. (2012) Detection of long non-coding RNA in archival tissue: correlation with polycomb protein expression in primary and metastatic breast carcinoma. PLoS One 7:e47998
Brunner, Alayne L; Beck, Andrew H; Edris, Badreddin et al. (2012) Transcriptional profiling of long non-coding RNAs and novel transcribed regions across a diverse panel of archived human cancers. Genome Biol 13:R75
Mills, Anne M; Beck, Andrew H; Montgomery, Kelli D et al. (2011) Expression of subtype-specific group 1 leiomyosarcoma markers in a wide variety of sarcomas by gene expression analysis and immunohistochemistry. Am J Surg Pathol 35:583-9
Wu, Julie M; Beck, Andrew H; Pate, Lisa L et al. (2011) Endogenous versus tumor-specific host response to breast carcinoma: a study of stromal response in synchronous breast primaries and biopsy site changes. Clin Cancer Res 17:437-46
Beck, Andrew H; Weng, Ziming; Witten, Daniela M et al. (2010) 3'-end sequencing for expression quantification (3SEQ) from archival tumor samples. PLoS One 5:e8768

Showing the most recent 10 out of 13 publications