The objective of this study was to identify and characterize a self-renewing subpopulation of human ovarian tumor cells (ovarian cancer-initiating cells, OCICs) fully capable of serial propagation of their original tumor phenotype in animals. Ovarian serous adenocarcinomas were disaggregated and subjected to growth conditions selective for self-renewing, nonadherent spheroids previously shown to derive from tissue stem cells. To affirm the existence of OCICs, xenoengraftment of as few as 100 dissociated spheroid cells allowed full recapitulation of the original tumor (grade 2/grade 3 serous adenocarcinoma), whereas >10⁵ unselected cells remained nontumorigenic. Stemness properties of OCICs (under stem cell–selective conditions) were further established by cell proliferation assays and reverse transcription–PCR, demonstrating enhanced chemoresistance to the ovarian cancer chemotherapeutics cisplatin or paclitaxel and up-regulation of stem cell markers (Bmi-1, stem cell factor, Notch-1, Nanog, nestin, ABCG2, and Oct-4) compared with parental tumor cells or OCICs under differentiating conditions. To identify an OCIC cell surface phenotype, spheroid immunostaining showed significant up-regulation of the hyaluronate receptor CD44 and stem cell factor receptor CD117 (c-kit), a tyrosine kinase oncoprotein. Similar to sphere-forming OCICs, injection of only 100 CD44⁺CD117⁺ cells could also serially propagate their original tumors, whereas 10⁵ CD44⁻CD117⁻ cells remained nontumorigenic. Based on these findings, we assert that epithelial ovarian cancers derive from a subpopulation of CD44⁺CD117⁺ cells, thus representing a possible therapeutic target for this devastating disease. [Cancer Res 2008;68(11):4311–20]

Common sites of breast cancer metastasis include the lung, liver, and bone, and of these secondary metastatic sites, estrogen receptor α (ERα)–positive breast cancer often favors bone. Within secondary organs, cancer cells would predictably encounter tissue-specific fibroblasts or their soluble factors, yet our understanding of how tissue-specific fibroblasts directly affect cancer cell growth rates and survival remains largely unknown. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that mesenchymal fibroblasts isolated from common sites of breast cancer metastasis provide a more favorable microenvironment with respect to tumor growth rates. We found a direct correlation between the ability of breast, lung, and bone fibroblasts to enhance ERα-positive breast cancer cell growth and the level of soluble interleukin-6 (IL-6) produced by each organ-specific fibroblast, and fibroblast-mediated growth enhancement was inhibited by the removal or inhibition of IL-6. Interestingly, mice coinjected with MCF-7 breast tumor cells and senescent skin fibroblasts, which secrete IL-6, developed tumors, whereas mice coinjected with presenescent skin fibroblasts that produce little to no IL-6 failed to form xenograft tumors. We subsequently determined that IL-6 promoted growth and invasion of breast cancer cells through signal transducer and activator of transcription 3–dependent up-regulation of Notch-3, Jagged-1, and carbonic anhydrase IX. These data suggest that tissue-specific fibroblasts and the factors they produce can promote breast cancer disease progression and may represent attractive targets for development of new therapeutics. [Cancer Res 2008;68(21):9087–95]

Testing for DNA methylation has potential in cancer screening. Most previous studies of DNA methylation in cervical cancer used a candidate gene approach. The aim our study was to identify novel genes that are methylated in cervical cancers and to test their potential in clinical applications. We did a differential methylation hybridization using a CpG island (CGI) microarray containing 8640 CGI tags to uncover methylated genes in squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) of the uterine cervix. Pooled DNA from cancer tissues and normal cervical swabs were used for comparison. Methylation‐specific polymerase chain reaction, bisulfite sequencing and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction were used to confirm the methylation status in cell lines, normal cervices (n = 45), low‐grade lesions (n = 45), high‐grade lesions (HSIL; n = 58) and invasive squamous cell carcinomas (SCC; n = 22 from swabs and n = 109 from tissues). Human papillomavirus (HPV) was detected using reverse line blots. We reported 6 genes (SOX1, PAX1, LMX1A, NKX6‐1, WT1 and ONECUT1) more frequently methylated in SCC tissues (81.5, 94.4, 89.9, 80.4, 77.8 and 20.4%, respectively) than in their normal controls (2.2, 0, 6.7, 11.9, 11.1 and 0%, respectively; p < 0.0001). Parallel testing of HPV and PAX1 methylation in cervical swabs confers an improved sensitivity than HPV testing alone (80% vs. 66%) without compromising specificity (63% vs. 64%) for HSIL/SCC. Testing PAX1 methylation marker alone, the specificity for HSIL/SCC is 99%. The analysis of these novel DNA methylations may be a promising approach for the screening of cervical cancers.

The dysregulation of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling plays a crucial role in ovarian carcinogenesis and in maintaining cancer stem cell properties. Classified as a member of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) family, ABCA1 was previously identified by methylated DNA immunoprecipitation microarray (mDIP-Chip) to be methylated in ovarian cancer cell lines, A2780 and CP70. By microarray, it was also found to be upregulated in immortalized ovarian surface epithelial (IOSE) cells following TGF-β treatment. Thus, we hypothesized that ABCA1 may be involved in ovarian cancer and its initiation. We first compared the expression level of ABCA1 in IOSE cells and a panel of ovarian cancer cell lines and found that ABCA1 was expressed in HeyC2, SKOV3, MCP3, and MCP2 ovarian cancer cell lines but downregulated in A2780 and CP70 ovarian cancer cell lines. The reduced expression of ABCA1 in A2780 and CP70 cells was associated with promoter hypermethylation, as demonstrated by bisulfite pyro-sequencing. We also found that knockdown of ABCA1 increased the cholesterol level and promoted cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Further analysis of ABCA1 methylation in 76 ovarian cancer patient samples demonstrated that patients with higher ABCA1 methylation are associated with high stage (P = 0.0131) and grade (P = 0.0137). Kaplan-Meier analysis also found that patients with higher levels of methylation of ABCA1 have shorter overall survival (P = 0.019). Furthermore, tissue microarray using 55 ovarian cancer patient samples revealed that patients with a lower level of ABCA1 expression are associated with shorter progress-free survival (P = 0.038). ABCA1 may be a tumor suppressor and is hypermethylated in a subset of ovarian cancer patients. Hypermethylation of ABCA1 is associated with poor prognosis in these patients.

Background: Altered microbiome composition and aberrant promoter hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) are two important hallmarks of colorectal cancer (CRC). Here we performed concurrent 16S rRNA gene sequencing and methyl-CpG binding domain-based capture sequencing in 33 tissue biopsies (5 normal colonic mucosa tissues, 4 pairs of adenoma and adenoma-adjacent tissues, and 10 pairs of CRC and CRC-adjacent tissues) to identify significant associations between TSG promoter hypermethylation and CRC-associated bacteria, followed by functional validation of the methylation-associated bacteria. Results: Fusobacterium nucleatum and Hungatella hathewayi were identified as the top two methylation-regulating bacteria. Targeted analysis on bona fide TSGs revealed that H. hathewayi and Streptococcus spp. significantly correlated with CDX2 and MLH1 promoter hypermethylation, respectively. Mechanistic validation with cell-line and animal models revealed that F. nucleatum and H. hathewayi upregulated DNA methyltransferase. H. hathewayi inoculation also promoted colonic epithelial cell proliferation in germ-free and conventional mice. Conclusion: Our integrative analysis revealed previously unknown epigenetic regulation of TSGs in host cells through inducing DNA methyltransferase by F. nucleatum and H. hathewayi, and established the latter as CRC-promoting bacteria.