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Biomedical subjects

Bruno Mougin

Publications and source records attributed to Bruno Mougin.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

NASBA: a novel approach to assess hormonal receptors and ERBB2 status in breast cancer.

In human breast cancer, estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor (ERBB2) status are currently determined using different techniques. We propose to assess the mRNA expression of these three clinically relevant markers using a unique technique, real-time nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA). Gene expression of hormone receptors was analyzed and compared to the cytosolic functional protein content as determined with a ligand binding assay (LBA), while ERBB2 mRNA expression was compared to quantitative PCR and ELISA. We observed that the three markers are significantly overexpressed at the mRNA level in positive tumors, as measured by DNA- or protein-based techniques. Biostatistical analysis of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve demonstrated high concordance between NASBA and LBA [area under the curve (AUC) for ROC of 0.899] and showed that ERalpha status could be predicted using the molecular assay with a sensitivity of 72.7% and a specificity of 93.5%. Similar results were obtained for PR (AUC ROC 0.938, sensitivity 75.3%, specificity 100%). Moreover, excellent concordance was observed between NASBA, quantitative PCR and ELISA with respect to ERBB2 (AUC ROC 0.92, sensitivity 90%, specificity 89.7%; and AUC ROC 0.98, sensitivity 100%, specificity 91.5%, respectively). These results suggest that NASBA is well suited for assessing ER, PR and ERBB2 status in breast tumor samples. This approach is rapid, highly sensitive and a standardized method that could be complementary to the existing techniques, especially for small tumors.

Adult↗

Longitudinal study of cytokine and immune transcription factor mRNA expression in septic shock.

Success in treating severe sepsis will require relevant tools to monitor the patient immunoinflammatory status. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of measuring a panel of immunological mediator mRNAs in whole blood and to study their prognostic values in septic shock patients. At the onset of shock, compared to healthy volunteers, mRNA levels in septic shock patients were increased for IL-10, IL-1beta, and high mobility group B1 (HMGB1) and decreased for transforming growth factor beta 1, the Th1, and Th2 transcription factors, T-bet and GATA-3, respectively. Single parameter analysis highlighted an increased expression of IL-10 and HMGB1 mRNA in nonsurvivors and a significant rise over time of GATA3 in survivors. Combining the expression levels of four genes, hierarchical cluster analysis showed that up to 95% of the patients with a similar outcome displayed transcriptional similarities. These results illustrate both the potential of whole blood mRNA quantification assays and the interest of a multiparametric strategy to better stratify septic patients.

Aged↗

Messenger RNA expression of major histocompatibility complex class II genes in whole blood from septic shock patients.

OBJECTIVE: The decreased expression of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR on monocytes is proposed as a major feature of sepsis-induced immunodepression. The objective of the present study was to investigate, in whole blood from septic shock patients, the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of a gene panel, which is essential to ensure major histocompatibility complex class II protein structure, transport, and peptide loading. DESIGN: The authors conducted a cohort study. SETTING: This study was conducted in intensive care units at a university hospital. SUBJECTS: The study included septic shock patients (n = 41) and healthy volunteers (n = 15). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Using quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, we found that the highly polymorphic HLA-DRB1 and nonpolymorphic-DRA mRNA levels were significantly decreased in whole blood from patients with septic shock compared with healthy volunteer both on days 1-3 and 4-10 after the onset of shock. This profile was also observed for genes encoding the invariant chain, the transcription factor class II transactivator (CIITA), and the enzymes involved in the peptide loading cathepsin S, HLA-DMA, and -DMB. The monocyte surface expression of HLA-DR measured by flow cytometry was significantly correlated with the whole-blood mRNA levels of HLA-DRB1 and -DRA and to a lesser extent with the other CIITA-regulated genes HLA-DMA and invariant chain. The correlation between HLA-DRB mRNA and cell-surface expression levels was also observed in a small subset of purified monocyte samples. Regarding the temporal relationship, a significant increase of whole-blood HLA-DRA, -DMA, -DMB, invariant chain, and CIITA mRNA level was observed in survivors (p = .001), whereas expressions remained low in nonsurvivors. CONCLUSIONS: A global transcriptional down regulation of a gene panel required for MHC II-restricted antigen presentation may occur in the course of septic shock. Our results suggest that the transcriptional resumption of CIITA-regulated genes might contribute to the recovery of membrane HLA-DR expression observed in survivors. These results obtained at the mRNA level support previous reports describing the loss of monocyte HLA-DR at the protein level and thus confirm the potential of measuring monocyte HLA-DR in septic patient followup.

Adult↗

Genome-wide analysis of gene expression in neuroblastomas detected by mass screening.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extracranial solid tumor of childhood and the third most common pediatric cancer. Although numerous factors including patient age, disease stage and genetic abnormalities have been shown to be predictive of outcome, the mechanisms responsible for the highly variable clinical behavior of this tumor remain largely unknown. In order to gain new insights into the biology of this tumor, we performed microarray analysis and compared the gene expression patterns of NB detected by mass screening, characterized by highly probable spontaneous regression, versus stage 4 NB with poor prognosis. The bioinformatics analysis revealed a set of 19 discriminatory genes that may play a significant role in the natural progression of the disease. Validation of these results and further mechanistic studies would shed new light on the biology of tumor progression, and provide new tools to predict clinical outcome in children with NB.

Child, Preschool↗

Peptidylpropyl isomerase B (PPIB): a suitable reference gene for mRNA quantification in peripheral whole blood.

Quantitative real-time RT-PCR is a very powerful technique for measuring gene expression at the mRNA level. In order to compare mRNA expression in different experimental or clinical conditions, expression of a target gene has to be normalized to an appropriate internal standard, which is generally a housekeeping gene. In our study, we have tested several housekeeping genes in peripheral whole blood of healthy volunteers and patients suffering from inflammatory diseases. A first analysis of 91 samples illustrated that the mRNA expression of peptidylpropyl isomerase B (PPIB) encoding for cyclophilin B protein, is more stable than beta actin and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, which are both commonly selected as internal standard. Among the three genes tested, beta actin displayed the highest inter-sample variation of expression. The constancy of PPIB mRNA expression was further confirmed by 214 additional samples. In conclusion, we showed that PPIB, in contrast to beta actin and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, is a suitable housekeeping gene in human peripheral blood.

Benchmarking↗

Multiparametric duplex real-time nucleic acid sequence-based amplification assay for mRNA profiling.

Nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) is a sensitive isothermal transcription-based amplification method. We have developed real-time NASBA assays to detect mRNA coding for the estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) and the progesterone receptor (PGR) in breast tumors by means of duplex reactions using cyclophilin B (PPIB) as the normalizing gene. Both the ESR1/PPIB and PGR/PPIB duplex NASBA assays are highly sensitive, specific, and reproducible. Quantification is determined using external standard calibration curves and the ratio between the number of target and housekeeping gene mRNA copies. Amplification of the target gene in the duplex NASBA assay was disrupted when this latter was mixed with a large amount of the housekeeping PPIB gene, suggesting that it is preferable for the normalizing gene chosen to have an expression level comparable to the target gene. Sensitivity and robustness of the duplex NASBA assays were assessed in breast cancer cell lines. Such a rapid and easy-to-use multiparametric duplex real-time NASBA assay could also advantageously be set up for other mRNA profiling applications.

Biological Assay↗

DNA nucleic acid sequence-based amplification-based genotyping for polymorphism analysis.

Nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) is a sensitive isothermal transcription-based amplification method known to be a suitable tool for RNA research. We demonstrate that NASBA technology can be applied to single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis using human genomic DNA as a template. Combination of DNA NASBA with multiplex hybridization of specific molecular beacons makes it possible to unambiguously discriminate the presence of the SNP of interest. This protocol is easy-to-use, robust, and makes it possible to rapidly detect single nucleotide substitutions in clinical or cell line DNA sequences using a large range of DNA input. Such a real-time genotyping DNA NASBA assay can find broad application in clinical diagnostics.

Base Sequence↗