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Samuel C Mok

Publications and source records attributed to Samuel C Mok.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Ovarian cancer is a heterogeneous disease.

The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the molecular profiles of different histologic types of epithelial ovarian cancer before the disease has metastasized beyond the ovary. Stage 1 epithelial ovarian cancers were chosen for analysis of early genetic events associated with different cell types. Allelotyping of 47 cases was performed using 224 polymorphic markers. Analysis with Fisher's exact test found markers specific for grade 3 tumors and clear cell histology. Hierarchal clustering analysis using dChip software revealed that the pattern of allele loss in eight regions on four chromosomes led to grouping of grade 3 tumors, endometrioid (grades 1 and 2) tumors, and clear cell tumors. We conclude that ovarian cancer is a heterogeneous disease in which histologic phenotypes correlate with distinct genetic patterns.

Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell↗
PubMed2005

Clinical applications of microarray technology: creatine kinase B is an up-regulated gene in epithelial ovarian cancer and shows promise as a serum marker.

OBJECTIVE: (1) To identify and (2) validate genes that are up-regulated in ovarian cancer, and (3) to investigate whether the activity of a candidate gene, creatine kinase B (CKB) is elevated in pre-operative sera from ovarian cancer patients compared to patients with benign pelvic masses and normal controls. METHODS: MICROMAX cDNA microarray system and RNA derived from pooled ovarian cancer cell lines and normal ovary surface epithelial cells (HOSE) were used to identify differentially expressed genes. Using RNA from both cell lines and from tissue obtained through laser capture microdissection (LCM), we performed quantitative PCR in order to validate up-regulation of one of these genes, creatine kinase B (CKB). Using a commercially available enzyme assay, CKB activity was measured in pre-operative serum samples obtained from 45 ovarian cancer patients, 49 patients with a benign pelvic mass, as well as 37 normal controls. Statistical analysis was preformed using an unpaired Student's t test. RESULTS: Microarray technology revealed that CKB gene expression had a cancer to HOSE ratio of 18. RNA levels of CKB, measured by real-time PCR, were elevated a mean (and standard error) of 36-fold (8.4) in cancer cell lines compared with HOSE cells and 22.75-fold (10.45) in microdissected ovarian cancer epithelial cells compared with normal ovarian epithelial cells. In serum, the mean (+/-standard error) of CKB enzyme activity in cancer cases was 24.7 U/L units (+/- 5.1) compared to 9.6 U/L (+/- 1.6) for benign mass cases (P = 0.0088) and to 8.5 U/L (1.7) for normal controls (P = 0.0096). CONCLUSIONS: Microarray technology offers a method to identify tumor biomarkers with potential clinical usefulness. Our data indicated that CKB gene expression is up-regulated in ovarian cancer cells in vitro and in vivo and that CKB enzyme activity is significantly elevated in sera from ovarian cancer patients, including those with stage I disease. These findings suggest a potential role for CKB as a marker for early diagnosis.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Low erythrocyte complement receptor type 1 (CR1, CD35) expression in preeclamptic gestations.

PROBLEM: Erythrocyte complement receptor type 1 (E-CR1) is the main immune complex clearance mechanism in humans. Decreased E-CR1 expression is noted in certain inflammatory disorders. Recent evidence implicates inflammation in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. We investigated whether E-CR1 is decreased in preeclampsia. METHOD OF STUDY: E-CR1 protein expression was quantified by radioimmunoassay. Plasma concentration of soluble CR1 was quantified using a specific enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Quantitative genotypes were evaluated by HindIII restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. RESULTS: E-CR1 expression was reduced in patients with preeclampsia. Lack of neoantigen expression (indicative of enzymatic cleavage of CR1) or elevated plasma-soluble CR1 was evidence against an acquired loss of E-CR1. Genotype analysis revealed a higher frequency of a CR1 allele associated with low E-CR1 expression in preeclampsia when compared with normal pregnant controls. CONCLUSIONS: E-CR1 expression is decreased in preeclamptic patients and levels correlate with severity of disease. This condition may have a genetic basis in some patients.

Erythrocytes↗
PubMed2005

Whole-genome allelotyping using laser microdissected tissue.

Laser-based microdissection technologies have been recently developed and applied to procure homogenous populations of tumor cells from paraffin-embedded and frozen tissue sections. When combined with whole-genomic amplification techniques, sufficient amounts of DNA can be generated from a small number of tumor cells procured by laser-based microdissection. Amplified DNA can then be used to perform high-throughput genome-wide allelotyping using fluorescent-labeled microsatellite markers spanning the whole genome. Loss of heterozygosity can be assessed by Genescan and Genotyper software (ABI Prism).

Alleles↗
PubMed2005

Epigenetic silencing of cellular retinol-binding proteins in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Aberrant retinoid signaling in human cancers is extending from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. Recently, we have demonstrated frequent epigenetic inactivation of a retinoic acid receptor (RAR), RARbeta2, in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). To further explore targets contributing to aberrant retinoid signaling in NPC, the expression of cellular retinol-binding proteins (CRBPs), cellular retinoic acid-binding proteins (CRABPs), RARs, and retinoid X receptors (RXRs) was examined. Apart from RARbeta2, transcriptional silencing of two CRBPs, CRBPI and CRBPIV, was observed in NPC cell lines and xenografts. Hypermethylation of CRBPI and CRBPIV CpG islands was found to be closely correlated with the loss of expression. Treatment with the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, resulted in reexpression of CRBP1 and CRBPIV gene expression in NPC cell lines. Both CRBPI and CRBPIV hypermethylations were also observed in 43/48 (87.8%) and 26/48 (54.2%) primary NPC tumors, respectively. Here, we reported for the first time that CRBPIV was transcriptionally inactivated by promoter hypermethylation in human cancer. Simultaneous methylation of CRBPI, CRBPIV, and RARbeta2 was commonly found in NPC primary tumors. Our findings implied that epigenetic disruption of the CRBPs, CRBPI and CRBPIV, is important in NPC tumorigenesis and may contribute to the loss of retinoic acid responsiveness in cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Osteopontin as an adjunct to CA125 in detecting recurrent ovarian cancer.

PURPOSE: CA125 is currently the only tumor marker to have a validated role in the postoperative monitoring of ovarian cancer. Osteopontin (OPN) is a putative plasma biomarker that was recently identified using high-throughput cDNA microarray technology. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that OPN is a clinically useful adjunct to CA125 in detecting recurrent ovarian cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Thirty-eight ovarian cancer patients had a single pretreatment blood sample and 200 postoperative specimens were prospectively collected during chemotherapy and follow-up. OPN measurements were performed using an enzyme-linked immunoassay, and CA125 levels were concurrently obtained. Wilcoxon's signed rank-sum test was used to perform paired comparisons between pretreatment and postoperative OPN and CA125 measurements. Longitudinal mixed effects polynomial models were used to determine whether OPN and CA125 levels correlated with the development of recurrent ovarian cancer. RESULTS: The median pretreatment OPN level was 178 ng/ml (range, 12-3468) and the median CA125 measurement was 812 units/ml (range, 12-81,500). There was a trend for OPN levels to decline after treatment was initiated (P = 0.07), but decreasing CA125 measurements were more consistently observed (P = 0.0009). The quadratic functional trends of OPN and CA125 were each highly significant (P < 0.0001). Although inferior to CA125 in predicting clinical response to therapy, OPN rose earlier in 90% (95% confidence interval, 56-100%) of the patients developing recurrent disease (median lead time, 3 months). CONCLUSIONS: OPN may be a clinically useful adjunct to CA125 in detecting recurrent ovarian cancer.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Concurrent analysis of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and copy number abnormality (CNA) for oral premalignancy progression using the Affymetrix 10K SNP mapping array.

Like most human cancers, oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is characterized by genetic instabilities. In this study, a single platform (Affymetrix 10K SNP mapping array) was used to generate both loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and DNA copy number abnormality (CNA) read-outs for precise and high-resolution genetic alteration profiles. As a proof of principle, we performed this concordant analysis on a panel of deletion and trisomy cell lines with known chromosomal alterations and the precise LOH and CNA regions were detected as expected. Using a previously described oral SCC progression model system, we identified a set of genomic regions that may be associated with the malignancy progression, including chromosome regions 3pter-3p35.3, 3p14.1-3p13, 11p, 11q14.3-11q22.2, and 11q13.5-11q14.1. These data show that it is feasible to utilize high-density SNP arrays to generate concordant LOH and CNA profiles at high resolution.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell↗
PubMed2004

Identification of DNA copy number changes in microdissected serous ovarian cancer tissue using a cDNA microarray platform.

We have established a method for using a cDNA array platform in combination with degenerate oligonucleotide primer polymerase chain reaction (DOP-PCR) and taramide signal amplification (TSA) to identify DNA copy number abnormalities (CNA) in cancer cell lines and cancer cells procured with laser-based microdissection. To determine the sensitivity and specificity for detecting single-copy gain and loss, receiver-operator curve analysis was performed on hybridization signal ratios generated from non-DOP and DOP amplified female and male DNA using a 10,816-element cDNA microarray. A cutoff value of 1.12 and 1.07 average signal ratio for X-chromosomal genes versus autosomal genes provided a sensitivity and specificity of 50 and 79%, respectively, for non-DOP amplified DNA and a sensitivity and specificity of 50 and 72%, respectively, for DOP amplified DNA. We used this approach to identify DNA copy number abnormalities in the ovarian cancer cell line OVCA633, which has previously been shown to have 12p amplification. Transcription profiling of OVCA633 was also performed. Two amplified and overexpressed genes located on 12p11, KRAS2 and LRMP, were identified; these were validated with quantitative real-time PCR. Subsequently, the same approach was used to identify CNAs and gene expression alterations in 11 microdissected serous ovarian adenocarcinoma cases. Validated data revealed amplification and overexpression of ERBB3 and FOS and deletion and underexpression of KRT6 and APXL in more than 50% of the tissue samples. These results show the feasibility of using the cDNA array platform to identify changes in DNA and mRNA copy number simultaneously in microdissected tumor tissues.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed2004

Cyclin E amplification and overexpression in clear cell adenocarcinoma of the ovary.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to compare DNA, mRNA and protein levels of the cyclin E between clear cell (CC) and serous (SC) ovarian carcinomas, and evaluate the relationship between cyclin E and p53 status. METHOD: We examined the DNA, mRNA and protein levels of cyclin E and the protein level of p53 in 44 CCs and 39 SCs using microdissected tissues. RESULTS: Relative cyclin E mRNA expression was significantly higher in CC (3.62, 95% CI, 2.24-4.99) than in SC (1.75, 95% CI, 1.05-2.45; p = 0.0098). The percentage of positive nuclear staining of cyclin E was significantly higher in CC (48.3, 95% CI, 40.4-56.1) than SC (25.3, 95% CI, 17.4-33.3; p = 0.0001). The mRNA and protein expression of cyclin E was significantly correlated (r = 0.66, p < 0.0001). However, the correlation between relative DNA copy number and relative mRNA expression was not significant (r = -0.063; p = 0.66). Percentage of positive nuclear staining of cyclin E was significantly higher in p53 positive cases (51.8, 95% CI, 40.0-63.5) than p53 negative cases (36.2, 95% CI, 28.2-44.2; p = 0.028). CONCLUSIONS: Cyclin E expression is significantly higher in CC than in SC. Cyclin E expression is significantly related with p53 positivity.

Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell↗
PubMed2004

Molecular biology of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia: a review.

Gestational trophoblastic diseases are interrelated conditions characterized by abnormal growth of chorionic tissues with varying propensitiesfor local invasion and metastases. These diseases are characterized by altered expression of several growth regulatory factors and oncogenes. On the basis of the expression of various oncogenes and growth factors, partial mole appears to be more like normal placenta, while complete mole seems to be more like choriocarcinoma. These results may have both prognostic and therapeutic consequences and provide insight into the relationship between normal placenta and gestational trophoblastic diseases.

Cell Adhesion Molecules↗
PubMed2003

Prostate carcinoma tissue proteomics for biomarker discovery.

BACKGROUND: The advent of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test has had a profound impact on the diagnosis and treatment of prostate carcinoma. However, the use of PSA levels alone for screening for prostate carcinoma was compromised by the variations in the amount of PSA produced by the benign prostatic tissue specimens. Proteins were involved in various pathways that determine the behavior of a cell. Therefore, information regarding proteins may reveal drug targets and/or markers for early detection. METHODS: The authors used surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry to determine the protein profiles from fresh tissues of the prostate. Laser capture microdissection was performed to isolate pure populations of cells. RESULTS: The authors identified a protein with an average m/Z of 24,782.56 +/- 107.27 that was correlated with the presence of prostate carcinoma. Furthermore, using laser capture microdissection, they demonstrated that the origin of this protein, which the authors designated PCa-24, was derived from the epithelial cells of the prostate. PCa-24 expression was detected in 16 of 17 (94%) prostate carcinoma specimens but not in paired normal cells. In addition, this protein was not expressed in any of the 12 benign prostatic hyperplasia specimens that were assayed. CONCLUSIONS: PCa-24 may be useful a marker for prostate carcinoma.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Identification of epithelial cell adhesion molecule autoantibody in patients with ovarian cancer.

The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (Ep-CAM) exhibited an ovarian cancer:normal human ovarian surface epithelium ratio of 444. For validation studies, real-time quantitative PCR analysis and immunohistochemistry were performed in normal and malignant ovarian epithelial cell lines and tissues. To evaluate the potential of the Ep-CAM autoantibody as a tumor marker, we examined the amount of Ep-CAM autoantibody in serum samples obtained from ovarian cancer patients and normal controls by an ELISA. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis revealed significant overexpression of Ep-CAM mRNA in cancer cell lines (P < 0.001) and microdissected cancer tissues (P < 0.05), compared with that in cultured normal human ovarian surface epithelium and microdissected germinal epithelium, respectively. Immunolocalization of the Ep-CAM autoantibody showed that the sera of ovarian cancer patients expressed higher levels of Ep-CAM autoantibody than benign tumor patients and normal controls (P < 0.05). The levels of Ep-CAM autoantibody found were as follows: 0.132 in 52 patients with ovarian cancer, 0.098 in 26 cases with benign gynecologic disease, and 0.090 in 26 normal women. This investigation has shown that the Ep-CAM autoantibody was found to be associated with ovarian cancer and suggested that future research assessing its clinical usefulness would be worthwhile.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗
PubMed2003

Choice of normal ovarian control influences determination of differentially expressed genes in ovarian cancer expression profiling studies.

PURPOSE: As with many cancers thought to be of epithelial origin, expression profiling studies of ovarian cancer have relied on a variety of sources of normal cells for comparison with tumors, including whole ovary samples (WO), ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) exposed to short-term culture, and immortalized OSE cell lines (IOSE). Our purpose was to assess the impact of the use of different types of normal controls on the determination of gene expression alterations in ovarian cancer studies. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We compared the gene expression profiles generated on an 11,000-element cDNA microarray of OSE brushings, whole ovary samples, short-term cultures of normal OSE, SV40 large T antigen-immortalized OSE cell lines, and telomerase-immortalized OSE cell lines. The function of the groups as normal controls was then assessed by separate comparisons of each group to a set of 24 serous ovarian carcinoma samples. RESULTS: The normal groups formed robust, distinct clusters in hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling. The Pearson correlation coefficient for all combinations of any two of the groups ranged from 0.04 to 0.54, emphasizing the disparity of the groups. In the gene lists produced by comparing each normal group with the ovarian cancer samples, the majority of genes were unique to that normal-cancer comparison, with no gene appearing on all five lists. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the selection of a normal control to compare with epithelial ovarian cancer samples in microarray studies strongly influences the genes that are identified as differentially expressed and complicates comparison with studies using a different normal control.

Blotting, Northern↗
PubMed2003

Haptoglobin-alpha subunit as potential serum biomarker in ovarian cancer: identification and characterization using proteomic profiling and mass spectrometry.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to identify and characterize new serum biomarkers in ovarian cancer patients using mass spectrometric protein profiling and specific immunological assays. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Serum samples from 80 cancer patients and 91 healthy women were analyzed by surface enhanced laser desorption and ionization-mass spectrometry (MS) profiling. A candidate biomarker was purified by affinity chromatography, and its sequence was determined by liquid chromatography-tandem MS. An antibody was generated from the synthesized peptide for quantitative validation in the cases and controls. CA125 was determined and compared with the same set of specimens. RESULTS: Using surface enhanced laser desorption and ionization, we found a serum biomarker at approximately 11700 Da, which had peak intensity significantly higher in cases (1.366) compared with controls (0.208, P = 0.002), and subsequently identified this as the alpha chain of haptoglobin. ELISA indicated that Hp-alpha was </=2-fold higher in cancer serum compared with normal, benign tumor, and other gynecological cancers (P < 0.05) and had 64% sensitivity at 90% specificity alone and 91% sensitivity and 95% specificity if combined with CA125. CONCLUSIONS: Haptoglobin-derived alpha subunit is a potential marker for ovarian cancer that is complementary to CA125. MS-based protein profiling is a valuable tool for screening protein markers and useful to detect post-translational modification of tumor-associated proteins or abnormal metabolic products. However, confirmation of protein identity with specific antibodies is crucial for clinical application and functional studies.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2003

Disruption of the Fanconi anemia-BRCA pathway in cisplatin-sensitive ovarian tumors.

Ovarian tumor cells are often genomically unstable and hypersensitive to cisplatin. To understand the molecular basis for this phenotype, we examined the integrity of the Fanconi anemia-BRCA (FANC-BRCA) pathway in those cells. This pathway regulates cisplatin sensitivity and is governed by the coordinate activity of six genes associated with Fanconi anemia (FANCA, FANCC, FANCD2, FANCE, FANCF and FANCG) as well as BRCA1 and BRCA2 (FANCD1). Here we show that the FANC-BRCA pathway is disrupted in a subset of ovarian tumor lines. Mono-ubiquitination of FANCD2, a measure of the function of this pathway, and cisplatin resistance were restored by functional complementation with FANCF, a gene that is upstream in this pathway. FANCF inactivation in ovarian tumors resulted from methylation of its CpG island, and acquired cisplatin resistance correlated with demethylation of FANCF. We propose a model for ovarian tumor progression in which the initial methylation of FANCF is followed by FANCF demethylation and ultimately results in cisplatin resistance.

Cisplatin↗
PubMed2003

Protein profiling of complete mole and normal placenta using ProteinChip analysis on laser capture microdissected cells.

INTRODUCTION: Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SELDI-MS) is a novel method for biomarker discovery that can provide a rapid protein expression profile from a variety of biological samples. Since SELDI-MS requires a small amount of biological material, this technique is ideal for analyzing proteins isolated from microdissected tissue samples. The current study was undertaken to investigate potential differences in protein expression between normal and molar trophoblast procured by laser capture microdissection (LCM) utilizing SELDI ProteinChip array technology. Further knowledge of protein expression in complete mole may advance our understanding of the pathogenesis of gestational trophoblastic diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Laser capture microdissected trophoblast cells from nine fresh complete moles were analyzed and compared to the trophoblast cells from 10 fresh normal placentas of comparable gestational age, using SELDI ProteinChip to identify potential differences in protein expression. RESULTS: Three metal binding polypeptides were identified with the estimated molecular weights of 11.3, 13.8, and 14.0 kDa, which appeared in significantly lower levels in complete mole as compared to normal trophoblast cells (P < 0.001, P < 0.03, and P < 0.01). DISCUSSION: While further characterization of these protein peaks is important and necessary, our current work clearly demonstrates that the combined technology of SELDI and LCM is effective in distinguishing protein expression between normal placenta and complete mole. Further knowledge of protein expression in complete mole may advance our understanding of molecular mechanisms and improve management in gestational trophoblastic diseases.

Dissection↗