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Ben Beheshti

Publications and source records attributed to Ben Beheshti.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Evidence of multifocality of telomere erosion in high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HPIN) and concurrent carcinoma.

Mechanisms underlying prostate cancer (CaP) initiation and progression are poorly understood. A chromosomal instability mechanism leading to the generation of numerical and structural chromosomal changes has been implicated in the preneoplastic and neoplastic stages of CaP. Telomere dysfunction is one potential mechanism associated with the onset of such instability. To determine whether there was alteration in telomere length and chromosome number, 15 paraffin-embedded prostatectomy specimens were investigated using quantitative peptide nucleic acid (PNA) FISH analysis of representative foci of carcinoma, putative precancerous lesions (high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, HPIN) and nondysplastic prostate epithelium. A significant decrease in telomere length was shown in both HPIN and CaP in comparison with normal epithelium. In addition, elevated rates of aneusomy suggested that increased levels of chromosomal aberrations were associated with decreased telomere length. Moreover, multiple foci of HPIN were shown to have a heterogeneous overall reduction of telomere length. This reduction was more evident in the histologic regions of the prostate containing CaP. Such observations lend support to the hypothesis that telomere erosion may be a consistent feature of CaP oncogenesis and may also be associated with the generation of chromosomal instability that characterizes this malignancy.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Parallel analysis of sporadic primary ovarian carcinomas by spectral karyotyping, comparative genomic hybridization, and expression microarrays.

Analysis of ovarian carcinomas has shown that karyotypes are often highly abnormal and cannot be identified with certainty by conventional cytogenetic methods. In this study, 17 tumors derived from 13 patients were analyzed by a combination of spectral karyotyping (SKY), comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), and expression microarrays. Within the study group, a total of 396 chromosomal rearrangements could be identified by SKY and CGH analysis. When the distribution of aberrations was normalized with respect to relative genomic length, chromosomes 3, 8, 11, 17, and 21 had the highest frequencies. Parallel microarray expression studies of 1718 human cDNAs were used to analyze expression profiles and to determine whether correlating gene expression with chromosomal rearrangement would identify smaller subsets of differentially expressed genes. Within the entire set of samples, microarray expression analysis grouped together poorly differentiated tumors irrespective of histological subtype. For three patients, a comparison between genomic alterations and gene expression pattern was performed on samples of primary and metastatic tumors. Their common origin was demonstrated by the close relationship of both the SKY and CGH karyotypes and the observed profiles of gene expression. In agreement with the pattern of genomic imbalance observed for chromosome 3 in ovarian cancer, the relative expression profile with respect to a normal ovary exhibited a contiguous pattern of reduced expression of genes mapping to the 3p25.5-3p21.31 and increased expression of genes from 3q13.33-3q28. This study demonstrates that SKY, CGH, and microarray analysis can in combination identify significantly smaller subsets of differentially expressed genes for future studies.

Adult↗

Resolution of genotypic heterogeneity in prostate tumors using polymerase chain reaction and comparative genomic hybridization on microdissected carcinoma and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia foci.

Prostate cancer (CaP) is a multifocal heterogenous disease. A major challenge in CaP research is to identify genetic biomarkers that herald aggressive transformation. To investigate the effect of tumor heterogeneity on the analysis of genomic aberration, we compared the results of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) analysis of DNA extracted from tumor bulk against that of DNA amplified by degenerate oligonucleotide primed polymerase chain reaction (DOP-PCR) from homogeneous cell population obtained by laser capture microdissection of discrete tumor foci. Sampling by microdissection, aberrations were observed in three of three foci of carcinoma involved with prostatic capsule, and in two of three prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) foci examined. Carcinoma foci consistently exhibited more extensive aberrations than the PIN samples obtained from the same tumor. Within these samples, the different tumor foci exhibited gain of 8q, whereas PIN showed no consistent aberration. Using bulk extracted DNA, CGH detected aberrations in only 3 of 21 samples investigated, despite the known trisomy 8 status, as revealed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The results of this study demonstrate that CGH analysis using bulk dissected fresh tissue is insufficiently sensitive to fully detect the chromosomal numerical aberrations in CaP. Given the considerable intratumor genomic heterogeneity, CGH with microdissection and DOP-PCR amplification provides a more complete repertoire of aberrations as well as a better phenotype-genotype correlation in prostate tumors.

Carcinoma↗

Microarray CGH.

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Computational Biology↗

Chromosomal localization of DNA amplifications in neuroblastoma tumors using cDNA microarray comparative genomic hybridization.

Conventional comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) profiling of neuroblastomas has identified many genomic aberrations, although the limited resolution has precluded a precise localization of sequences of interest within amplicons. To map high copy number genomic gains in clinically matched stage IV neuroblastomas, CGH analysis using a 19,200-feature cDNA microarray was used. A dedicated (freely available) algorithm was developed for rapid in silico determination of chromosomal localizations of microarray cDNA targets, and for generation of an ideogram-type profile of copy number changes. Using these methodologies, novel gene amplifications undetectable by chromosome CGH were identified, and larger MYCN amplicon sizes (in one tumor up to 6 Mb) than those previously reported in neuroblastoma were identified. The genes HPCAL1, LPIN1/KIAA0188, NAG, and NSE1/LOC151354 were found to be coamplified with MYCN. To determine whether stage IV primary tumors could be further subclassified based on their genomic copy number profiles, hierarchical clustering was performed. Cluster analysis of microarray CGH data identified three groups: 1) no amplifications evident, 2) a small MYCN amplicon as the only detectable imbalance, and 3) a large MYCN amplicon with additional gene amplifications. Application of CGH to cDNA microarray targets will help to determine both the variation of amplicon size and help better define amplification-dependent and independent pathways of progression in neuroblastoma.

Algorithms↗