Single cell gene mutation analysis using laser-assisted microdissection of tissue sections.
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The widespread use of serum markers during cancer screenings has led to the belief that there may be tumor markers yet to be discovered that offer better specificity and sensitivity than prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Proteomics, the analysis and characterization of global protein modifications, will add to our understanding of gene function and aid in biomarker and/or therapeutic target discovery. In the past, most proteomic studies were either performed using tumor cell lines or homogenized bulk tissue. Unfortunately, these approaches may not accurately reflect molecular events that take place in the actual ductal epithelium that change as a consequence of the malignant process. This report describes alternative proteomic-based approaches aimed at the identification of protein markers in the actual premalignant and frankly malignant epithelium.
Molecular genetic abnormalities were assessed on 23 cases of prostate adenocarcinoma by performing microdissection on archived tumor tissue sections followed by degenerate oligonucleotide primed PCR (DOP-PCR) on extracted DNA, providing sufficient product to carry out comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). The results of CGH show a significant regional DNA copy number alteration in 100% of the cases. Copy number gains were detected most frequently in chromosome 8q (91.3%), followed by chromosome X (43.5%), and chromosomes 20, 7, 4, and 3 (8.7%). DNA copy number losses occurred most frequently in chromosome 18 (34.8%), followed by chromosome 20 (21.7%), chromosomes 16 and 22 (17.4%) and chromosomes 12, 17, and 19 (8.7%). Since tissue microdissection and DOP-PCR yields product for analysis that represents DNA from pure tumor cells. CGH shows high sensitivity in detecting copy number alterations. This method indicates regions of the genome that are likely to be driven to amplification or deletion by the presence of oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, respectively. The most common alteration detected was a regional gain in copy number in chromosome 8 near 8q21, indicating an oncogene in this region may be key to development of prostate adenocarcinoma. Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases (2000) 3, 110-114
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The rat kidney has been prepared for microdissection by in vivo perfusion with hyaluronidase and collagenase and subsequent fixation with glutaraldehyde. The procedure ensures preservation of cytoplasmic detail, and the principle of fixation after maceration should provide a foundation for developing a variety of staining and histochemical studies.
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Adenylate cyclase activated by glucagon, fluoride and forskolin was measured in liver homogenates and microdissected periportal and perivenous tissue of fed and fasted rats. A radiochemical microtest, more sensitive by 2-3 orders of magnitude as compared with the usual assay, was established for the determination of the activity in liver samples corresponding to 200-600 ng dry weight. In liver homogenates from fasted as compared to fed animals the glucagon-stimulated and fluoride-stimulated activity was increased by 1.65-fold, while the basal and the forskolin-stimulated activity remained the same. In microdissected tissue of both fed and fasted animals the activity was stimulated in about 60% of the samples by glucagon, fluoride and forskolin (responsive samples). However, in about 40% of the microdissected tissue samples the activity could not be stimulated by any of the above activators (non-responsive samples). In responsive microdissected tissue of fasted as compared to fed animals, the glucagon-stimulated and fluoride stimulated activity but not the basal and the forskolin-activated activity was increased by 2-3-fold. In responsive microdissected samples of fed animals neither the basal nor the stimulated activities showed a significant periportal to perivenous gradient. In samples of fasted animals, however, a zonal gradient was observed for the glucagon-stimulated activity exhibiting a 1.5-fold higher rate in the perivenous zone.
Focal glomerulosclerosis (FGS) has been considered as HIV-associated nephropathy, a specific renal complication of infection. To determine whether renal disease in HIV infected patients has one highly prevalent pathologic expression, and whether renal parenchymal viral genomic incorporation affects pathologic outcome, we reviewed renal biopsies performed at our center. Twenty-eight HIV infected patients with nephrotic range proteinuria underwent renal biopsy for diagnosis of renal disease: 85.7% led homosexual or bisexual lifestyles; 10.7% admitted to intravenous drug use; and 85.7% were Black. Only 53.6% had FGS; 28.6% had glomerulonephritis. Two patients had diabetic renal disease; 93.3% of patients with FGS and 87.5% of patients with glomerulonephritis were Black. Paraffin slides of twenty-two of the patients' renal biopsies were evaluated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of HIV DNA, using primers and probes to the gag gene, detected by liquid hybridization and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Twenty-one of the twenty-two evaluated tissue specimens showed the presence of HIV DNA. Microdissection studies of glomeruli, tubules, interstitial cells and infiltrating inflammatory cells showed the presence of HIV genome in all but interstitial cells. HIV infected patients without renal disease also had positive PCR evaluations of microdissected tissue, while non-infected patients were all negative. We conclude that although focal glomerulosclerosis is the most common renal pathologic lesion in patients with HIV infection and nephrotic range proteinuria, glomerulonephritis is a relatively frequent finding. HIV genome is present in renal tissue in HIV infected subjects with nephrotic range proteinuria, but is also found in HIV infected subjects without nephropathy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Angiomyolipoma, which consists of three intimately intermixed components, smooth muscle, blood vessels, and adipose tissue, is variably considered a hamartoma, a choristoma or a true neoplasm. This study has investigated the clonality of sporadic angiomyolipomas in seven women, each with a single lesion, by determining the pattern of X-chromosome inactivation. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the highly polymorphic human androgen receptor gene (HUMARA) was performed on the DNA extracted from the paraffin-embedded lesional tissue microdissected to sample the admixed smooth muscle and blood vessel component (SMC/BV) and the adipose tissue component. All seven patients were heterozygous for HUMARA polymorphism upon amplification of undigested DNA from non-lesional tissue and were therefore informative for further analysis. In all patients, lesional DNA, representative of the components, was predigested with HpaII restriction enzyme for amplification of the methylated allele. In six patients, the lesions were clonal, while in one, polyclonal. The polyclonal lesion was small and had less than 20 per cent SMC/BV component. Microdissected SMC/BV component was clonal in 6/7 lesions; the scanty SMC/BV in the remaining lesion did not yield amplifiable DNA. Microdissected adipose tissue was polyclonal in all seven lesions. Angiomyolipomas are three clonal lesions due to a clonal smooth muscle cell and blood vessel component, while the polyclonal adipose tissue is probably metaplastic or reactive.
Gelatinase A (MMP-2) and cathepsin B are proteinases which have been proposed to participate in human tumor invasion and metastasis. Precise quantitation of the activity of these enzymes in invading tumors has not been previously described. We utilized a novel tissue microdissection technique to determine levels of enzyme activity in specific microscopic areas of invasive human colon cancer. Tissue specimens smaller than one high power field can be extracted from the samples and analyzed. Increased levels of pro-enzyme and active enzyme forms of gelatinase A (MMP-2) and increased cathepsin B activity were localized in regions of tumor invasion as compared with a matched number of normal epithelial cells from the same patient. Levels of progelatinase B (MMP-9) were also increased in the tumors; however, we did not observe activation of this enzyme. To investigate the mechanism of gelatinase A activation, we amplified DNA of specific microdissected tumor cell populations using polymerase chain reaction. We did not detect a mutation in the activation locus of the enzyme in any of the tumors studied, which suggests that activation may be due to up-regulation of a tumor-associated gelatinase A activating species. Microdissection of frozen tissue sections may prove valuable in the study of proteinases in human tumor invasion as well as in the detection of genetic alterations in human cancers.
Abstract: The study of genetic alterations in tumors and their precursor lesions is often hampered by the presence of a heterogeneous background of non-neoplastic elements such as stromal cells, inflammatory cells, and angiogenic elements. Microdissection involves the extraction of specific populations of cells under direct visualization. In this article, we will discuss the currently available techniques of microdissection, and briefly review how this material is being utilized in the study of cancer pathways. Microdissected tissue is amenable for the study of cancer genomics, expression analysis and most recently, cancer proteomics. The purity of reagents obtained from microdissected material has resulted in the successful identification of tumor suppressor genes as well as novel transcripts and proteins that are altered in neoplastic cells. Improved techniques of tissue fixation and microdissection, supplemented with ancillary technology such as pre-amplification, have permitted the use of increasingly smaller quantities of material for the study of cancer pathways. Importantly, it is now possible to analyze many of the genetic changes that precede cancer, thereby identifying populations "at risk" for developing malignancies in the future.
Familial multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 is an autosomal dominant hereditary disorder characterized by multiple parathyroid, pancreatic, duodenal, and pituitary tumors. The parathyroid tumors may arise as diffuse areas of hyperplasia, whereas the pancreatic and duodenal tumors usually form as discrete nodules. Except for a single report, tumor loss of heterozygosity (LOH) mapping of the putative MEN1 suppressor gene on chromosome 11q13 in the past has been restricted by analysis of a single tumor from individual patients and somatic cellular contamination. For this reason, it has not been possible to analyze the clonality of the emerging MEN1 neoplasms. Furthermore, it has been previously unknown whether the LOH pattern varies between individual MEN1 tumors in a given patient or among tumors of different histological origins within unrelated patients. To address these previous limitations, the present study introduces a refinement in microdissection in which endothelial cells are stained and selectively excluded. Tissue microdissection was applied to study LOH patterns on chromosome 11q13 using 8 polymorphic DNA markers in 44 different MEN1 tumors from parathyroid, pancreas, and duodenum in nine unrelated patients. In addition, X-chromosome inactivation clonal analysis was applied to 16 individual microdissected regions from seven parathyroid glands in three female patients. The LOH rates of parathyroid lesions (100%) and endocrine tumors of the pancreas (83%) were strikingly different from the LOH rate of gastrinomas (21%), suggesting that the mechanism that drives LOH may be influenced by the tissue context. Moreover, combined LOH and X-chromosome inactivation scoring of the same microdissected region revealed that parathyroid MEN1 neoplasms can consist of more than one clone. In this study, the centromeric boundary of the putative MEN1 gene was PYGM. Analysis of differential LOH patterns in multiple microdissected tumors in the same patient constitutes a novel approach to suppressor gene mapping.
AIMS: Retinoids are involved in cell growth, differentiation, and carcinogenesis. Their effects depend on cytosolic transport and binding to nuclear receptors. CRBP1 encodes a protein involved in this process. Because altered CRBP1 expression and promoter hypermethylation occur in several tumours, these changes were investigated in prostate tumorigenesis. METHODS: The CRBP1 promoter was assessed by methylation specific polymerase chain reaction on tissue samples from 36 radical prostatectomy specimens (paired normal tissue, adenocarcinoma, and high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN)), 32 benign prostatic hyperplasias (BPHs), and 13 normal prostate tissue samples from cystoprostatectomies. Methylation of DNA extracted from microdissected tissue was examined blindly. CRBP1 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry on formalin fixed, paraffin wax embedded tissue. RESULTS: Loss of CRBP1 expression was seen in 15 of 36 adenocarcinomas and 18 of 36 HGPINs. Fifteen adenocarcinomas and nine HGPINs showed overexpression, whereas the remainder showed normal expression. BPH displayed normal expression. No significant associations were found between CRBP1 expression and Gleason score or stage. CRBP1 promoter hypermethylation was found in 17 of 36 adenocarcinomas, three of 35 HGPINs, one of 36 normal prostate tissues from the same patients, none of 32 BPHs, and none of 13 normal prostate tissues from cystoprostatectomies. Loss of expression and hypermethylation of CRBP1 were not significantly associated. CONCLUSIONS: Altered CRBP1 expression and hypermethylation are common in prostate carcinoma, although CRBP1 hypermethylation is not an early event in tumorigenesis. Moreover, both adenocarcinoma and HGPIN show frequent CRBP1 overexpression. The molecular mechanisms underlying altered CRBP1 expression in prostate cancer deserve further study.
Using RNA arbitrarily primed PCR, the authors selected for transcripts with cell cycle-related differential expression in cultured human melanocytes. Among the partial cDNAs cloned, a novel cDNA was identified, which showed 54% identity to the recently cloned cDNA of the retinoblastoma binding protein-2 (RBP2). The 6.5-kB full-length cDNA of this RBP2-related gene, termed RBP2 homolog 1 (RBP2-H1), was obtained from a human teratocarcinoma cDNA library. Two independent libraries from human malignant melanomas were negative. A computerized sequence analysis revealed highly conserved motifs with possible functional meaning: two domains that, in the RBP2 homolog, mediate the binding and interaction with the proteins encoded by the retinoblastoma susceptibility gene, the TATA-binding protein, and the oncoprotein rhombotin 2; in addition, two DNA-binding zinc finger/leukemia-associated protein motifs were detected. Because a functional role in cell-cycle control and transcriptional activation can be envisioned, we investigated the expression of this novel transcript in normal fetal and adult tissues, as well as tissues of benign and malignant melanocytic tumors. By conducting multiple Northern blot, RT-PCR, and in situ hybridization analyses, the authors showed that the corresponding mRNA is expressed in virtually all normal tissues. Accordingly, they found RBP2-H1 expression in microdissected tissue samples from benign melanocytic nevi (n = 10). In contrast, the transcript is significantly down-regulated or even lost in tissue samples from human malignant melanomas (n = 13), melanoma metastases (n = 10), and melanoma cell lines (n = 7). The authors concluded that the loss or down-regulation of RBP2-H1 expression could be a useful molecular marker for a transformed phenotype in the human melanocytic system.
PURPOSE: We investigated the incidence of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and microsatellite instability in sporadic prostate cancer and surrounding tissue at loci encompassing the HPC1 and PTEN genes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Surgical specimens from 63 patients with sporadic stage T3 or T4 prostatic adenocarcinoma were analyzed for LOH and microsatellite instability. Microdissected tissue included morphologically normal foci, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostatic adenocarcinoma. LOH analysis was performed using 4 microsatellite markers that map in the region of the 1q24 to 25 locus of the putative prostate cancer susceptibility gene HPC1 and 4 that map in the region of the 10q23 locus of the PTEN gene. RESULTS: The incidence of LOH on 10q was consistent with that previously reported in prostatic tumors. LOH associated with the PTEN locus was recorded in morphologically normal foci, BPH and adenocarcinoma. Sequence analysis of PTEN in a limited number of lesions revealed mutations in nontumor and tumor tissue. Analysis of the DS10215 locus showed significant LOH in tumor but not in benign tissue, suggestive of a tumor suppressor gene in this region associated with prostatic neoplastic progression. In contrast, no significant LOH was observed in the same tissues at 4 loci on chromosome 1q. In this study we recorded elevated levels of microsatellite instability in benign prostatic tissue with an additional increase associated with prostatic adenocarcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: The low incidence of LOH in the region of the HPC1 locus in all prostate lesions studied suggests that this putative hereditary prostate cancer susceptibility locus does not appear to have a role in sporadic prostate cancer, at least not in the context of LOH. In contrast, analysis of the same tissues for LOH at chromosome 10q confirmed frequent alterations in this region linked to late stage prostate cancer. PTEN mutations in microdissected morphologically normal and BPH tissue showed alterations in nontumor tissue surrounding adenocarcinoma. Microsatellite instability was increased in adenocarcinomas over an elevated background recorded in surrounding tissues.
In human urinary bladder carcinogenesis, alterations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene are common events. We have previously reported that they are also frequent in invasive urinary bladder carcinomas induced by N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine (BBN) in NON/Shi mice. To further investigate the significance of the p53 gene status for mouse urinary bladder carcinogenesis, we examined both allele loss and mutational alterations in urinary bladder cancers of (NON/Shi x C3H/He/Shi) F1 hybrid mice exposed to the carcinogen for 12 weeks and then maintained for a further 9 weeks without treatment. An intragenic silent polymorphism within exon 7 of the p53 gene between NON/Shi and C3H/He/Shi mice allows assessment of allele loss of the p53 gene and determination of the parental origin of mutated and/or lost alleles. A tissue microdissection method was employed to obtain carcinoma samples without excessive contamination with normal tissue. Allele losses were detected in one of 14 tumors (7.1%) and nine mutations in eight of 14 (57%) tumors were found in exons 5-8 by polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism followed by DNA direct sequencing analysis. All mutations involved one base substitution with an amino acid change, although the types of base substitution were random. In conclusion, the high incidence of p53 alterations suggests a significant role in the genesis of invasive urinary bladder tumors in BBN-treated mice.
Utilizing tissue microdissection and PCR techniques, we have examined 35 prostate tumors paired with normal tissues from the same patients for allelic loss at 24 polymorphic loci spanning chromosome 10. Twenty-five tumors (71%) were deleted for at least one chromosome 10 locus. Of the total 35 tumors, 6 (17%) were deleted for 10p loci only, 5 (14%) for 10q loci only, and 14 (40%) were deleted for both 10p and 10q loci. The common region of deletion on 10p included loci D10S211-D10S89-D10S111. Fluorescence in situ hybridization of yeast artificial chromosome probes encompassing these loci demonstrated that the 10p region of deletion maps to 10p11.2. Losses involving 10p loci alone were most common in localized (5/14, 36%) and least common in metastatic (0/8) tumors. The common region of deletion on 10q included loci D10S219-D10S215, consistent with the major region of deletion recently defined for prostate tumors on 10q. Losses involving 10q loci alone were lowest in localized and locally invasive tumors (1/14 and 2/12, respectively) and highest in tumors metastatic to regional lymph nodes (2/8). These results suggest that 10p losses may define less invasive tumors, whereas 10q losses may play a role in the progression to more advanced tumor states in the prostate. Furthermore, this is the first report of allelic loss of a defined region on 10p potentially harboring tumor suppressor gene loci in human prostate cancer.
PURPOSE: Constitutive expression of RNA sequences complementary to the chemokine CCL27 mRNA has been found in the normal mouse eye. This study examines the nature and location of these endogenous RNAs in ocular tissues. METHODS: Conventional RT-PCR, 5' RACE, and dideoxy DNA sequencing were used to examine the sequences of CCL27 related RNAs in the eye. Expression levels of specific RNAs were measured by real time PCR. Tissue distribution of RNA transcripts was determined by RT-PCR using RNA from microdissected tissues and by in situ hybridization with radiolabeled riboprobes. RESULTS: We detect 5 distinct splice variants derived from transcription of the CCL27 gene locus. The most abundant form codes for a non-secreted protein, PESKY, and is expressed in lens, cornea, and retina. Another variant corresponds to the mRNA of the secreted chemokine and is synthesized in the cornea, but not in retina or lens. The remaining splice variants are novel and may be eye specific, but have only short open reading frames (<50 amino acids). CCL27 transcripts are most abundantly expressed in the retina, as judged by in situ hybridization. CONCLUSIONS: PESKY and other CCL27 splice variants of unknown function are widely expressed in ocular tissues. Analysis of CCL27 transcripts from lens, retina, and cornea indicates that mRNA for the secreted chemokine, CCL27, is endogenously expressed only in the cornea and may play a role in ocular immune responses involving CD4 lymphocytes in this tissue.