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A Comparative Study of Gene-Expression Data of Basal Cell Carcinoma and Melanoma Reveals New Insights about the Two Cancers
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 1, p e30750 (2012), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2012
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2012.
-
Abstract
- A comparative analysis of genome-scale transcriptomic data of two types of skin cancers, melanoma and basal cell carcinoma in comparison with other cancer types, was conducted with the aim of identifying key regulatory factors that either cause or contribute to the aggressiveness of melanoma, while basal cell carcinoma generally remains a mild disease. Multiple cancer-related pathways such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, cell invasion and metastasis, are considered, but our focus is on energy metabolism, cell invasion and metastasis pathways. Our findings include the following. (a) Both types of skin cancers use both glycolysis and increased oxidative phosphorylation (electron transfer chain) for their energy supply. (b) Advanced melanoma shows substantial up-regulation of key genes involved in fatty acid metabolism (β-oxidation) and oxidative phosphorylation, with aerobic metabolism being far more efficient than anaerobic glycolysis, providing a source of the energetics necessary to support the rapid growth of this cancer. (c) While advanced melanoma is similar to pancreatic cancer in terms of the activity level of genes involved in promoting cell invasion and metastasis, the main metastatic form of basal cell carcinoma is substantially reduced in this activity, partially explaining why this cancer type has been considered as far less aggressive. Our method of using comparative analyses of transcriptomic data of multiple cancer types focused on specific pathways provides a novel and highly effective approach to cancer studies in general.
- Subjects :
- Oncology
Skin Neoplasms
Angiogenesis
lcsh:Medicine
Apoptosis
Metastasis
0302 clinical medicine
Neoplasm Metastasis
lcsh:Science
Skin Tumors
Melanoma
0303 health sciences
Multidisciplinary
Neovascularization, Pathologic
Statistics
Genomics
3. Good health
030220 oncology & carcinogenesis
Disease Progression
Medicine
Research Article
Genetic Markers
medicine.medical_specialty
Malignant Skin Neoplasms
Dermatology
Biology
03 medical and health sciences
Genome Analysis Tools
Internal medicine
Pancreatic cancer
medicine
Humans
Neoplasm Invasiveness
Basal cell carcinoma
Cell Proliferation
030304 developmental biology
Cell growth
Gene Expression Profiling
lcsh:R
Computational Biology
Cancers and Neoplasms
Cancer
medicine.disease
Carcinoma, Basal Cell
Anaerobic glycolysis
lcsh:Q
Energy Metabolism
Mathematics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 7
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....56b91bc0f0332ec467bb78b0cafb228b