Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0007095 (carcinoid)
 6,990 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Pulmonary carcinoids comprise a well-differentiated subset of neuroendocrine tumors usually associated with a favorable prognosis, but mechanisms underlying disease progression are poorly understood. In an explorative approach to identify pathways associated with progression, we compared gene expression profiles of tumors from five patients with a favorable and five with a poor disease outcome. Differentially expressed genes were validated using quantitative real-time PCR on 65 carcinoid tumors, in combination with survival analysis. One of the identified pathways was further examined using immunohistochemistry. As compared with other chromosomal locations, a significantly higher number of genes downregulated in carcinoids with a poor prognosis were located at chromosome 11q (P = 0.00017), a region known to be frequently lost in carcinoids. In addition, a number of upregulated genes were found involved in the mitotic spindle checkpoint, the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC), mitotic kinase CDC2 activity and the BRCA-Fanconi anemia pathway. At the individual gene level, BIRC5 (survivin), BUB1, CD44, IL20RA, KLK12 and OTP were independent predictors of patient outcome. For survivin, the number of positive nuclei was also related to poor prognosis within the group of carcinoids. Aurora B kinase and survivin, major components of the CPC, were particularly upregulated in high-grade carcinomas and may therefore comprise therapeutic targets for these tumors. To our knowledge, this is the first expression profiling study focusing specifically on pulmonary carcinoids and progression. We have identified novel pathways underlying malignant progression and validated several genes as being strong prognostic indicators, some of which could serve as putative therapeutic targets.
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PMID:An exploration of pathways involved in lung carcinoid progression using gene expression profiling. 2392 35

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are a heterogenous group of tumors. While most NETs have excellent prognosis, certain subsets have aggressive biology and have limited treatment options. We explored the role of survivin in NET as a prognostic and potentially therapeutic marker. Tissue microarrays of 132 patients were stained for survivin using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and correlated with outcomes. Using genomic database, we then correlated survivin (BIRC5) mRNA expression with radiosensitivity index (RSI) in 52 samples of NET. Finally, we studied the effect of radiation on survivin expression in human cell lines and the impact of knock-down of BIRC5 on cell proliferation and radiation sensitivity. We found that survivin positivity by IHC correlated with a shorter survival (overall survival 8.5 years vs. 18.3 years, p < 0.001). There was a positive correlation between BIRC5 expression and RSI (r = 0.234, p < 0.0001). Radiation exposure increased BIRC5 gene expression in a human carcinoid cell line. Knockout of BIRC5 using siRNA reduced proliferation of neuroendocrine cells but did not increase radiation sensitivity. We conclude that survivin expression in NET correlates with an inferior survival and survivin expression in human carcinoid cell lines increases after exposure to ionizing radiation.
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PMID:Exploring the role of survivin in neuroendocrine neoplasms. 3257 68