ISSN: 1449-1907International Journal of Medical Sciences
Global reach, higher impact
Int J Med Sci 2021; 18(1):256-269. doi:10.7150/ijms.48123 This issue Cite
Research Paper
Upregulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α and the lipid metabolism pathway promotes carcinogenesis of ampullary cancer
1. PhD Program for Cancer Molecular Biology and Drug Discovery, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
2. Graduate Institute of Cancer Biology and Drug Discovery, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
3. Department of Surgery, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70403, Taiwan.
4. Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan.
5. Senior Citizen Service Management, Chia-Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan 71710, Taiwan.
6. NTT Institute of Hi-Technology, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
7. Department of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
8. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan.
9. Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan.
10. Center for Infectious Diseases and Signaling Research, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan.
Abstract
Ampullary cancer is a rare periampullary cancer currently with no targeted therapeutic agent. It is important to develop a deeper understanding of the carcinogenesis of ampullary cancer. We attempted to explore the characteristics of ampullary cancer in our dataset and a public database, followed by a search for potential drugs. We used a bioinformatics pipeline to analyze complementary (c)DNA microarray data of ampullary cancer and surrounding normal duodenal tissues from five patients. A public database from the National Center for Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus (NCBI GEO) was applied for external validation. Bioinformatics tools used included the Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID), MetaCore, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), Hallmark, BioCarta, Reactome, and Connectivity Map (CMap). In total, 9097 genes were upregulated in the five ampullary cancer samples compared to normal duodenal tissues. From the MetaCore analysis, genes of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARA) and retinoid X receptor (RXR)-regulated lipid metabolism were overexpressed in ampullary cancer tissues. Further a GSEA of the KEGG, Hallmark, Reactome, and Gene Ontology databases revealed that PPARA and lipid metabolism-related genes were enriched in our specimens of ampullary cancer and in the NCBI GSE39409 database. Expressions of PPARA messenger (m)RNA and the PPAR-α protein were higher in clinical samples and cell lines of ampullary cancer. US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs, including alvespimycin, trichostatin A (a histone deacetylase inhibitor), and cytochalasin B, may have novel therapeutic effects in ampullary cancer patients as predicted by the CMap analysis. Trichostatin A was the most potent agent for ampullary cancer with a half maximal inhibitory concentration of < 0.3 μM. According to our results, upregulation of PPARA and lipid metabolism-related genes are potential pathways in the carcinogenesis and development of ampullary cancer. Results from the CMap analysis suggested potential drugs for patients with ampullary cancer.
Keywords: Ampullary cancer, Lipid metabolism, Carcinogenesis, PPARA gene, Bioinformatics
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