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MOB Approach to Understanding Genomic & Functional Features Shared by Osteosarcoma & BMP Cancer
Start Date: 12/16/2024Start Time: 10:00 AM
End Date: 12/16/2024End Time: 12:00 PM

Event Description
BIOMED PhD Thesis Defense

Title:
Multiomics-based (MOB) Approach to Understanding Genomic and Functional Features Shared by Osteosarcoma and Bone Metastatic Prostate (BMP) Cancer

Speaker:
Waleed Iqbal, PhD Candidate
School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems
Drexel University

Advisor:
Alessandro Fatatis, MD, PhD
Professor of Pharmacology, Physiology and Pathology
College of Medicine
Drexel University

Details:
This research identifies key molecular and epigenetic drivers of tumor cells’ survival and growth in the skeleton by investigating bone-metastatic prostate cancer and primary osteosarcoma, through the integration of gene expression and methylation data using statistical and machine learning approaches. Aim 1 focused on developing methodologies for analyzing methylation and gene expression data, including the design and analysis of the novel mm285 mouse methylation array. These approaches were applied in Aim 2 to bone-tropic prostate cancer, verifying the inverse relationship between the androgen receptor and the cytokine Interleukin-1beta and identifying differential methylation as a regulatory mechanism.

Additional analyses highlighted the role of the chemokine receptor CX3CR1 and also compared bone-metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma to neuroendocrine prostate cancer that metastasized to soft tissues. In Aim 3, a random forest model identified 140 genes differentiating bone metastatic from non-bone metastatic prostate cancers, with 88 showing consistent trends in primary osteosarcoma and 8 linked to significantly worse patients’ survival. Methylation data revealed 85 CpGs correlated with these genes, including 54 CpGs with positive and 31 with negative correlations, implicating enhancer-mediated activation and methylation-induced repression. These findings highlight critical regulatory elements and provide a foundation for experimental validation of the newly acquired information with the ultimate goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of both primary and secondary bone tumors.
Contact Information:
Name: Natalia Broz
Email: njb33@drexel.edu
Waleed Iqbal
Location:
Remote
Audience:
  • Undergraduate Students
  • Graduate Students
  • Faculty
  • Staff
    		•

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