Cancer testis gene expression as a biomarker of one-carbon metabolic activity, drug sensitivity and phenotypic heterogeneity in non-small cell lung cancer and malignant melanoma

Abstract

Expression of cancer-testis (CT) genes on X chromosome (CT-X) is restricted to tumors, with very low or no expression in normal adult tissues. CT-X gene expression is one of the factors contributing to tumor heterogeneity and is variably observed in various types of cancers including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and malignant melanoma. Regulation of CT-X gene expression has been strongly linked to DNA methylation of promoter regions, however, mechanisms leading to re-expression of these genes in tumors, driven by promoter hypomethylation, is remained unsolved. Although tumors expressing CT-X genes are shown to be associated with higher tumor stage, larger tumors and aggressiveness, differential drug sensitivity of CT-X positive and negative tumors have not been investigated. In this thesis, we aimed to find the association between one-carbon pathway polymorphisms and CT-X gene expression. Moreover, we tested various tools and methods to find effective drugs for tumors in different phenotypic subgroups determined by CT-X gene expression or by other factors.