Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is divided into three major histopathologic groups—clear cell (ccRCC), papillary (pRCC) and chromophobe RCC (chRCC). We performed a comprehensive re-analysis of publicly available RCC datasets from the TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) database, thereby combining samples from all three subgroups, for an exploratory transcriptome profiling of RCC subgroups. Materials and Methods: We used FPKM (fragments per kilobase per million) files derived from the ccRCC, pRCC and chRCC cohorts of the TCGA database, representing transcriptomic data of 891 patients. Using principal component analysis, we visualized datasets as t-SNE plot for cluster detection. Clusters were characterized by machine learning, resulting gene signatures were validated by correlation analyses in the TCGA dataset and three external datasets (ICGC RECA-EU, CPTAC-3-Kidney, and GSE157256). Results: Many RCC samples co-clustered according to histopathology. However, a substantial number of samples clustered independently from histopathologic origin (mixed subgroup)—demonstrating divergence between histopathology and transcriptomic data. Further analyses of mixed subgroup via machine learning revealed a predominant mitochondrial gene signature—a trait previously known for chRCC—across all histopathologic subgroups. Additionally, ccRCC samples from mixed subgroup presented an inverse correlation of mitochondrial and angiogenesis-related genes in the TCGA and in three external validation cohorts. Moreover, mixed subgroup affiliation was associated with a highly significant shorter overall survival for patients with ccRCC—and a highly significant longer overall survival for chRCC patients. Conclusions: Pan-RCC clustering according to RNA-sequencing data revealed a distinct histology-independent subgroup characterized by strengthened mitochondrial and weakened angiogenesis-related gene signatures. Moreover, affiliation to mixed subgroup went along with a significantly shorter overall survival for ccRCC and a longer overall survival for chRCC patients. Further research could offer a therapy stratification by specifically addressing the mitochondrial metabolism of such tumors and its microenvironment.

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematological malignancy affecting millions of people worldwide. As in all tumor cells both glucose and more recently glutamine have been identified as important for MM cellular metabolism, however there is some dispute as to the role of glutamine in MM cell survival. Here we show that the small molecule inhibitor compound 968 effectively inhibits glutaminase and that this inhibition induces apoptosis in both human multiple myeloma cell lines (HMCLs) and primary patient material. The HMCL U266 which does not express MYC was insensitive to both glutamine removal and compound 968, but ectopic expression of MYC imparted sensitivity. Finally, we show that glutamine depletion is reflected by rapid loss of MYC protein which is independent of MYC transcription and post translational modifications. However, MYC loss is dependent on proteasomal activity, and this loss was paralleled by an equally rapid induction of apoptosis. These findings are in contrast to those of glucose depletion which largely affected rates of proliferation in HMCLs, but had no effects on either MYC expression or viability. Therefore, inhibition of glutaminolysis is effective at inducing apoptosis and thus serves as a possible therapeutic target in MM.

Background Over the past two decades, there has been a rising trend in malignant melanoma incidence worldwide. In 2008, Germany introduced a nationwide skin cancer screening program starting at age 35. The aims of this study were to analyse the distribution of malignant melanoma tumour stages over time, as well as demographic and regional differences in stage distribution and survival of melanoma patients. Methods Pooled data from 61 895 malignant melanoma patients diagnosed between 2002 and 2011 and documented in 28 German population-based and hospital-based clinical cancer registries were analysed using descriptive methods, joinpoint regression, logistic regression and relative survival. Results The number of annually documented cases increased by 53.2% between 2002 (N = 4 779) and 2011 (N = 7 320). There was a statistically significant continuous positive trend in the proportion of stage UICC I cases diagnosed between 2002 and 2011, compared to a negative trend for stage UICC II. No trends were found for stages UICC III and IV respectively. Age (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.97–0.97), sex (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.11–1.25), date of diagnosis (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.04–1.06), ‘diagnosis during screening’ (OR 3.24, 95% CI 2.50–4.19) and place of residence (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.16–1.30) had a statistically significant influence on the tumour stage at diagnosis. The overall 5-year relative survival for invasive cases was 83.4% (95% CI 82.8–83.9%). Conclusions No distinct changes in the distribution of malignant melanoma tumour stages among those aged 35 and older were seen that could be directly attributed to the introduction of skin cancer screening in 2008. "

Multiple myeloma (MM) displays an NFκB activity-related gene expression signature and about 20% of primary MM samples harbor genetic alterations conducive to intrinsic NFκB signaling activation. The relevance of blocking the classical versus the alternative NFκB signaling pathway and the molecular execution mechanisms involved, however, are still poorly understood. Here, we comparatively tested NFκB activity abrogation through TPCA-1 (an IKK2 inhibitor), BAY 11-7082 (an IKK inhibitor poorly selective for IKK1 and IKK2), and MLN4924 (an NEDD8 activating enzyme (NAE)-inhibitor), and analyzed their anti-MM activity. Whereas TPCA-1 interfered selectively with activation of the classical NFκB pathway, the other two compounds inhibited classical and alternative NFκB signaling without significant discrimination. Noteworthy, whereas TPCA-1 and MLN4924 elicited rather mild anti-MM effects with slight to moderate cell death induction after 1 day BAY 11-7082 was uniformly highly toxic to MM cell lines and primary MM cells. Treatment with BAY 11-7082 induced rapid cell swelling and its initial effects were blocked by necrostatin-1 or the ROS scavenger BHA, but a lasting protective effect was not achieved even with additional blockade of caspases. Because MLN4924 inhibits the alternative NFκB pathway downstream of IKK1 at the level of p100 processing, the quite discordant effects between MLN4924 and BAY 11-7082 must thus be due to blockade of IKK1-mediated NFκB-independent necrosis-inhibitory functions or represent an off-target effect of BAY 11-7082. In accordance with the latter, we further observed that concomitant knockdown of IKK1 and IKK2 did not have any major short-term adverse effect on the viability of MM cells.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell disorder that is characterized by a great genetic heterogeneity. Recent next generation sequencing studies revealed an accumulation of tumor-associated mutations in receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) which may also contribute to the activation of survival pathways in MM. To investigate the clinical role of RTK-mutations in MM, we deep-sequenced the coding DNA-sequence of EGFR, EPHA2, ERBB3, IGF1R, NTRK1 and NTRK2 which were previously found to be mutated in MM, in 75 uniformly treated MM patients of the “Deutsche Studiengruppe Multiples Myelom”. Subsequently, we correlated the detected mutations with common cytogenetic alterations and clinical parameters. We identified 11 novel non-synonymous SNVs or rare patient-specific SNPs, not listed in the SNP databases 1000 genomes and dbSNP, in 10 primary MM cases. The mutations predominantly affected the tyrosine-kinase and ligand-binding domains and no correlation with cytogenetic parameters was found. Interestingly, however, patients with RTK-mutations, specifically those with rare patient-specific SNPs, showed a significantly lower overall, event-free and progression-free survival. This indicates that RTK SNVs and rare patient-specific RTK SNPs are of prognostic relevance and suggests that MM patients with RTK-mutations could potentially profit from treatment with RTK-inhibitors.