Human Gene Set: EINAV_INTERFERON_SIGNATURE_IN_CANCER


Standard name EINAV_INTERFERON_SIGNATURE_IN_CANCER
Systematic name M5091
Brief description A gene expression signature found in a subset of cancer patients suggestive of a deregulated immune or inflammatory response.
Full description or abstract On the basis of epidemiological studies, infection was suggested to play a role in the etiology of human cancer. While for some cancers such a role was indeed demonstrated, there is no direct biological support for the role of viral pathogens in the pathogenesis of childhood leukemia. Using a novel bioinformatic tool that alternates between clustering and standard statistical methods of analysis, we performed a 'double-blind' search of published gene expression data of subjects with different childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) subtypes, looking for unanticipated partitions of patients, induced by unexpected groups of genes with correlated expression. We discovered a group of about 30 genes, related to the interferon response pathway, whose expression levels divide the ALL samples into two subgroups; high in 50, low in 285 patients. Leukemic subclasses prevalent in early childhood (the age most susceptible to infection) are over-represented in the high-expression subgroup. Similar partitions, induced by the same genes, were found also in breast and ovarian cancer but not in lung cancer, prostate cancer and lymphoma. About 40% of breast cancer samples expressed the 'interferon-related' signature. It is of interest that several studies demonstrated mouse mammary tumor virus-like sequences in about 40% of breast cancer samples. Our discovery of an unanticipated strong signature of an interferon-induced pathway provides molecular support for a role for either inflammation or viral infection in the pathogenesis of childhood leukemia as well as breast and ovarian cancer.
Collection C2: Curated
      CGP: Chemical and Genetic Perturbations
Source publication Pubmed 16007187   Authors: Einav U,Tabach Y,Getz G,Yitzhaky A,Ozbek U,Amariglio N,Izraeli S,Rechavi G,Domany E
Exact source Table 1: TNoM2 p-value
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Source species Homo sapiens
Contributed by Leona Saunders (MSigDB Team)
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identifier namespace		 AFFY_HG_U95
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Version history 3.0: First introduced

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