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Updated: Aug 8, 2026
Single-cell Profiling of Developing and Mature Retinal Neurons
Published on: April 19, 2012
Profiling of retinoid mediated gene expression in synchronized human SCC cells using Atlas human cDNA expression
Quan Le1, Dianne Robert Soprano, Kenneth J Soprano
1Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19140, USA.
Abstract:
While retinoids have been demonstrated to inhibit growth of many tumor cells, including SCC cells, the molecular mechanism by which retinoids suppress growth has not been elucidated. We previously found that the growth of SCC cells was significantly inhibited by all-trans-retinoic acid (all-trans-RA) treatment, and this inhibition was dependent on the binding and activation of RARs. These nuclear receptors bind retinoids and alter the rate of transcription of specific genes. To identify targets of the activated RARs which mediate growth inhibition, we growth arrested SCC-25 cells in G-0 and examined the effect of all-trans-RA on synchronized SCC-25 cells. All-trans-RA inhibited G-1 progression in quiescent SCC-25 cells stimulated by FBS. More specifically, we found that the all-trans-RA execution point maps to mid/late G-1, 6 to 10 h after stimulation. Using this synchronized cell system, we examined the expression of cell cycle regulatory genes in quiescent SCC-25 cells stimulated with FBS and treated with all-trans-RA. We found few changes in expression of these genes which could account for all-trans-RA inhibition of SCC-25 cell growth. In order to compare the patterns of expression of a wider selection of genes in all-trans-RA treated and non-treated SCC-25 cells, we have used expression array technology. We successfully performed expression profiling experiments on the Atlas Human cDNA arrays which contain 1176 human genes. We have identified several up-regulated and several down-regulated gene expression changes mediated by all-trans-RA treatment in synchronized SCC-25 cells. This novel information will be useful in defining the mechanism by which retinoids suppress the growth of SCC cells.
Insights
All-trans-retinoic acid (all-trans-RA) inhibits squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) growth by affecting cell cycle progression. Gene expression profiling identified specific gene changes mediating this retinoid effect.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Retinoids are known to inhibit tumor cell growth, including squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).
- The precise molecular mechanisms underlying retinoid-induced growth suppression in SCC remain unclear.
- Previous studies indicated that all-trans-retinoic acid (all-trans-RA) inhibits SCC growth via retinoic acid receptors (RARs).
Purpose of the Study:
- To elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which all-trans-RA suppresses SCC cell growth.
- To identify specific gene targets regulated by activated RARs that mediate growth inhibition.
- To investigate the effect of all-trans-RA on cell cycle progression in synchronized SCC cells.
Main Methods:
- SCC-25 cells were synchronized and growth-arrested in G-0 phase.
- The effect of all-trans-RA on cell cycle progression (G-1 phase) was examined.
- Gene expression profiling using Atlas Human cDNA arrays (1176 genes) was performed on treated and untreated cells.
Main Results:
- All-trans-RA treatment inhibited G-1 progression in quiescent SCC-25 cells, with an execution point in mid/late G-1 (6-10 hours post-stimulation).
- Few significant changes were observed in the expression of known cell cycle regulatory genes.
- Expression array analysis revealed several up-regulated and down-regulated genes in response to all-trans-RA treatment.
Conclusions:
- All-trans-RA inhibits SCC cell growth by modulating specific gene expression patterns.
- The identified gene expression changes provide novel insights into the mechanism of retinoid-mediated SCC growth suppression.
- This study lays the groundwork for further defining the role of retinoids in SCC treatment.
