Gender Differential Transcriptome in Gastric and Thyroid Cancers

Area of Science:

• Genomics
• Cancer Biology
• Molecular Epidemiology

Background:

• Epidemiological studies confirm significant gender differences in cancer susceptibility.
• Gastric cancer (GC) shows higher incidence in males, while thyroid cancer (TC) is more common in females.
• Gender-specific gene deregulation is hypothesized to contribute to these observed incidence disparities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize transcriptomic differences between genders in normal and tumor tissues of the stomach and thyroid.
• To identify sex-biased genes (SBGs) and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in GC and TC.
• To explore gender-specific gene networks and their correlation with cancer subtypes and risk.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets.
• Performed detailed transcriptomic analysis to identify SBGs and DEGs.
• Analyzed gene expression patterns in normal and tumor tissues across genders.

Main Results:

• Identified hundreds of SBGs, with shared SBGs predominantly on sexual chromosomes and tissue-specific SBGs on autosomes.
• Found thousands of DEGs between paired tumor-normal tissues in both GC and TC.
• Observed enrichment of under-expressed tumor-suppressor genes (TSGs) in the most susceptible gender for both cancers.
• Discovered male-associated gene networks in GC and female-associated networks in TC, correlating with histological subtypes.

Conclusions:

• Transcriptomic analysis reveals substantial molecular differences between genders in gastric and thyroid tissues.
• Sex-biased gene expression plays a role in the differential susceptibility to GC and TC.
• Findings provide novel insights into the molecular basis of gender-specific cancer risk and potential therapeutic targets.