Changes in gene expression associated with overexpression of a novel oncogene

Oncogenic drivers are still not obvious in a number of human cancers. Identification of oncogenes that contribute to tumorigenic transformation when overexpressed in their wild-type form, either because of gene amplification or due to some other epigenetic changes, is particularly challenging. This study was carried out to understand the gene expression changes associated with overexpression of a novel oncogene, Methyl CpG Binding Protein 2 (MECP2), that we recently uncovered from a genome-scale screen. Immortalized but non-transformed derivatives of human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs) carrying catalytic subunit of human telomerase and SV40 large T and small t antigens, were used as recipient cells for these experiments. We compared changes in gene expression among four different experimental groups: (1) recipient cells overexpressing EGFP (negative control); (2) recipient cells overexpressing MECP2 (our oncogene-of-interest); (3) recipient cells overexpressing activated HRASV12 (which is a classical oncogene); (4) recipient cells overexpressing OTX2 (another known oncogene is medulloblastoma). There were biological duplicates of each experimental group (therefore, with 8 samples in total).