Gene profiles of pathway interference downstream neurofibromin signaling

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) is a type of soft tissue sarcoma that occurs in carriers of mutations in the neurofibromatosis type I gene (Nf1) as well as sporadically.　Plexiform neurofibromas in NF1 patients have a significant risk of developing into MPNSTs leading to increased morbidity and mortality from this syndrome.　Surgery is the primary intervention but it is not always effective due to the tendency of MPNSTs to infiltrate the surrounding tissue or grow in an inoperable location. Neurofibromin, the protein coded by the Nf1 gene, functions as a GTPase activating protein (GAP) whose mutation leads to constitutive activation of RAS and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in NF1 patients’ tumors. However, therapeutic targeting of RAS and MAPK have had limited success (Kalamarides, et al., 2012). 　In this study, we modulated NRAS, MEK1/2 and neurofibromin levels in MPNST cell lines and determined the global gene expression changes that were associated with each experimental condition. Furthermore, gene expression changes due to neurofibromin deficiency but independent of NRAS and MEK1/2 regulation were characterized for the first time in MPNST cell lines. There are total 4 comparison scenarios. Each scenario has two different samples to compare and each sample has three replicates. Comparison 1: ST88-14 cell line versus normal human schwann cell; comparison 2: U0126 treated ST88-14 versus DMSO treat ST88-14 as control; comparison 3: siNRAS treated ST88-14 versus scrambled control treated ST88-14 cell line; comparison 4: siNf1 treated STS26T cell line versus scrambled control RNA treated STS26T cell line.