Prediction of Ligand- and ErbB Receptor-Specific Transcription Factors from Time-Course Gene Expression Data of Cancer Cells

Overexpression or mutation of ErbB receptors is correlated with incidence of various kinds of human cancers [1]. On the other hand, co-expression of ErbB4 receptor is related to better prognosis and non-metastatic cancer phenotypes [2]. An earlier study demonstrated that one of characteristics of prostate cancer is a lack of ErbB4 receptor expression while ErbB4 is expressed widely in other type of cancer cells, therefore prostate cancer is understood to be related to poor prognosis [3]. In this study, we try to predict ligandand ErbB receptor-activated transcription factors from time-course gene expression data that is given by the ErbB ligands (epidermal growth factor and heregulin)-stimulated PC3 prostate cancer cells. To examine the effect of expression of ErbB4 receptor and Grb2 adaptor protein (a mediator of MAPK signaling), we also tested gene expression of these three cell lines (wild type, ErbB4-overexpressed, Grb2-overexpressed PC3).