RNA Sequencing Analysis Reveals Interactions between Breast Cancer or Melanoma Cells and the Tissue Microenvironment during Brain Metastasis

Figure 2

Flow chart for the identification of candidate genes whose expression in mouse brain cells is associated with metastasis of human breast cancer of melanoma cells. RNA-seq analysis was performed with control brain tissue or brain tissue harboring metastases formed by breast cancer cells (231-Luc, HER2-60, and HER2-90) or melanoma cells (MeWo, WM3734). Analysis of the mouse-specific transcriptome resulted in the identification of 190 genes whose expression was significantly up- or downregulated in brain tissue containing metastases [meta(+) brain]. Application of additional selection criteria winnowed this group of genes down to four.