Replication Study: A coding-independent function of gene and pseudogene mRNAs regulates tumour biology.

Abstract

As part of the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology we published a Registered Report (Khan et al., 2015), that described how we intended to replicate selected experiments from the paper "A coding-independent function of gene and pseudogene mRNAs regulates tumour biology" (Poliseno et al., 2010). Here we report the results. We found <i>PTEN</i> depletion in the prostate cancer cell line DU145 did not detectably impact expression of the corresponding pseudogene <i>PTENP1</i>. Similarly, depletion of <i>PTENP1</i> did not impact <i>PTEN</i> mRNA levels. The original study reported <i>PTEN</i> or <i>PTENP1</i> depletion statistically reduced the corresponding pseudogene or gene (Figure 2G; Poliseno et al., 2010). <i>PTEN</i> and/or <i>PTENP1</i> depletion in DU145 cells decreased PTEN protein expression, which was similar to the original study (Figure 2H; Poliseno et al., 2010). Further, depletion of <i>PTEN</i> and/or <i>PTENP1</i> increased DU145 proliferation compared to non-targeting siRNA, which was in the same direction as the original study (Figure 2F; Poliseno et al., 2010), but not statistically significant. We found <i>PTEN</i> 3'UTR overexpression in DU145 cells did not impact <i>PTENP1</i> expression, while the original study reported <i>PTEN</i> 3'UTR increased <i>PTENP1</i> levels (Figure 4A; Poliseno et al., 2010). Overexpression of <i>PTEN</i> 3'UTR also statistically decreased DU145 proliferation compared to controls, which was similar to the findings reported in the original study (Figure 4A; Poliseno et al., 2010). Differences between the original study and this replication attempt, such as level of knockdown efficiency and cellular confluence, are factors that might have influenced the results. Finally, where possible, we report meta-analyses for each result.