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Wu NS, Lin YF, Ma IC, Ko HJ, Hong YR. Many faces and functions of GSKIP: a temporospatial regulation view. Cell Signal 2022; 97:110391. [PMID: 35728705 DOI: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2022.110391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2022] [Revised: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3)-β (GSK3β) interaction protein (GSKIP) is one of the smallest A-kinase anchoring proteins that possesses a binding site for GSK3β. Recently, our group identified the protein kinase A (PKA)-GSKIP-GSK3β-X axis; knowledge of this axis may help us decipher the many roles of GSKIP and perhaps help explain the evolutionary reason behind the interaction between GSK3β and PKA. In this review, we highlight the critical and multifaceted role of GSKIP in facilitating PKA kinase activity and its function as a scaffolding protein in signaling pathways. We also highlight how these pivotal PKA and GSK3 kinases can control context-specific functions and interact with multiple target proteins, such as β-catenin, Drp1, Tau, and other proteins. GSKIP is a key regulator of multiple mechanisms because of not only its location at certain subcellular compartments but also its serial changes during the developmental process. Moreover, the involvement of critical upstream regulatory signaling pathways in GSKIP signaling in various cancers, such as miRNA (microRNA) and lncRNA (long noncoding RNA), may help in the identification of therapeutic targets in the era of precision medicine and personalized therapy. Finally, we emphasize on the model of the early stage of pathogenesis of Alzheimer Disease (AD). Although the model requires validation, it can serve as a basis for diagnostic biomarkers development and drug discovery for early-stage AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nian-Siou Wu
- School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
| | - Yi-Fan Lin
- School of Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
| | - I Chu Ma
- China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 404, Taiwan.
| | - Huey-Jiun Ko
- Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
| | - Yi-Ren Hong
- Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan; Graduate Institutes of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan; Department of Biological Sciences, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan; Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan; Center for Cancer Research, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan,; Neuroscience Research Center, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
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EZH2 endorses cell plasticity to non-small cell lung cancer cells facilitating mesenchymal to epithelial transition and tumour colonization. Oncogene 2022; 41:3611-3624. [PMID: 35680984 DOI: 10.1038/s41388-022-02375-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Revised: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Reversible transition between the epithelial and mesenchymal states are key aspects of carcinoma cell dissemination and the metastatic disease, and thus, characterizing the molecular basis of the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is crucial to find druggable targets and more effective therapeutic approaches in cancer. Emerging studies suggest that epigenetic regulators might endorse cancer cells with the cell plasticity required to conduct dynamic changes in cell state during EMT. However, epigenetic mechanisms involved remain mostly unknown. Polycomb Repressive Complexes (PRCs) proteins are well-established epigenetic regulators of development and stem cell differentiation, but their role in different cancer systems is inconsistent and sometimes paradoxical. In this study, we have analysed the role of the PRC2 protein EZH2 in lung carcinoma cells. We found that besides its described role in CDKN2A-dependent cell proliferation, EZH2 upholds the epithelial state of cancer cells by repressing the transcription of hundreds of mesenchymal genes. Chemical inhibition or genetic removal of EZH2 promotes the residence of cancer cells in the mesenchymal state during reversible epithelial-mesenchymal transition. In fitting, analysis of human patient samples and tumour xenograft models indicate that EZH2 is required to efficiently repress mesenchymal genes and facilitate tumour colonization in vivo. Overall, this study discloses a novel role of PRC2 as a master regulator of EMT in carcinoma cells. This finding has important implications for the design of therapies based on EZH2 inhibitors in human cancer patients.
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53
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Huang Z, Zhang Z, Zhou C, Liu L, Huang C. Epithelial–mesenchymal transition: The history, regulatory mechanism, and cancer therapeutic opportunities. MedComm (Beijing) 2022; 3:e144. [PMID: 35601657 PMCID: PMC9115588 DOI: 10.1002/mco2.144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2022] [Revised: 04/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/21/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a program wherein epithelial cells lose their junctions and polarity while acquiring mesenchymal properties and invasive ability. Originally defined as an embryogenesis event, EMT has been recognized as a crucial process in tumor progression. During EMT, cell–cell junctions and cell–matrix attachments are disrupted, and the cytoskeleton is remodeled to enhance mobility of cells. This transition of phenotype is largely driven by a group of key transcription factors, typically Snail, Twist, and ZEB, through epigenetic repression of epithelial markers, transcriptional activation of matrix metalloproteinases, and reorganization of cytoskeleton. Mechanistically, EMT is orchestrated by multiple pathways, especially those involved in embryogenesis such as TGFβ, Wnt, Hedgehog, and Hippo, suggesting EMT as an intrinsic link between embryonic development and cancer progression. In addition, redox signaling has also emerged as critical EMT modulator. EMT confers cancer cells with increased metastatic potential and drug resistant capacity, which accounts for tumor recurrence in most clinic cases. Thus, targeting EMT can be a therapeutic option providing a chance of cure for cancer patients. Here, we introduce a brief history of EMT and summarize recent advances in understanding EMT mechanisms, as well as highlighting the therapeutic opportunities by targeting EMT in cancer treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhao Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center West China Hospital, and West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine Sichuan University, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Biotherapy Chengdu 610041 China
| | - Zhe Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center West China Hospital, and West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine Sichuan University, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Biotherapy Chengdu 610041 China
| | - Chengwei Zhou
- Department of Thoracic Surgery the Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Ningbo University Ningbo China
| | - Lin Liu
- Department of Thoracic Surgery the Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Ningbo University Ningbo China
| | - Canhua Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center West China Hospital, and West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine Sichuan University, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Biotherapy Chengdu 610041 China
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Acquisition of paclitaxel resistance modulates the biological traits of gastric cancer AGS cells and facilitates epithelial to mesenchymal transition and angiogenesis. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol 2022; 395:515-533. [PMID: 35122114 DOI: 10.1007/s00210-022-02217-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study aims to develop a paclitaxel (PTX)-resistant gastric cancer AGS cells (AGS-R) and evaluate the mechanisms of drug resistance. METHODS AGS cells were successively treated with increasing PTX concentrations. Cross-resistance of established AGS-R, the molecular patterns of cell survival, evasion of apoptosis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and the angiogenic potential were evaluated. RESULTS AGS-R was induced within six months of PTX exposure. Extension of the treatment resulted in PTX-resistance beyond clinical levels. The established AGS-R showed resistance to vincristine and doxorubicin but not cisplatin. Upon induction of resistance, the expressions of MDR-1 (P < 0.001) and MRP-1 (P < 0.01) genes and proteins significantly increased. AGS-R cells had elevated levels of BCL-2, pro-CASP3, cleaved-NOTCH1, HES1, HEY1, NF-κB, PI3K, p-AKT, HIF-1α, Cyclin A, and B1 as compared with parental cells (at least P < 0.01). The protein levels of BAX, CASP3, P53, and P21 (at least P < 0.01) as well as intracellular ROS (P < 0.001) were reduced in AGS-R. A relative arrest at the G2/M phase (15.8 ± 0.75 vs. 26.7 ± 1.67) of the cell cycle and enrichment of AGS-R cells for CD44 marker (9 ± 0.6 vs. 1 ± 0.8) (P < 0.001) were detected by flow cytometry. While the E-cadherin expression was reduced (P < 0.001), the protein levels of Vimentin, N-cadherin, SLUG, and SNAIL were increased (at least P < 0.05). The angiogenic activity and release of VEGF and MMP2/9 were increased in AGS-R cells relative to the AGS line (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION AGS-R cells could bypass chemotherapy stress by expressing the genes coding for efflux pumps and altering some key signaling in favor of survival, EMT, and angiogenesis.
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Yi B, Hu Y, Zhu D, Yao J, Zhou J, Zhang Y, He Z, Zhang L, Zhang Z, Yang J, Tang Y, Huang Y, Li D, Liu Q. RhoGDI2 induced malignant phenotypes of pancreatic cancer cells via regulating Snail expression. Genes Genomics 2022; 44:561-569. [PMID: 35147897 DOI: 10.1007/s13258-022-01217-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Rho GDP dissociation inhibitor 2 (RhoGDI2) has been shown to contribute to the aggressive phenotypes of human cancers, such as tumor metastasis and chemoresistance. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to assess the effects of RhoGDI2 on tumor progression and chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer cells. METHODS The expression of RhoGDI2 in pancreatic cancer cells was detected by Western blot analysis. Gain-of-function and loss-of-function approaches were done to examine the malignant phenotypes of the RhoGDI2-expressing or RhoGDI2-depleting cells. The correlation between RhoGDI2 and Snail was also analyzed. RESULTS Differential expression of RhoGDI2 protein in pancreatic cancer cell lines was identified. Gain-of-function and loss-of-function experiments showed that RhoGDI2 induced the malignant phenotypes of pancreatic cancer cells, including proliferation, migration, invasion, and gemcitabine (GEM) chemoresistance. The upregulation of RhoGDI2 stimulated the expression of Snail, resulting in the altered expression of epithelial marker E-cadherin and mesenchymal marker Vimentin, which were characteristics of the tumorigenic activity of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. The expression of RhoGDI2 and Snail was upregulated in clinical tumor samples, and higher expression of RhoGDI2 or Snail was significantly associated with poor patient survival in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). CONCLUSION The findings indicated that RhoGDI2 promoted GEM resistance and tumor progression in pancreatic cancer and that RhoGDI2 might be a potential therapeutic target in patients with PDAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Yi
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - You Hu
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Dongming Zhu
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Jun Yao
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Jian Zhou
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Yi Zhang
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhilong He
- Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Lifeng Zhang
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Zixiang Zhang
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Jian Yang
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Yuchen Tang
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Yujie Huang
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Dechun Li
- Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 188 Shizi Street, Suzhou, People's Republic of China.
| | - Qiuhua Liu
- Department of General Surgery, The First People's Hospital of Zhangjiagang City, No. 68 Jiyang Western Road, Suzhou, People's Republic of China.
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OVOL1 inhibits breast cancer cell invasion by enhancing the degradation of TGF-β type I receptor. Signal Transduct Target Ther 2022; 7:126. [PMID: 35484112 PMCID: PMC9050647 DOI: 10.1038/s41392-022-00944-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 02/16/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Ovo-like transcriptional repressor 1 (OVOL1) is a key mediator of epithelial lineage determination and mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET). The cytokines transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) control the epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity (EMP) of cancer cells, but whether this occurs through interplay with OVOL1 is not known. Here, we show that OVOL1 is inversely correlated with the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) signature, and is an indicator of a favorable prognosis for breast cancer patients. OVOL1 suppresses EMT, migration, extravasation, and early metastatic events of breast cancer cells. Importantly, BMP strongly promotes the expression of OVOL1, which enhances BMP signaling in turn. This positive feedback loop is established through the inhibition of TGF-β receptor signaling by OVOL1. Mechanistically, OVOL1 interacts with and prevents the ubiquitination and degradation of SMAD family member 7 (SMAD7), which is a negative regulator of TGF-β type I receptor stability. Moreover, a small-molecule compound 6-formylindolo(3,2-b)carbazole (FICZ) was identified to activate OVOL1 expression and thereby antagonizing (at least in part) TGF-β-mediated EMT and migration in breast cancer cells. Our results uncover a novel mechanism by which OVOL1 attenuates TGF-β/SMAD signaling and maintains the epithelial identity of breast cancer cells.
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Francisco AB, Kanke M, Massa AP, Dinh TA, Sritharan R, Vakili K, Bardeesy N, Sethupathy P. Multi-omic analysis of microRNA-mediated regulation reveals a proliferative axis involving miR-10b in fibrolamellar carcinoma. JCI Insight 2022; 7:154743. [PMID: 35482409 PMCID: PMC9220943 DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.154743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC) is an aggressive liver cancer primarily afflicting adolescents and young adults. Most patients with FLC harbor a heterozygous deletion on chromosome 19 that leads to the oncogenic gene fusion, DNAJB1-PRKACA. There are currently no effective therapeutics for FLC. To address that, it is critical to gain deeper mechanistic insight into FLC pathogenesis. We assembled a large sample set of FLC and nonmalignant liver tissue (n = 52) and performed integrative multiomic analysis. Specifically, we carried out small RNA sequencing to define altered microRNA expression patterns in tumor samples and then coupled this analysis with RNA sequencing and chromatin run-on sequencing data to identify candidate master microRNA regulators of gene expression in FLC. We also evaluated the relationship between DNAJB1-PRKACA and microRNAs of interest in several human and mouse cell models. Finally, we performed loss-of-function experiments for a specific microRNA in cells established from a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model. We identified miR-10b-5p as the top candidate pro-proliferative microRNA in FLC. In multiple human cell models, overexpression of DNAJB1-PRKACA led to significant upregulation of miR-10b-5p. Inhibition of miR-10b in PDX-derived cells increased the expression of several potentially novel target genes, concomitant with a significant reduction in metabolic activity, proliferation, and anchorage-independent growth. This study highlights a potentially novel proliferative axis in FLC and provides a rich resource for further investigation of FLC etiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam B Francisco
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States of America
| | - Matt Kanke
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States of America
| | - Andrew P Massa
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States of America
| | - Timothy A Dinh
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States of America
| | - Ramja Sritharan
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States of America
| | - Khashayar Vakili
- Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, United States of America
| | - Nabeel Bardeesy
- Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States of America
| | - Praveen Sethupathy
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States of America
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Mechanism of cancer stemness maintenance in human liver cancer. Cell Death Dis 2022; 13:394. [PMID: 35449193 PMCID: PMC9023565 DOI: 10.1038/s41419-022-04848-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2021] [Revised: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 04/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Primary liver cancer mainly includes the following four types: hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), hepatoblastoma (HB), and combined hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CCA). Recent studies have indicated that there are differences in cancer stem cell (CSC) properties among different types of liver cancer. Liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs), also called liver tumor-initiating cells, have been viewed as drivers of tumor initiation and metastasis. Many mechanisms and factors, such as mitophagy, mitochondrial dynamics, epigenetic modifications, the tumor microenvironment, and tumor plasticity, are involved in the regulation of cancer stemness in liver cancer. In this review, we analyze cancer stemness in different liver cancer types. Moreover, we further evaluate the mechanism of cancer stemness maintenance of LCSCs and discuss promising treatments for eradicating LCSCs.
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Mohammadi Ghahhari N, Sznurkowska MK, Hulo N, Bernasconi L, Aceto N, Picard D. Cooperative interaction between ERα and the EMT-inducer ZEB1 reprograms breast cancer cells for bone metastasis. Nat Commun 2022; 13:2104. [PMID: 35440541 PMCID: PMC9018728 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29723-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been proposed to contribute to the metastatic spread of breast cancer cells. EMT-promoting transcription factors determine a continuum of different EMT states. In contrast, estrogen receptor α (ERα) helps to maintain the epithelial phenotype of breast cancer cells and its expression is crucial for effective endocrine therapies. Determining whether and how EMT-associated transcription factors such as ZEB1 modulate ERα signaling during early stages of EMT could promote the discovery of therapeutic approaches to suppress metastasis. Here we show that, shortly after induction of EMT and while cells are still epithelial, ZEB1 modulates ERα-mediated transcription induced by estrogen or cAMP signaling in breast cancer cells. Based on these findings and our ex vivo and xenograft results, we suggest that the functional interaction between ZEB1 and ERα may alter the tissue tropism of metastatic breast cancer cells towards bone. The epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) is important in the metastatic spread of cancer cells. Here, the authors show that the EMT transcription factor, ZEB1, can modify estrogen receptor α during EMT and facilitate the migration of breast cancer cells to the bone
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Magdalena K Sznurkowska
- Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Health Sciences, ETH Zurich, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Nicolas Hulo
- Institute of Genetics and Genomics of Geneva, Université de Genève, 1211, Genève 4, Switzerland
| | - Lilia Bernasconi
- Département de Biologie Cellulaire, Université de Genève, Sciences III, 1211, Genève 4, Switzerland
| | - Nicola Aceto
- Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Health Sciences, ETH Zurich, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Didier Picard
- Département de Biologie Cellulaire, Université de Genève, Sciences III, 1211, Genève 4, Switzerland.
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Ungefroren H, Thürling I, Färber B, Kowalke T, Fischer T, De Assis LVM, Braun R, Castven D, Oster H, Konukiewitz B, Wellner UF, Lehnert H, Marquardt JU. The Quasimesenchymal Pancreatic Ductal Epithelial Cell Line PANC-1-A Useful Model to Study Clonal Heterogeneity and EMT Subtype Shifting. Cancers (Basel) 2022; 14:cancers14092057. [PMID: 35565186 PMCID: PMC9101310 DOI: 10.3390/cancers14092057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2022] [Revised: 04/13/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Malignant tumors often escape therapy due to clonal propagation of a subfraction of drug-resistant cancer cells. The underlying phenomenon of intratumoral heterogeneity is driven by epithelial–mesenchymal plasticity (EMP) involving the developmental programs, epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), in which epithelial cells are converted to invasive mesenchymal cells, and the reverse process, mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET), which allows for metastatic outgrowth at distant sites. For therapeutic targeting of EMP, a better understanding of this process is required; however, cellular models with which to study EMP in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are scarce. Using single-cell clonal analysis, we have found the PDAC cell line, PANC-1, to consist of cells with different E/M phenotypes and functional attributes. Parental PANC-1 cultures could be induced in vitro to shift towards either a more mesenchymal or a more epithelial phenotype, and this bidirectional shift was controlled by the small GTPases RAC1 and RAC1b, together identifying PANC-1 cells as a useful model with which to study EMP. Abstract Intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) is an intrinsic feature of malignant tumors that eventually allows a subfraction of resistant cancer cells to clonally evolve and cause therapy failure or relapse. ITH, cellular plasticity and tumor progression are driven by epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the reverse process, MET. During these developmental programs, epithelial (E) cells are successively converted to invasive mesenchymal (M) cells, or back to E cells, by passing through a series of intermediate E/M states, a phenomenon termed E–M plasticity (EMP). The induction of MET has clinical potential as it can block the initial EMT stages that favor tumor cell dissemination, while its inhibition can curb metastatic outgrowth at distant sites. In pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), cellular models with which to study EMP or MET induction are scarce. Here, we have generated single cell-derived clonal cultures of the quasimesenchymal PDAC-derived cell line, PANC-1, and found that these differ strongly with respect to cell morphology and EMT marker expression, allowing for their tentative classification as E, E/M or M. Interestingly, the different EMT phenotypes were found to segregate with differences in tumorigenic potential in vitro, as measured by colony forming and invasive activities, and in circadian clock function. Moreover, the individual clones the phenotypes of which remained stable upon prolonged culture also responded differently to treatment with transforming growth factor (TGF)β1 in regard to regulation of growth and individual TGFβ target genes, and to culture conditions that favour ductal-to-endocrine transdifferentiation as a more direct measure for cellular plasticity. Of note, stimulation with TGFβ1 induced a shift in parental PANC-1 cultures towards a more extreme M and invasive phenotype, while exposing the cells to a combination of the proinflammatory cytokines IFNγ, IL1β and TNFα (IIT) elicited a shift towards a more E and less invasive phenotype resembling a MET-like process. Finally, we show that the actions of TGFβ1 and IIT both converge on regulating the ratio of the small GTPase RAC1 and its splice isoform, RAC1b. Our data provide strong evidence for dynamic EMT–MET transitions and qualify this cell line as a useful model with which to study EMP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hendrik Ungefroren
- First Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (I.T.); (T.K.); (T.F.); (D.C.); (J.-U.M.)
- Clinic for Surgery, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (B.F.); (R.B.); (U.F.W.)
- Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, D-24105 Kiel, Germany;
- Correspondence:
| | - Isabel Thürling
- First Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (I.T.); (T.K.); (T.F.); (D.C.); (J.-U.M.)
| | - Benedikt Färber
- Clinic for Surgery, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (B.F.); (R.B.); (U.F.W.)
| | - Tanja Kowalke
- First Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (I.T.); (T.K.); (T.F.); (D.C.); (J.-U.M.)
| | - Tanja Fischer
- First Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (I.T.); (T.K.); (T.F.); (D.C.); (J.-U.M.)
| | - Leonardo Vinícius Monteiro De Assis
- Institute for Neurobiology, Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (L.V.M.D.A.); (H.O.)
| | - Rüdiger Braun
- Clinic for Surgery, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (B.F.); (R.B.); (U.F.W.)
| | - Darko Castven
- First Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (I.T.); (T.K.); (T.F.); (D.C.); (J.-U.M.)
| | - Henrik Oster
- Institute for Neurobiology, Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (L.V.M.D.A.); (H.O.)
| | - Björn Konukiewitz
- Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, D-24105 Kiel, Germany;
| | - Ulrich Friedrich Wellner
- Clinic for Surgery, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (B.F.); (R.B.); (U.F.W.)
| | | | - Jens-Uwe Marquardt
- First Department of Medicine, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, D-23538 Lübeck, Germany; (I.T.); (T.K.); (T.F.); (D.C.); (J.-U.M.)
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Gulla A, Andriusaityte U, Zdanys GT, Babonaite E, Strupas K, Kelly H. The Impact of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Metformin on Pancreatic Cancer Chemoresistance: A Pathway towards Individualized Therapy. MEDICINA (KAUNAS, LITHUANIA) 2022; 58:467. [PMID: 35454306 PMCID: PMC9032206 DOI: 10.3390/medicina58040467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2022] [Revised: 03/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Globally, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma remains among the most aggressive forms of neoplastic diseases, having a dismal prognostic outcome. Recent findings elucidated that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) can play an important role in pancreatic tumorigenic processes, as it contributes to the manifestation of malignant proliferative masses, which impede adequate drug delivery. An organized literature search with PubMed, Scopus, Microsoft Academic and the Cochrane library was performed for articles published in English from 2011 to 2021 to review and summarize the latest updates and knowledge on the current understanding of EMT and its implications for tumorigenesis and chemoresistance. Furthermore, in the present paper, we investigate the recent findings on metformin as a possible neoadjuvant chemotherapy agent, which affects EMT progression and potentially provides superior oncological outcomes for PDAC patients. Our main conclusions indicate that selectively suppressing EMT in pancreatic cancer cells has a promising therapeutic utility by selectively targeting the chemotherapy-resistant sub-population of cancer stem cells, inhibiting tumor growth via EMT pathways and thereby improving remission in PDAC patients. Moreover, given that TGF-β1-driven EMT generates the migration of tumor-initiating cells by directly linking the acquisition of abnormal cellular motility with the maintenance of tumor initiating potency, the chemoprevention of TGF-β1-induced EMT may have promising clinical applications in the therapeutic management of PDAC outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aiste Gulla
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Clinic of Gastroenterology, Surgery, Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Santariskiu Str. 2, 08661 Vilnius, Lithuania;
- Center of Visceral Medicine and Translational Research, Department of Surgery, Georgetown University Hospital, 3800 Reservoir Road Northwest BLES Building 1st. Floor, Washington, DC 20007, USA
| | - Urte Andriusaityte
- Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio Str. 21, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania; (U.A.); (G.T.Z.); (E.B.)
| | - Gabrielius Tomas Zdanys
- Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio Str. 21, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania; (U.A.); (G.T.Z.); (E.B.)
| | - Elena Babonaite
- Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio Str. 21, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania; (U.A.); (G.T.Z.); (E.B.)
| | - Kestutis Strupas
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Clinic of Gastroenterology, Surgery, Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Santariskiu Str. 2, 08661 Vilnius, Lithuania;
| | - Helena Kelly
- School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, 123 St. Stephen’s Green, D02 YN77 Dublin, Ireland;
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62
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Silva D, Quintas C, Gonçalves J, Fresco P. Contribution of adrenergic mechanisms for the stress-induced breast cancer carcinogenesis. J Cell Physiol 2022; 237:2107-2127. [PMID: 35243626 DOI: 10.1002/jcp.30707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2021] [Revised: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common and deadliest type of cancer in women. Stress exposure has been associated with carcinogenesis and the stress released neurotransmitters, noradrenaline and adrenaline, and their cognate receptors, can participate in the carcinogenesis process, either by regulating tumor microenvironment or by promoting systemic changes. This work intends to provide an overview of the research done in this area and try to unravel the role of adrenergic ligands in the context of breast carcinogenesis. In the initiation phase, adrenergic signaling may favor neoplastic transformation of breast epithelial cells whereas, during cancer progression, may favor the metastatic potential of breast cancer cells. Additionally, adrenergic signaling can alter the function and activity of other cells present in the tumor microenvironment towards a protumor phenotype, namely macrophages, fibroblasts, and by altering adipocyte's function. Adrenergic signaling also promotes angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis and, systemically, may induce the formation of preneoplastic niches, cancer-associated cachexia and alterations in the immune system which contribute for the loss of quality of life of breast cancer patients and their capacity to fight cancer. Most studies points to a major contribution of β2 -adrenoceptor activated pathways on these effects. The current knowledge of the mechanistic pathways activated by β2 -adrenoceptors in physiology and pathophysiology, the availability of selective drugs approved for clinical use and a deeper knowledge of the basic cellular and molecular pathways by which adrenergic stimulation may influence cancer initiation and progression, opens the possibility to use new therapeutic alternatives to improve efficacy of breast cancer treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dany Silva
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Drug Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Clara Quintas
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Drug Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Jorge Gonçalves
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Drug Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Paula Fresco
- Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Drug Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
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63
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Kawabata H, Ono Y, Tamamura N, Oyama K, Ueda J, Sato H, Takahashi K, Taniue K, Okada T, Fujibayashi S, Hayashi A, Goto T, Enomoto K, Konishi H, Fujiya M, Miyakawa K, Tanino M, Nishikawa Y, Koga D, Watanabe T, Maeda C, Karasaki H, Liss AS, Mizukami Y, Okumura T. Mutant GNAS limits tumor aggressiveness in established pancreatic cancer via antagonizing the KRAS-pathway. J Gastroenterol 2022; 57:208-220. [PMID: 35018527 DOI: 10.1007/s00535-021-01846-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 12/25/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mutations in GNAS drive pancreatic tumorigenesis and frequently occur in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN); however, their value as a therapeutic target is yet to be determined. This study aimed at evaluating the involvement of mutant GNAS in tumor aggressiveness in established pancreatic cancer. METHODS CRISPR/Cas9-mediated GNAS R201H silencing was performed using human primary IPMN-associated pancreatic cancer cells. The role of oncogenic GNAS in tumor maintenance was evaluated by conducting cell culture and xenograft experiments, and western blotting and transcriptome analyses were performed to uncover GNAS-driven signatures. RESULTS Xenografts of GNAS wild-type cells were characterized by a higher Ki-67 labeling index relative to GNAS-mutant cells. Phenotypic alterations in the GNAS wild-type tumors resulted in a significant reduction in mucin production accompanied by solid with massive stromal components. Transcriptional profiling suggested an apparent conflict of mutant GNAS with KRAS signaling. A significantly higher Notch intercellular domain (NICD) was observed in the nuclear fraction of GNAS wild-type cells. Meanwhile, inhibition of protein kinase A (PKA) induced NICD in GNAS-mutant IPMN cells, suggesting that NOTCH signaling is negatively regulated by the GNAS-PKA pathway. GNAS wild-type cells were characterized by a significant invasive property relative to GNAS-mutant cells, which was mediated through the NOTCH regulatory pathway. CONCLUSIONS Oncogenic GNAS induces mucin production, not only via MUC2 but also via MUC5AC/B, which may enlarge cystic lesions in the pancreas. The mutation may also limit tumor aggressiveness by attenuating NOTCH signaling; therefore, such tumor-suppressing effects must be considered when therapeutically inhibiting the GNAS pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hidemasa Kawabata
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Yusuke Ono
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
- Institute of Biomedical Research, Sapporo-Higashi Tokushukai Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 065-0033, Japan
| | - Nobue Tamamura
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Kyohei Oyama
- Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Jun Ueda
- Department of Advanced Medical Science, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Hiroki Sato
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
- Division of Gastrointestinal and Oncologic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - Kenji Takahashi
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Kenzui Taniue
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
- Isotope Science Center, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0032, Japan
| | - Tetsuhiro Okada
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Syugo Fujibayashi
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Akihiro Hayashi
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Takuma Goto
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Katsuro Enomoto
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Hiroaki Konishi
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Mikihiro Fujiya
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Keita Miyakawa
- Department of Surgical Pathology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Mishie Tanino
- Department of Surgical Pathology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Yuji Nishikawa
- Division of Tumor Pathology, Department of Pathology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Daisuke Koga
- Department of Microscopic Anatomy and Cell Biology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Tsuyoshi Watanabe
- Department of Microscopic Anatomy and Cell Biology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
| | - Chiho Maeda
- Institute of Biomedical Research, Sapporo-Higashi Tokushukai Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 065-0033, Japan
| | - Hidenori Karasaki
- Institute of Biomedical Research, Sapporo-Higashi Tokushukai Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 065-0033, Japan
| | - Andrew S Liss
- Division of Gastrointestinal and Oncologic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - Yusuke Mizukami
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan.
- Institute of Biomedical Research, Sapporo-Higashi Tokushukai Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 065-0033, Japan.
| | - Toshikatsu Okumura
- Department of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, 2-1 Midorigaoka Higashi, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan
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64
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Targeted liposomal doxorubicin/ceramides combinations: the importance to assess the nature of drug interaction beyond bulk tumor cells. Eur J Pharm Biopharm 2022; 172:61-77. [PMID: 35104605 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpb.2022.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2021] [Revised: 01/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
One of the major assets of anticancer nanomedicine is the ability to co-deliver drug combinations, as it enables targeting of different cellular populations and/or signaling pathways implicated in tumorigenesis and thus tackling tumor heterogeneity. Moreover, drug resistance can be circumvented, for example, upon co-encapsulation and delivery of doxorubicin and sphingolipids, as ceramides. Herein, the impact of short (C6) and long (C18) alkyl chain length ceramides on the nature of drug interaction, within the scope of combination with doxorubicin, was performed in bulk triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells, as well as on the density of putative cancer stem cells and phenotype, including live single-cell tracking. C6- or C18-ceramide enabled a synergistic drug interaction in all conditions and (bulk) cell lines tested. However, differentiation among these two ceramides was reflected on the migratory potential of cancer cells, particularly significant against the highly motile MDA-MB-231 cells. This effect was supported by the downregulation of the PI3K/Akt pathway enabled by C6-ceramide and in contrast with C18-ceramide. The decrease of the migratory potential enabled by the targeted liposomal combinations is of high relevance in the context of TNBC, due to the underlying metastatic potential. Surprisingly, the nature of the drug interaction assessed at the level of bulk cancer cells revealed to be insufficient to predict whether a drug combination enables a decrease in the percentage of the master regulators of tumor relapse as ALDH+/high putative TNBC cancer stem cells, suggesting, for the first time, that it should be extended further down to this level.
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65
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Tian W, Liu Y, Cao C, Zeng Y, Pan Y, Liu X, Peng Y, Wu F. Chronic Stress: Impacts on Tumor Microenvironment and Implications for Anti-Cancer Treatments. Front Cell Dev Biol 2021; 9:777018. [PMID: 34869378 PMCID: PMC8640341 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.777018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic stress is common among cancer patients due to the psychological, operative, or pharmaceutical stressors at the time of diagnosis or during the treatment of cancers. The continuous activations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), as results of chronic stress, have been demonstrated to take part in several cancer-promoting processes, such as tumorigenesis, progression, metastasis, and multi-drug resistance, by altering the tumor microenvironment (TME). Stressed TME is generally characterized by the increased proportion of cancer-promoting cells and cytokines, the reduction and malfunction of immune-supportive cells and cytokines, augmented angiogenesis, enhanced epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and damaged extracellular matrix. For the negative effects that these alterations can cause in terms of the efficacies of anti-cancer treatments and prognosis of patients, supplementary pharmacological or psychotherapeutic strategies targeting HPA, SNS, or psychological stress may be effective in improving the prognosis of cancer patients. Here, we review the characteristics and mechanisms of TME alterations under chronic stress, their influences on anti-cancer therapies, and accessory interventions and therapies for stressed cancer patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wentao Tian
- Department of Oncology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yi Liu
- Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Chenghui Cao
- Department of Oncology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yue Zeng
- Department of Oncology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yue Pan
- Department of Oncology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Xiaohan Liu
- Department of Oncology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yurong Peng
- Department of Oncology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Fang Wu
- Department of Oncology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Hunan Cancer Mega-Data Intelligent Application and Engineering Research Centre, Changsha, China.,Hunan Key Laboratory of Tumor Models and Individualized Medicine, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.,Hunan Key Laboratory of Early Diagnosis and Precision Therapy in Lung Cancer, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
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66
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Najem A, Wouters J, Krayem M, Rambow F, Sabbah M, Sales F, Awada A, Aerts S, Journe F, Marine JC, Ghanem GE. Tyrosine-Dependent Phenotype Switching Occurs Early in Many Primary Melanoma Cultures Limiting Their Translational Value. Front Oncol 2021; 11:780654. [PMID: 34869032 PMCID: PMC8635994 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.780654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The use of patient-derived primary cell cultures in cancer preclinical assays, including drug screens and genotoxic studies, has increased in recent years. However, their translational value is constrained by several limitations, including variability that can be caused by the culture conditions. Here, we show that the medium composition commonly used to propagate primary melanoma cultures has limited their representability of their tumor of origin and their cellular plasticity, and modified their sensitivity to therapy. Indeed, we established and compared cultures from different melanoma patients propagated in parallel in low-tyrosine (Ham's F10) or in high-tyrosine (Ham's F10 supplemented with tyrosine or RPMI1640 or DMEM) media. Tyrosine is the precursor of melanin biosynthesis, a process particularly active in differentiated melanocytes and melanoma cells. Unexpectedly, we found that the high tyrosine concentrations promoted an early phenotypic drift towards either a mesenchymal-like or senescence-like phenotype, and prevented the establishment of cultures of melanoma cells harboring differentiated features, which we show are frequently present in human clinical biopsies. Moreover, the invasive phenotype emerging in these culture conditions appeared irreversible and, as expected, associated with intrinsic resistance to MAPKi. In sharp contrast, differentiated melanoma cell cultures retained their phenotypes upon propagation in low-tyrosine medium, and importantly their phenotypic plasticity, a key hallmark of melanoma cells. Altogether, our findings underline the importance of culturing melanoma cells in low-tyrosine-containing medium in order to preserve their phenotypic identity of origin and cellular plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmad Najem
- Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Oncology (LOCE), Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Jasper Wouters
- Center for Brain and Disease Research, VIB-KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Department of Human Genetics KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Mohammad Krayem
- Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Oncology (LOCE), Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Florian Rambow
- Center for Cancer Biology, VIB-KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Department of Oncology KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Malak Sabbah
- Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Oncology (LOCE), Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - François Sales
- Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Oncology (LOCE), Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.,Department of Surgery, Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Ahmad Awada
- Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Oncology (LOCE), Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.,Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Stein Aerts
- Center for Brain and Disease Research, VIB-KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Department of Human Genetics KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Fabrice Journe
- Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Oncology (LOCE), Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.,Department of Human Anatomy and Experimental Oncology, Université de Mons, Mons, Belgium
| | - Jean-Christophe Marine
- Center for Cancer Biology, VIB-KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Department of Oncology KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Ghanem E Ghanem
- Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Oncology (LOCE), Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
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67
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Singh D, Mohapatra P, Kumar S, Behera S, Dixit A, Sahoo SK. Nimbolide-encapsulated PLGA nanoparticles induces Mesenchymal-to-Epithelial Transition by dual inhibition of AKT and mTOR in pancreatic cancer stem cells. Toxicol In Vitro 2021; 79:105293. [PMID: 34883246 DOI: 10.1016/j.tiv.2021.105293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2021] [Revised: 11/17/2021] [Accepted: 12/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is associated with poor prognosis and remains highly aggressive despite current advancements in therapies. Chemoresistance and high metastatic nature of PDAC is attributed to a small subset of stem-like cells within the tumor known as Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs). Here, we developed a strategy for targeting pancreatic CSCs through forceful induction of mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition driven by encapsulating a phytochemical Nimbolide in nanoparticles. Binding of Nimbolide with the key regulator proteins of CSCs were studied through molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation studies, which revealed that it binds to AKT and mTOR with high affinity. Further, in vitro studies revealed that Nim NPs are capable of inducing forceful mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition of pancreatospheres that leads to loss of multidrug resistance and self-renewal properties of pancreatospheres. Our study gives a proof of concept that encapsulation of Nim in PLGA nanoparticles increases its therapeutic effect on pancreatospheres. Further, binding of Nim to AKT and mTOR negatively regulates their activity that ultimately leads to mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition of pancreatic CSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deepika Singh
- Institute of Life Sciences, Nalco Square, Bhubaneswar 751023, Odisha, India
| | - Priyanka Mohapatra
- Institute of Life Sciences, Nalco Square, Bhubaneswar 751023, Odisha, India; Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad 121001, Haryana, India
| | - Sugandh Kumar
- Institute of Life Sciences, Nalco Square, Bhubaneswar 751023, Odisha, India
| | - Somalisa Behera
- Institute of Life Sciences, Nalco Square, Bhubaneswar 751023, Odisha, India
| | - Anshuman Dixit
- Institute of Life Sciences, Nalco Square, Bhubaneswar 751023, Odisha, India
| | - Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo
- Institute of Life Sciences, Nalco Square, Bhubaneswar 751023, Odisha, India.
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68
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Loo SY, Toh LP, Xie WH, Pathak E, Tan W, Ma S, Lee MY, Shatishwaran S, Yeo JZZ, Yuan J, Ho YY, Peh EKL, Muniandy M, Torta F, Chan J, Tan TJ, Sim Y, Tan V, Tan B, Madhukumar P, Yong WS, Ong KW, Wong CY, Tan PH, Yap YS, Deng LW, Dent R, Foo R, Wenk MR, Lee SC, Ho YS, Lim EH, Tam WL. Fatty acid oxidation is a druggable gateway regulating cellular plasticity for driving metastasis in breast cancer. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabh2443. [PMID: 34613780 PMCID: PMC8494440 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abh2443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Cell state transitions control the functional behavior of cancer cells. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) confers cancer stem cell-like properties, enhanced tumorigenicity and drug resistance to tumor cells, while mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) reverses these phenotypes. Using high-throughput chemical library screens, retinoids are found to be potent promoters of MET that inhibit tumorigenicity in basal-like breast cancer. Cell state transitions are defined by reprogramming of lipid metabolism. Retinoids bind cognate nuclear receptors, which target lipid metabolism genes, thereby redirecting fatty acids for β-oxidation in the mesenchymal cell state towards lipid storage in the epithelial cell state. Disruptions of key metabolic enzymes mediating this flux inhibit MET. Conversely, perturbations to fatty acid oxidation (FAO) rechannel fatty acid flux and promote a more epithelial cell phenotype, blocking EMT-driven breast cancer metastasis in animal models. FAO impinges on the epigenetic control of EMT through acetyl-CoA-dependent regulation of histone acetylation on EMT genes, thus determining cell states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ser Yue Loo
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Li Ping Toh
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
- Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 8 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore
| | - William Haowei Xie
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Elina Pathak
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Wilson Tan
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Siming Ma
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - May Yin Lee
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - S. Shatishwaran
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Joanna Zhen Zhen Yeo
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Ju Yuan
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Yin Ying Ho
- Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Esther Kai Lay Peh
- Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Magendran Muniandy
- Singapore Lipidomics Incubator, Life Sciences Institute, National University of Singapore, 28 Medical Drive, Singapore 117456, Singapore
| | - Federico Torta
- Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 8 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore
- Singapore Lipidomics Incubator, Life Sciences Institute, National University of Singapore, 28 Medical Drive, Singapore 117456, Singapore
- Precision Medicine Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 8 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore
| | - Jack Chan
- Division of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Tira J. Tan
- Division of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
- Duke-NUS Medical School, 8 College Road, Singapore 169857, Singapore
| | - Yirong Sim
- Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Veronique Tan
- Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Benita Tan
- Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Preetha Madhukumar
- Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Wei Sean Yong
- Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Kong Wee Ong
- Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Chow Yin Wong
- Division of Surgery and Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Puay Hoon Tan
- Division of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital, 20 College Rd., Singapore 169856, Singapore
| | - Yoon Sim Yap
- Division of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
- Duke-NUS Medical School, 8 College Road, Singapore 169857, Singapore
| | - Lih-Wen Deng
- Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 8 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore
| | - Rebecca Dent
- Division of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Roger Foo
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
| | - Markus R. Wenk
- Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 8 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore
- Singapore Lipidomics Incubator, Life Sciences Institute, National University of Singapore, 28 Medical Drive, Singapore 117456, Singapore
- Precision Medicine Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 8 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore
| | - Soo Chin Lee
- Department of Haematology-Oncology, National University Cancer Institute, National University Health System, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119074, Singapore
- Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, 14 Medical Drive, Singapore 117599, Singapore
| | - Ying Swan Ho
- Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Elaine Hsuen Lim
- Division of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Crescent, Singapore 169610, Singapore
- Corresponding author. (E.H.L.); (W.L.T.)
| | - Wai Leong Tam
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Singapore 138672, Singapore
- Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 8 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore
- Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, 14 Medical Drive, Singapore 117599, Singapore
- NUS Center for Cancer Research, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Singapore, 14 Medical Drive, Singapore 117599, Singapore
- Corresponding author. (E.H.L.); (W.L.T.)
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Ramms DJ, Raimondi F, Arang N, Herberg FW, Taylor SS, Gutkind JS. G αs-Protein Kinase A (PKA) Pathway Signalopathies: The Emerging Genetic Landscape and Therapeutic Potential of Human Diseases Driven by Aberrant G αs-PKA Signaling. Pharmacol Rev 2021; 73:155-197. [PMID: 34663687 PMCID: PMC11060502 DOI: 10.1124/pharmrev.120.000269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Many of the fundamental concepts of signal transduction and kinase activity are attributed to the discovery and crystallization of cAMP-dependent protein kinase, or protein kinase A. PKA is one of the best-studied kinases in human biology, with emphasis in biochemistry and biophysics, all the way to metabolism, hormone action, and gene expression regulation. It is surprising, however, that our understanding of PKA's role in disease is largely underappreciated. Although genetic mutations in the PKA holoenzyme are known to cause diseases such as Carney complex, Cushing syndrome, and acrodysostosis, the story largely stops there. With the recent explosion of genomic medicine, we can finally appreciate the broader role of the Gαs-PKA pathway in disease, with contributions from aberrant functioning G proteins and G protein-coupled receptors, as well as multiple alterations in other pathway components and negative regulators. Together, these represent a broad family of diseases we term the Gαs-PKA pathway signalopathies. The Gαs-PKA pathway signalopathies encompass diseases caused by germline, postzygotic, and somatic mutations in the Gαs-PKA pathway, with largely endocrine and neoplastic phenotypes. Here, we present a signaling-centric review of Gαs-PKA-driven pathophysiology and integrate computational and structural analysis to identify mutational themes commonly exploited by the Gαs-PKA pathway signalopathies. Major mutational themes include hotspot activating mutations in Gαs, encoded by GNAS, and mutations that destabilize the PKA holoenzyme. With this review, we hope to incite further study and ultimately the development of new therapeutic strategies in the treatment of a wide range of human diseases. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Little recognition is given to the causative role of Gαs-PKA pathway dysregulation in disease, with effects ranging from infectious disease, endocrine syndromes, and many cancers, yet these disparate diseases can all be understood by common genetic themes and biochemical signaling connections. By highlighting these common pathogenic mechanisms and bridging multiple disciplines, important progress can be made toward therapeutic advances in treating Gαs-PKA pathway-driven disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dana J Ramms
- Department of Pharmacology (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (S.S.T.), and Moores Cancer Center (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California; Laboratorio di Biologia Bio@SNS, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy (F.R.); and Department of Biochemistry, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany (F.W.H.)
| | - Francesco Raimondi
- Department of Pharmacology (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (S.S.T.), and Moores Cancer Center (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California; Laboratorio di Biologia Bio@SNS, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy (F.R.); and Department of Biochemistry, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany (F.W.H.)
| | - Nadia Arang
- Department of Pharmacology (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (S.S.T.), and Moores Cancer Center (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California; Laboratorio di Biologia Bio@SNS, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy (F.R.); and Department of Biochemistry, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany (F.W.H.)
| | - Friedrich W Herberg
- Department of Pharmacology (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (S.S.T.), and Moores Cancer Center (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California; Laboratorio di Biologia Bio@SNS, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy (F.R.); and Department of Biochemistry, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany (F.W.H.)
| | - Susan S Taylor
- Department of Pharmacology (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (S.S.T.), and Moores Cancer Center (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California; Laboratorio di Biologia Bio@SNS, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy (F.R.); and Department of Biochemistry, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany (F.W.H.)
| | - J Silvio Gutkind
- Department of Pharmacology (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (S.S.T.), and Moores Cancer Center (D.J.R., N.A., J.S.G.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California; Laboratorio di Biologia Bio@SNS, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy (F.R.); and Department of Biochemistry, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany (F.W.H.)
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70
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Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition Is Not a Major Modulating Factor in the Cytotoxic Response to Natural Products in Cancer Cell Lines. Molecules 2021; 26:molecules26195858. [PMID: 34641401 PMCID: PMC8512490 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26195858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2021] [Revised: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Numerous natural products exhibit antiproliferative activity against cancer cells by modulating various biological pathways. In this study, we investigated the potential use of eight natural compounds (apigenin, curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, fisetin, forskolin, procyanidin B2, resveratrol, urolithin A) and two repurposed agents (fulvestrant and metformin) as chemotherapy enhancers and mesenchymal-to-epithelial (MET) inducers of cancer cells. Screening of these compounds in various colon, breast, and pancreatic cancer cell lines revealed anti-cancer activity for all compounds, with curcumin being the most effective among these in all cell lines. Although some of the natural products were able to induce MET in some cancer cell lines, the MET induction was not related to increased synergy with either 5-FU, irinotecan, gemcitabine, or gefitinib. When synergy was observed, for example with curcumin and irinotecan, this was unrelated to MET induction, as assessed by changes in E-cadherin and vimentin expression. Our results show that MET induction is compound and cell line specific, and that MET is not necessarily related to enhanced chemosensitivity.
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71
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Modulating cell differentiation in cancer models. Biochem Soc Trans 2021; 49:1803-1816. [PMID: 34436513 DOI: 10.1042/bst20210230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Revised: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Cancer has been traditionally viewed as a disease characterised by excessive and uncontrolled proliferation, leading to the development of cytotoxic therapies against highly proliferating malignant cells. However, tumours frequently relapse due to the presence of slow-cycling cancer stem cells eluding chemo and radiotherapy. Since these malignant stem cells are largely undifferentiated, inducing their lineage commitment has been proposed as a potential intervention strategy to deplete tumours from their most resistant components. Pro-differentiation approaches have thus far yielded clinical success in the reversion of acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL), and new developments are fast widening their therapeutic applicability to solid carcinomas. Recent advances in cancer differentiation discussed here highlight the potential and outstanding challenges of differentiation-based approaches.
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Nowicki A, Kulus M, Wieczorkiewicz M, Pieńkowski W, Stefańska K, Skupin-Mrugalska P, Bryl R, Mozdziak P, Kempisty B, Piotrowska-Kempisty H. Ovarian Cancer and Cancer Stem Cells-Cellular and Molecular Characteristics, Signaling Pathways, and Usefulness as a Diagnostic Tool in Medicine and Oncology. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:cancers13164178. [PMID: 34439332 PMCID: PMC8394875 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13164178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Ovarian cancer is still a high-risk, metastatic disease, often diagnosed at a late stage. Difficulties in its treatment are associated with high resistance to chemotherapy and recurrence. Responsible for the malignant features of cancer are considered to be cancer stem cells (CSCs), which generate new cells by modifying various signaling pathways. Signaling pathways are crucial for the regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, metastasis, and self-renewal of CSCs. New therapies based on the use of inhibitors that block CSC growth and proliferation signals are being investigated. The current histological classification of ovarian tumors, their epidemiology, and the recent knowledge of ovarian CSCs, with particular emphasis on their molecular basis, are important considerations. Abstract Despite the increasing development of medicine, ovarian cancer is still a high-risk, metastatic disease that is often diagnosed at a late stage. In addition, difficulties in its treatment are associated with high resistance to chemotherapy and frequent relapse. Cancer stem cells (CSCs), recently attracting significant scientific interest, are considered to be responsible for the malignant features of tumors. CSCs, as the driving force behind tumor development, generate new cells by modifying different signaling pathways. Moreover, investigations on different types of tumors have shown that signaling pathways are key to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulation, metastasis, and self-renewal of CSCs. Based on these established issues, new therapies are being investigated based on the use of inhibitors to block CSC growth and proliferation signals. Many reports indicate that CSC markers play a key role in cancer metastasis, with hopes placed in their targeting to block this process and eliminate relapses. Current histological classification of ovarian tumors, their epidemiology, and the most recent knowledge of ovarian CSCs, with particular emphasis on their molecular background, are important aspects for consideration. Furthermore, the importance of signaling pathways involved in tumor growth, development, and metastasis, is also presented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrzej Nowicki
- Department of Toxicology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-631 Poznan, Poland;
| | - Magdalena Kulus
- Department of Veterinary Surgery, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, 87-100 Torun, Poland; (M.K.); (B.K.)
| | - Maria Wieczorkiewicz
- Department of Basic and Preclinical Sciences, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, 87-100 Torun, Poland;
| | - Wojciech Pieńkowski
- Division of Perinatology and Women’s Diseases, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-535 Poznan, Poland;
| | - Katarzyna Stefańska
- Department of Histology and Embryology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-781 Poznan, Poland;
| | - Paulina Skupin-Mrugalska
- Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-780 Poznan, Poland;
| | - Rut Bryl
- Department of Anatomy, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-781 Poznan, Poland;
| | - Paul Mozdziak
- Department of Poultry Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA;
| | - Bartosz Kempisty
- Department of Veterinary Surgery, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, 87-100 Torun, Poland; (M.K.); (B.K.)
- Department of Histology and Embryology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-781 Poznan, Poland;
- Department of Anatomy, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-781 Poznan, Poland;
- Department of Poultry Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA;
| | - Hanna Piotrowska-Kempisty
- Department of Toxicology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-631 Poznan, Poland;
- Department of Basic and Preclinical Sciences, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, 87-100 Torun, Poland;
- Correspondence:
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73
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Zhang N, Ng AS, Cai S, Li Q, Yang L, Kerr D. Novel therapeutic strategies: targeting epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer. Lancet Oncol 2021; 22:e358-e368. [PMID: 34339656 DOI: 10.1016/s1470-2045(21)00343-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 144] [Impact Index Per Article: 48.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Revised: 05/30/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process during which cells lose their epithelial characteristics, for instance apical-basal cell polarity and cell-cell contact, and gain mesenchymal properties, such as increased motility. In colorectal cancer, EMT has an important role in tumour progression, metastasis, and drug resistance. There has been accumulating evidence from preclinical and early clinical studies that show that EMT markers might serve as outcome predictors and potential therapeutic targets in colorectal cancer. This Review describes the fundamentals of EMT, including biology, newly partial EMT, and associated changes. We also provide a comprehensive summary of therapeutic compounds capable of targeting EMT markers, including drugs in preclinical and clinical trials and those with repurpose potential. Lastly, we explore the obstacles of EMT bench-to-bedside drug development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nan Zhang
- West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; Radcliffe Department of Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; University of Oxford-Sichuan University Huaxi Joint Centre for Gastrointestinal Cancer, Oxford, UK; Department of Oncology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Aik Seng Ng
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; University of Oxford-Sichuan University Huaxi Joint Centre for Gastrointestinal Cancer, Oxford, UK
| | - Shijie Cai
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; University of Oxford-Sichuan University Huaxi Joint Centre for Gastrointestinal Cancer, Oxford, UK
| | - Qiu Li
- West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; Department of Oncology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Li Yang
- West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; University of Oxford-Sichuan University Huaxi Joint Centre for Gastrointestinal Cancer, Oxford, UK; Department of Gastroenterology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
| | - David Kerr
- West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China; Radcliffe Department of Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; University of Oxford-Sichuan University Huaxi Joint Centre for Gastrointestinal Cancer, Oxford, UK
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74
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Transdifferentiation of goat ear fibroblasts into lactating mammary epithelial cells induced by small molecule compounds. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2021; 573:55-61. [PMID: 34388455 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2021.07.087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Mammary epithelial cells are the only cells in the mammary glands that are capable of lactation and they are ideal for studying cellular and molecular biology mechanisms during growth, development and lactation of the mammary glands. The limiting factors in most of the currently available mammary epithelial cells are low cell viability, transgenerational efficiency and lactation function that renders them unsuitable for subsequent studies on mammary gland's cellular and lactation mechanisms and utilizing them as bioreactors. Hence, new methods are required to obtain mammary epithelial cells with high transgenerational efficiency and lactation function. In this study, transdifferentiation of goat ear fibroblasts (GEFs) into goat mammary epithelial cells (CiMECs) was induced in only eight days by five small molecule compounds, including 500 μg/mL VPA, 10 μM Tranylcypromine, 10 μM Forskolin, 1 μM TTNPB, 10 μM RepSox. Morphological observation, marker genes comparison, specific antigen expression and comparison of gene expression levels by transcriptome sequencing between the two types of cells that led to the primary deduction that CiMECs have similar biological properties to goat mammary epithelial cells (GMECs) and comparatively more lactation capacity. Therefore, we establish a novel reprogramming route to convert fibroblasts into CiMECs under fully chemically conditions. This study is expected to provide an in vitro platform for understanding cellular mechanisms such as mammary epithelial cells' fate determination and developmental differentiation, and also to find a new way to obtain a large number of functional mammary epithelial cells in vitro.
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75
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Thankamony AP, Subbalakshmi AR, Jolly MK, Nair R. Lineage Plasticity in Cancer: The Tale of a Skin-Walker. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:3602. [PMID: 34298815 PMCID: PMC8306016 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13143602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2021] [Revised: 07/04/2021] [Accepted: 07/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Lineage plasticity, the switching of cells from one lineage to another, has been recognized as a cardinal property essential for embryonic development, tissue repair and homeostasis. However, such a highly regulated process goes awry when cancer cells exploit this inherent ability to their advantage, resulting in tumorigenesis, relapse, metastasis and therapy resistance. In this review, we summarize our current understanding on the role of lineage plasticity in tumor progression and therapeutic resistance in multiple cancers. Lineage plasticity can be triggered by treatment itself and is reported across various solid as well as liquid tumors. Here, we focus on the importance of lineage switching in tumor progression and therapeutic resistance of solid tumors such as the prostate, lung, hepatocellular and colorectal carcinoma and the myeloid and lymphoid lineage switch observed in leukemias. Besides this, we also discuss the role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in facilitating the lineage switch in biphasic cancers such as aggressive carcinosarcomas. We also discuss the mechanisms involved, current therapeutic approaches and challenges that lie ahead in taming the scourge of lineage plasticity in cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Archana P. Thankamony
- Cancer Research Program, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Kerala 695014, India;
- Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal 576104, India
| | - Ayalur Raghu Subbalakshmi
- Centre for BioSystems Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India;
| | - Mohit Kumar Jolly
- Centre for BioSystems Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India;
| | - Radhika Nair
- Cancer Research Program, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Kerala 695014, India;
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76
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Zhao N, Powell RT, Yuan X, Bae G, Roarty KP, Stossi F, Strempfl M, Toneff MJ, Johnson HL, Mani SA, Jones P, Stephan CC, Rosen JM. Morphological screening of mesenchymal mammary tumor organoids to identify drugs that reverse epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4262. [PMID: 34253738 PMCID: PMC8275587 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24545-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2020] [Accepted: 06/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been implicated in conferring stem cell properties and therapeutic resistance to cancer cells. Therefore, identification of drugs that can reprogram EMT may provide new therapeutic strategies. Here, we report that cells derived from claudin-low mammary tumors, a mesenchymal subtype of triple-negative breast cancer, exhibit a distinctive organoid structure with extended "spikes" in 3D matrices. Upon a miR-200 induced mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET), the organoids switch to a smoother round morphology. Based on these observations, we developed a morphological screening method with accompanying analytical pipelines that leverage deep neural networks and nearest neighborhood classification to screen for EMT-reversing drugs. Through screening of a targeted epigenetic drug library, we identified multiple class I HDAC inhibitors and Bromodomain inhibitors that reverse EMT. These data support the use of morphological screening of mesenchymal mammary tumor organoids as a platform to identify drugs that reverse EMT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Na Zhao
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Reid T Powell
- Center for Translational Cancer Research, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Xueying Yuan
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Goeun Bae
- Center for Translational Cancer Research, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Kevin P Roarty
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Fabio Stossi
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
- Integrated Microscopy Core, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | | | | | - Hannah L Johnson
- Integrated Microscopy Core, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Sendurai A Mani
- Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Philip Jones
- Institute of Applied Cancer Science (IACS), University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Clifford C Stephan
- Center for Translational Cancer Research, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Jeffrey M Rosen
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
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77
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Li M, Liu Y, Zhang W, Li C, Zhu Y, Wang S. Tadalafil Reverses the Effect of Three-Dimensional Cell Culture System on Stem Cell Features in A549 and SK-MES-1. DNA Cell Biol 2021; 40:869-880. [PMID: 34182826 DOI: 10.1089/dna.2020.6467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of lung cancer and is a frequent cause of death. In our research, A549 and SK-MES-1 were used to assess the effect of three-dimensional (3D) culture compared to that of two-dimensional (2D) monolayers in cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, response to chemotherapy, as well as the expression of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stem cell (CSC)-related markers. As tadalafil is a phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitor with the potential to target CSC maintenance in multiple cancer cell lines, we assessed its function in 3D culture and detected the downstream pathway genes. Methods: We compared the viability and proliferation capacity of A549 and SK-MES-1 cells in 2D and 3D culture by cell counting kit (CCK)-8, foci formation, and Live/Dead double stain (Operetta CLS High content screening). Migration, invasion, and other functions were also assessed. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, the expression of EMT and CSC markers was analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and Western blot. Results: A549 and SK-MES-1 cells formed spheroids heterogeneous in shape and size. In our 3D spheroid systems, cells went through EMT, and were also capacitated with higher stemness and chemoresistance. Combination use of tadalafil and cisplatin showed higher chemotherapy efficiency in the 3D model, compared to that of the 2D cell culture. Conclusion: Our research aims at the notable differences between these two cellular systems in terms of cell functions, EMT, and stemness-associated gene expression and chemo-response. We showed that a commonly used drug, tadalafil, showed more pronounced inhibitory effects when cells were cultured in the 3D model. Since the 3D culture system could imitate the in vivo behavior of cancer cells within the tumor, we advocate that this system is superior to traditional 2D culture and should be used in the investigation of new therapeutic compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengqing Li
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Cancer Translational Research, Department of Oncology, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Cancer Institute of Shenzhen-PKU-HKUST Medical Center, Shenzhen, P.R. China
| | - Yajie Liu
- Department of Radiation Oncology and Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, P.R. China
| | - Weifei Zhang
- Department of Bone and Joint Surgery, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, P.R. China
| | - Chen Li
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Cancer Translational Research, Department of Oncology, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Cancer Institute of Shenzhen-PKU-HKUST Medical Center, Shenzhen, P.R. China
| | - Yu Zhu
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Cancer Translational Research, Department of Oncology, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Cancer Institute of Shenzhen-PKU-HKUST Medical Center, Shenzhen, P.R. China
| | - Shubin Wang
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Cancer Translational Research, Department of Oncology, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Cancer Institute of Shenzhen-PKU-HKUST Medical Center, Shenzhen, P.R. China
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78
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Darbeheshti F, Zokaei E, Mansoori Y, Emadi Allahyari S, Kamaliyan Z, Kadkhoda S, Tavakkoly Bazzaz J, Rezaei N, Shakoori A. Circular RNA hsa_circ_0044234 as distinct molecular signature of triple negative breast cancer: a potential regulator of GATA3. Cancer Cell Int 2021; 21:312. [PMID: 34126989 PMCID: PMC8201848 DOI: 10.1186/s12935-021-02015-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been implicated in the initiation and development of breast cancer as functional non-coding RNAs (ncRNA). The roles of circRNAs as the competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) to sponge microRNAs (miRNAs) have also been indicated. However, the functions of circRNAs in breast cancer have not been totally elucidated. This study aimed to explore the clinical implications and possible roles of circ_0044234 in carcinogenesis of the most problematic BC subtype, triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), which are in desperate need of biomarkers and targeted therapies. METHODS The importance of circ_0044234 as one of the most dysregulated circRNAs in TNBC was discovered through microarray expression profile analysis. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was performed to confirm the downregulation of circ_0044234 in triple negative tumors and cell lines versus non-triple negative ones. The bioinformatics prediction revealed that circ_0044234 could act as an upstream sponge in the miR-135b/GATA3 axis, two of the most dysregulated transcripts in TNBC. RESULTS Our experimental investigation of circ_0044234 expressions in various BC subtypes as well as cell lines reveals that TNBC expresses circ_0044234 at a substantially lower level than non-TNBC. The ROC curve analysis indicates that it could be applied as a discriminative biomarker to identify TNBC from other BC subtypes. Moreover, circ_0044234 expression could be an independent prognostic biomarker in BC. Interestingly, a substantial inverse expression correlation was detected between circ_0044234 and miR-135b-5p as well as between miR-135b-5p and GATA3 in breast tumors. CONCLUSIONS The possible clinical usefulness of circ_0044234 as a promising distinct biomarker and upcoming therapeutic target for TNBC have been indicated in this research. Our comprehensive approach revealed the potential circ_0044234/miR135b-5p/GATA3 ceRNA axis in TNBC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farzaneh Darbeheshti
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.,Medical Genetics Network (MeGeNe), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran
| | - Elham Zokaei
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran
| | - Yaser Mansoori
- Noncommunicable Disease Research Center, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran.,Department of Medical Genetics, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran
| | - Sima Emadi Allahyari
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Zeeba Kamaliyan
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Sepideh Kadkhoda
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Javad Tavakkoly Bazzaz
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Nima Rezaei
- Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Qarib St, Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran, Iran. .,Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. .,Network of Immunity in Infection, Malignancy and Autoimmunity (NIIMA), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran.
| | - Abbas Shakoori
- Medical Genetic Ward, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Qarib St, Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran, Iran. .,Breast Disease Research Center (BDRC), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
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Pang TCY, Xu Z, Mekapogu AR, Pothula S, Becker T, Corley S, Wilkins MR, Goldstein D, Pirola R, Wilson J, Apte M. HGF/c-Met Inhibition as Adjuvant Therapy Improves Outcomes in an Orthotopic Mouse Model of Pancreatic Cancer. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:2763. [PMID: 34199452 PMCID: PMC8199621 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13112763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2021] [Revised: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Inhibition of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/c-MET pathway, a major mediator of pancreatic stellate cell (PSC)-PC cell interactions, retards local and distant cancer progression. This study examines the use of this treatment in preventing PC progression after resection. We further investigate the postulated existence of circulating PSCs (cPSCs) as a mediator of metastatic PC. METHODS Two orthotopic PC mouse models, produced by implantation of a mixture of luciferase-tagged human pancreatic cancer cells (AsPC-1), and human PSCs were used. Model 1 mice underwent distal pancreatectomy 3-weeks post-implantation (n = 62). One-week post-resection, mice were randomised to four treatments of 8 weeks: (i) IgG, (ii) gemcitabine (G), (iii) HGF/c-MET inhibition (HiCi) and (iv) HiCi + G. Tumour burden was assessed longitudinally by bioluminescence. Circulating tumour cells and cPSCs were enriched by filtration. Tumours of Model 2 mice progressed for 8 weeks prior to the collection of primary tumour, metastases and blood for single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq). RESULTS HiCi treatments: (1) reduced both the risk and rate of disease progression after resection; (2) demonstrated an anti-angiogenic effect on immunohistochemistry; (3) reduced cPSC counts. cPSCs were identified using immunocytochemistry (α-smooth muscle actin+, pan-cytokeratin-, CD45-), and by specific PSC markers. scRNA-seq confirmed the existence of cPSCs and identified potential genes associated with development into cPSCs. CONCLUSIONS This study is the first to demonstrate the efficacy of adjuvant HGF/c-Met inhibition for PC and provides the first confirmation of the existence of circulating PSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tony C. Y. Pang
- Pancreatic Research Group, South Western Sydney Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2170, Australia; (T.C.Y.P.); (Z.X.); (A.R.M.); (S.P.); (D.G.); (R.P.); (J.W.)
- Surgical Innovations Unit, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia
- Westmead Clinical School, University of Sydney, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia
| | - Zhihong Xu
- Pancreatic Research Group, South Western Sydney Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2170, Australia; (T.C.Y.P.); (Z.X.); (A.R.M.); (S.P.); (D.G.); (R.P.); (J.W.)
| | - Alpha Raj Mekapogu
- Pancreatic Research Group, South Western Sydney Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2170, Australia; (T.C.Y.P.); (Z.X.); (A.R.M.); (S.P.); (D.G.); (R.P.); (J.W.)
| | - Srinivasa Pothula
- Pancreatic Research Group, South Western Sydney Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2170, Australia; (T.C.Y.P.); (Z.X.); (A.R.M.); (S.P.); (D.G.); (R.P.); (J.W.)
| | - Therese Becker
- Centre for Circulating Tumour Cell Diagnostics and Research, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Sydney, NSW 2170, Australia;
| | - Susan Corley
- Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia; (S.C.); (M.R.W.)
| | - Marc R. Wilkins
- Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia; (S.C.); (M.R.W.)
| | - David Goldstein
- Pancreatic Research Group, South Western Sydney Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2170, Australia; (T.C.Y.P.); (Z.X.); (A.R.M.); (S.P.); (D.G.); (R.P.); (J.W.)
| | - Romano Pirola
- Pancreatic Research Group, South Western Sydney Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2170, Australia; (T.C.Y.P.); (Z.X.); (A.R.M.); (S.P.); (D.G.); (R.P.); (J.W.)
| | - Jeremy Wilson
- Pancreatic Research Group, South Western Sydney Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2170, Australia; (T.C.Y.P.); (Z.X.); (A.R.M.); (S.P.); (D.G.); (R.P.); (J.W.)
| | - Minoti Apte
- Pancreatic Research Group, South Western Sydney Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2170, Australia; (T.C.Y.P.); (Z.X.); (A.R.M.); (S.P.); (D.G.); (R.P.); (J.W.)
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Pontecorvi P, Megiorni F, Camero S, Ceccarelli S, Bernardini L, Capalbo A, Anastasiadou E, Gerini G, Messina E, Perniola G, Benedetti Panici P, Grammatico P, Pizzuti A, Marchese C. Altered Expression of Candidate Genes in Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser Syndrome May Influence Vaginal Keratinocytes Biology: A Focus on Protein Kinase X. BIOLOGY 2021; 10:biology10060450. [PMID: 34063745 PMCID: PMC8223793 DOI: 10.3390/biology10060450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Revised: 05/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome is a rare and complex disease defined by congenital aplasia of the vagina and uterus in 46,XX women, often associated with kidney and urinary tract anomalies. The aetiopathogenesis of MRKH syndrome is still largely unknown. Herein, we investigated the role of selected candidate genes in the aetiopathogenesis of MRKH syndrome, with a focus on PRKX, which encodes for protein kinase X. Through RT-qPCR analyses performed on vaginal dimple samples from patients, and principal component analysis (PCA), we highlighted a phenotype-related expression pattern of PRKX, MUC1, HOXC8 and GREB1L in MRKH patients. By using an in vitro approach, we proved that PRKX ectopic overexpression in a cell model of vaginal keratinocytes promotes cell motility through epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) activation, a fundamental process in urogenital tract morphogenesis. Moreover, our findings showed that PRKX upregulation in vaginal keratinocytes is able to affect transcriptional levels of HOX genes, implicated in urinary and genital tract development. Our study identified the dysregulation of PRKX expression as a possible molecular cause for MRKH syndrome. Moreover, we propose the specific role of PRKX in vaginal keratinocyte biology as one of the possible mechanisms underlying this complex disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola Pontecorvi
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome—Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy; (P.P.); (F.M.); (S.C.); (E.A.); (G.G.); (E.M.); (A.P.)
| | - Francesca Megiorni
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome—Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy; (P.P.); (F.M.); (S.C.); (E.A.); (G.G.); (E.M.); (A.P.)
| | - Simona Camero
- Department of Maternal and Child Health and Urological Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome—Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy; (S.C.); (G.P.); (P.B.P.)
| | - Simona Ceccarelli
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome—Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy; (P.P.); (F.M.); (S.C.); (E.A.); (G.G.); (E.M.); (A.P.)
| | - Laura Bernardini
- Division of Medical Genetics, IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Foundation-Viale Cappuccini, 1, 71013 San Giovanni Rotondo (FG), Italy; (L.B.); (A.C.)
| | - Anna Capalbo
- Division of Medical Genetics, IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Foundation-Viale Cappuccini, 1, 71013 San Giovanni Rotondo (FG), Italy; (L.B.); (A.C.)
| | - Eleni Anastasiadou
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome—Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy; (P.P.); (F.M.); (S.C.); (E.A.); (G.G.); (E.M.); (A.P.)
| | - Giulia Gerini
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome—Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy; (P.P.); (F.M.); (S.C.); (E.A.); (G.G.); (E.M.); (A.P.)
| | - Elena Messina
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome—Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy; (P.P.); (F.M.); (S.C.); (E.A.); (G.G.); (E.M.); (A.P.)
| | - Giorgia Perniola
- Department of Maternal and Child Health and Urological Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome—Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy; (S.C.); (G.P.); (P.B.P.)
| | - Pierluigi Benedetti Panici
- Department of Maternal and Child Health and Urological Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome—Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy; (S.C.); (G.P.); (P.B.P.)
| | - Paola Grammatico
- Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome-San Camillo-Forlanini Hospital, Circonvallazione Gianicolense, 87, 00152 Rome, Italy;
| | - Antonio Pizzuti
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome—Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy; (P.P.); (F.M.); (S.C.); (E.A.); (G.G.); (E.M.); (A.P.)
- Division of Medical Genetics, IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Foundation-Viale Cappuccini, 1, 71013 San Giovanni Rotondo (FG), Italy; (L.B.); (A.C.)
| | - Cinzia Marchese
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome—Viale Regina Elena 324, 00161 Rome, Italy; (P.P.); (F.M.); (S.C.); (E.A.); (G.G.); (E.M.); (A.P.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-06-4997-2872
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Protein Kinase A Catalytic Subunit Is a Molecular Switch that Promotes the Pro-tumoral Function of Macrophages. Cell Rep 2021; 31:107643. [PMID: 32402274 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2019] [Revised: 02/07/2020] [Accepted: 04/22/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
As current therapies benefit only a minority of cancer patients, additional therapeutic targets are needed. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) have attracted attention for improving therapeutic responses, yet regulatory strategies remain elusive. Here, we show that the protein kinase A catalytic subunit (PKA-C) acts as a molecular switch, inducing a pro-tumoral immunosuppressive macrophage phenotype within tumors. In human and murine breast cancer, overactivated PKA in TAMs creates a detrimental microenvironment for cancer progression by inducing vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and macrophage-derived arginase 1 (ARG1) expression. Macrophages with genetic deletion of PKA-C are prone to be pro-inflammatory, suggesting a possible immunotherapeutic target. Delivery of liposomal PKA inhibitor facilitates tumor regression and abrogates pro-tumoral TAM functions in mice. The therapeutic effect of targeting PKA is pronounced when combined with αCTLA-4 antibody, increasing cluster of differentiation 8 (CD8)+GranzymeB+ T cells by about 60-fold. Our findings demonstrate critical roles of TAM PKA-C in tumor progression and suggest that targeting PKA-C efficiently augments cancer treatment responses.
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82
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Kvokačková B, Remšík J, Jolly MK, Souček K. Phenotypic Heterogeneity of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Mediated by Epithelial-Mesenchymal Plasticity. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:2188. [PMID: 34063254 PMCID: PMC8125677 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13092188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2021] [Accepted: 04/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast carcinoma known for its unusually aggressive behavior and poor clinical outcome. Besides the lack of molecular targets for therapy and profound intratumoral heterogeneity, the relatively quick overt metastatic spread remains a major obstacle in effective clinical management. The metastatic colonization of distant sites by primary tumor cells is affected by the microenvironment, epigenetic state of particular subclones, and numerous other factors. One of the most prominent processes contributing to the intratumoral heterogeneity is an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), an evolutionarily conserved developmental program frequently hijacked by tumor cells, strengthening their motile and invasive features. In response to various intrinsic and extrinsic stimuli, malignant cells can revert the EMT state through the mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET), a process that is believed to be critical for the establishment of macrometastasis at secondary sites. Notably, cancer cells rarely undergo complete EMT and rather exist in a continuum of E/M intermediate states, preserving high levels of plasticity, as demonstrated in primary tumors and, ultimately, in circulating tumor cells, representing a simplified element of the metastatic cascade. In this review, we focus on cellular drivers underlying EMT/MET phenotypic plasticity and its detrimental consequences in the context of TNBC cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbora Kvokačková
- Department of Cytokinetics, Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 612 65 Brno, Czech Republic;
- International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne’s University Hospital, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
- Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Ján Remšík
- Human Oncology & Pathogenesis Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA;
| | - Mohit Kumar Jolly
- Centre for BioSystems Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India;
| | - Karel Souček
- Department of Cytokinetics, Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 612 65 Brno, Czech Republic;
- International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne’s University Hospital, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic
- Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
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Xiong H, Wang N, Chen H, Zhang M, Lin Q. MicroRNA‑199a/b‑5p inhibits endometrial cancer cell metastasis and invasion by targeting FAM83B in the epithelial‑to‑mesenchymal transition signaling pathway. Mol Med Rep 2021; 23:304. [PMID: 33649801 PMCID: PMC7974268 DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2021.11943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Our previous study demonstrated the role of family with sequence similarity 83, member B (FAM83B) in endometrial cancer tumorigenesis and metastasis. FAM83B is involved in epithelial‑to‑mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, the regulatory network of EMT, which promotes endometrial cancer cell metastasis, involving microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) and FAM83B, has not been elucidated. To investigate the potential mechanism underlying miR‑199a/b‑5p in endometrial cancer, the effect of miR‑199a/b‑5p and its targeted FAM83B gene on the biological behaviour of endometrial cancer cells was assessed. The Gene Expression Omnibus dataset analysis results revealed that the expression levels of 150 miRNAs in non‑cancerous endometrial tissues were upregulated compared with those in endometrial cancer tissues. TargetScan predicted that the nucleotides 672‑679 of FAM83B 3'‑untranslated region (UTR) were the target sites of miR‑199a/b‑5p. The differentially expressed miRNAs were enriched in several Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways. Reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR analysis revealed that the expression levels of miR‑199a/b‑5p in the endometrial non‑cancerous cell lines were significantly upregulated compared with those in the six endometrial cancer cell lines. miR‑199a/b‑5p inhibited the EMT signaling pathway by regulating the expression levels of E‑cadherin, N‑cadherin, Snail, α‑smooth muscle actin, vimentin and Twist. This suggested that miR‑199a/b‑5p inhibited endometrial cancer cell proliferation and migration through the inhibition of the EMT signaling pathway. Furthermore, the nucleotides 672‑679 of the FAM83B 3'‑UTR were demonstrated to be the binding site of miR‑199a/b‑5p. These results suggested that miR‑199a/b‑5p inhibited endometrial cancer cell proliferation and metastasis by targeting the 3'‑UTR of FAM83B, which is involved in the EMT signaling pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanzhen Xiong
- Department of Pathology, Central Laboratory of The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510150, P.R. China
| | - Na Wang
- Department of Pathology, Central Laboratory of The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510150, P.R. China
| | - Hui Chen
- Department of Pathology, Central Laboratory of The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510150, P.R. China
| | - Minfen Zhang
- Department of Pathology, Central Laboratory of The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510150, P.R. China
| | - Qiongyan Lin
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Guangzhou Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Key Laboratory for Major Obstetric Diseases of Guangdong Province, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510150, P.R. China
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84
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Lambert AW, Weinberg RA. Linking EMT programmes to normal and neoplastic epithelial stem cells. Nat Rev Cancer 2021; 21:325-338. [PMID: 33547455 DOI: 10.1038/s41568-021-00332-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 263] [Impact Index Per Article: 87.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/06/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Epithelial stem cells serve critical physiological functions in the generation, maintenance and repair of diverse tissues through their ability to self-renew and spawn more specialized, differentiated cell types. In an analogous fashion, cancer stem cells have been proposed to fuel the growth, progression and recurrence of many carcinomas. Activation of an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a latent cell-biological programme involved in development and wound healing, has been linked to the formation of both normal and neoplastic stem cells, but the mechanistic basis underlying this connection remains unclear. In this Perspective, we outline the instances where aspects of an EMT have been implicated in normal and neoplastic epithelial stem cells and consider the involvement of this programme during tissue regeneration and repair. We also discuss emerging concepts and evidence related to the heterogeneous and plastic cell states generated by EMT programmes and how these bear on our understanding of cancer stem cell biology and cancer metastasis. A more comprehensive accounting of the still-elusive links between EMT programmes and the stem cell state will surely advance our understanding of both normal stem cell biology and cancer pathogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Robert A Weinberg
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- MIT Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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Singh D, Singh P, Pradhan A, Srivastava R, Sahoo SK. Reprogramming Cancer Stem-like Cells with Nanoforskolin Enhances the Efficacy of Paclitaxel in Targeting Breast Cancer. ACS APPLIED BIO MATERIALS 2021; 4:3670-3685. [PMID: 35014452 DOI: 10.1021/acsabm.1c00141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) have emerged as an important target for breast cancer therapy owing to their self-renewability, proliferation, and elevated chemoresistance properties. Here, we present a strategy of eliminating CSCs by differentiation therapy where "forced differentiation" reprograms CSCs so that they lose their intrinsic properties and become susceptible for conventional chemotherapeutic drugs. In this study, we report that a conventional chemotherapeutic paclitaxel enhances the stemness of CSCs, while a phytochemical forskolin being essentially nontoxic to CSCs possesses the intrinsic ability to reprogram them. To achieve simultaneous targeting of CSCs and bulk tumor cells, we used a co-delivery system where liquid crystal nanoparticles (LCN) were co-encapsulated with both paclitaxel and forskolin. LCN showed higher uptake, retention, and penetration potential in CSCs overcoming their high drug efflux property. Moreover, LCN improved the pharmacokinetic parameters of forskolin, which otherwise had very low retention and bioavailability. Forskolin-loaded LCN forced CSCs to exit from their mesenchymal state, which reduced their stemness and chemosensitized them while inhibiting E-cadherin-mediated survival and tumor-initiating potential as well as reversing paclitaxel-induced stemness. We further showed that upon administration of paclitaxel and forskolin co-loaded LCN to an orthotropic xenograft mouse model, the nanomedicine showed enhanced passive tumor targeting capability with very potent antitumor activity that eradicated small solid tumor in a single dose and showed no sign of tumor relapse or systemic toxicity over a long period. Overall, these findings give a proof of concept that co-delivery of forskolin and paclitaxel in a single nanoformulation can achieve overall tumor targeting where forskolin can efficiently reprogram/differentiate CSCs and paclitaxel can induce cytotoxicity in both differentiated CSCs and bulk tumor cells simultaneously. Hence, this study can provide a nanoformulation that can offer an efficient strategy for cancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deepika Singh
- Institute of Life Sciences, Nalco Square, Bhubaneswar 751023, Odisha, India
| | - Priya Singh
- Institute of Life Sciences, Nalco Square, Bhubaneswar 751023, Odisha, India
| | - Arpan Pradhan
- Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
| | - Rohit Srivastava
- Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
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Villemin JP, Lorenzi C, Cabrillac MS, Oldfield A, Ritchie W, Luco RF. A cell-to-patient machine learning transfer approach uncovers novel basal-like breast cancer prognostic markers amongst alternative splice variants. BMC Biol 2021; 19:70. [PMID: 33845831 PMCID: PMC8042689 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-021-01002-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Accepted: 03/09/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Breast cancer is amongst the 10 first causes of death in women worldwide. Around 20% of patients are misdiagnosed leading to early metastasis, resistance to treatment and relapse. Many clinical and gene expression profiles have been successfully used to classify breast tumours into 5 major types with different prognosis and sensitivity to specific treatments. Unfortunately, these profiles have failed to subclassify breast tumours into more subtypes to improve diagnostics and survival rate. Alternative splicing is emerging as a new source of highly specific biomarkers to classify tumours in different grades. Taking advantage of extensive public transcriptomics datasets in breast cancer cell lines (CCLE) and breast cancer tumours (TCGA), we have addressed the capacity of alternative splice variants to subclassify highly aggressive breast cancers. RESULTS Transcriptomics analysis of alternative splicing events between luminal, basal A and basal B breast cancer cell lines identified a unique splicing signature for a subtype of tumours, the basal B, whose classification is not in use in the clinic yet. Basal B cell lines, in contrast with luminal and basal A, are highly metastatic and express epithelial-to-mesenchymal (EMT) markers, which are hallmarks of cell invasion and resistance to drugs. By developing a semi-supervised machine learning approach, we transferred the molecular knowledge gained from these cell lines into patients to subclassify basal-like triple negative tumours into basal A- and basal B-like categories. Changes in splicing of 25 alternative exons, intimately related to EMT and cell invasion such as ENAH, CD44 and CTNND1, were sufficient to identify the basal-like patients with the worst prognosis. Moreover, patients expressing this basal B-specific splicing signature also expressed newly identified biomarkers of metastasis-initiating cells, like CD36, supporting a more invasive phenotype for this basal B-like breast cancer subtype. CONCLUSIONS Using a novel machine learning approach, we have identified an EMT-related splicing signature capable of subclassifying the most aggressive type of breast cancer, which are basal-like triple negative tumours. This proof-of-concept demonstrates that the biological knowledge acquired from cell lines can be transferred to patients data for further clinical investigation. More studies, particularly in 3D culture and organoids, will increase the accuracy of this transfer of knowledge, which will open new perspectives into the development of novel therapeutic strategies and the further identification of specific biomarkers for drug resistance and cancer relapse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Philippe Villemin
- Institut de Génétique Humaine (IGH-UMR9002), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Claudio Lorenzi
- Institut de Génétique Humaine (IGH-UMR9002), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Marie-Sarah Cabrillac
- Institut de Génétique Humaine (IGH-UMR9002), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Andrew Oldfield
- Institut de Génétique Humaine (IGH-UMR9002), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - William Ritchie
- Institut de Génétique Humaine (IGH-UMR9002), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
| | - Reini F Luco
- Institut de Génétique Humaine (IGH-UMR9002), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
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87
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Kubiak A, Chighizola M, Schulte C, Bryniarska N, Wesołowska J, Pudełek M, Lasota M, Ryszawy D, Basta-Kaim A, Laidler P, Podestà A, Lekka M. Stiffening of DU145 prostate cancer cells driven by actin filaments - microtubule crosstalk conferring resistance to microtubule-targeting drugs. NANOSCALE 2021; 13:6212-6226. [PMID: 33885607 DOI: 10.1039/d0nr06464e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The crucial role of microtubules in the mitotic-related segregation of chromosomes makes them an excellent target for anticancer microtubule targeting drugs (MTDs) such as vinflunine (VFL), colchicine (COL), and docetaxel (DTX). MTDs affect mitosis by directly perturbing the structural organisation of microtubules. By a direct assessment of the biomechanical properties of prostate cancer DU145 cells exposed to different MTDs using atomic force microscopy, we show that cell stiffening is a response to the application of all the studied MTDs (VFL, COL, DTX). Changes in cellular rigidity are typically attributed to remodelling of the actin filaments in the cytoskeleton. Here, we demonstrate that cell stiffening can be driven by crosstalk between actin filaments and microtubules in MTD-treated cells. Our findings improve the interpretation of biomechanical data obtained for living cells in studies of various physiological and pathological processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrzej Kubiak
- Department of Biophysical Microstructures, Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, PL-31342 Kraków, Poland.
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88
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Genetic and Non-Genetic Mechanisms Underlying Cancer Evolution. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:cancers13061380. [PMID: 33803675 PMCID: PMC8002988 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13061380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Our manuscript summarizes the up-to-date data on the complex and dynamic nature of adaptation mechanisms and evolutionary processes taking place during cancer initiation, development and progression. Although for decades cancer has been viewed as a process governed by genetic mechanisms, it is becoming more and more clear that non-genetic mechanisms may play an equally important role in cancer evolution. In this review, we bring together these fundamental concepts and discuss how those tightly interconnected mechanisms lead to the establishment of highly adaptive quickly evolving cancers. Furthermore, we argue that in depth understanding of cancer progression from the evolutionary perspective may allow the prediction and direction of the evolutionary path of cancer populations towards drug sensitive phenotypes and thus facilitate the development of more effective anti-cancer approaches. Abstract Cancer development can be defined as a process of cellular and tissular microevolution ultimately leading to malignancy. Strikingly, though this concept has prevailed in the field for more than a century, the precise mechanisms underlying evolutionary processes occurring within tumours remain largely uncharacterized and rather cryptic. Nevertheless, although our current knowledge is fragmentary, data collected to date suggest that most tumours display features compatible with a diverse array of evolutionary paths, suggesting that most of the existing macro-evolutionary models find their avatar in cancer biology. Herein, we discuss an up-to-date view of the fundamental genetic and non-genetic mechanisms underlying tumour evolution with the aim of concurring into an integrated view of the evolutionary forces at play throughout the emergence and progression of the disease and into the acquisition of resistance to diverse therapeutic paradigms. Our ultimate goal is to delve into the intricacies of genetic and non-genetic networks underlying tumour evolution to build a framework where both core concepts are considered non-negligible and equally fundamental.
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89
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Shin HR, See JE, Kweon J, Kim HS, Sung GJ, Park S, Jang AH, Jang G, Choi KC, Kim I, Kim JS, Kim Y. Small-molecule inhibitors of histone deacetylase improve CRISPR-based adenine base editing. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:2390-2399. [PMID: 33544854 PMCID: PMC7913676 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Revised: 01/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
CRISPR-based base editors (BEs) are widely used to induce nucleotide substitutions in living cells and organisms without causing the damaging DNA double-strand breaks and DNA donor templates. Cytosine BEs that induce C:G to T:A conversion and adenine BEs that induce A:T to G:C conversion have been developed. Various attempts have been made to increase the efficiency of both BEs; however, their activities need to be improved for further applications. Here, we describe a fluorescent reporter-based drug screening platform to identify novel chemicals with the goal of improving adenine base editing efficiency. The reporter system revealed that histone deacetylase inhibitors, particularly romidepsin, enhanced base editing efficiencies by up to 4.9-fold by increasing the expression levels of proteins and target accessibility. The results support the use of romidepsin as a viable option to improve base editing efficiency in biomedical research and therapeutic genome engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ha Rim Shin
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Stem Cell Immunomodulation Research Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Ji-Eun See
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Stem Cell Immunomodulation Research Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jiyeon Kweon
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Stem Cell Immunomodulation Research Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Heon Seok Kim
- Center for Genome Engineering, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.,Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Gi-Jun Sung
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Stem Cell Immunomodulation Research Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Sojung Park
- Convergence Medicine Research Center (CREDIT)/Biomedical Research Center, Asan Institute for Life Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Department of Convergence Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - An-Hee Jang
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Stem Cell Immunomodulation Research Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Gayoung Jang
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Stem Cell Immunomodulation Research Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Kyung-Chul Choi
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Stem Cell Immunomodulation Research Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Department of Pharmacology, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Inki Kim
- Convergence Medicine Research Center (CREDIT)/Biomedical Research Center, Asan Institute for Life Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Department of Convergence Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jin-Soo Kim
- Center for Genome Engineering, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.,Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Yongsub Kim
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.,Stem Cell Immunomodulation Research Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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90
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Gerard L, Duvivier L, Gillet JP. Targeting tumor resistance mechanisms. Fac Rev 2021; 10:6. [PMID: 33659924 PMCID: PMC7894262 DOI: 10.12703/r/10-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Cancer develops resistance to treatments through many mechanisms. Single-cell analyses reveal the intratumor heterogeneity and dynamic relationships between cancer cell subpopulations. These analyses also highlight that various mechanisms of resistance may coexist in a given tumor. Studies have unraveled how the microenvironment affects tumor response to treatments and how cancer cells may adapt to these treatments. Though challenging, individualized treatment based on the molecular characterization of the tumor should become the new standard of care. In the meantime, the success rate of clinical trials in oncology remains dramatically low. There is a need to do better and improve the predictability of preclinical models. This requires innovative changes in ex vivo models and the culture system currently being used. An innovative ligand design is also urgently needed. The limited arsenal of medicinal chemistry reactions and the biases of scaffold selection favor structurally similar compounds with linear shapes at the expense of disc and spherical shapes, which leave a large chemical shape space untouched. In this regard, venoms have received increasing interest as a wellspring for drug candidates. Overall, the characterization of tumor heterogeneity has contributed to advancing our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie cancer resistance to treatments. Targeting these mechanisms will require setting key milestones to significantly improve the translatability of preclinical studies to the clinic with the hope of increasing the success rate of clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louise Gerard
- Laboratory of Molecular Cancer Biology, Molecular Physiology Research Unit (URPhyM), Namur Research Institute for Life Sciences (NARILIS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
| | - Laurent Duvivier
- Laboratory of Molecular Cancer Biology, Molecular Physiology Research Unit (URPhyM), Namur Research Institute for Life Sciences (NARILIS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
| | - Jean-Pierre Gillet
- Laboratory of Molecular Cancer Biology, Molecular Physiology Research Unit (URPhyM), Namur Research Institute for Life Sciences (NARILIS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
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91
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Zhang L, Kubota M, Nakamura A, Kaji T, Seno S, Uezumi A, Andersen DC, Jensen CH, Fukada SI. Dlk1 regulates quiescence in calcitonin receptor-mutant muscle stem cells. Stem Cells 2021; 39:306-317. [PMID: 33295098 DOI: 10.1002/stem.3312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Muscle stem cells, also called muscle satellite cells (MuSCs), are responsible for skeletal muscle regeneration and are sustained in an undifferentiated and quiescent state under steady conditions. The calcitonin receptor (CalcR)-protein kinase A (PKA)-Yes-associated protein 1 (Yap1) axis is one pathway that maintains quiescence in MuSCs. Although CalcR signaling in MuSCs has been identified, the critical CalcR signaling targets are incompletely understood. Here, we show the relevance between the ectopic expression of delta-like non-canonical Notch ligand 1 (Dlk1) and the impaired quiescent state in CalcR-conditional knockout (cKO) MuSCs. Dlk1 expression was rarely detected in both quiescent and proliferating MuSCs in control mice, whereas Dlk1 expression was remarkably increased in CalcR-cKO MuSCs at both the mRNA and protein levels. It is noteworthy that all Ki67+ non-quiescent CalcR-cKO MuSCs express Dlk1, and non-quiescent CalcR-cKO MuSCs are enriched in the Dlk1+ fraction by cell sorting. Using mutant mice, we demonstrated that PKA-activation or Yap1-depletion suppressed Dlk1 expression in CalcR-cKO MuSCs, which suggests that the CalcR-PKA-Yap1 axis inhibits the expression of Dlk1 in quiescent MuSCs. Moreover, the loss of Dlk1 rescued the quiescent state in CalcR-cKO MuSCs, which indicates that the ectopic expression of Dlk1 disturbs quiescence in CalcR-cKO. Collectively, our results suggest that ectopically expressed Dlk1 is responsible for the impaired quiescence in CalcR-cKO MuSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lidan Zhang
- Project for Muscle Stem Cell Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Manami Kubota
- Project for Muscle Stem Cell Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Ayasa Nakamura
- Project for Muscle Stem Cell Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Takayuki Kaji
- Project for Muscle Stem Cell Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Shigeto Seno
- Department of Bioinformatic Engineering, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Akiyoshi Uezumi
- Muscle Aging and Regenerative Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology (TMIG), Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Ditte Caroline Andersen
- Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Odense University Hospital, Odense C, Denmark
- Clinical Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Odense C, Denmark
| | - Charlotte Harken Jensen
- Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Odense University Hospital, Odense C, Denmark
| | - So-Ichiro Fukada
- Project for Muscle Stem Cell Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
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92
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Liu Y, Chen T, Guo M, Li Y, Zhang Q, Tan G, Yu L, Tan Y. FOXA2-Interacting FOXP2 Prevents Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition of Breast Cancer Cells by Stimulating E-Cadherin and PHF2 Transcription. Front Oncol 2021; 11:605025. [PMID: 33718155 PMCID: PMC7947682 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.605025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
FOXP2, a member of forkhead box transcription factor family, was first identified as a language-related gene that played an important role in language learning and facial movement. In addition, FOXP2 was also suggested regulating the progression of cancer cells. In previous studies, we found that FOXA2 inhibited epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in breast cancer cells. In this study, by identifying FOXA2-interacting proteins from FOXA2-pull-down cell lysates with Mass Spectrometry Analysis, we found that FOXP2 interacted with FOXA2. After confirming the interaction between FOXP2 and FOXA2 through Co-IP and immunofluorescence assays, we showed a correlated expression of FOXP2 and FOXA2 existing in clinical breast cancer samples. The overexpression of FOXP2 attenuated the mesenchymal phenotype whereas the stable knockdown of FOXP2 promoted EMT in breast cancer cells. Even though FOXP2 was believed to act as a transcriptional repressor in most cases, we found that FOXP2 could activate the expression of tumor suppressor PHF2. Meanwhile, we also found that FOXP2 could endogenously bind to the promoter of E-cadherin and activate its transcription. This transcriptional activity of FOXP2 relied on its interaction with FOXA2. Furthermore, the stable knockdown of FOXP2 enhanced the metastatic capacity of breast cancer cells in vivo. Together, the results suggested that FOXP2 could inhibit EMT by activating the transcription of certain genes, such as E-cadherin and PHF2, in concert with FOXA2 in breast cancer cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuxiang Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Biology, Hunan Engineering Research Center for Anticancer Targeted Protein Pharmaceuticals, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Taolin Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Biology, Hunan Engineering Research Center for Anticancer Targeted Protein Pharmaceuticals, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Mingyue Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Biology, Hunan Engineering Research Center for Anticancer Targeted Protein Pharmaceuticals, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Yu Li
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Biology, Hunan Engineering Research Center for Anticancer Targeted Protein Pharmaceuticals, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Qian Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Biology, Hunan Engineering Research Center for Anticancer Targeted Protein Pharmaceuticals, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Guixiang Tan
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Biology, Hunan Engineering Research Center for Anticancer Targeted Protein Pharmaceuticals, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Li Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Biology, Hunan Engineering Research Center for Anticancer Targeted Protein Pharmaceuticals, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Yongjun Tan
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Biology, Hunan Engineering Research Center for Anticancer Targeted Protein Pharmaceuticals, Hunan University, Changsha, China
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93
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Lv L, Shi Y, Wu J, Li G. Nanosized Drug Delivery Systems for Breast Cancer Stem Cell Targeting. Int J Nanomedicine 2021; 16:1487-1508. [PMID: 33654398 PMCID: PMC7914063 DOI: 10.2147/ijn.s282110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2020] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs), also known as breast cancer initiating cells, are reported to be responsible for the initiation, progression, therapeutic resistance, and relapse of breast cancer. Conventional therapeutic agents mainly kill the bulk of breast tumor cells and fail to eliminate BCSCs, even enhancing the fraction of BCSCs in breast tumors sometimes. Therefore, it is essential to develop specific and effective methods of eliminating BCSCs that will enhance the efficacy of killing breast tumor cells and thereby, increase the survival rates and quality of life of breast cancer patients. Despite the availability of an increasing number of anti-BCSC agents, their clinical translations are hindered by many issues, such as instability, low bioavailability, and off-target effects. Nanosized drug delivery systems (NDDSs) have the potential to overcome the drawbacks of anti-BCSC agents by providing site-specific delivery and enhancing of the stability and bioavailability of the delivered agents. In this review, we first briefly introduce the strategies and agents used against BCSCs and then highlight the mechanism of action and therapeutic efficacy of several state-of-the-art NDDSs that can be used to treat breast cancer by eliminating BCSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Lv
- Department of Pharmacy, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
| | - Yonghui Shi
- Department of Pharmacy, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.,Department of Pharmacy, Zengcheng District People's Hospital of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, 511300, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
| | - Junyan Wu
- Department of Pharmacy, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
| | - Guocheng Li
- Department of Pharmacy, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
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94
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Dong B, Li S, Zhu S, Yi M, Luo S, Wu K. MiRNA-mediated EMT and CSCs in cancer chemoresistance. Exp Hematol Oncol 2021; 10:12. [PMID: 33579377 PMCID: PMC7881653 DOI: 10.1186/s40164-021-00206-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/30/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a small group of cancer cells, which contribute to tumorigenesis and cancer progression. Cancer cells undergoing epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) acquire the chemoresistant ability, which is regarded as an important feature of CSCs. Thus, there emerges an opinion that the generation of CSCs is considered to be driven by EMT. In this complex process, microRNAs (miRNAs) are found to play a key role. In order to overcome the drug resistance, inhibiting EMT as well as CSCs phenotype seem feasible. Thereinto, regulating the EMT- or CSCs-associated miRNAs is a crucial approach. Herein, we conduct this review to elaborate on the complicated interplay between EMT and CSCs in cancer chemoresistance, which is modulated by miRNAs. In addition, we elucidate the therapeutic strategy to overcome drug resistance through targeting EMT and CSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bing Dong
- Department of Molecular Pathology, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University & Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou, 450008 China
| | - Shiyu Li
- Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030 China
| | - Shuangli Zhu
- Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030 China
| | - Ming Yi
- Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030 China
| | - Suxia Luo
- Department of Medical Oncology, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University & Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou, 450008 China
| | - Kongming Wu
- Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030 China
- Department of Medical Oncology, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University & Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou, 450008 China
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95
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Abstract
Despite high mortality rates, molecular understanding of metastasis remains limited. It can be regulated by both pro- and anti-metastasis genes. The metastasis suppressor, breast cancer metastasis suppressor 1 (BRMS1), has been positively correlated with patient outcomes, but molecular functions are still being characterized. BRMS1 has been implicated in focal adhesion kinase (FAK), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and NF-κB signaling pathways. We review evidence that BRMS1 regulates these vast signaling pathways through chromatin remodeling as a member of mSin3 histone deacetylase complexes.
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96
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Nicotine promotes breast cancer metastasis by stimulating N2 neutrophils and generating pre-metastatic niche in lung. Nat Commun 2021; 12:474. [PMID: 33473115 PMCID: PMC7817836 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20733-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 113] [Impact Index Per Article: 37.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Smoking has a profound impact on tumor immunity, and nicotine, which is the major addictive component of smoke, is known to promote tumor progression despite being a non-carcinogen. In this study, we demonstrate that chronic exposure of nicotine plays a critical role in the formation of pre-metastatic niche within the lungs by recruiting pro-tumor N2-neutrophils. This pre-metastatic niche promotes the release of STAT3-activated lipocalin 2 (LCN2), a secretory glycoprotein from the N2-neutrophils, and induces mesenchymal-epithelial transition of tumor cells thereby facilitating colonization and metastatic outgrowth. Elevated levels of serum and urine LCN2 is elevated in early-stage breast cancer patients and cancer-free females with smoking history, suggesting that LCN2 serve as a promising prognostic biomarker for predicting increased risk of metastatic disease in female smoker(s). Moreover, natural compound, salidroside effectively abrogates nicotine-induced neutrophil polarization and consequently reduced lung metastasis of hormone receptor-negative breast cancer cells. Our findings suggest a pro-metastatic role of nicotine-induced N2-neutrophils for cancer cell colonization in the lungs and illuminate the therapeutic use of salidroside to enhance the anti-tumor activity of neutrophils in breast cancer patients. Smoking is known to impact tumor immunity and promote tumor progression. Here, the authors show that chronic nicotine exposure promotes the lung pre-metastatic niche formation by recruiting pro-tumor N2-neutrophils that release lipocalin-2.
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97
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Molecular Changes Underlying Hypertrophic Scarring Following Burns Involve Specific Deregulations at All Wound Healing Stages (Inflammation, Proliferation and Maturation). Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22020897. [PMID: 33477421 PMCID: PMC7831008 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22020897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Revised: 01/13/2021] [Accepted: 01/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Excessive connective tissue accumulation, a hallmark of hypertrophic scaring, results in progressive deterioration of the structure and function of organs. It can also be seen during tumor growth and other fibroproliferative disorders. These processes result from a wide spectrum of cross-talks between mesenchymal, epithelial and inflammatory/immune cells that have not yet been fully understood. In the present review, we aimed to describe the molecular features of fibroblasts and their interactions with immune and epithelial cells and extracellular matrix. We also compared different types of fibroblasts and their roles in skin repair and regeneration following burn injury. In summary, here we briefly review molecular changes underlying hypertrophic scarring following burns throughout all basic wound healing stages, i.e. during inflammation, proliferation and maturation.
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Walen KH. Cell cycle stress in normal human cells: A route to "first cells" (with/without fitness gain) and cancer-like cell-shape changes. Semin Cancer Biol 2021; 81:73-82. [PMID: 33440246 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2020.12.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Revised: 12/20/2020] [Accepted: 12/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
We have presented an in vitro trackable model system, atavistic induced from conservation in our genome, which strongly is applicable to tumorigenesis start and evolution. The inducing factor was death signals to proliferating normal human cells (primary cell strains), which respon-ded by a special type of tetraploidization, chromosomes with 4-chromatids (diplochromosomes, earlier described in cancer cells). The response included cell cycle stress, which prolonged S-period with result of mitotic slippage process, forming the special 4n cells by re-replication of diploid cells, which showed cell division capability to unexpected, genome reduced diploid cells which remarkably, showed fitness gain. This unique response through cell cycle stress and mitotic slippage process was further discovered to be linked to a rather special characteristic of the, 4n nucleus. The nucleus turned, self-inflicted, 90° perpendicular to the cell's cytoskeleton axis, importantly, before the special 4n-division system produced genome reduce diploid cells, we call "first cells", because of fitness gain. These 2n cells also showed the nuclear dependent 90° turn, which in both cases was associated with cells gaining cell shape changes, herein illustrated from normal fibroblastic cells changing to roundness cells, indistinguishable from todays' diagnostic cancer cell morphology. This 3-D ball-like cell shape, in metastasis, sque-ezing in and out between (?) endothelial cells in the lining of blood veins during disbursement, would be advantageous.
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Deciphering the Importance of Glycosphingolipids on Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Associated with Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Cancer. Biomolecules 2021; 11:biom11010062. [PMID: 33418847 PMCID: PMC7824851 DOI: 10.3390/biom11010062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2020] [Revised: 12/31/2020] [Accepted: 01/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Every living cell is covered with a dense and complex layer of glycans on the cell surface, which have important functions in the interaction between cells and their environment. Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are glycans linked to lipid molecules that together with sphingolipids, sterols, and proteins form plasma membrane lipid rafts that contribute to membrane integrity and provide specific recognition sites. GSLs are subdivided into three major series (globo-, ganglio-, and neolacto-series) and are synthesized in a non-template driven process by enzymes localized in the ER and Golgi apparatus. Altered glycosylation of lipids are known to be involved in tumor development and metastasis. Metastasis is frequently linked with reversible epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process involved in tumor progression, and the formation of new distant metastatic sites (mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition or MET). On a single cell basis, cancer cells lose their epithelial features to gain mesenchymal characteristics via mechanisms influenced by the composition of the GSLs on the cell surface. Here, we summarize the literature on GSLs in the context of reversible and cancer-associated EMT and discuss how the modification of GSLs at the cell surface may promote this process.
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Jonckheere S, Adams J, De Groote D, Campbell K, Berx G, Goossens S. Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) as a Therapeutic Target. Cells Tissues Organs 2021; 211:157-182. [PMID: 33401271 DOI: 10.1159/000512218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2020] [Accepted: 10/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Metastasis is the spread of cancer cells from the primary tumour to distant sites and organs throughout the body. It is the primary cause of cancer morbidity and mortality, and is estimated to account for 90% of cancer-related deaths. During the initial steps of the metastatic cascade, epithelial cancer cells undergo an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and as a result become migratory and invasive mesenchymal-like cells while acquiring cancer stem cell properties and therapy resistance. As EMT is involved in such a broad range of processes associated with malignant transformation, it has become an increasingly interesting target for the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Anti-EMT therapeutic strategies could potentially not only prevent the invasion and dissemination of cancer cells, and as such prevent the formation of metastatic lesions, but also attenuate cancer stemness and increase the effectiveness of more classical chemotherapeutics. In this review, we give an overview about the pros and cons of therapies targeting EMT and discuss some already existing candidate drug targets and high-throughput screening tools to identify novel anti-EMT compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sven Jonckheere
- Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.,Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jamie Adams
- Department of Biomedical Science, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Dominic De Groote
- Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Kyra Campbell
- Department of Biomedical Science, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Geert Berx
- Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.,Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Steven Goossens
- Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium, .,Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium,
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