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Li J, Ohmura S, Marchetto A, Orth MF, Imle R, Dallmayer M, Musa J, Knott MML, Hölting TLB, Stein S, Funk CM, Sastre A, Alonso J, Bestvater F, Kasan M, Romero-Pérez L, Hartmann W, Ranft A, Banito A, Dirksen U, Kirchner T, Cidre-Aranaz F, Grünewald TGP. Therapeutic targeting of the PLK1-PRC1-axis triggers cell death in genomically silent childhood cancer. Nat Commun 2021; 12:5356. [PMID: 34531368 PMCID: PMC8445938 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25553-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 08/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Chromosomal instability (CIN) is a hallmark of cancer1. Yet, many childhood cancers, such as Ewing sarcoma (EwS), feature remarkably 'silent' genomes with minimal CIN2. Here, we show in the EwS model how uncoupling of mitosis and cytokinesis via targeting protein regulator of cytokinesis 1 (PRC1) or its activating polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) can be employed to induce fatal genomic instability and tumor regression. We find that the EwS-specific oncogenic transcription factor EWSR1-FLI1 hijacks PRC1, which physiologically safeguards controlled cell division, through binding to a proximal enhancer-like GGAA-microsatellite, thereby promoting tumor growth and poor clinical outcome. Via integration of transcriptome-profiling and functional in vitro and in vivo experiments including CRISPR-mediated enhancer editing, we discover that high PRC1 expression creates a therapeutic vulnerability toward PLK1 inhibition that can repress even chemo-resistant EwS cells by triggering mitotic catastrophe.Collectively, our results exemplify how aberrant PRC1 activation by a dominant oncogene can confer malignancy but provide opportunities for targeted therapy, and identify PRC1 expression as an important determinant to predict the efficacy of PLK1 inhibitors being used in clinical trials.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- Apoptosis/genetics
- Cell Cycle Proteins/genetics
- Cell Cycle Proteins/metabolism
- Cell Line, Tumor
- Child
- Gene Expression Profiling
- Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
- HEK293 Cells
- Humans
- Kaplan-Meier Estimate
- Mice, Inbred NOD
- Mice, Knockout
- Mice, SCID
- Oncogene Proteins, Fusion/genetics
- Oncogene Proteins, Fusion/metabolism
- Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases/genetics
- Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism
- Proto-Oncogene Proteins/genetics
- Proto-Oncogene Proteins/metabolism
- RNA Interference
- RNAi Therapeutics/methods
- Sarcoma, Ewing/genetics
- Sarcoma, Ewing/metabolism
- Sarcoma, Ewing/therapy
- Signal Transduction/genetics
- Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays/methods
- Polo-Like Kinase 1
- Mice
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Li
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Division of Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Shunya Ohmura
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Division of Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Aruna Marchetto
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Martin F Orth
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Roland Imle
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Soft tissue sarcoma Junior Research Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany
- Faculty of Biosciences, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Marlene Dallmayer
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Department of General Pediatrics, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Julian Musa
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Division of Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Maximilian M L Knott
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Tilman L B Hölting
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Stefanie Stein
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Cornelius M Funk
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Division of Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Ana Sastre
- Unidad Hemato-oncología Pediátrica, Hospital Infantil Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier Alonso
- Pediatric Solid Tumour Laboratory, Institute of Rare Diseases Research (IIER), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CB06/07/1009; CIBERER-ISCIII), Madrid, Spain
| | - Felix Bestvater
- Light Microscopy Facility, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Merve Kasan
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Laura Romero-Pérez
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Division of Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Hartmann
- Division of Translational Pathology, Gerhard-Domagk-Institute for Pathology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Andreas Ranft
- Pediatrics III, AYA Unit, West German Cancer Centre, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), partner site Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Ana Banito
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Soft tissue sarcoma Junior Research Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Uta Dirksen
- Pediatrics III, AYA Unit, West German Cancer Centre, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), partner site Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Thomas Kirchner
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), partner site Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Florencia Cidre-Aranaz
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Division of Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Thomas G P Grünewald
- Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology, Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
- Division of Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany.
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
- Institute of Pathology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
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Clanchy FIL. Rationale for Early Detection of EWSR1 Translocation-Associated Sarcoma Biomarkers in Liquid Biopsy. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:824. [PMID: 33669307 PMCID: PMC7920076 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13040824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2021] [Revised: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 02/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Sarcomas are mesenchymal tumours that often arise and develop as a result of chromosomal translocations, and for several forms of sarcoma the EWSR1 gene is a frequent translocation partner. Sarcomas are a rare form of malignancy, which arguably have a proportionally greater societal burden that their prevalence would suggest, as they are more common in young people, with survivors prone to lifelong disability. For most forms of sarcoma, histological diagnosis is confirmed by molecular techniques such as FISH or RT-PCR. Surveillance after surgical excision, or ablation by radiation or chemotherapy, has remained relatively unchanged for decades, but recent developments in molecular biology have accelerated the progress towards routine analysis of liquid biopsies of peripheral blood. The potential to detect evidence of residual disease or metastasis in the blood has been demonstrated by several groups but remains unrealized as a routine diagnostic for relapse during remission, for disease monitoring during treatment, and for the detection of occult, residual disease at the end of therapy. An update is provided on research relevant to the improvement of the early detection of relapse in sarcomas with EWSR1-associated translocations, in the contexts of biology, diagnosis, and liquid biopsy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Felix I. L. Clanchy
- Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7FY, UK;
- Botnar Research Centre, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford OX3 7LD, UK
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