Expression of chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter-transcription factor I (COUP-TFI) in bladder transitional cell carcinoma

The pleiotropic transcriptional regulator COUP-TFI plays multiple roles in neural development and disease

Transcription factors are expressed in a dynamic fashion both in time and space during brain development, and exert their roles by activating a cascade of multiple target genes. This implies that understanding the precise function of a transcription factor becomes a challenging task. In this review, we will focus on COUP-TFI (or NR2F1), a nuclear receptor belonging to the superfamily of the steroid/thyroid hormone receptors, and considered to be one of the major transcriptional regulators orchestrating cortical arealization, cell-type specification and maturation. Recent data have unraveled the multi-faceted functions of COUP-TFI in the development of several mouse brain structures, including the neocortex, hippocampus and ganglionic eminences. Despite NR2F1 mutations and deletions in humans have been linked to a complex neurodevelopmental disease mainly associated to optic atrophy and intellectual disability, its role during the formation of the retina and optic nerve remains unclear. In light of its major influence in cortical development, we predict that its haploinsufficiency might be the cause of other cognitive diseases, not identified so far. Mouse models offer a unique opportunity of dissecting COUP-TFI function in different regions during brain assembly; hence, the importance of comparing and discussing common points linking mouse models to human patients' symptoms.

Identification of a preneoplastic gene expression profile in tubal epithelium of BRCA1 mutation carriers

Microinvasive carcinomas and high-grade intraepithelial neoplasms are commonly discovered within the fallopian tube of BRCA1 mutation carriers at the time of risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy, suggesting that many BRCA1-mutated ovarian carcinomas originate in tubal epithelium. We hypothesized that changes in gene expression profiles within the histologically normal fallopian tube epithelium of BRCA1 mutation carriers would overlap with the expression profiles in BRCA1-mutated ovarian carcinomas and represent a BRCA1 preneoplastic signature. Laser capture microdissection of frozen sections was used to isolate neoplastic cells or histologically normal fallopian tube epithelium, and expression profiles were generated on Affymetrix U133 Plus 2.0 gene expression arrays. Normal-risk controls were 11 women wild type for BRCA1 and BRCA2 (WT-FT). WT-FT were compared with histologically normal fallopian tube epithelium from seven women with deleterious BRCA1 mutations who had foci of at least intraepithelial neoplasm within their fallopian tube (B1-FTocc). WT-FT samples were also compared with 12 BRCA1 ovarian carcinomas (B1-CA). The comparison of WT-FT versus B1-FTocc resulted in 152 differentially expressed probe sets, and the comparison of WT-FT versus B1-CA resulted in 4079 differentially expressed probe sets. The BRCA1 preneoplastic signature was composed of the overlap between these two lists, which included 41 concordant probe sets. Genes in the BRCA1 preneoplastic signature included several known tumor suppressor genes such as CDKN1C and EFEMP1 and several thought to be important in invasion and metastasis such as E2F3. The expression of a subset of genes was validated with quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry.

Involvement of COUP-TFs in Cancer Progression

The orphan receptors COUP-TFI and COUP-TFII are members of the nuclear receptor superfamily that play distinct and critical roles in vertebrate organogenesis, as demonstrated by loss-of-function COUP-TFI and/or COUP-TFII mutant mice. Although COUP-TFs are expressed in a wide range of tissues in adults, little is known about their functions at later stages of development or in organism homeostasis. COUP-TFs are expressed in cancer cell lines of various origins and increasing studies suggest they play roles in cell fate determination and, potentially, in cancer progression. Nevertheless, the exact roles of COUP-TFs in these processes remain unclear and even controversial. In this review, we report both in vitro and in vivo data describing known and suspected actions of COUP-TFs that suggest that these factors are involved in modification of the phenotype of cancer cells, notably of epithelial origin.