1
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Cañellas-Socias A, Sancho E, Batlle E. Mechanisms of metastatic colorectal cancer. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 2024; 21:609-625. [PMID: 38806657 DOI: 10.1038/s41575-024-00934-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 05/30/2024]
Abstract
Despite extensive research and improvements in understanding colorectal cancer (CRC), its metastatic form continues to pose a substantial challenge, primarily owing to limited therapeutic options and a poor prognosis. This Review addresses the emerging focus on metastatic CRC (mCRC), which has historically been under-studied compared with primary CRC despite its lethality. We delve into two crucial aspects: the molecular and cellular determinants facilitating CRC metastasis and the principles guiding the evolution of metastatic disease. Initially, we examine the genetic alterations integral to CRC metastasis, connecting them to clinically marked characteristics of advanced CRC. Subsequently, we scrutinize the role of cellular heterogeneity and plasticity in metastatic spread and therapy resistance. Finally, we explore how the tumour microenvironment influences metastatic disease, emphasizing the effect of stromal gene programmes and the immune context. The ongoing research in these fields holds immense importance, as its future implications are projected to revolutionize the treatment of patients with mCRC, hopefully offering a promising outlook for their survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrià Cañellas-Socias
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain.
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer (CIBERONC), Barcelona, Spain.
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
| | - Elena Sancho
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer (CIBERONC), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Eduard Batlle
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain.
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer (CIBERONC), Barcelona, Spain.
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain.
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2
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Gulati GS, D'Silva JP, Liu Y, Wang L, Newman AM. Profiling cell identity and tissue architecture with single-cell and spatial transcriptomics. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2024:10.1038/s41580-024-00768-2. [PMID: 39169166 DOI: 10.1038/s41580-024-00768-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/16/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024]
Abstract
Single-cell transcriptomics has broadened our understanding of cellular diversity and gene expression dynamics in healthy and diseased tissues. Recently, spatial transcriptomics has emerged as a tool to contextualize single cells in multicellular neighbourhoods and to identify spatially recurrent phenotypes, or ecotypes. These technologies have generated vast datasets with targeted-transcriptome and whole-transcriptome profiles of hundreds to millions of cells. Such data have provided new insights into developmental hierarchies, cellular plasticity and diverse tissue microenvironments, and spurred a burst of innovation in computational methods for single-cell analysis. In this Review, we discuss recent advancements, ongoing challenges and prospects in identifying and characterizing cell states and multicellular neighbourhoods. We discuss recent progress in sample processing, data integration, identification of subtle cell states, trajectory modelling, deconvolution and spatial analysis. Furthermore, we discuss the increasing application of deep learning, including foundation models, in analysing single-cell and spatial transcriptomics data. Finally, we discuss recent applications of these tools in the fields of stem cell biology, immunology, and tumour biology, and the future of single-cell and spatial transcriptomics in biological research and its translation to the clinic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gunsagar S Gulati
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Yunhe Liu
- Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Linghua Wang
- Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Aaron M Newman
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub - San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
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3
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Yates J, Mathey-Andrews C, Park J, Garza A, Gagné A, Hoffman S, Bi K, Titchen B, Hennessey C, Remland J, Shannon E, Camp S, Balamurali S, Cavale SK, Li Z, Raghawan AK, Kraft A, Boland G, Aguirre AJ, Sethi NS, Boeva V, Van Allen E. Cell states and neighborhoods in distinct clinical stages of primary and metastatic esophageal adenocarcinoma. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.08.17.608386. [PMID: 39229240 PMCID: PMC11370330 DOI: 10.1101/2024.08.17.608386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/05/2024]
Abstract
Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a highly lethal cancer of the upper gastrointestinal tract with rising incidence in western populations. To decipher EAC disease progression and therapeutic response, we performed multiomic analyses of a cohort of primary and metastatic EAC tumors, incorporating single-nuclei transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility sequencing, along with spatial profiling. We identified tumor microenvironmental features previously described to associate with therapy response. We identified five malignant cell programs, including undifferentiated, intermediate, differentiated, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and cycling programs, which were associated with differential epigenetic plasticity and clinical outcomes, and for which we inferred candidate transcription factor regulons. Furthermore, we revealed diverse spatial localizations of malignant cells expressing their associated transcriptional programs and predicted their significant interactions with microenvironmental cell types. We validated our findings in three external single-cell RNA-seq and three bulk RNA-seq studies. Altogether, our findings advance the understanding of EAC heterogeneity, disease progression, and therapeutic response.
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4
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Gao Y, Feder AF. Detecting branching rate heterogeneity in multifurcating trees with applications in lineage tracing data. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.06.27.601073. [PMID: 39005367 PMCID: PMC11244928 DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.27.601073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
Understanding cellular birth rate differences is crucial for predicting cancer progression and interpreting tumor-derived genetic data. Lineage tracing experiments enable detailed reconstruction of cellular genealogies, offering new opportunities to measure branching rate heterogeneity. However, the lineage tracing process can introduce complex tree features that complicate this effort. Here, we examine tree characteristics in lineage tracing-derived genealogies and find that editing window placement leads to multifurcations at a tree's root or tips. We propose several ways in which existing tree topology-based metrics can be extended to test for rate heterogeneity on trees even in the presence of lineage-tracing associated distortions. Although these methods vary in power and robustness, a test based on theJ 1 statistic effectively detects branching rate heterogeneity in simulated lineage tracing data. Tests based on other common statistics ( s ^ and the Sackin index) show interior performance toJ 1 . We apply our validated methods to xenograft experimental data and find widespread rate heterogeneity across multiple study systems. Our results demonstrate the potential of tree topology statistics in analyzing lineage tracing data, and highlight the challenges associated with adapting phylogenetic methods to these systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingnan Gao
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
| | - Alison F Feder
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
- Herbold Computational Biology Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA
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5
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Kabeer F, Tran H, Andronescu M, Singh G, Lee H, Salehi S, Wang B, Biele J, Brimhall J, Gee D, Cerda V, O'Flanagan C, Algara T, Kono T, Beatty S, Zaikova E, Lai D, Lee E, Moore R, Mungall AJ, Williams MJ, Roth A, Campbell KR, Shah SP, Aparicio S. Single-cell decoding of drug induced transcriptomic reprogramming in triple negative breast cancers. Genome Biol 2024; 25:191. [PMID: 39026273 PMCID: PMC11256464 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-024-03318-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The encoding of cell intrinsic drug resistance states in breast cancer reflects the contributions of genomic and non-genomic variations and requires accurate estimation of clonal fitness from co-measurement of transcriptomic and genomic data. Somatic copy number (CN) variation is the dominant mutational mechanism leading to transcriptional variation and notably contributes to platinum chemotherapy resistance cell states. Here, we deploy time series measurements of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) single-cell transcriptomes, along with co-measured single-cell CN fitness, identifying genomic and transcriptomic mechanisms in drug-associated transcriptional cell states. RESULTS We present scRNA-seq data (53,641 filtered cells) from serial passaging TNBC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) experiments spanning 2.5 years, matched with genomic single-cell CN data from the same samples. Our findings reveal distinct clonal responses within TNBC tumors exposed to platinum. Clones with high drug fitness undergo clonal sweeps and show subtle transcriptional reversion, while those with weak fitness exhibit dynamic transcription upon drug withdrawal. Pathway analysis highlights convergence on epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cytokine signaling, associated with resistance. Furthermore, pseudotime analysis demonstrates hysteresis in transcriptional reversion, indicating generation of new intermediate transcriptional states upon platinum exposure. CONCLUSIONS Within a polyclonal tumor, clones with strong genotype-associated fitness under platinum remained fixed, minimizing transcriptional reversion upon drug withdrawal. Conversely, clones with weaker fitness display non-genomic transcriptional plasticity. This suggests CN-associated and CN-independent transcriptional states could both contribute to platinum resistance. The dominance of genomic or non-genomic mechanisms within polyclonal tumors has implications for drug sensitivity, restoration, and re-treatment strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farhia Kabeer
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Hoa Tran
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Mirela Andronescu
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Gurdeep Singh
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Hakwoo Lee
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Sohrab Salehi
- Computational Oncology, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
- Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Beixi Wang
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Justina Biele
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Jazmine Brimhall
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - David Gee
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Viviana Cerda
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Ciara O'Flanagan
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Teresa Algara
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Takako Kono
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Sean Beatty
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Elena Zaikova
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Daniel Lai
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Eric Lee
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Richard Moore
- Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Andrew J Mungall
- Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Marc J Williams
- Computational Oncology, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Andrew Roth
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Kieran R Campbell
- Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Sohrab P Shah
- Computational Oncology, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
- Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Samuel Aparicio
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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6
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Al Bakir I, Curtius K, Cresswell GD, Grant HE, Nasreddin N, Smith K, Nowinski S, Guo Q, Belnoue-Davis HL, Fisher J, Clarke T, Kimberley C, Mossner M, Dunne PD, Loughrey MB, Speight A, East JE, Wright NA, Rodriguez-Justo M, Jansen M, Moorghen M, Baker AM, Leedham SJ, Hart AL, Graham TA. Low coverage whole genome sequencing of low-grade dysplasia strongly predicts colorectal cancer risk in ulcerative colitis. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.07.08.24309811. [PMID: 39040198 PMCID: PMC11261962 DOI: 10.1101/2024.07.08.24309811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/24/2024]
Abstract
Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), and this risk increases dramatically in those who develop low-grade dysplasia (LGD). However, there is currently no accurate way to risk-stratify patients with LGD, leading to both over- and under-treatment of cancer risk. Here we show that the burden of somatic copy number alterations (CNAs) within resected LGD lesions strongly predicts future cancer development. We performed a retrospective multi-centre validated case-control study of n=122 patients (40 progressors, 82 non-progressors, 270 LGD regions). Low coverage whole genome sequencing revealed CNA burden was significantly higher in progressors than non-progressors (p=2×10-6 in discovery cohort) and was a very significant predictor of CRC risk in univariate analysis (odds ratio = 36; p=9×10-7), outperforming existing clinical risk factors such as lesion size, shape and focality. Optimal risk prediction was achieved with a multivariate model combining CNA burden with the known clinical risk factor of incomplete LGD resection. The measurement of CNAs in LGD lesions is a robust, low-cost and rapidly translatable predictor of CRC risk in IBD that can be used to direct management and so prevent CRC in high-risk individuals whilst sparing those at low-risk from unnecessary intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ibrahim Al Bakir
- Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease Unit, St. Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, United Kingdom
- Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kit Curtius
- Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
- Division of Biomedical Informatics, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - George D Cresswell
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
- St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute, Vienna, Austria
| | - Heather E Grant
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Kane Smith
- Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Salpie Nowinski
- Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Qingli Guo
- Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Jennifer Fisher
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease Unit, St. Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, United Kingdom
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Theo Clarke
- Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher Kimberley
- Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Maximilian Mossner
- Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Philip D Dunne
- Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
| | | | - Ally Speight
- Newcastle NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle, United Kingdom
| | - James E East
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Nicholas A Wright
- Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Marnix Jansen
- Department of Pathology, University College London Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
| | - Morgan Moorghen
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease Unit, St. Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, United Kingdom
| | - Ann-Marie Baker
- Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Ailsa L Hart
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease Unit, St. Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, United Kingdom
- Department of Metabolism, Digestion & Reproduction, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | - Trevor A Graham
- Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
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7
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Ramisetty S, Subbalakshmi AR, Pareek S, Mirzapoiazova T, Do D, Prabhakar D, Pisick E, Shrestha S, Achuthan S, Bhattacharya S, Malhotra J, Mohanty A, Singhal SS, Salgia R, Kulkarni P. Leveraging Cancer Phenotypic Plasticity for Novel Treatment Strategies. J Clin Med 2024; 13:3337. [PMID: 38893049 PMCID: PMC11172618 DOI: 10.3390/jcm13113337] [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: 04/22/2024] [Revised: 05/30/2024] [Accepted: 06/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Cancer cells, like all other organisms, are adept at switching their phenotype to adjust to the changes in their environment. Thus, phenotypic plasticity is a quantitative trait that confers a fitness advantage to the cancer cell by altering its phenotype to suit environmental circumstances. Until recently, new traits, especially in cancer, were thought to arise due to genetic factors; however, it is now amply evident that such traits could also emerge non-genetically due to phenotypic plasticity. Furthermore, phenotypic plasticity of cancer cells contributes to phenotypic heterogeneity in the population, which is a major impediment in treating the disease. Finally, plasticity also impacts the group behavior of cancer cells, since competition and cooperation among multiple clonal groups within the population and the interactions they have with the tumor microenvironment also contribute to the evolution of drug resistance. Thus, understanding the mechanisms that cancer cells exploit to tailor their phenotypes at a systems level can aid the development of novel cancer therapeutics and treatment strategies. Here, we present our perspective on a team medicine-based approach to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon to develop new therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sravani Ramisetty
- Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA; (S.R.); (A.R.S.); (S.P.); (T.M.); (D.D.); (J.M.); (A.M.); (S.S.S.)
| | - Ayalur Raghu Subbalakshmi
- Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA; (S.R.); (A.R.S.); (S.P.); (T.M.); (D.D.); (J.M.); (A.M.); (S.S.S.)
| | - Siddhika Pareek
- Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA; (S.R.); (A.R.S.); (S.P.); (T.M.); (D.D.); (J.M.); (A.M.); (S.S.S.)
| | - Tamara Mirzapoiazova
- Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA; (S.R.); (A.R.S.); (S.P.); (T.M.); (D.D.); (J.M.); (A.M.); (S.S.S.)
| | - Dana Do
- Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA; (S.R.); (A.R.S.); (S.P.); (T.M.); (D.D.); (J.M.); (A.M.); (S.S.S.)
| | - Dhivya Prabhakar
- City of Hope Atlanta, 600 Celebrate Life Parkway, Newnan, GA 30265, USA;
| | - Evan Pisick
- City of Hope Chicago, 2520 Elisha Avenue, Zion, IL 60099, USA;
| | - Sagun Shrestha
- City of Hope Phoenix, 14200 West Celebrate Life Way, Goodyear, AZ 85338, USA;
| | - Srisairam Achuthan
- Center for Informatics, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA;
| | - Supriyo Bhattacharya
- Integrative Genomics Core, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA;
| | - Jyoti Malhotra
- Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA; (S.R.); (A.R.S.); (S.P.); (T.M.); (D.D.); (J.M.); (A.M.); (S.S.S.)
| | - Atish Mohanty
- Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA; (S.R.); (A.R.S.); (S.P.); (T.M.); (D.D.); (J.M.); (A.M.); (S.S.S.)
| | - Sharad S. Singhal
- Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA; (S.R.); (A.R.S.); (S.P.); (T.M.); (D.D.); (J.M.); (A.M.); (S.S.S.)
| | - Ravi Salgia
- Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA; (S.R.); (A.R.S.); (S.P.); (T.M.); (D.D.); (J.M.); (A.M.); (S.S.S.)
| | - Prakash Kulkarni
- Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA; (S.R.); (A.R.S.); (S.P.); (T.M.); (D.D.); (J.M.); (A.M.); (S.S.S.)
- Department of Systems Biology, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA
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8
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Whiting FJH, Househam J, Baker AM, Sottoriva A, Graham TA. Phenotypic noise and plasticity in cancer evolution. Trends Cell Biol 2024; 34:451-464. [PMID: 37968225 DOI: 10.1016/j.tcb.2023.10.002] [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: 07/13/2023] [Revised: 09/29/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/17/2023]
Abstract
Non-genetic alterations can produce changes in a cell's phenotype. In cancer, these phenomena can influence a cell's fitness by conferring access to heritable, beneficial phenotypes. Herein, we argue that current discussions of 'phenotypic plasticity' in cancer evolution ignore a salient feature of the original definition: namely, that it occurs in response to an environmental change. We suggest 'phenotypic noise' be used to distinguish non-genetic changes in phenotype that occur independently from the environment. We discuss the conceptual and methodological techniques used to identify these phenomena during cancer evolution. We propose that the distinction will guide efforts to define mechanisms of phenotype change, accelerate translational work to manipulate phenotypes through treatment, and, ultimately, improve patient outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jacob Househam
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Ann-Marie Baker
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Andrea Sottoriva
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK; Computational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
| | - Trevor A Graham
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
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9
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Langerud J, Eilertsen IA, Moosavi SH, Klokkerud SMK, Reims HM, Backe IF, Hektoen M, Sjo OH, Jeanmougin M, Tejpar S, Nesbakken A, Lothe RA, Sveen A. Multiregional transcriptomics identifies congruent consensus subtypes with prognostic value beyond tumor heterogeneity of colorectal cancer. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4342. [PMID: 38773143 PMCID: PMC11109119 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48706-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Intra-tumor heterogeneity compromises the clinical value of transcriptomic classifications of colorectal cancer. We investigated the prognostic effect of transcriptomic heterogeneity and the potential for classifications less vulnerable to heterogeneity in a single-hospital series of 1093 tumor samples from 692 patients, including multiregional samples from 98 primary tumors and 35 primary-metastasis sets. We show that intra-tumor heterogeneity of the consensus molecular subtypes (CMS) is frequent and has poor-prognostic associations independently of tumor microenvironment markers. Multiregional transcriptomics uncover cancer cell-intrinsic and low-heterogeneity signals that recapitulate the intrinsic CMSs proposed by single-cell sequencing. Further subclassification identifies congruent CMSs that explain a larger proportion of variation in patient survival than intra-tumor heterogeneity. Plasticity is indicated by discordant intrinsic phenotypes of matched primary and metastatic tumors. We conclude that multiregional sampling reconciles the prognostic power of tumor classifications from single-cell and bulk transcriptomics in the context of intra-tumor heterogeneity, and phenotypic plasticity challenges the reconciliation of primary and metastatic subtypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Langerud
- Department of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ina A Eilertsen
- Department of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Seyed H Moosavi
- Department of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Solveig M K Klokkerud
- Department of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Henrik M Reims
- Department of Pathology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ingeborg F Backe
- Department of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Merete Hektoen
- Department of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ole H Sjo
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Marine Jeanmougin
- Department of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Sabine Tejpar
- Molecular Digestive Oncology, Department of Oncology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Arild Nesbakken
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ragnhild A Lothe
- Department of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Anita Sveen
- Department of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
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10
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Baker AM, Nageswaran G, Nenclares P, Ronel T, Smith K, Kimberley C, Laclé MM, Bhide S, Harrington KJ, Melcher A, Rodriguez-Justo M, Chain B, Graham TA. FUME-TCRseq Enables Sensitive and Accurate Sequencing of the T-cell Receptor from Limited Input of Degraded RNA. Cancer Res 2024; 84:1560-1569. [PMID: 38479434 PMCID: PMC11094417 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-23-3340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Revised: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Genomic analysis of the T-cell receptor (TCR) reveals the strength, breadth, and clonal dynamics of the adaptive immune response to pathogens or cancer. The diversity of the TCR repertoire, however, means that sequencing is technically challenging, particularly for samples with low-quality, degraded nucleic acids. Here, we developed and validated FUME-TCRseq, a robust and sensitive RNA-based TCR sequencing methodology that is suitable for formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples and low amounts of input material. FUME-TCRseq incorporates unique molecular identifiers into each molecule of cDNA, allowing correction for sequencing errors and PCR bias. Using RNA extracted from colorectal and head and neck cancers to benchmark the accuracy and sensitivity of FUME-TCRseq against existing methods demonstrated excellent concordance between the datasets. Furthermore, FUME-TCRseq detected more clonotypes than a commercial RNA-based alternative, with shorter library preparation time and significantly lower cost. The high sensitivity and the ability to sequence RNA of poor quality and limited amount enabled quantitative analysis of small numbers of cells from archival tissue sections, which is not possible with other methods. Spatially resolved FUME-TCRseq analysis of colorectal cancers using macrodissected archival samples revealed the shifting T-cell landscapes at the transition to an invasive phenotype and between tumor subclones containing distinct driver alterations. In summary, FUME-TCRseq represents an accurate, sensitive, and low-cost tool for the characterization of T-cell repertoires, particularly in samples with low-quality RNA that have not been accessible using existing methodology. SIGNIFICANCE FUME-TCRseq is a TCR sequencing methodology that supports sensitive and spatially resolved detection of TCR clones in archival clinical specimens, which can facilitate longitudinal tracking of immune responses through disease course and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann-Marie Baker
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Gayathri Nageswaran
- Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Pablo Nenclares
- Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Tahel Ronel
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
- Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kane Smith
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher Kimberley
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Miangela M. Laclé
- Department of Pathology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Shreerang Bhide
- Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
- Head and Neck Unit, The Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kevin J. Harrington
- Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Alan Melcher
- Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
- Division of Breast Cancer Research, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Benny Chain
- Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Trevor A. Graham
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
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11
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Karras P, Black JRM, McGranahan N, Marine JC. Decoding the interplay between genetic and non-genetic drivers of metastasis. Nature 2024; 629:543-554. [PMID: 38750233 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07302-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
Metastasis is a multistep process by which cancer cells break away from their original location and spread to distant organs, and is responsible for the vast majority of cancer-related deaths. Preventing early metastatic dissemination would revolutionize the ability to fight cancer. Unfortunately, the relatively poor understanding of the molecular underpinnings of metastasis has hampered the development of effective anti-metastatic drugs. Although it is now accepted that disseminating tumour cells need to acquire multiple competencies to face the many obstacles they encounter before reaching their metastatic site(s), whether these competencies are acquired through an accumulation of metastasis-specific genetic alterations and/or non-genetic events is often debated. Here we review a growing body of literature highlighting the importance of both genetic and non-genetic reprogramming events during the metastatic cascade, and discuss how genetic and non-genetic processes act in concert to confer metastatic competencies. We also describe how recent technological advances, and in particular the advent of single-cell multi-omics and barcoding approaches, will help to better elucidate the cross-talk between genetic and non-genetic mechanisms of metastasis and ultimately inform innovative paths for the early detection and interception of this lethal process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Panagiotis Karras
- Laboratory for Molecular Cancer Biology, VIB Center for Cancer Biology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Department of Oncology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - James R M Black
- Cancer Genome Evolution Research Group, UCL Cancer Institute, London, UK
| | | | - Jean-Christophe Marine
- Laboratory for Molecular Cancer Biology, VIB Center for Cancer Biology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
- Department of Oncology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
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12
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Rosano D, Sofyali E, Dhiman H, Ghirardi C, Ivanoiu D, Heide T, Vingiani A, Bertolotti A, Pruneri G, Canale E, Dewhurst HF, Saha D, Slaven N, Barozzi I, Li T, Zemlyanskiy G, Phillips H, James C, Győrffy B, Lynn C, Cresswell GD, Rehman F, Noberini R, Bonaldi T, Sottoriva A, Magnani L. Long-term Multimodal Recording Reveals Epigenetic Adaptation Routes in Dormant Breast Cancer Cells. Cancer Discov 2024; 14:866-889. [PMID: 38527495 PMCID: PMC11061610 DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.cd-23-1161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Revised: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/27/2024]
Abstract
Patients with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer receive adjuvant endocrine therapies (ET) that delay relapse by targeting clinically undetectable micrometastatic deposits. Yet, up to 50% of patients relapse even decades after surgery through unknown mechanisms likely involving dormancy. To investigate genetic and transcriptional changes underlying tumor awakening, we analyzed late relapse patients and longitudinally profiled a rare cohort treated with long-term neoadjuvant ETs until progression. Next, we developed an in vitro evolutionary study to record the adaptive strategies of individual lineages in unperturbed parallel experiments. Our data demonstrate that ETs induce nongenetic cell state transitions into dormancy in a stochastic subset of cells via epigenetic reprogramming. Single lineages with divergent phenotypes awaken unpredictably in the absence of recurrent genetic alterations. Targeting the dormant epigenome shows promising activity against adapting cancer cells. Overall, this study uncovers the contribution of epigenetic adaptation to the evolution of resistance to ETs. SIGNIFICANCE This study advances the understanding of therapy-induced dormancy with potential clinical implications for breast cancer. Estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells adapt to endocrine treatment by entering a dormant state characterized by strong heterochromatinization with no recurrent genetic changes. Targeting the epigenetic rewiring impairs the adaptation of cancer cells to ETs. See related commentary by Llinas-Bertran et al., p. 704. This article is featured in Selected Articles from This Issue, p. 695.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dalia Rosano
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- The Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Center, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Emre Sofyali
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Heena Dhiman
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- The Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Center, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Chiara Ghirardi
- Department of Experimental Oncology, IEO, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | - Diana Ivanoiu
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Timon Heide
- Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | | | | | - Giancarlo Pruneri
- Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy
- Department of Oncology and Haematology-Oncology, University of Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Eleonora Canale
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Hannah F. Dewhurst
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Debjani Saha
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Neil Slaven
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley
| | - Iros Barozzi
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Cancer Research, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
| | - Tong Li
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Grigory Zemlyanskiy
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Henry Phillips
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Chela James
- Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Balázs Győrffy
- Department of Bioinformatics, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
- RCNS Cancer Biomarker Research Group, Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Biophysics, Medical School, University of Pecs, Pecs, Hungary
| | - Claire Lynn
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - George D. Cresswell
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Farah Rehman
- Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Roberta Noberini
- Department of Experimental Oncology, IEO, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | - Tiziana Bonaldi
- Department of Experimental Oncology, IEO, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy
- Department of Oncology and Haematology-Oncology, University of Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Andrea Sottoriva
- Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Luca Magnani
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- The Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Center, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
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13
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Aguadé-Gorgorió G, Anderson AR, Solé R. Modeling tumors as species-rich ecological communities. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.22.590504. [PMID: 38712062 PMCID: PMC11071393 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.22.590504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
Many advanced cancers resist therapeutic intervention. This process is fundamentally related to intra-tumor heterogeneity: multiple cell populations, each with different mutational and phenotypic signatures, coexist within a tumor and its metastatic nodes. Like species in an ecosystem, many cancer cell populations are intertwined in a complex network of ecological interactions. Most mathematical models of tumor ecology, however, cannot account for such phenotypic diversity nor are able to predict its consequences. Here we propose that the Generalized Lotka-Volterra model (GLV), a standard tool to describe complex, species-rich ecological communities, provides a suitable framework to describe the ecology of heterogeneous tumors. We develop a GLV model of tumor growth and discuss how its emerging properties, such as outgrowth and multistability, provide a new understanding of the disease. Additionally, we discuss potential extensions of the model and their application to three active areas of cancer research, namely phenotypic plasticity, the cancer-immune interplay and the resistance of metastatic tumors to treatment. Our work outlines a set of questions and a tentative road map for further research in cancer ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alexander R.A. Anderson
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Department, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, USA
| | - Ricard Solé
- ICREA-Complex Systems Lab, UPF-PRBB, Dr. Aiguader 80, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
- Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
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14
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Butler G, Amend SR, Axelrod R, Venditti C, Pienta KJ. Punctuational evolution is pervasive in distal site metastatic colonization. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.08.588529. [PMID: 38645078 PMCID: PMC11030309 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.08.588529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
The evolution of metastasis represents a lethal stage of cancer progression. Yet, the evolutionary kinetics of metastatic disease remain unresolved. Here, using single cell CRISPR-Cas9 lineage tracing data, we show that in metastatic disease, gradual molecular evolution is punctuated by episodes of rapid evolutionary change associated with lineage divergence. By measuring punctuational effects across the metastatic cascade, we show that punctuational effects contribute more to the molecular diversity at distal site metastases compared to the paired primary tumor, suggesting qualitatively different modes of evolution may drive primary and metastatic tumor progression. This is the first empirical evidence for distinct patterns of molecular evolution at early and late stages of metastasis and demonstrates the complex interplay of cell intrinsic and extrinsic factors that shape lethal cancer.
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15
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Kang M, Armenteros JJA, Gulati GS, Gleyzer R, Avagyan S, Brown EL, Zhang W, Usmani A, Earland N, Wu Z, Zou J, Fields RC, Chen DY, Chaudhuri AA, Newman AM. Mapping single-cell developmental potential in health and disease with interpretable deep learning. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.03.19.585637. [PMID: 38562882 PMCID: PMC10983880 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.19.585637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has transformed our understanding of cell fate in developmental systems. However, identifying the molecular hallmarks of potency - the capacity of a cell to differentiate into other cell types - has remained challenging. Here, we introduce CytoTRACE 2, an interpretable deep learning framework for characterizing potency and differentiation states on an absolute scale from scRNA-seq data. Across 31 human and mouse scRNA-seq datasets encompassing 28 tissue types, CytoTRACE 2 outperformed existing methods for recovering experimentally determined potency levels and differentiation states covering the entire range of cellular ontogeny. Moreover, it reconstructed the temporal hierarchy of mouse embryogenesis across 62 timepoints; identified pan-tissue expression programs that discriminate major potency levels; and facilitated discovery of cellular phenotypes in cancer linked to survival and immunotherapy resistance. Our results illuminate a fundamental feature of cell biology and provide a broadly applicable platform for delineating single-cell differentiation landscapes in health and disease.
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16
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Cho JW, Cao J, Hemberg M. Joint analysis of mutational and transcriptional landscapes in human cancer reveals key perturbations during cancer evolution. Genome Biol 2024; 25:65. [PMID: 38459554 PMCID: PMC10921788 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-024-03201-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/10/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Tumors are able to acquire new capabilities, including traits such as drug resistance and metastasis that are associated with unfavorable clinical outcomes. Single-cell technologies have made it possible to study both mutational and transcriptomic profiles, but as most studies have been conducted on model systems, little is known about cancer evolution in human patients. Hence, a better understanding of cancer evolution could have important implications for treatment strategies. RESULTS Here, we analyze cancer evolution and clonal selection by jointly considering mutational and transcriptomic profiles of single cells acquired from tumor biopsies from 49 lung cancer samples and 51 samples with chronic myeloid leukemia. Comparing the two profiles, we find that each clone is associated with a preferred transcriptional state. For metastasis and drug resistance, we find that the number of mutations affecting related genes increases as the clone evolves, while changes in gene expression profiles are limited. Surprisingly, we find that mutations affecting ligand-receptor interactions with the tumor microenvironment frequently emerge as clones acquire drug resistance. CONCLUSIONS Our results show that lung cancer and chronic myeloid leukemia maintain a high clonal and transcriptional diversity, and we find little evidence in favor of clonal sweeps. This suggests that for these cancers selection based solely on growth rate is unlikely to be the dominating driving force during cancer evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jae-Won Cho
- The Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jingyi Cao
- The Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Martin Hemberg
- The Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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17
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Bose A, Datta S, Mandal R, Ray U, Dhar R. Increased heterogeneity in expression of genes associated with cancer progression and drug resistance. Transl Oncol 2024; 41:101879. [PMID: 38262110 PMCID: PMC10832509 DOI: 10.1016/j.tranon.2024.101879] [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: 10/27/2023] [Revised: 12/16/2023] [Accepted: 12/29/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Fluctuations in the number of regulatory molecules and differences in timings of molecular events can generate variation in gene expression among genetically identical cells in the same environmental condition. This variation, termed as expression noise, can create differences in metabolic state and cellular functions, leading to phenotypic heterogeneity. Expression noise and phenotypic heterogeneity have been recognized as important contributors to intra-tumor heterogeneity, and have been associated with cancer growth, progression, and therapy resistance. However, how expression noise changes with cancer progression in actual cancer patients has remained poorly explored. Such an analysis, through identification of genes with increasing expression noise, can provide valuable insights into generation of intra-tumor heterogeneity, and could have important implications for understanding immune-suppression, drug tolerance and therapy resistance. In this work, we performed a genome-wide identification of changes in gene expression noise with cancer progression using single-cell RNA-seq data of lung adenocarcinoma patients at different stages of cancer. We identified 37 genes in epithelial cells that showed an increasing noise trend with cancer progression, many of which were also associated with cancer growth, EMT and therapy resistance. We found that expression of several of these genes was positively associated with expression of mitochondrial genes, suggesting an important role of mitochondria in generation of heterogeneity. In addition, we uncovered substantial differences in sample-specific noise profiles which could have implications for personalized prognosis and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anwesha Bose
- Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India
| | - Subhasis Datta
- Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India
| | - Rakesh Mandal
- Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India
| | - Upasana Ray
- Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India
| | - Riddhiman Dhar
- Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India.
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18
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Tape CJ. Plastic persisters: revival stem cells in colorectal cancer. Trends Cancer 2024; 10:185-195. [PMID: 38071119 DOI: 10.1016/j.trecan.2023.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2024]
Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is traditionally considered to be a genetically driven disease. However, nongenetic plasticity has recently emerged as a major driver of tumour initiation, metastasis, and therapy response in CRC. Central to these processes is a recently discovered cell type, the revival colonic stem cell (revCSC). In contrast to traditional proliferative CSCs (proCSCs), revCSCs prioritise survival over propagation. revCSCs play an essential role in primary tumour formation, metastatic dissemination, and nongenetic chemoresistance. Current evidence suggests that CRC tumours leverage intestinal stem cell plasticity to both proliferate (via proCSCs) when unchallenged and survive (via revCSCs) in response to cell-extrinsic pressures. Although revCSCs likely represent a major source of therapeutic failure in CRC, our increasing knowledge of this important stem cell fate provides novel opportunities for therapeutic intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Tape
- Cell Communication Lab, Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, 72 Huntley Street, London, WC1E 6DD, UK.
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19
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Lakatos E, Gunasri V, Zapata L, Househam J, Heide T, Trahearn N, Swinyard O, Cisneros L, Lynn C, Mossner M, Kimberley C, Spiteri I, Cresswell GD, Llibre-Palomar G, Mitchison M, Maley CC, Jansen M, Rodriguez-Justo M, Bridgewater J, Baker AM, Sottoriva A, Graham TA. Epigenome and early selection determine the tumour-immune evolutionary trajectory of colorectal cancer. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.02.12.579956. [PMID: 38405882 PMCID: PMC10888923 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.12.579956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
Immune system control is a major hurdle that cancer evolution must circumvent. The relative timing and evolutionary dynamics of subclones that have escaped immune control remain incompletely characterized, and how immune-mediated selection shapes the epigenome has received little attention. Here, we infer the genome- and epigenome-driven evolutionary dynamics of tumour-immune coevolution within primary colorectal cancers (CRCs). We utilise our existing CRC multi-region multi-omic dataset that we supplement with high-resolution spatially-resolved neoantigen sequencing data and highly multiplexed imaging of the tumour microenvironment (TME). Analysis of somatic chromatin accessibility alterations (SCAAs) reveals frequent somatic loss of accessibility at antigen presenting genes, and that SCAAs contribute to silencing of neoantigens. We observe that strong immune escape and exclusion occur at the outset of CRC formation, and that within tumours, including at the microscopic level of individual tumour glands, additional immune escape alterations have negligible consequences for the immunophenotype of cancer cells. Further minor immuno-editing occurs during local invasion and is associated with TME reorganisation, but that evolutionary bottleneck is relatively weak. Collectively, we show that immune evasion in CRC follows a "Big Bang" evolutionary pattern, whereby genetic, epigenetic and TME-driven immune evasion acquired by the time of transformation defines subsequent cancer-immune evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eszter Lakatos
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Vinaya Gunasri
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Luis Zapata
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Jacob Househam
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Timon Heide
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Computational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
| | - Nicholas Trahearn
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Ottilie Swinyard
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Luis Cisneros
- Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, Biodesign Institute and School of Life Sciences Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
| | - Claire Lynn
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Maximilian Mossner
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Chris Kimberley
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Inmaculada Spiteri
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - George D. Cresswell
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Gerard Llibre-Palomar
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Miriam Mitchison
- Histopathology Department, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
| | - Carlo C. Maley
- Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, Biodesign Institute and School of Life Sciences Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
| | - Marnix Jansen
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
| | | | | | - Ann-Marie Baker
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Andrea Sottoriva
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Computational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
| | - Trevor A. Graham
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
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20
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Mehta A, Stanger BZ. Lineage Plasticity: The New Cancer Hallmark on the Block. Cancer Res 2024; 84:184-191. [PMID: 37963209 PMCID: PMC10841583 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-23-1067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 09/12/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Plasticity refers to the ability of cells to adopt a spectrum of states or phenotypes. In cancer, it is a critical contributor to tumor initiation, progression, invasiveness, and therapy resistance, and it has recently been recognized as an emerging cancer hallmark. Plasticity can occur as a result of cell-intrinsic factors (e.g., genetic, transcriptional, or epigenetic fluctuations), or through cell-extrinsic cues (e.g., signaling from components of the tumor microenvironment or selective pressure from therapy). Over the past decade, technological advances, analysis of patient samples, and studies in mouse model systems have led to a deeper understanding of how such plastic states come about. In this review, we discuss: (i) the definition of plasticity; (ii) methods to measure and quantify plasticity; (iii) the clinical relevance of plasticity; and (iv) therapeutic hypotheses to modulate plasticity in the clinic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnav Mehta
- Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
- Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Ben Z. Stanger
- Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
- Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
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21
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Harrer DC, Lüke F, Pukrop T, Ghibelli L, Gerner C, Reichle A, Heudobler D. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptorα/γ agonist pioglitazone for rescuing relapsed or refractory neoplasias by unlocking phenotypic plasticity. Front Oncol 2024; 13:1289222. [PMID: 38273846 PMCID: PMC10808445 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1289222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
A series of seven clinical trials on relapsed or refractory (r/r) metastatic neoplasias followed the question: Are networks of ligand-receptor cross-talks that support tumor-specific cancer hallmarks, druggable with tumor tissue editing approaches therapeutically exploiting tumor plasticity? Differential recombinations of pioglitazone, a dual peroxisome-proliferator activated receptorα/γ (PPARα/γ) agonist, with transcriptional modulators, i.e., all-trans retinoic acid, interferon-α, or dexamethasone plus metronomic low-dose chemotherapy (MCT) or epigenetic modeling with azacitidine plus/minus cyclooxygenase-2 inhibition initiated tumor-specific reprogramming of cancer hallmarks, as exemplified by inflammation control in r/r melanoma, renal clear cell carcinoma (RCCC), Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and multisystem Langerhans cell histiocytosis (mLCH) or differentiation induction in non-promyelocytic acute myeloid leukemia (non-PML AML). Pioglitazone, integrated in differentially designed editing schedules, facilitated induction of tumor cell death as indicated by complete remission (CR) in r/r non-PML AML, continuous CR in r/r RCCC, mLCH, and in HL by addition of everolimus, or long-term disease control in melanoma by efficaciously controlling metastasis, post-therapy cancer repopulation and acquired cell-resistance and genetic/molecular-genetic tumor cell heterogeneity (M-CRAC). PPARα/γ agonists provided tumor-type agnostic biomodulatory efficacy across different histologic neoplasias. Tissue editing techniques disclose that wide-ranging functions of PPARα/γ agonists may be on-topic focused for differentially unlocking tumor phenotypes. Low-dose MCT facilitates targeted reprogramming of cancer hallmarks with transcriptional modulators, induction of tumor cell death, M-CRAC control and editing of non-oncogene addiction. Thus, pioglitazone, integrated in tumor tissue editing protocols, is an important biomodulatory drug for addressing urgent therapeutic problems, such as M-CRAC in relapsed or refractory tumor disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dennis Christoph Harrer
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Florian Lüke
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Tobias Pukrop
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Bavarian Cancer Research Center (BZKF), University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Lina Ghibelli
- Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Christopher Gerner
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Albrecht Reichle
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Daniel Heudobler
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Bavarian Cancer Research Center (BZKF), University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
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22
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Biswas A, Sahoo S, Riedlinger GM, Ghodoussipour S, Jolly MK, De S. Transcriptional state dynamics lead to heterogeneity and adaptive tumor evolution in urothelial bladder carcinoma. Commun Biol 2023; 6:1292. [PMID: 38129585 PMCID: PMC10739805 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05668-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Intra-tumor heterogeneity contributes to treatment failure and poor survival in urothelial bladder carcinoma (UBC). Analyzing transcriptome from a UBC cohort, we report that intra-tumor transcriptomic heterogeneity indicates co-existence of tumor cells in epithelial and mesenchymal-like transcriptional states and bi-directional transition between them occurs within and between tumor subclones. We model spontaneous and reversible transition between these partially heritable states in cell lines and characterize their population dynamics. SMAD3, KLF4 and PPARG emerge as key regulatory markers of the transcriptional dynamics. Nutrient limitation, as in the core of large tumors, and radiation treatment perturb the dynamics, initially selecting for a transiently resistant phenotype and then reconstituting heterogeneity and growth potential, driving adaptive evolution. Dominance of transcriptional states with low PPARG expression indicates an aggressive phenotype in UBC patients. We propose that phenotypic plasticity and dynamic, non-genetic intra-tumor heterogeneity modulate both the trajectory of disease progression and adaptive treatment response in UBC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antara Biswas
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
| | | | - Gregory M Riedlinger
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Saum Ghodoussipour
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | | | - Subhajyoti De
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
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23
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Heiser CN, Simmons AJ, Revetta F, McKinley ET, Ramirez-Solano MA, Wang J, Kaur H, Shao J, Ayers GD, Wang Y, Glass SE, Tasneem N, Chen Z, Qin Y, Kim W, Rolong A, Chen B, Vega PN, Drewes JL, Markham NO, Saleh N, Nikolos F, Vandekar S, Jones AL, Washington MK, Roland JT, Chan KS, Schürpf T, Sears CL, Liu Q, Shrubsole MJ, Coffey RJ, Lau KS. Molecular cartography uncovers evolutionary and microenvironmental dynamics in sporadic colorectal tumors. Cell 2023; 186:5620-5637.e16. [PMID: 38065082 PMCID: PMC10756562 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Revised: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023]
Abstract
Colorectal cancer exhibits dynamic cellular and genetic heterogeneity during progression from precursor lesions toward malignancy. Analysis of spatial multi-omic data from 31 human colorectal specimens enabled phylogeographic mapping of tumor evolution that revealed individualized progression trajectories and accompanying microenvironmental and clonal alterations. Phylogeographic mapping ordered genetic events, classified tumors by their evolutionary dynamics, and placed clonal regions along global pseudotemporal progression trajectories encompassing the chromosomal instability (CIN+) and hypermutated (HM) pathways. Integrated single-cell and spatial transcriptomic data revealed recurring epithelial programs and infiltrating immune states along progression pseudotime. We discovered an immune exclusion signature (IEX), consisting of extracellular matrix regulators DDR1, TGFBI, PAK4, and DPEP1, that charts with CIN+ tumor progression, is associated with reduced cytotoxic cell infiltration, and shows prognostic value in independent cohorts. This spatial multi-omic atlas provides insights into colorectal tumor-microenvironment co-evolution, serving as a resource for stratification and targeted treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cody N Heiser
- Program in Chemical and Physical Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Alan J Simmons
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Frank Revetta
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Eliot T McKinley
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Marisol A Ramirez-Solano
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Quantitative Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Jiawei Wang
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Harsimran Kaur
- Program in Chemical and Physical Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Justin Shao
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Computer Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Gregory D Ayers
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Yu Wang
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Quantitative Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Sarah E Glass
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Naila Tasneem
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Zhengyi Chen
- Program in Chemical and Physical Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Yan Qin
- Incendia Therapeutics, Inc., Boston, MA 02135, USA
| | - William Kim
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Andrea Rolong
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Bob Chen
- Program in Chemical and Physical Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Paige N Vega
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Julia L Drewes
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Nicholas O Markham
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Nabil Saleh
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Fotis Nikolos
- Department of Urology, Neal Cancer Center, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Simon Vandekar
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Quantitative Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Angela L Jones
- Vanderbilt Technologies for Advanced Genomics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - M Kay Washington
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Joseph T Roland
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Keith S Chan
- Department of Urology, Neal Cancer Center, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | | | - Cynthia L Sears
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Qi Liu
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Quantitative Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Martha J Shrubsole
- Department of Medicine, Division of Epidemiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Robert J Coffey
- Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
| | - Ken S Lau
- Program in Chemical and Physical Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Epithelial Biology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
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24
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Ramos Zapatero M, Tong A, Opzoomer JW, O'Sullivan R, Cardoso Rodriguez F, Sufi J, Vlckova P, Nattress C, Qin X, Claus J, Hochhauser D, Krishnaswamy S, Tape CJ. Trellis tree-based analysis reveals stromal regulation of patient-derived organoid drug responses. Cell 2023; 186:5606-5619.e24. [PMID: 38065081 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2023] [Revised: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023]
Abstract
Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) can model personalized therapy responses; however, current screening technologies cannot reveal drug response mechanisms or how tumor microenvironment cells alter therapeutic performance. To address this, we developed a highly multiplexed mass cytometry platform to measure post-translational modification (PTM) signaling, DNA damage, cell-cycle activity, and apoptosis in >2,500 colorectal cancer (CRC) PDOs and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in response to clinical therapies at single-cell resolution. To compare patient- and microenvironment-specific drug responses in thousands of single-cell datasets, we developed "Trellis"-a highly scalable, tree-based treatment effect analysis method. Trellis single-cell screening revealed that on-target cell-cycle blockage and DNA-damage drug effects are common, even in chemorefractory PDOs. However, drug-induced apoptosis is rarer, patient-specific, and aligns with cancer cell PTM signaling. We find that CAFs can regulate PDO plasticity-shifting proliferative colonic stem cells (proCSCs) to slow-cycling revival colonic stem cells (revCSCs) to protect cancer cells from chemotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Ramos Zapatero
- Cell Communication Lab, Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6DD, UK
| | - Alexander Tong
- Department of Computer Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Computer Science and Operations Research, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada; Mila - Quebec AI Institute, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - James W Opzoomer
- Cell Communication Lab, Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6DD, UK
| | - Rhianna O'Sullivan
- Cell Communication Lab, Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6DD, UK
| | - Ferran Cardoso Rodriguez
- Cell Communication Lab, Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6DD, UK
| | - Jahangir Sufi
- Cell Communication Lab, Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6DD, UK
| | - Petra Vlckova
- Cell Communication Lab, Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6DD, UK
| | - Callum Nattress
- Cell Communication Lab, Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6DD, UK
| | - Xiao Qin
- Cell Communication Lab, Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6DD, UK
| | - Jeroen Claus
- Phospho Biomedical Animation, The Greenhouse Studio 6, London N17 9QU, UK
| | - Daniel Hochhauser
- Drug-DNA Interactions Group, Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6DD, UK
| | - Smita Krishnaswamy
- Department of Computer Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Genetics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Program for Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Program for Applied Math, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Wu-Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
| | - Christopher J Tape
- Cell Communication Lab, Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6DD, UK.
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25
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Albaret MA, Aïmontché E, Bendriss-Vermare N, Diaz JJ, Gil C, Hedjam J, Ichim G, Morin C, Mourksi NEH, Nguyen TTM, Picant V, Picard E, Popgeorgiev N, Tirode F, Vanacker H, Puisieux A, Mehlen P. [Oncology research congress: The essentials of the fifth International Symposium 2022 of the Cancer Research Center of Lyon]. Bull Cancer 2023; 110:1332-1342. [PMID: 37806862 DOI: 10.1016/j.bulcan.2023.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Marie Alexandra Albaret
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France.
| | - Eliezer Aïmontché
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Nathalie Bendriss-Vermare
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Jean-Jacques Diaz
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Clara Gil
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Jordan Hedjam
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Gabriel Ichim
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Chloé Morin
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Nour-El-Houda Mourksi
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Trang Thi Minh Nguyen
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Valentin Picant
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Emilie Picard
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Nikolay Popgeorgiev
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Franck Tirode
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Hélène Vanacker
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
| | - Alain Puisieux
- Institut Curie, 73, rue Claude-Bernard, Paris 5(e) arrondissement, France
| | - Patrick Mehlen
- UnivLyon, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS 5286, centre Léon-Bérard, centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Inserm 1052, 28, rue Laennec, Lyon, France
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26
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Chen B, Ramazzotti D, Heide T, Spiteri I, Fernandez-Mateos J, James C, Magnani L, Graham TA, Sottoriva A. Contribution of pks + E. coli mutations to colorectal carcinogenesis. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7827. [PMID: 38030613 PMCID: PMC10687070 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43329-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The dominant mutational signature in colorectal cancer genomes is C > T deamination (COSMIC Signature 1) and, in a small subgroup, mismatch repair signature (COSMIC signatures 6 and 44). Mutations in common colorectal cancer driver genes are often not consistent with those signatures. Here we perform whole-genome sequencing of normal colon crypts from cancer patients, matched to a previous multi-omic tumour dataset. We analyse normal crypts that were distant vs adjacent to the cancer. In contrast to healthy individuals, normal crypts of colon cancer patients have a high incidence of pks + (polyketide synthases) E.coli (Escherichia coli) mutational and indel signatures, and this is confirmed by metagenomics. These signatures are compatible with many clonal driver mutations detected in the corresponding cancer samples, including in chromatin modifier genes, supporting their role in early tumourigenesis. These results provide evidence that pks + E.coli is a potential driver of carcinogenesis in the human gut.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bingjie Chen
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- GMU-GIBH Joint School of Life Sciences, The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Joint Laboratory for Cell Fate Regulation and Diseases, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Daniele Ramazzotti
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Timon Heide
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Computational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
| | - Inmaculada Spiteri
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | | | - Chela James
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Computational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
| | - Luca Magnani
- Division of Breast Cancer Research, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Trevor A Graham
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.
| | - Andrea Sottoriva
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.
- Computational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy.
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27
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Zhang W, Cao L, Yang J, Zhang S, Zhao J, Shi Z, Liao K, Wang H, Chen B, Qian Z, Xu H, Wu L, Liu H, Wang H, Ma C, Qiu Y, Ge J, Chen J, Lin Y. AEP-cleaved DDX3X induces alternative RNA splicing events to mediate cancer cell adaptation in harsh microenvironments. J Clin Invest 2023; 134:e173299. [PMID: 37988165 PMCID: PMC10849765 DOI: 10.1172/jci173299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Oxygen and nutrient deprivation are common features of solid tumors. Although abnormal alternative splicing (AS) has been found to be an important driving force in tumor pathogenesis and progression, the regulatory mechanisms of AS that underly the adaptation of cancer cells to harsh microenvironments remain unclear. Here, we found that hypoxia- and nutrient deprivation-induced asparagine endopeptidase (AEP) specifically cleaved DDX3X in a HIF1A-dependent manner. This cleavage yields truncated carboxyl-terminal DDX3X (tDDX3X-C), which translocates and aggregates in the nucleus. Unlike intact DDX3X, nuclear tDDX3X-C complexes with an array of splicing factors and induces AS events of many pre-mRNAs; for example, enhanced exon skipping (ES) in exon 2 of the classic tumor suppressor PRDM2 leads to a frameshift mutation of PRDM2. Intriguingly, the isoform ARRB1-Δexon 13 binds to glycolytic enzymes and regulates glycolysis. By utilizing in vitro assays, glioblastoma organoids, and animal models, we revealed that AEP/tDDX3X-C promoted tumor malignancy via these isoforms. More importantly, high AEP/tDDX3X-C/ARRB1-Δexon 13 in cancerous tissues was tightly associated with poor patient prognosis. Overall, our discovery of the effect of AEP-cleaved DDX3X switching on alternative RNA splicing events identifies a mechanism in which cancer cells adapt to oxygen and nutrient shortages and provides potential diagnostic and/or therapeutic targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenrui Zhang
- Brain Injury Center, Shanghai Institute of Head Trauma and
- Shanghai Cancer Institute, Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Lu Cao
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Jian Yang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Shuai Zhang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jianyi Zhao
- Brain Injury Center, Shanghai Institute of Head Trauma and
- Shanghai Cancer Institute, Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhonggang Shi
- Brain Injury Center, Shanghai Institute of Head Trauma and
- Shanghai Cancer Institute, Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Keman Liao
- Brain Injury Center, Shanghai Institute of Head Trauma and
| | - Haiwei Wang
- Fujian Key Laboratory for Prenatal Diagnosis and Birth Defects, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China
| | - Binghong Chen
- Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China
| | - Zhongrun Qian
- Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Anhui, China
| | - Haoping Xu
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Linshi Wu
- Department of Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery and
| | - Hua Liu
- Department of General Surgery, Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Hongxiang Wang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China
| | - Chunhui Ma
- Department of Orthopedics, Shanghai General Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yongming Qiu
- Brain Injury Center, Shanghai Institute of Head Trauma and
| | - Jianwei Ge
- Department of Neurosurgery, Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Jiayi Chen
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yingying Lin
- Brain Injury Center, Shanghai Institute of Head Trauma and
- Shanghai Cancer Institute, Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
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28
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Fazilaty H, Basler K. Reactivation of embryonic genetic programs in tissue regeneration and disease. Nat Genet 2023; 55:1792-1806. [PMID: 37904052 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01526-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2023] [Accepted: 09/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/01/2023]
Abstract
Embryonic genetic programs are reactivated in response to various types of tissue damage, providing cell plasticity for tissue regeneration or disease progression. In acute conditions, these programs remedy the damage and then halt to allow a return to homeostasis. In chronic situations, including inflammatory diseases, fibrosis and cancer, prolonged activation of embryonic programs leads to disease progression and tissue deterioration. Induction of progenitor identity and cell plasticity, for example, epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity, are critical outcomes of reactivated embryonic programs. In this Review, we describe molecular players governing reactivated embryonic genetic programs, their role during disease progression, their similarities and differences and lineage reversion in pathology and discuss associated therapeutics and drug-resistance mechanisms across many organs. We also discuss the diversity of reactivated programs in different disease contexts. A comprehensive overview of commonalities between development and disease will provide better understanding of the biology and therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hassan Fazilaty
- Department of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Konrad Basler
- Department of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
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Kobayashi Y, Niida A, Nagayama S, Saeki K, Haeno H, Takahashi KK, Hayashi S, Ozato Y, Saito H, Hasegawa T, Nakamura H, Tobo T, Kitagawa A, Sato K, Shimizu D, Hirata H, Hisamatsu Y, Toshima T, Yonemura Y, Masuda T, Mizuno S, Kawazu M, Kohsaka S, Ueno T, Mano H, Ishihara S, Uemura M, Mori M, Doki Y, Eguchi H, Oshima M, Suzuki Y, Shibata T, Mimori K. Subclonal accumulation of immune escape mechanisms in microsatellite instability-high colorectal cancers. Br J Cancer 2023; 129:1105-1118. [PMID: 37596408 PMCID: PMC10539316 DOI: 10.1038/s41416-023-02395-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Revised: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/20/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) in microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) colorectal cancer (CRC) has been poorly studied. We aimed to clarify how the ITH of MSI-H CRCs is generated in cancer evolution and how immune selective pressure affects ITH. METHODS We reanalyzed public whole-exome sequencing data on 246 MSI-H CRCs. In addition, we performed a multi-region analysis from 6 MSI-H CRCs. To verify the process of subclonal immune escape accumulation, a novel computational model of cancer evolution under immune pressure was developed. RESULTS Our analysis presented the enrichment of functional genomic alterations in antigen-presentation machinery (APM). Associative analysis of neoantigens indicated the generation of immune escape mechanisms via HLA alterations. Multiregion analysis revealed the clonal acquisition of driver mutations and subclonal accumulation of APM defects in MSI-H CRCs. Examination of variant allele frequencies demonstrated that subclonal mutations tend to be subjected to selective sweep. Computational simulations of tumour progression with the interaction of immune cells successfully verified the subclonal accumulation of immune escape mutations and suggested the efficacy of early initiation of an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) -based treatment. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate the heterogeneous acquisition of immune escape mechanisms in MSI-H CRCs by Darwinian selection, providing novel insights into ICI-based treatment strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuta Kobayashi
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
- Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 2-2, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Atsushi Niida
- Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Human Genome Center, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1, Sirokane-dai, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 108-8639, Japan
| | - Satoshi Nagayama
- Gastroenterological Center, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Cancer Institute Hospital, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, 3-8-31 Ariake, Koto-Ku, Tokyo, 135-8550, Japan
- Department of Surgery, Uji-Tokushukai Medical Center, Kyoto, 611-0041, Japan
| | - Koichi Saeki
- Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, 227-8561, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Haeno
- Division of Integrated Research, Research Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Tokyo University of Science, 2669 Yamazaki, Noda City, Chiba, 278-0022, Japan
| | - Kazuki K Takahashi
- Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Human Genome Center, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1, Sirokane-dai, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 108-8639, Japan
| | - Shuto Hayashi
- Division of Systems Biology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan
| | - Yuki Ozato
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
- Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 2-2, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Hideyuki Saito
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
| | - Takanori Hasegawa
- Division of Health Medical Data Science, Health Intelligence Center, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 108-8639, Japan
| | - Hiromi Nakamura
- Division of Cancer Genomics, National Cancer Center Japan, Research Institute 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0045, Japan
| | - Taro Tobo
- Department of Pathology, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
| | - Akihiro Kitagawa
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
- Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 2-2, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Kuniaki Sato
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
- Department of Head and Neck Surgery, National Hospital Organization Kyushu Cancer Center, Fukuoka, 811-1395, Japan
| | - Dai Shimizu
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
- Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan
| | - Hidenari Hirata
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
- Department of Clinical Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Yuichi Hisamatsu
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
| | - Takeo Toshima
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
| | - Yusuke Yonemura
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
| | - Takaaki Masuda
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan
| | - Shinichi Mizuno
- Division of Cancer Research, Center for Advanced Medical Innovation, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Masahito Kawazu
- Division of Cellular Signaling, National Cancer Center Japan, Research Institute 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0045, Japan
| | - Shinji Kohsaka
- Division of Cellular Signaling, National Cancer Center Japan, Research Institute 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0045, Japan
| | - Toshihide Ueno
- Division of Cellular Signaling, National Cancer Center Japan, Research Institute 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0045, Japan
| | - Hiroyuki Mano
- Division of Cellular Signaling, National Cancer Center Japan, Research Institute 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0045, Japan
| | - Soichiro Ishihara
- Department of Surgical Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
| | - Mamoru Uemura
- Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 2-2, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Masaki Mori
- Faculty of Medicine, Tokai University, Isegahara, 259-1193, Japan
| | - Yuichiro Doki
- Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 2-2, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Hidetoshi Eguchi
- Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 2-2, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Masanobu Oshima
- Division of Genetics, Cancer Research Institute, Kanazawa University, Kadoma-Cho, Kanazawa, 920-1164, Japan
| | - Yutaka Suzuki
- Laboratory of Systems Genomics, Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8561, Japan
| | - Tatsuhiro Shibata
- Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Human Genome Center, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1, Sirokane-dai, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 108-8639, Japan
- Division of Cancer Genomics, National Cancer Center Japan, Research Institute 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0045, Japan
| | - Koshi Mimori
- Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Beppu Hospital, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu, 874-0838, Japan.
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Perelli L, Zhang L, Mangiameli S, Russell AJC, Giannese F, Peng F, Carbone F, Le C, Khan H, Citron F, Soeung M, Lam TNA, Lundgren S, Zhu C, Catania D, Feng N, Gurreri E, Sgambato A, Tortora G, Draetta GF, Tonon G, Futreal A, Giuliani V, Carugo A, Viale A, Heffernan TP, Wang L, Cittaro D, Chen F, Genovese G. Evolutionary fingerprints of EMT in pancreatic cancers. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.18.558231. [PMID: 37786705 PMCID: PMC10541589 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.18.558231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/04/2023]
Abstract
Mesenchymal plasticity has been extensively described in advanced and metastatic epithelial cancers; however, its functional role in malignant progression, metastatic dissemination and therapy response is controversial. More importantly, the role of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cell plasticity in tumor heterogeneity, clonal selection and clonal evolution is poorly understood. Functionally, our work clarifies the contribution of EMT to malignant progression and metastasis in pancreatic cancer. We leveraged ad hoc somatic mosaic genome engineering, lineage tracing and ablation technologies and dynamic genetic reporters to trace and ablate tumor-specific lineages along the phenotypic spectrum of epithelial to mesenchymal plasticity. The experimental evidences clarify the essential contribution of mesenchymal lineages to pancreatic cancer evolution and metastatic dissemination. Spatial genomic analysis combined with single cell transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling of epithelial and mesenchymal lineages reveals that EMT promotes with the emergence of chromosomal instability (CIN). Specifically tumor lineages with mesenchymal features display highly conserved patterns of genomic evolution including complex structural genomic rearrangements and chromotriptic events. Genetic ablation of mesenchymal lineages robustly abolished these mutational processes and evolutionary patterns, as confirmed by cross species analysis of pancreatic and other human epithelial cancers. Mechanistically, we discovered that malignant cells with mesenchymal features display increased chromatin accessibility, particularly in the pericentromeric and centromeric regions, which in turn results in delayed mitosis and catastrophic cell division. Therefore, EMT favors the emergence of high-fitness tumor cells, strongly supporting the concept of a cell-state, lineage-restricted patterns of evolution, where cancer cell sub-clonal speciation is propagated to progenies only through restricted functional compartments. Restraining those evolutionary routes through genetic ablation of clones capable of mesenchymal plasticity and extinction of the derived lineages completely abrogates the malignant potential of one of the most aggressive form of human cancer.
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Borgsmüller N, Valecha M, Kuipers J, Beerenwinkel N, Posada D. Single-cell phylogenies reveal changes in the evolutionary rate within cancer and healthy tissues. CELL GENOMICS 2023; 3:100380. [PMID: 37719146 PMCID: PMC10504633 DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2023.100380] [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: 10/08/2022] [Revised: 05/03/2023] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023]
Abstract
Cell lineages accumulate somatic mutations during organismal development, potentially leading to pathological states. The rate of somatic evolution within a cell population can vary due to multiple factors, including selection, a change in the mutation rate, or differences in the microenvironment. Here, we developed a statistical test called the Poisson Tree (PT) test to detect varying evolutionary rates among cell lineages, leveraging the phylogenetic signal of single-cell DNA sequencing (scDNA-seq) data. We applied the PT test to 24 healthy and cancer samples, rejecting a constant evolutionary rate in 11 out of 15 cancer and five out of nine healthy scDNA-seq datasets. In six cancer datasets, we identified subclonal mutations in known driver genes that could explain the rate accelerations of particular cancer lineages. Our findings demonstrate the efficacy of scDNA-seq for studying somatic evolution and suggest that cell lineages often evolve at different rates within cancer and healthy tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nico Borgsmüller
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
- SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Monica Valecha
- CINBIO, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
- Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Vigo, Spain
| | - Jack Kuipers
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
- SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Niko Beerenwinkel
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
- SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - David Posada
- CINBIO, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
- Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS Galicia Sur), SERGAS-UVIGO, Vigo, Spain
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics, and Immunology, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
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Lozada-Martinez ID, Bolaño-Romero MP, Lambis-Anaya L, Liscano Y, Suarez-Causado A. CEA-delta could be a biomarker of tumor phenotype, clinical stage, and chemotherapeutic response in rectal cancer with OCT4-positive cancer stem cells. Front Oncol 2023; 13:1258863. [PMID: 37746252 PMCID: PMC10514348 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1258863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Background There is very limited evidence on biomarkers for evaluating the clinical behavior and therapeutic response in rectal cancer (RC) with positive expression of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Methods An exploratory prospective study was conducted, which included fresh samples of tumor tissue from 109 patients diagnosed with primary RC. Sociodemographic, pathological and clinical characteristics were collected from medical records and survey. The OCT4 protein was isolated using the Western Blot technique. It was calculated the ΔCEA, ΔOCT4, and ΔOCT4/GUSB values by assessing the changes before and after chemotherapy, aiming to evaluate the therapeutic response. Results Patients had an average age of 69.9 years, with 55% (n=60) being male. Approximately 63.3% of the tumors were undifferentiated, and the most frequent staging classification was pathological stage III (n=64; 58.7%). Initial positive expression was observed in 77.1% of the patients (n=84), and the median ΔCEA was -1.03 (-3.82 - 0.84) ng/ml, with elevated levels (< -0.94 ng/ml) found in 51.4% of the subjects (n=56). Being OCT4 positive and having an elevated ΔCEA value were significantly associated with undifferentiated tumor phenotype (p=0.002), advanced tumor progression stage (p <0.001), and negative values of ΔOCT4 (p <0.001) (suggestive of poor therapeutic response) compared to those without this status. Conclusion This study identified a significant and directly proportional association among the values of ΔCEA, ΔOCT4, and ΔOCT4/GUSB. These findings suggest that ΔCEA holds potential as a clinical biomarker for determining the undifferentiated tumor phenotype, advanced clinical stage, and poor therapeutic response in RC with CSCs positive expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan David Lozada-Martinez
- Grupo Prometheus y Biomedicina Aplicada a las Ciencias Clínicas, Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Universidad de Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia
| | - Maria Paz Bolaño-Romero
- Grupo Prometheus y Biomedicina Aplicada a las Ciencias Clínicas, Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Universidad de Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia
| | - Lina Lambis-Anaya
- Grupo Prometheus y Biomedicina Aplicada a las Ciencias Clínicas, Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Universidad de Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia
| | - Yamil Liscano
- Grupo de Investigación en Salud Integral (GISI), Departamento Facultad de Salud, Universidad Santiago de Cali, Cali, Colombia
| | - Amileth Suarez-Causado
- Grupo Prometheus y Biomedicina Aplicada a las Ciencias Clínicas, Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Universidad de Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia
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Johnson B, Shuai Y, Schweinsberg J, Curtius K. cloneRate: fast estimation of single-cell clonal dynamics using coalescent theory. Bioinformatics 2023; 39:btad561. [PMID: 37699006 PMCID: PMC10534056 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btad561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Revised: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/14/2023] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION While evolutionary approaches to medicine show promise, measuring evolution itself is difficult due to experimental constraints and the dynamic nature of body systems. In cancer evolution, continuous observation of clonal architecture is impossible, and longitudinal samples from multiple timepoints are rare. Increasingly available DNA sequencing datasets at single-cell resolution enable the reconstruction of past evolution using mutational history, allowing for a better understanding of dynamics prior to detectable disease. There is an unmet need for an accurate, fast, and easy-to-use method to quantify clone growth dynamics from these datasets. RESULTS We derived methods based on coalescent theory for estimating the net growth rate of clones using either reconstructed phylogenies or the number of shared mutations. We applied and validated our analytical methods for estimating the net growth rate of clones, eliminating the need for complex simulations used in previous methods. When applied to hematopoietic data, we show that our estimates may have broad applications to improve mechanistic understanding and prognostic ability. Compared to clones with a single or unknown driver mutation, clones with multiple drivers have significantly increased growth rates (median 0.94 versus 0.25 per year; P = 1.6×10-6). Further, stratifying patients with a myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) by the growth rate of their fittest clone shows that higher growth rates are associated with shorter time to MPN diagnosis (median 13.9 versus 26.4 months; P = 0.0026). AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION We developed a publicly available R package, cloneRate, to implement our methods (Package website: https://bdj34.github.io/cloneRate/). Source code: https://github.com/bdj34/cloneRate/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Johnson
- Division of Biomedical Informatics, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States
| | - Yubo Shuai
- Department of Mathematics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States
| | - Jason Schweinsberg
- Department of Mathematics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States
| | - Kit Curtius
- Division of Biomedical Informatics, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States
- Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States
- VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA 92161, United States
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Wang Y, Liu B, Zhao G, Lee Y, Buzdin A, Mu X, Zhao J, Chen H, Li X. Spatial transcriptomics: Technologies, applications and experimental considerations. Genomics 2023; 115:110671. [PMID: 37353093 PMCID: PMC10571167 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2023.110671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2023] [Revised: 06/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/25/2023]
Abstract
The diverse cell types of an organ have a highly structured organization to enable their efficient and correct function. To fully appreciate gene functions in a given cell type, one needs to understand how much, when and where the gene is expressed. Classic bulk RNA sequencing and popular single cell sequencing destroy cell structural organization and fail to provide spatial information. However, the spatial location of gene expression or of the cell in a complex tissue provides key clues to comprehend how the neighboring genes or cells cross talk, transduce signals and work together as a team to complete the job. The functional requirement for the spatial content has been a driving force for rapid development of the spatial transcriptomics technologies in the past few years. Here, we present an overview of current spatial technologies with a special focus on the commercially available or currently being commercialized technologies, highlight their applications by category and discuss experimental considerations for a first spatial experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ye Wang
- Clinical Laboratory, The Affiliated Qingdao Central Hospital of Medical College of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266042, China.
| | - Bin Liu
- Departments of Medical Oncology, Cancer Hospital of China Medical University, Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shenyang 110042, China
| | - Gexin Zhao
- UCLA Technology Center for Genomics & Bioinformatics, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, 650 Charles E Young Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - YooJin Lee
- UCLA Technology Center for Genomics & Bioinformatics, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, 650 Charles E Young Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Anton Buzdin
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117997, Russia; Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow Region, 141701, Russia; World-Class Research Center "Digital biodesign and personalized healthcare", Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow 119991, Russia
| | - Xiaofeng Mu
- Clinical Laboratory, The Affiliated Qingdao Central Hospital of Medical College of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266042, China
| | - Joseph Zhao
- UCLA Technology Center for Genomics & Bioinformatics, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, 650 Charles E Young Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Hong Chen
- Heilongjiang Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 142, Sanfu Street, Xiangfang District, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province 150036, China
| | - Xinmin Li
- UCLA Technology Center for Genomics & Bioinformatics, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, 650 Charles E Young Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
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Moorman AR, Cambuli F, Benitez EK, Jiang Q, Xie Y, Mahmoud A, Lumish M, Hartner S, Balkaran S, Bermeo J, Asawa S, Firat C, Saxena A, Luthra A, Sgambati V, Luckett K, Wu F, Li Y, Yi Z, Masilionis I, Soares K, Pappou E, Yaeger R, Kingham P, Jarnagin W, Paty P, Weiser MR, Mazutis L, D'Angelica M, Shia J, Garcia-Aguilar J, Nawy T, Hollmann TJ, Chaligné R, Sanchez-Vega F, Sharma R, Pe'er D, Ganesh K. Progressive plasticity during colorectal cancer metastasis. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.08.18.553925. [PMID: 37662289 PMCID: PMC10473595 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.18.553925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
Metastasis is the principal cause of cancer death, yet we lack an understanding of metastatic cell states, their relationship to primary tumor states, and the mechanisms by which they transition. In a cohort of biospecimen trios from same-patient normal colon, primary and metastatic colorectal cancer, we show that while primary tumors largely adopt LGR5 + intestinal stem-like states, metastases display progressive plasticity. Loss of intestinal cell states is accompanied by reprogramming into a highly conserved fetal progenitor state, followed by non-canonical differentiation into divergent squamous and neuroendocrine-like states, which is exacerbated by chemotherapy and associated with poor patient survival. Using matched patient-derived organoids, we demonstrate that metastatic cancer cells exhibit greater cell-autonomous multilineage differentiation potential in response to microenvironment cues than their intestinal lineage-restricted primary tumor counterparts. We identify PROX1 as a stabilizer of intestinal lineage in the fetal progenitor state, whose downregulation licenses non-canonical reprogramming.
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Saoudi González N, Salvà F, Ros J, Baraibar I, Rodríguez-Castells M, García A, Alcaráz A, Vega S, Bueno S, Tabernero J, Elez E. Unravelling the Complexity of Colorectal Cancer: Heterogeneity, Clonal Evolution, and Clinical Implications. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:4020. [PMID: 37627048 PMCID: PMC10452468 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15164020] [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: 07/13/2023] [Revised: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a global health concern and a leading cause of death worldwide. The disease's course and response to treatment are significantly influenced by its heterogeneity, both within a single lesion and between primary and metastatic sites. Biomarkers, such as mutations in KRAS, NRAS, and BRAF, provide valuable guidance for treatment decisions in patients with metastatic CRC. While high concordance exists between mutational status in primary and metastatic lesions, some heterogeneity may be present. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis has proven invaluable in identifying genetic heterogeneity and predicting prognosis in RAS-mutated metastatic CRC patients. Tumor heterogeneity can arise from genetic and non-genetic factors, affecting tumor development and response to therapy. To comprehend and address clonal evolution and intratumoral heterogeneity, comprehensive genomic studies employing techniques such as next-generation sequencing and computational analysis are essential. Liquid biopsy, notably through analysis of ctDNA, enables real-time clonal evolution and treatment response monitoring. However, challenges remain in standardizing procedures and accurately characterizing tumor subpopulations. Various models elucidate the origin of CRC heterogeneity, highlighting the intricate molecular pathways involved. This review focuses on intrapatient cancer heterogeneity and genetic clonal evolution in metastatic CRC, with an emphasis on clinical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadia Saoudi González
- Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; (N.S.G.)
- Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Francesc Salvà
- Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; (N.S.G.)
- Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Javier Ros
- Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; (N.S.G.)
- Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Iosune Baraibar
- Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; (N.S.G.)
- Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marta Rodríguez-Castells
- Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; (N.S.G.)
- Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ariadna García
- Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; (N.S.G.)
| | - Adriana Alcaráz
- Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; (N.S.G.)
- Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sharela Vega
- Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sergio Bueno
- Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Josep Tabernero
- Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; (N.S.G.)
- Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Elena Elez
- Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; (N.S.G.)
- Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
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37
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Reece AS, Bennett K, Hulse GK. Cannabis- and Substance-Related Carcinogenesis in Europe: A Lagged Causal Inferential Panel Regression Study. J Xenobiot 2023; 13:323-385. [PMID: 37489337 PMCID: PMC10366890 DOI: 10.3390/jox13030024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2023] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 07/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent European data facilitate an epidemiological investigation of the controversial cannabis-cancer relationship. Of particular concern were prior findings associating high-dose cannabis use with reproductive problems and potential genetic impacts. Cancer incidence data age-standardised to the world population was obtained from the European Cancer Information System 2000-2020 and many European national cancer registries. Drug use data were obtained from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Alcohol and tobacco consumption was sourced from the WHO. Median household income was taken from the World bank. Cancer rates in high-cannabis-use countries were significantly higher than elsewhere (β-estimate = 0.4165, p = 3.54 × 10-115). Eighteen of forty-one cancers (42,675 individual rates) were significantly associated with cannabis exposure at bivariate analysis. Twenty-five cancers were linked in inverse-probability-weighted multivariate models. Temporal lagging in panel models intensified these effects. In multivariable models, cannabis was a more powerful correlate of cancer incidence than tobacco or alcohol. Reproductive toxicity was evidenced by the involvement of testis, ovary, prostate and breast cancers and because some of the myeloid and lymphoid leukaemias implicated occur in childhood, indicating inherited intergenerational genotoxicity. Cannabis is a more important carcinogen than tobacco and alcohol and fulfills epidemiological qualitative and quantitative criteria for causality for 25/41 cancers. Reproductive and transgenerational effects are prominent. These findings confirm the clinical and epidemiological salience of cannabis as a major multigenerational community carcinogen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Albert Stuart Reece
- Division of Psychiatry, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
- School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia
| | - Kellie Bennett
- Division of Psychiatry, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, 208 Kent St., Bentley, Perth, WA 6102, Australia
| | - Gary Kenneth Hulse
- Division of Psychiatry, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
- School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia
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38
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Liu QL, Zhou H, Zhou ZG, Chen HN. Colorectal cancer liver metastasis: genomic evolution and crosstalk with the liver microenvironment. Cancer Metastasis Rev 2023; 42:575-587. [PMID: 37061644 DOI: 10.1007/s10555-023-10107-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/10/2023] [Indexed: 04/17/2023]
Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) patients frequently develop liver metastases, which are the major cause of cancer-related mortality. The molecular basis and management of colorectal liver metastases (CRLMs) remain a challenging clinical issue. Recent genomic evidence has demonstrated the liver tropism of CRC and the presence of a stricter evolutionary bottleneck in the liver as a target organ compared to lymph nodes. This bottleneck challenging CRC cells in the liver is organ-specific and requires adaptation not only at the genetic level, but also at the phenotypic level to crosstalk with the hepatic microenvironment. Here, we highlight the emerging evidence on the clonal evolution of CRLM and review recent insights into the molecular mechanisms orchestrating the bidirectional interactions between metastatic CRC cells and the unique liver microenvironment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiu-Luo Liu
- Department of General Surgery, Colorectal Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, People's Republic of China
| | - Huijie Zhou
- Department of Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Zong-Guang Zhou
- Department of General Surgery, Colorectal Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, People's Republic of China
| | - Hai-Ning Chen
- Department of General Surgery, Colorectal Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
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39
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Grody EI, Abraham A, Shukla V, Goyal Y. Toward a systems-level probing of tumor clonality. iScience 2023; 26:106574. [PMID: 37192968 PMCID: PMC10182304 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106574] [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: 05/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Cancer has been described as a genetic disease that clonally evolves in the face of selective pressures imposed by cell-intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Although classical models based on genetic data predominantly propose Darwinian mechanisms of cancer evolution, recent single-cell profiling of cancers has described unprecedented heterogeneity in tumors providing support for alternative models of branched and neutral evolution through both genetic and non-genetic mechanisms. Emerging evidence points to a complex interplay between genetic, non-genetic, and extrinsic environmental factors in shaping the evolution of tumors. In this perspective, we briefly discuss the role of cell-intrinsic and extrinsic factors that shape clonal behaviors during tumor progression, metastasis, and drug resistance. Taking examples of pre-malignant states associated with hematological malignancies and esophageal cancer, we discuss recent paradigms of tumor evolution and prospective approaches to further enhance our understanding of this spatiotemporally regulated process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emanuelle I. Grody
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60208, USA
- Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
| | - Ajay Abraham
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
- Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
- Center for Human Immunobiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
| | - Vipul Shukla
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
- Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
- Center for Human Immunobiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
- Corresponding author
| | - Yogesh Goyal
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
- Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60208, USA
- Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
- Corresponding author
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40
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Biddle A. In vitro cancer models as an approach to identify targetable developmental phenotypes in cancer stem cells. IN VITRO MODELS 2023; 2:83-88. [PMID: 37808201 PMCID: PMC10550853 DOI: 10.1007/s44164-023-00051-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2023] [Revised: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 04/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
Cancer therapeutics are often highly toxic to the patient, and they often elicit rapid resistance in the tumour. Recent advances have suggested a potential new way in which we may improve on this, through two important concepts: (1) that multitudinous pathway alterations converge on a limited number of cancer cellular phenotypes, and (2) that these cancer cellular phenotypes depend on reactivation of developmental processes that are only minimally active in adult tissues. This provides a rationale for pursuing an approach of 'drugging the phenotype' focussed on targeting reactivated cellular processes from embryonic development. In this concepts paper, we cover these recent developments and their implications for the development of new cancer therapeutics that can avoid patient toxicity and acquired resistance. We then propose that in vitro tumour and developmental models can provide an experimental approach to identify and target the specific developmental processes at play, with a focus on the reactivation of developmental processes in the cancer stem cells that drive tumour progression and spread. Ultimately, the aim is to identify cellular processes that are specific to developmental phenotypes, are reactivated in cancer stem cells, and are essential to tumour progression. Therapeutically targeting these cellular processes could represent a new approach of 'drugging the phenotype' that treats the tumour whilst avoiding patient toxicity or the acquisition of therapeutic resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Biddle
- Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
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41
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Wang L, Tang Y. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) in cancer stem cell: From molecular mechanisms to therapeutic implications. Biomed Pharmacother 2023; 163:114846. [PMID: 37167725 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2023.114846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2023] [Revised: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The emergence of drug resistance and metastasis has long been a difficult problem for cancer treatment. Recent studies have shown that cancer stem cell populations are key factors in the regulation of cancer aggressiveness, relapse and drug resistance. Cancer stem cell (CSC) populations are highly plastic and self-renewing, giving them unique metabolic, metastatic, and chemotherapy resistance properties. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant internal modification of mRNA and is involved in a variety of cell growth and development processes, including RNA transcription, alternative splicing, degradation, and translation. It has also been linked to the development of various cancers. At present, the important role of m6A in tumour progression is gradually attracting attention, especially in the tumour stemness regulation process. Abnormal m6A modifications regulate tumour metastasis, recurrence and drug resistance. This paper aims to explore the regulatory mechanism of m6A in CSCs and clinical therapy, clarify its regulatory network, and provide theoretical guidance for the development of clinical targets and improvement of therapeutic effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liming Wang
- Department of General Surgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, P.R. China
| | - Yuanxin Tang
- Department of General Surgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, P.R. China.
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42
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van Ginkel J, Tomlinson I, Soriano I. The Evolutionary Landscape of Colorectal Tumorigenesis: Recent Paradigms, Models, and Hypotheses. Gastroenterology 2023; 164:841-846. [PMID: 36702361 DOI: 10.1053/j.gastro.2022.11.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Using colorectal cancer as a model, we review some of the insights into cancer evolution afforded by cancer sequencing. These include nonlinear and neutral evolution; polyclonality of driver mutations and parallel evolution in adenomas, although these are rare in carcinomas; the ability of mutational processes to shape evolution against the force of selection; the presence of rare driver genes that function in the same signaling pathways as the longstanding canonical drivers; and the existence of selective windows that constrain the functional effects of cancer driver mutations within limits. Many of these nascent evolutionary paradigms are potentially important for treating colorectal cancers as well as understanding their development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jurriaan van Ginkel
- Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre, Institute of Genetics & Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Ian Tomlinson
- Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre, Institute of Genetics & Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Ignacio Soriano
- Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre, Institute of Genetics & Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
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43
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Lewinsohn MA, Bedford T, Müller NF, Feder AF. State-dependent evolutionary models reveal modes of solid tumour growth. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:581-596. [PMID: 36894662 PMCID: PMC10089931 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02000-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 03/11/2023]
Abstract
Spatial properties of tumour growth have profound implications for cancer progression, therapeutic resistance and metastasis. Yet, how spatial position governs tumour cell division remains difficult to evaluate in clinical tumours. Here, we demonstrate that faster division on the tumour periphery leaves characteristic genetic patterns, which become evident when a phylogenetic tree is reconstructed from spatially sampled cells. Namely, rapidly dividing peripheral lineages branch more extensively and acquire more mutations than slower-dividing centre lineages. We develop a Bayesian state-dependent evolutionary phylodynamic model (SDevo) that quantifies these patterns to infer the differential division rates between peripheral and central cells. We demonstrate that this approach accurately infers spatially varying birth rates of simulated tumours across a range of growth conditions and sampling strategies. We then show that SDevo outperforms state-of-the-art, non-cancer multi-state phylodynamic methods that ignore differential sequence evolution. Finally, we apply SDevo to single-time-point, multi-region sequencing data from clinical hepatocellular carcinomas and find evidence of a three- to six-times-higher division rate on the tumour edge. With the increasing availability of high-resolution, multi-region sequencing, we anticipate that SDevo will be useful in interrogating spatial growth restrictions and could be extended to model non-spatial factors that influence tumour progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maya A Lewinsohn
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
| | - Trevor Bedford
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Nicola F Müller
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
| | - Alison F Feder
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
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44
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Kulkarni P, Wiley HS, Levine H, Sauro H, Anderson A, Wong STC, Meyer AS, Iyengar P, Corlette K, Swanson K, Mohanty A, Bhattacharya S, Patel A, Jain V, Salgia R. Addressing the genetic/nongenetic duality in cancer with systems biology. Trends Cancer 2023; 9:185-187. [PMID: 36635119 DOI: 10.1016/j.trecan.2022.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2022] [Revised: 12/02/2022] [Accepted: 12/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
The dogma that cancer is a genetic disease is being questioned. Recent findings suggest that genetic/nongenetic duality is necessary for cancer progression. A think tank organized by the Shraman Foundation's Institute for Theoretical Biology compiled key challenges and opportunities that theoreticians, experimentalists, and clinicians can explore from a systems biology perspective to provide a better understanding of the disease as well as help discover new treatment options and therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prakash Kulkarni
- Department of Medical Oncology, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA; Department of Systems Biology, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA
| | - H Steven Wiley
- Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Herbert Levine
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Herbert Sauro
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Alexander Anderson
- Department of Integrated Mathematical Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Stephen T C Wong
- T.T. and W.F. Chao Center for BRAIN Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, USA; Houston Methodist Cancer Center, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, USA; Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA; Department of Neurosciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA
| | - Aaron S Meyer
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Bioinformatics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Puneeth Iyengar
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Kevin Corlette
- Department of Mathematics, University of Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Kristin Swanson
- Mathematical Neuro-Oncology Laboratory, Precision Neurotherapeutics Innovation Program, Department of Neurological Surgery, Mayo Clinic, 5777 East Mayo Boulevard, Phoenix, AZ, USA
| | - Atish Mohanty
- Department of Medical Oncology, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA
| | - Supriyo Bhattacharya
- Integrative Genomics Core, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA
| | - Amit Patel
- Shraman Foundation, Institute for Theoretical Biology, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Vinay Jain
- Shraman Foundation, Institute for Theoretical Biology, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Ravi Salgia
- Department of Medical Oncology, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA.
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45
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Lineage tracing of mutant granulosa cells reveals in vivo protective mechanisms that prevent granulosa cell tumorigenesis. Cell Death Differ 2023; 30:1235-1246. [PMID: 36823373 PMCID: PMC10154338 DOI: 10.1038/s41418-023-01132-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Ovarian granulosa cell tumors (GCTs) originate from granulosa cells (GCs) and represent the most common sex cord-stromal tumor in humans. However, the developmental regulations and molecular mechanisms underlying their etiology are largely unknown. In the current study, we combined a multi-fluorescent reporter mouse model with a conditional knockout mouse model, in which the tumor suppressor genes Pten and p27 were deleted in GCs, to perform cell lineage tracing of mutant GCs. We found that only 30% of ovaries with substantial mutant GCs developed into GCTs that derived from a single mutant GC. In-depth molecular analysis of the process of tumorigenesis demonstrated that up-regulation of immune evasion genes Cd24a and Cd47 led, in part, to the transition of mutant GCs to GCTs. Therefore, treatment with the Cd47 inhibitor RRX-001 was tested and found to efficiently suppress the growth of GCTs in vivo. Together, our study has revealed an immune evasion mechanism via CD24/CD47 upregulation to GCT formation, shedding light on the future potential clinical therapies for GCTs.
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46
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From Retrograde Menstruation to Endometrial Determinism and a Brave New World of "Root Treatment" of Endometriosis: Destiny or a Fanciful Utopia? Biomolecules 2023; 13:biom13020336. [PMID: 36830705 PMCID: PMC9953699 DOI: 10.3390/biom13020336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Practically unknown outside of China, the "endometrial determinism" theory was proposed to account for the apparent gap between the relatively low prevalence of endometriosis and nearly universal retrograde menstruation. Attracting uncritical advocacy, the theory culminates in a recent consensus by elite Chinese gynecologists in favor of "root treatment", intended to nip endometriosis in the bud. Correcting endometrial "defects" can gain further momentum by the presence of cancer-driver mutations such as KRAS mutations in the endometrium of women with endometriosis and the recent introduction of therapeutics aiming to rectify the effect of these mutations for cancer treatment. We provide a critical appraisal of evidence for endometrial aberrations in endometriosis and relevant experimental evidence. All available evidence of endometrial "defect" is invariably post hoc and may well be secondary to induced endometriosis. We propose that the theory of "endometrial determinism" needs to demonstrate a clear causal and a phylogenetic relationship between endometrial aberrations and endometriosis. We argue that while it is highly likely that endometriosis is a consequence of retrograde menstruation, the case that molecular aberrations as a sole or a necessary determinant remains to be proven. "Root treatment" is a worthy ambition but as of now it is close to a fanciful Utopia.
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47
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Elucidating the genetic and epigenetic evolution and phenotypic plasticity of colorectal tumours. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 2023; 20:3. [PMID: 36443420 DOI: 10.1038/s41575-022-00721-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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48
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Seferbekova Z, Lomakin A, Yates LR, Gerstung M. Spatial biology of cancer evolution. Nat Rev Genet 2022; 24:295-313. [PMID: 36494509 DOI: 10.1038/s41576-022-00553-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The natural history of cancers can be understood through the lens of evolution given that the driving forces of cancer development are mutation and selection of fitter clones. Cancer growth and progression are spatial processes that involve the breakdown of normal tissue organization, invasion and metastasis. For these reasons, spatial patterns are an integral part of histological tumour grading and staging as they measure the progression from normal to malignant disease. Furthermore, tumour cells are part of an ecosystem of tumour cells and their surrounding tumour microenvironment. A range of new spatial genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic technologies offers new avenues for the study of cancer evolution with great molecular and spatial detail. These methods enable precise characterizations of the tumour microenvironment, cellular interactions therein and micro-anatomical structures. In conjunction with spatial genomics, it emerges that tumours and microenvironments co-evolve, which helps explain observable patterns of heterogeneity and offers new routes for therapeutic interventions.
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49
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Nectins and Nectin-like Molecules in Colorectal Cancer: Role in Diagnostics, Prognostic Values, and Emerging Treatment Options: A Literature Review. Diagnostics (Basel) 2022; 12:diagnostics12123076. [PMID: 36553083 PMCID: PMC9777592 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics12123076] [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: 10/24/2022] [Revised: 12/03/2022] [Accepted: 12/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In 2020, colorectal cancer was the third most common type of cancer worldwide with a clearly visible increase in the number of cases each year. With relatively high mortality rates and an uncertain prognosis, colorectal cancer is a serious health problem. There is an urgent need to investigate its specific mechanism of carcinogenesis and progression in order to develop new strategies of action against this cancer. Nectins and Nectin-like molecules are cell adhesion molecules that take part in a plethora of essential processes in healthy tissues as well as mediating substantial actions for tumor initiation and evolution. Our understanding of their role and a viable application of this in anti-cancer therapy has rapidly improved in recent years. This review summarizes the current data on the role nectins and Nectin-like molecules play in colorectal cancer.
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50
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Lavia P, Sciamanna I, Spadafora C. An Epigenetic LINE-1-Based Mechanism in Cancer. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms232314610. [PMID: 36498938 PMCID: PMC9738484 DOI: 10.3390/ijms232314610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In the last fifty years, large efforts have been deployed in basic research, clinical oncology, and clinical trials, yielding an enormous amount of information regarding the molecular mechanisms of cancer and the design of effective therapies. The knowledge that has accumulated underpins the complexity, multifactoriality, and heterogeneity of cancer, disclosing novel landscapes in cancer biology with a key role of genome plasticity. Here, we propose that cancer onset and progression are determined by a stress-responsive epigenetic mechanism, resulting from the convergence of upregulation of LINE-1 (long interspersed nuclear element 1), the largest family of human retrotransposons, genome damage, nuclear lamina fragmentation, chromatin remodeling, genome reprogramming, and autophagy activation. The upregulated expression of LINE-1 retrotransposons and their protein products plays a key role in these processes, yielding an increased plasticity of the nuclear architecture with the ensuing reprogramming of global gene expression, including the reactivation of embryonic transcription profiles. Cancer phenotypes would thus emerge as a consequence of the unscheduled reactivation of embryonic gene expression patterns in an inappropriate context, triggering de-differentiation and aberrant proliferation in differentiated cells. Depending on the intensity of the stressing stimuli and the level of LINE-1 response, diverse degrees of malignity would be generated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrizia Lavia
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology (IBPM), CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, c/o Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
- Correspondence: or
| | - Ilaria Sciamanna
- Center for Animal Research and Welfare (BENA), ISS Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Corrado Spadafora
- Institute of Translational Pharmacology (IFT), CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 00133 Rome, Italy
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