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Le Y, Gao H, Le J, Hornick JL, Bleday R, Wee J, Zhu Z. VentX promotes tumor specific immunity and efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors. iScience 2024; 27:108731. [PMID: 38299030 PMCID: PMC10829883 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108731] [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: 07/12/2023] [Revised: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Immune suppression within tumor microenvironments (TME) have been implicated in limited efficacy of immune check point inhibitors (ICIs) against solid tumors. Down-regulated VentX expression in tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) underlies phagocytotic anergic phenotype of TAMs, which govern immunological state of TME. In this study, using a tumor immune microenvironment enabling model system (TIME-EMS) of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we found that PD-1 antibody modestly activates cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) within the NSCLC-TME but not the status of TIME. We showed that the restoration of VentX expression in TAMs reignites the phagocytotic function of TAMs, which in turn, transforms TIME, activates CTLs in a tumor-specific manner and promotes efficacy of PD-1 antibody against NSCLC but not toxicity on normal lung epithelial cells. Supported by in vivo data on NSG-PDX models of primary human NSCLC, our study revealed potential venues to promote the efficacy of ICI against solid tumors through VentX-based mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Le
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Hong Gao
- Department of Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Joanna Le
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Massachusetts Medical Center
| | - Jason L. Hornick
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ronald Bleday
- Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jon Wee
- Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Zhenglun Zhu
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
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Le Y, Gao H, Zhu A, Felt K, Rodig S, Bleday R, Zhu Z. NF-κB-regulated VentX expression mediates tumoricidal effects of chemotherapeutics at noncytotoxic concentrations. iScience 2022; 25:105426. [DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
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Ventx Family and Its Functional Similarities with Nanog: Involvement in Embryonic Development and Cancer Progression. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23052741. [PMID: 35269883 PMCID: PMC8911082 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23052741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2021] [Revised: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The Ventx family is one of the subfamilies of the ANTP (antennapedia) superfamily and belongs to the NK-like (NKL) subclass. Ventx is a homeobox transcription factor and has a DNA-interacting domain that is evolutionarily conserved throughout vertebrates. It has been extensively studied in Xenopus, zebrafish, and humans. The Ventx family contains transcriptional repressors widely involved in embryonic development and tumorigenesis in vertebrates. Several studies have documented that the Ventx family inhibited dorsal mesodermal formation, neural induction, and head formation in Xenopus and zebrafish. Moreover, Ventx2.2 showed functional similarities to Nanog and Barx1, leading to pluripotency and neural-crest migration in vertebrates. Among them, Ventx protein is an orthologue of the Ventx family in humans. Studies have demonstrated that human Ventx was strongly associated with myeloid-cell differentiation and acute myeloid leukemia. The therapeutic potential of Ventx family inhibition in combating cancer progression in humans is discussed. Additionally, we briefly discuss genome evolution, gene duplication, pseudo-allotetraploidy, and the homeobox family in Xenopus.
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Le Y, Gao H, Richards W, Zhao L, Bleday R, Clancy T, Zhu Z. VentX expression in tumor-associated macrophages promotes phagocytosis and immunity against pancreatic cancers. JCI Insight 2020; 5:137088. [PMID: 32573491 DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.137088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is a lethal malignancy that has no effective treatment. The tumor microenvironment (TME) of PDA employs a multitude of immune derangement strategies to protect PDA from immune elimination. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of immune suppression of the PDA TME; however, its underlying mechanisms remained largely unknown. Using primary patient samples, our studies showed that, in comparison with macrophages isolated from normal pancreatic tissues, the phagocytosis activity of the PDA TAMs was significantly reduced. We found that the expression of homeobox protein VentX, a master regulator of macrophage plasticity, was significantly decreased in the PDA TAMs. We demonstrated that VentX was required for phagocytosis and that restoration of VentX expression in PDA TAMs promoted phagocytosis through the regulation of the signaling cascades involved in the process. Using an ex vivo culture model of primary human PDA, we showed that VentX-modulated TAMs transformed the PDA TME from a protumor milieu to an antitumor microenvironment by rectifying differentiation, proliferation, and activation of PDA-infiltrating immune cells. Using NSG-PDX models of primary human PDAs, we showed that VentX-modulated TAMs exerted strong inhibition on PDA tumorigenesis in vivo. Taken together, our data revealed a central mechanism underlying immune evasion of PDA and a potential novel venue to improve PDA prognosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Le
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Hong Gao
- Department of Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | - Lei Zhao
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | | | - Zhenglun Zhu
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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He QL, Jiang HX, Zhang XL, Qin SY. Relationship between a 7-mRNA signature of the pancreatic adenocarcinoma microenvironment and patient prognosis (a STROBE-compliant article). Medicine (Baltimore) 2020; 99:e21287. [PMID: 32702921 PMCID: PMC7373597 DOI: 10.1097/md.0000000000021287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Revised: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The potential association between the prognosis of the pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) and its microenvironment is unclear. This study aims to construct a prognostic index (PI) model of the PAAD microenvironment to predict PAAD patient survival outcomes.The mRNA sequencing and the clinical parameters data were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Immune and stromal scores were computed using the expression data algorithm to capture infiltration of immune and stromal cells in the PAAD tissue, where patients were categorized as high and low score groups according to these scores. Differentially expressed genes were identified using the R package LIMMA. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were conducted to select candidate survival-correlated gene signatures from the tumor microenvironment for constructing a model. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to access overall survival of the primary and validation cohorts. The immunological features of the PI model was explored using the Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) database. Bioinformatic analyses were conducted based on the DAVID database.A total of 1266 overlapping differentially expressed genes and 49 prognosis-associated genes were identified. A 7-mRNA signature (GBP5, BICC1, SLC7A14, CYSLTR1, P2RY6, VENTX, and RAB39B) was screened for the construction of a PI model (area under the curve = 0.791). In both the primary and validation cohorts, Kaplan Meier analysis revealed that the overall survival of the high-risk group was significantly worse compared to the low-risk group (P < .0001, P = .0028 respectively). The TIMER database described that the 7 signature genes were correlated with immune infiltrating cells and tumor purity. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that these prognosis-associated genes were significantly enriched during inflammation, the defense response, would response, calcium ion transport, and plasma membrane part.A list of the prognosis-correlated genes was generated based on the PAAD microenvironment. A 7-mRNA PI model may be used for predicting the prognosis of PAAD patients.
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Mair B, Tomic J, Masud SN, Tonge P, Weiss A, Usaj M, Tong AHY, Kwan JJ, Brown KR, Titus E, Atkins M, Chan KSK, Munsie L, Habsid A, Han H, Kennedy M, Cohen B, Keller G, Moffat J. Essential Gene Profiles for Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Identify Uncharacterized Genes and Substrate Dependencies. Cell Rep 2020; 27:599-615.e12. [PMID: 30970261 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.02.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2018] [Revised: 12/24/2018] [Accepted: 02/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) provide an invaluable tool for modeling diseases and hold promise for regenerative medicine. For understanding pluripotency and lineage differentiation mechanisms, a critical first step involves systematically cataloging essential genes (EGs) that are indispensable for hPSC fitness, defined as cell reproduction in this study. To map essential genetic determinants of hPSC fitness, we performed genome-scale loss-of-function screens in an inducible Cas9 H1 hPSC line cultured on feeder cells and laminin to identify EGs. Among these, we found FOXH1 and VENTX, genes that encode transcription factors previously implicated in stem cell biology, as well as an uncharacterized gene, C22orf43/DRICH1. hPSC EGs are substantially different from other human model cell lines, and EGs in hPSCs are highly context dependent with respect to different growth substrates. Our CRISPR screens establish parameters for genome-wide screens in hPSCs, which will facilitate the characterization of unappreciated genetic regulators of hPSC biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Mair
- Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Jelena Tomic
- Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Sanna N Masud
- Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Peter Tonge
- Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | | | - Matej Usaj
- Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | | | - Jamie J Kwan
- McEwen Stem Cell Institute, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Kevin R Brown
- Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Emily Titus
- Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Michael Atkins
- McEwen Stem Cell Institute, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | | | - Lise Munsie
- Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Andrea Habsid
- Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Hong Han
- Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Marion Kennedy
- McEwen Stem Cell Institute, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Brenda Cohen
- McEwen Stem Cell Institute, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Gordon Keller
- McEwen Stem Cell Institute, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Jason Moffat
- Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON, Canada; Institute for Biomaterials and BioMedical Engineering, University of Toronto, ON, Canada.
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First genome-wide association study of non-severe malaria in two birth cohorts in Benin. Hum Genet 2019; 138:1341-1357. [PMID: 31667592 DOI: 10.1007/s00439-019-02079-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Recent research efforts to identify genes involved in malaria susceptibility using genome-wide approaches have focused on severe malaria. Here, we present the first GWAS on non-severe malaria designed to identify genetic variants involved in innate immunity or innate resistance mechanisms. Our study was performed on two cohorts of infants from southern Benin (525 and 250 individuals used as discovery and replication cohorts, respectively) closely followed from birth to 18-24 months of age, with an assessment of a space- and time-dependent environmental risk of exposure. Both the recurrence of mild malaria attacks and the recurrence of malaria infections as a whole (symptomatic and asymptomatic) were considered. Post-GWAS functional analyses were performed using positional, eQTL, and chromatin interaction mapping to identify the genes underlying association signals. Our study highlights a role of PTPRT, a tyrosine phosphatase receptor involved in STAT3 pathway, in the protection against both mild malaria attacks and malaria infections (p = 9.70 × 10-8 and p = 1.78 × 10-7, respectively, in the discovery cohort). Strong statistical support was also found for a role of MYLK4 (meta-analysis, p = 5.29 × 10-8 with malaria attacks), and for several other genes, whose biological functions are relevant in malaria infection. Results shows that GWAS on non-severe malaria can successfully identify new candidate genes and inform physiological mechanisms underlying natural protection against malaria.
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OrthoList 2: A New Comparative Genomic Analysis of Human and Caenorhabditis elegans Genes. Genetics 2018; 210:445-461. [PMID: 30120140 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.118.301307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 161] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2018] [Accepted: 08/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
OrthoList, a compendium of Caenorhabditis elegans genes with human orthologs compiled in 2011 by a meta-analysis of four orthology-prediction methods, has been a popular tool for identifying conserved genes for research into biological and disease mechanisms. However, the efficacy of orthology prediction depends on the accuracy of gene-model predictions, an ongoing process, and orthology-prediction algorithms have also been updated over time. Here we present OrthoList 2 (OL2), a new comparative genomic analysis between C. elegans and humans, and the first assessment of how changes over time affect the landscape of predicted orthologs between two species. Although we find that updates to the orthology-prediction methods significantly changed the landscape of C. elegans-human orthologs predicted by individual programs and-unexpectedly-reduced agreement among them, we also show that our meta-analysis approach "buffered" against changes in gene content. We show that adding results from more programs did not lead to many additions to the list and discuss reasons to avoid assigning "scores" based on support by individual orthology-prediction programs; the treatment of "legacy" genes no longer predicted by these programs; and the practical difficulties of updating due to encountering deprecated, changed, or retired gene identifiers. In addition, we consider what other criteria may support claims of orthology and alternative approaches to find potential orthologs that elude identification by these programs. Finally, we created a new web-based tool that allows for rapid searches of OL2 by gene identifiers, protein domains [InterPro and SMART (Simple Modular Architecture Research Tool], or human disease associations ([OMIM (Online Mendelian Inheritence in Man], and also includes available RNA-interference resources to facilitate potential translational cross-species studies.
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Le Y, Gao H, Bleday R, Zhu Z. The homeobox protein VentX reverts immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment. Nat Commun 2018; 9:2175. [PMID: 29872044 PMCID: PMC5988690 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04567-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2017] [Accepted: 05/09/2018] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is a central obstacle to effective immunotherapy. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are key components of the TME. Although TAMs have been viewed as an ideal target of intervention to steer immunity in cancer treatment, the approach has been hampered by the lack of knowledge of how TAM plasticity is controlled by cell intrinsic factors. VentX is a homeobox protein implicated in proliferation and differentiation of human hematopoietic and immune cells. Using clinical samples obtained from cancer patients, we find that VentX expression is drastically reduced in TAMs. We show here that VentX promotes M1 differentiation of TAMs, and that VentX-regulated TAMs, in turn, revert immune suppression at the TME. Using a NSG mouse model of human colon cancers, we demonstrate that VentX regulates TAM function in tumorigenesis in vivo. Our findings suggest a mechanism underlying immune suppression at TME and potential applications of VentX-regulated TAMs in cancer immunotherapy. Tumour associated macrophages (TAMs) polarize into either pro-tumor or anti-tumor phenotypes. Here the authors show that the homeobox protein VentX is downregulated in clinical samples of colorectal cancer and regulates TAMs plasticity with its forced re-expression converting TAMs into an anti-tumor phenotype.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Le
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Hong Gao
- Department of Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Ronald Bleday
- Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Zhenglun Zhu
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
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Gao H, Wu B, Le Y, Zhu Z. Homeobox protein VentX induces p53-independent apoptosis in cancer cells. Oncotarget 2018; 7:39719-39729. [PMID: 27175592 PMCID: PMC5129965 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.9238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2015] [Accepted: 04/24/2016] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Identifying novel tumor suppressors holds promise for improving cancer treatment. Our recent studies identified VentX, a homeobox transcriptional factor, as a putative tumor suppressor. Here we demonstrate that VentX exerts strong inhibitory effects on the proliferation and survival of cancer cells, but not primary transformed cells, such as 293T cells. Mechanistically, both in vitro and in vivo data showed that VentX induces apoptosis of cancer cells in a p53-independent manner. We found that VentX expression can be induced by chemotherapeutic agents. Taken together, our findings suggest that VentX may function as a novel therapeutic target in cancer treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong Gao
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA.,Current address: Department of Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Bin Wu
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA.,Current address: Department of Gastroenterology, Third Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510630, China
| | - Yi Le
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Zhenglun Zhu
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA
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Wu B, Gao H, Le Y, Wu X, Zhu Z. Xom induces proteolysis of β-catenin through GSK3β-mediated pathway. FEBS Lett 2017; 592:299-309. [PMID: 29251764 DOI: 10.1002/1873-3468.12949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2017] [Revised: 12/06/2017] [Accepted: 12/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
The dorsal cell fate determination factor β-catenin and its antagonist, the ventral cell fate determination factor Xom, are expressed and distributed in a polarized fashion during early vertebrate embryogenesis. Ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis has been shown to control the abundance of both β-catenin and Xom. However, the mechanism of ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis in regulating dorsoventral patterning remains largely unclear. Our current study shows that Xom induces proteolysis of β-catenin through GSK3-mediated phosphorylation of Ser33/37 of β-catenin. Our findings reveal a novel pathway that regulates β-catenin stability, and suggest, for the first time, a critical function of ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis in balancing the integration of dorsal-ventral signals and the polarized distribution of β-catenin and Xom during dorsoventral axis formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Wu
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Hong Gao
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Yi Le
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Xiaoming Wu
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Zhenglun Zhu
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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Kushwaha R, Jagadish N, Kustagi M, Tomishima MJ, Mendiratta G, Bansal M, Kim HR, Sumazin P, Alvarez MJ, Lefebvre C, Villagrasa-Gonzalez P, Viale A, Korkola JE, Houldsworth J, Feldman DR, Bosl GJ, Califano A, Chaganti RSK. Interrogation of a context-specific transcription factor network identifies novel regulators of pluripotency. Stem Cells 2015; 33:367-77. [PMID: 25336442 DOI: 10.1002/stem.1870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2014] [Revised: 09/03/2014] [Accepted: 09/12/2014] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The predominant view of pluripotency regulation proposes a stable ground state with coordinated expression of key transcription factors (TFs) that prohibit differentiation. Another perspective suggests a more complexly regulated state involving competition between multiple lineage-specifying TFs that define pluripotency. These contrasting views were developed from extensive analyses of TFs in pluripotent cells in vitro. An experimentally validated, genome-wide repertoire of the regulatory interactions that control pluripotency within the in vivo cellular contexts is yet to be developed. To address this limitation, we assembled a TF interactome of adult human male germ cell tumors (GCTs) using the Algorithm for the Accurate Reconstruction of Cellular Pathways (ARACNe) to analyze gene expression profiles of 141 tumors comprising pluripotent and differentiated subsets. The network (GCT(Net)) comprised 1,305 TFs, and its ingenuity pathway analysis identified pluripotency and embryonal development as the top functional pathways. We experimentally validated GCT(Net) by functional (silencing) and biochemical (ChIP-seq) analysis of the core pluripotency regulatory TFs POU5F1, NANOG, and SOX2 in relation to their targets predicted by ARACNe. To define the extent of the in vivo pluripotency network in this system, we ranked all TFs in the GCT(Net) according to sharing of ARACNe-predicted targets with those of POU5F1 and NANOG using an odds-ratio analysis method. To validate this network, we silenced the top 10 TFs in the network in H9 embryonic stem cells. Silencing of each led to downregulation of pluripotency and induction of lineage; 7 of the 10 TFs were identified as pluripotency regulators for the first time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ritu Kushwaha
- Cell Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA
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Wu X, Gao H, Bleday R, Zhu Z. Homeobox transcription factor VentX regulates differentiation and maturation of human dendritic cells. J Biol Chem 2014; 289:14633-43. [PMID: 24706756 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m113.509158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Dendritic cells (DCs) are specialized antigen presentation cells that play critical roles in the initiation and regulation of immune responses. The molecular determinants of DC differentiation and maturation are target of extensive investigation. VentX is a human homeobox transcriptional factor that regulates proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells. In the current study, we report that ablation of VentX expression in monocytes significantly impaired their differentiation into DCs. Conversely, overexpression of VentX in monocytic THP1 cells accelerated their differentiation toward DCs. We showed that VentX regulates DC differentiation, in part, through modulating IL6 expression. Clinically, we found that VentX expression was elevated in intestinal lamina propria DCs (LPDCs) of inflamed mucosa from inflammatory bowel disease patients. Knockdown experiments suggested that VentX is essential for the maturation of LPDCs. In addition, corticosteroid treatment markedly decreased VentX expression in LPDCs and enforced expression of VentX counteracted the effects of corticosteroid on DCs maturation. Our data suggest that VentX is a critical transcriptional regulator of DC differentiation and maturation, and a potential target of immune regulation and therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoming Wu
- From the Departments of Medicine, Gastroenterology Division and
| | - Hong Gao
- the Department of Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02111
| | - Ronald Bleday
- Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 and
| | - Zhenglun Zhu
- From the Departments of Medicine, Gastroenterology Division and
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