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Lu C, Fan X, Zheng M, Zhang S, Wang P, Wang Y, Zhang S. GDF6 in gastric cancer upregulated by helicobacter pylori induces epithelial-mesenchymal translation via the TGF-β/SMAD3 signaling pathway. Pathol Res Pract 2024; 260:155384. [PMID: 38850874 DOI: 10.1016/j.prp.2024.155384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Revised: 04/30/2024] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/10/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between Helicobacter pylori infection and GDF6 expression in gastric cancer patients, and to determine its influence on prognosis and resistance to capecitabine. METHODS Tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues were collected from 148 gastric cancer patients who underwent surgery in our department from October 2019 to June 2022. Of these patients, 78 tested positive for Helicobacter pylori and 70 tested negative. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and immunofluorescence staining were utilized to quantify GDF6 expression in cancerous and adjacent tissues. Patient prognosis was monitored via follow-up. Western blotting analyzed GDF6 expression in common gastric cancer cell lines. HGC27 cells exhibiting high GDF6 expression and BGC823 cells with low expression were used to create GDF6-silenced and overexpressed cell lines. The impact of GDF6 on the proliferation, migration, invasion, and cloning abilities of gastric cancer cells was evaluated using the CCK-8 assay, scratch test, Transwell assay, and plate colony formation assay. Fluorescent quantitative PCR and Western blotting assessed the effects of GDF6 levels on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and tumor cell stemness. RESULTS GDF6 expression in gastric cancer tissues was significantly correlated with cancer grading and staging (P<0.05). Helicobacter pylori-positive tissues exhibited significantly higher GDF6 expression levels than negative samples (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that high GDF6 expression was associated with poor survival prognosis. Overexpressed GDF6 enhanced the proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities of gastric cancer cells, while silencing GDF6 yielded opposite results. Increased GDF6 expression upregulated TGF-β expression and the phosphorylation levels of SMAD3, leading to an elevation in mesenchymal cell markers N-cadherin, vimentin, and a reduction in epithelial cell markers cytokeratins, E-cadherin. Moreover, high GDF6 levels contributed to increased resistance to capecitabine and enhanced the expression of tumor stem cell markers Nanog, Sox-2, Oct-4, CD44, amplifying tumor cell stemness. CONCLUSION Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with increased GDF6 expression in gastric cancer tissue, correlating with poor survival prognosis. Elevated GDF6 expression promotes the proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities of gastric cancer cells, facilitates EMT via the TGF-β/SMAD3 pathway, and intensifies cell stemness and capecitabine resistance. Consequently, GDF6 presents itself as a potential new target for gastric cancer treatment. DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cuijuan Lu
- Graduate School, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, China; Department of pathology, Affiliated hospital of Hebei university, Baoding, Hebei province 071000, China
| | - Xiangyu Fan
- Graduate School, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, China; Department of pathology, Affiliated hospital of Hebei university, Baoding, Hebei province 071000, China
| | - Minying Zheng
- Department of pathology, Tianjin Union Medical Center, Tianjin 300121, China
| | - Shun Zhang
- Department of pathology, Affiliated hospital of Hebei university, Baoding, Hebei province 071000, China
| | - Pan Wang
- Department of pathology, Affiliated hospital of Hebei university, Baoding, Hebei province 071000, China
| | - Yanan Wang
- Department of pathology, Affiliated hospital of Hebei university, Baoding, Hebei province 071000, China.
| | - Shiwu Zhang
- Department of pathology, Tianjin Union Medical Center, Tianjin 300121, China.
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Qin C, Feng Y, Yin Z, Wang C, Yin R, Li Y, Chen K, Tao T, Zhang K, Jiang Y, Gui J. The PIEZO1/miR-155-5p/GDF6/SMAD2/3 signaling axis is involved in inducing the occurrence and progression of osteoarthritis under excessive mechanical stress. Cell Signal 2024; 118:111142. [PMID: 38508350 DOI: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2024.111142] [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: 12/16/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To elucidate the molecular mechanism of overloading-induced osteoarthritis (OA) and to find a novel therapeutic target. METHODS We utilized human cartilage specimens, mouse chondrocytes, a destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) mouse model, and a mouse hindlimb weight-bearing model to validate the role of overloading on chondrocyte senescence and OA development. Then, we observed the effect of PIEZO1-miR-155-5p-GDF6-SMAD2/3 signaling axis on the preservation of joint metabolic homeostasis under overloading in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo by qPCR, Western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, SA-β-gal staining, CCK8 assay, et al. Finally, we verified the therapeutic effects of intra-articular injection of miR-155-5p inhibitor or recombinant GDF6 on the murine overloading-induced OA models. RESULTS Chondrocytes sensesed the mechanical overloading through PIEZO1 and up-regulated miR-155-5p expression. MiR-155-5p mimics could copy the effects of overloading-induced chondrocyte senescence and OA. Additionally, miR-155-5p could suppress the mRNA expression of Gdf6-Smad2/3 in various tissues within the joint. Overloading could disrupt joint metabolic homeostasis by downregulating the expression of anabolism indicators and upregulating the expression of catabolism indicators in the chondrocytes and synoviocytes, while miR-155-5p inhibition or GDF6 supplementation could exert an antagonistic effect by preserving the joint homeostasis. Finally, in the in vivo overloading models, intra-articular injection of miR-155-5p inhibitor or recombinant GDF6 could significantly mitigate the severity of impending OA and lessened the progression of existing OA. CONCLUSION GDF6 overexpression or miR-155-5p inhibition could attenuate overloading-induced chondrocyte senescence and OA through the PIEZO1-miR-155-5p-GDF6-SMAD2/3 signaling pathway. Our study provides a new therapeutic target for the treatment of overloading-induced OA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chaoren Qin
- Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, China
| | - Yan Feng
- Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, China
| | - Zhaowei Yin
- Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, China
| | | | - Rui Yin
- Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, China
| | - Yang Li
- Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, China
| | - Kai Chen
- Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, China
| | - Tianqi Tao
- Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, China
| | - Kaibin Zhang
- Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, China
| | - Yiqiu Jiang
- Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, China
| | - Jianchao Gui
- Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, China..
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Shirley CA, Chhabra G, Amiri D, Chang H, Ahmad N. Immune escape and metastasis mechanisms in melanoma: breaking down the dichotomy. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1336023. [PMID: 38426087 PMCID: PMC10902921 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1336023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Melanoma is one of the most lethal neoplasms of the skin. Despite the revolutionary introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors, metastatic spread, and recurrence remain critical problems in resistant cases. Melanoma employs a multitude of mechanisms to subvert the immune system and successfully metastasize to distant organs. Concerningly, recent research also shows that tumor cells can disseminate early during melanoma progression and enter dormant states, eventually leading to metastases at a future time. Immune escape and metastasis have previously been viewed as separate phenomena; however, accumulating evidence is breaking down this dichotomy. Recent research into the progressive mechanisms of melanoma provides evidence that dedifferentiation similar to classical epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), genes involved in neural crest stem cell maintenance, and hypoxia/acidosis, are important factors simultaneously involved in immune escape and metastasis. The likeness between EMT and early dissemination, and differences, also become apparent in these contexts. Detailed knowledge of the mechanisms behind "dual drivers" simultaneously promoting metastatically inclined and immunosuppressive environments can yield novel strategies effective in disabling multiple facets of melanoma progression. Furthermore, understanding progression through these drivers may provide insight towards novel treatments capable of preventing recurrence arising from dormant dissemination or improving immunotherapy outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carl A Shirley
- Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Gagan Chhabra
- Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Deeba Amiri
- Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Hao Chang
- Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States
- William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Nihal Ahmad
- Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States
- William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Madison, WI, United States
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4
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Xu Z, Wu Y, Zhao G, Jin B, Jiang P. A novel DNA methylation signature revealed GDF6 and RCC1 as potential prognostic biomarkers correlated with cell proliferation in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Mol Biol Rep 2023; 51:16. [PMID: 38087057 DOI: 10.1007/s11033-023-09003-1] [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: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) accounts for the majority (80%-90%) of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients at the time of diagnosis, and approximately 15% of ccRCC patients will develop distant metastasis or recurrence during their lifetime. Increasing number of studies have revealed that the aberrant DNA methylations is closely correlated with the tumorigenesis in ccRCC. RESULTS In this study, we utilized a LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) model to identify a combination of 13 probes-based DNA methylation signature that associated with the progression-free survival (PFS) of ccRCC patients. First, differentially methylated regions (CpGs) related to PFS and phenotypes were identified. Next, prognostic DNA methylation probes were selected from the differentially methylated probes (DMPs) and calculated risk scores to stratify patients with ccRCC. The performance of this signature was validated in an independent testing set using various analyses, including Kaplan-Meier analysis for PFS and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Based on our 13-DNA methylation probes signature, ccRCC patients were successfully stratified into high- and low-risk groups. Combining DNA methylation signature with clinical variables such as T stage, M stage and tumor grade could further improve the accuracy of prediction. Moreover, we highlight two molecular biomarkers (RCC1 and GDF6) corresponding to our probes. Invitro experiments showed that knockdown of RCC1 or GDF6 in ccRCC cell lines reduced cell proliferation, which indicated that both biomarkers are associated with tumorigenesis. CONCLUSIONS The 13-probes-based DNA methylation signature has the potential to serve as an independent tool for survival outcome improvement and treatment strategy selection for ccRCC patients. In addition, our findings suggest that RCC1 and GDF6 may serve as promising markers for ccRCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhijie Xu
- Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, Zhejiang, China
- Zhejiang Engineering Research Center for Bladder Tumor Innovation Diagnosis and Treatment, Hangzhou, 31003, Zhejiang, China
| | - Yunfei Wu
- Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, Zhejiang, China
- Zhejiang Engineering Research Center for Bladder Tumor Innovation Diagnosis and Treatment, Hangzhou, 31003, Zhejiang, China
| | - Guanan Zhao
- Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, Zhejiang, China
- Department of Urology, Lishui People's Hospital, Lishui, 323050, Zhejiang, China
| | - Baiye Jin
- Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, Zhejiang, China
- Zhejiang Engineering Research Center for Bladder Tumor Innovation Diagnosis and Treatment, Hangzhou, 31003, Zhejiang, China
| | - Peng Jiang
- Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, Zhejiang, China.
- Zhejiang Engineering Research Center for Bladder Tumor Innovation Diagnosis and Treatment, Hangzhou, 31003, Zhejiang, China.
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5
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Zhou W, Yan K, Xi Q. BMP signaling in cancer stemness and differentiation. CELL REGENERATION (LONDON, ENGLAND) 2023; 12:37. [PMID: 38049682 PMCID: PMC10695912 DOI: 10.1186/s13619-023-00181-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/06/2023]
Abstract
The BMP (Bone morphogenetic protein) signaling pathway plays a central role in metazoan biology, intricately shaping embryonic development, maintaining tissue homeostasis, and influencing disease progression. In the context of cancer, BMP signaling exhibits context-dependent dynamics, spanning from tumor suppression to promotion. Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a modest subset of neoplastic cells with stem-like attributes, exert substantial influence by steering tumor growth, orchestrating therapy resistance, and contributing to relapse. A comprehensive grasp of the intricate interplay between CSCs and their microenvironment is pivotal for effective therapeutic strategies. Among the web of signaling pathways orchestrating cellular dynamics within CSCs, BMP signaling emerges as a vital conductor, overseeing CSC self-renewal, differentiation dynamics, and the intricate symphony within the tumor microenvironment. Moreover, BMP signaling's influence in cancer extends beyond CSCs, intricately regulating cellular migration, invasion, and metastasis. This multifaceted role underscores the imperative of comprehending BMP signaling's contributions to cancer, serving as the foundation for crafting precise therapies to navigate multifaceted challenges posed not only by CSCs but also by various dimensions of cancer progression. This article succinctly encapsulates the diverse roles of the BMP signaling pathway across different cancers, spanning glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), colorectal cancer, acute myeloid leukemia (AML), lung cancer, prostate cancer, and osteosarcoma. It underscores the necessity of unraveling underlying mechanisms and molecular interactions. By delving into the intricate tapestry of BMP signaling's engagement in cancers, researchers pave the way for meticulously tailored therapies, adroitly leveraging its dualistic aspects-whether as a suppressor or promoter-to effectively counter the relentless march of tumor progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, MOE Key Laboratory of Protein Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Kun Yan
- Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Qiaoran Xi
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, MOE Key Laboratory of Protein Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
- Joint Graduate Program of Peking-Tsinghua-NIBS, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
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6
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Godoy PM, Oyedeji A, Mudd JL, Morikis VA, Zarov AP, Longmore GD, Fields RC, Kaufman CK. Functional analysis of recurrent CDC20 promoter variants in human melanoma. Commun Biol 2023; 6:1216. [PMID: 38030698 PMCID: PMC10686982 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05526-2] [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: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Small nucleotide variants in non-coding regions of the genome can alter transcriptional regulation, leading to changes in gene expression which can activate oncogenic gene regulatory networks. Melanoma is heavily burdened by non-coding variants, representing over 99% of total genetic variation, including the well-characterized TERT promoter mutation. However, the compendium of regulatory non-coding variants is likely still functionally under-characterized. We developed a pipeline to identify hotspots, i.e. recurrently mutated regions, in melanoma containing putatively functional non-coding somatic variants that are located within predicted melanoma-specific regulatory regions. We identified hundreds of statistically significant hotspots, including the hotspot containing the TERT promoter variants, and focused on a hotspot in the promoter of CDC20. We found that variants in the promoter of CDC20, which putatively disrupt an ETS motif, lead to lower transcriptional activity in reporter assays. Using CRISPR/Cas9, we generated an indel in the CDC20 promoter in human A375 melanoma cell lines and observed decreased expression of CDC20, changes in migration capabilities, increased growth of xenografts, and an altered transcriptional state previously associated with a more proliferative and less migratory state. Overall, our analysis prioritized several recurrent functional non-coding variants that, through downregulation of CDC20, led to perturbation of key melanoma phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula M Godoy
- Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine and Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Abimbola Oyedeji
- Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Jacqueline L Mudd
- Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Vasilios A Morikis
- Departments of Medicine (Oncology) and Cell Biology and Physiology and the ICCE Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Anna P Zarov
- Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine and Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Gregory D Longmore
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Departments of Medicine (Oncology) and Cell Biology and Physiology and the ICCE Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Ryan C Fields
- Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Charles K Kaufman
- Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine and Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
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7
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Tagore M, Hergenreder E, Perlee SC, Cruz NM, Menocal L, Suresh S, Chan E, Baron M, Melendez S, Dave A, Chatila WK, Nsengimana J, Koche RP, Hollmann TJ, Ideker T, Studer L, Schietinger A, White RM. GABA Regulates Electrical Activity and Tumor Initiation in Melanoma. Cancer Discov 2023; 13:2270-2291. [PMID: 37553760 PMCID: PMC10551668 DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.cd-23-0389] [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: 04/05/2023] [Revised: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023]
Abstract
Oncogenes can initiate tumors only in certain cellular contexts, which is referred to as oncogenic competence. In melanoma, whether cells in the microenvironment can endow such competence remains unclear. Using a combination of zebrafish transgenesis coupled with human tissues, we demonstrate that GABAergic signaling between keratinocytes and melanocytes promotes melanoma initiation by BRAFV600E. GABA is synthesized in melanoma cells, which then acts on GABA-A receptors in keratinocytes. Electron microscopy demonstrates specialized cell-cell junctions between keratinocytes and melanoma cells, and multielectrode array analysis shows that GABA acts to inhibit electrical activity in melanoma/keratinocyte cocultures. Genetic and pharmacologic perturbation of GABA synthesis abrogates melanoma initiation in vivo. These data suggest that GABAergic signaling across the skin microenvironment regulates the ability of oncogenes to initiate melanoma. SIGNIFICANCE This study shows evidence of GABA-mediated regulation of electrical activity between melanoma cells and keratinocytes, providing a new mechanism by which the microenvironment promotes tumor initiation. This provides insights into the role of the skin microenvironment in early melanomas while identifying GABA as a potential therapeutic target in melanoma. See related commentary by Ceol, p. 2128. This article is featured in Selected Articles from This Issue, p. 2109.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohita Tagore
- Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Emiliano Hergenreder
- The Center for Stem Cell Biology, Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York, New York
- Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York, New York
- Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University, New York, New York
| | - Sarah C. Perlee
- Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
- Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Nelly M. Cruz
- Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Laura Menocal
- Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University, New York, New York
| | - Shruthy Suresh
- Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Eric Chan
- Molecular Cytology Core Facility, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Maayan Baron
- Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California
| | - Stephanie Melendez
- Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Asim Dave
- Immunology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Walid K. Chatila
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Jeremie Nsengimana
- Biostatistics Research Group, Population Health Sciences Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Richard P. Koche
- Center for Epigenetics Research, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Travis J. Hollmann
- Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Trey Ideker
- Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California
| | - Lorenz Studer
- The Center for Stem Cell Biology, Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York, New York
- Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York, New York
| | - Andrea Schietinger
- Immunology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Richard M. White
- Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
- Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Kersten V, Seitz T, Sommer J, Thasler WE, Bosserhoff A, Hellerbrand C. Bone Morphogenetic Protein 13 Has Protumorigenic Effects on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells In Vitro. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:11059. [PMID: 37446238 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241311059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2023] [Revised: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 07/01/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play a key role in hepatic fibrosis and, thus, build the "soil" for hepatocarcinogenesis. Furthermore, HSCs are known to promote the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the molecular mechanisms are only incompletely understood. Recently, we newly described the expression of bone morphogenetic protein 13 (BMP13) by HSCs in fibrotic liver tissue. In addition, BMP13 has mostly been studied in the context of cartilage and bone repair, but not in liver disease or cancer. Thus, we aimed to analyze the expression and function of BMP13 in HCC. Expression analyses revealed high BMP13-expression in activated human HSCs, but not in human HCC-cell-lines. Furthermore, analysis of human HCC tissues showed a significant correlation between BMP13 and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and immunofluorescence staining confirmed the co-localization of BMP13 and α-SMA, indicating activated HSCs as the cellular source of BMP13 in HCC. Stimulation of HCC cells with recombinant BMP13 increased the expression of the inhibitors of differentiation 1 (ID1) and 2 (ID2), which are known targets of BMP-signaling and cell-cycle promotors. In line with this, BMP13-stimulation caused an induced SMAD 1/5/9 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation, as well as reduced expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors 1A (CDKN1A) and 2A (CDKN2A). Furthermore, stimulation with recombinant BMP13 led to increased proliferation and colony size formation of HCC cells in clonogenicity assays. The protumorigenic effects of BMP13 on HCC cells were almost completely abrogated by the small molecule dorsomorphin 1 (DMH1), which selectively blocks the intracellular kinase domain of ALK2 and ALK3, indicating that BMP13 acts via these BMP type I receptors on HCC cells. In summary, this study newly identifies stroma-derived BMP13 as a potential new tumor promotor in HCC and indicates this secreted growth-factor as a possible novel therapeutic target in HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa Kersten
- Institute of Biochemistry, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Tatjana Seitz
- Institute of Biochemistry, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Judith Sommer
- Institute of Biochemistry, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Wolfgang E Thasler
- Human Tissue and Cell Research-Services GmbH, Am Klopferspitz 19, D-82152 Planegg, Germany
| | - Anja Bosserhoff
- Institute of Biochemistry, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
- Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) Erlangen-EMN, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Claus Hellerbrand
- Institute of Biochemistry, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
- Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) Erlangen-EMN, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
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9
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Khlebus E, Vuttaradhi VK, Welte T, Khurana N, Celestino J, Beird HC, Gumbs C, Little L, Legarreta AF, Fellman BM, Nguyen T, Lawson B, Ferri-Borgogno S, Mok SC, Broaddus RR, Gershenson DM, Futreal PA, Hillman RT. Comparative Tumor Microenvironment Analysis of Primary and Recurrent Ovarian Granulosa Cell Tumors. Mol Cancer Res 2023; 21:483-494. [PMID: 37068116 PMCID: PMC10150241 DOI: 10.1158/1541-7786.mcr-22-0623] [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: 08/09/2022] [Revised: 12/08/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 04/18/2023]
Abstract
Adult-type granulosa cell tumors (aGCT) are rare ovarian sex cord tumors with few effective treatments for recurrent disease. The objective of this study was to characterize the tumor microenvironment (TME) of primary and recurrent aGCTs and to identify correlates of disease recurrence. Total RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed on 24 pathologically confirmed, cryopreserved aGCT samples, including 8 primary and 16 recurrent tumors. After read alignment and quality-control filtering, DESeq2 was used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEG) between primary and recurrent tumors. Functional enrichment pathway analysis and gene set enrichment analysis was performed using "clusterProfiler" and "GSVA" R packages. TME composition was investigated through the analysis and integration of multiple published RNA-seq deconvolution algorithms. TME analysis results were externally validated using data from independent previously published RNA-seq datasets. A total of 31 DEGs were identified between primary and recurrent aGCTs. These included genes with known function in hormone signaling such as LHCGR and INSL3 (more abundant in primary tumors) and CYP19A1 (more abundant in recurrent tumors). Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that primarily immune-related and hormone-regulated gene sets expression was increased in recurrent tumors. Integrative TME analysis demonstrated statistically significant depletion of cancer-associated fibroblasts in recurrent tumors. This finding was confirmed in multiple independent datasets. IMPLICATIONS Recurrent aGCTs exhibit alterations in hormone pathway gene expression as well as decreased infiltration of cancer-associated fibroblasts, suggesting dual roles for hormonal signaling and TME remodeling underpinning disease relapse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleonora Khlebus
- Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Veena K. Vuttaradhi
- Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Thomas Welte
- Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Namrata Khurana
- Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Joseph Celestino
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Hannah C. Beird
- Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Curtis Gumbs
- Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Latasha Little
- Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Alejandra Flores Legarreta
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Bryan M. Fellman
- Department of Biostatistics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Tri Nguyen
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Barrett Lawson
- Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Sammy Ferri-Borgogno
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Samuel C. Mok
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - Russell R. Broaddus
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
| | - David M. Gershenson
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - P. Andrew Futreal
- Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
| | - R. Tyler Hillman
- Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
- CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research, Houston, Texas
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10
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Moscona R, Janssen SM, Elchebly M, Papadakis AI, Rubin E, Spatz A. BORIS/CTCFL-mediated chromatin accessibility alterations promote a pro-invasive transcriptional signature in melanoma cells. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res 2023; 36:299-313. [PMID: 37082838 DOI: 10.1111/pcmr.13089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2022] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 04/22/2023]
Abstract
Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, due to its tendency to metastasize early. Brother of regulator of imprinted sites (BORIS), also known as CCCTC binding factor-like (CTCFL), is a transcription regulator that becomes ectopically expressed in melanoma. We recently showed that BORIS contributes to melanoma phenotype switching by altering the gene expression program of melanoma cells from an intermediate melanocytic state toward a more mesenchymal-like state. However, the mechanism underlying this transcriptional switch remains unclear. Here, ATAC-seq was used to study BORIS-mediated chromatin accessibility alterations in melanoma cells harboring an intermediate melanocytic state. The gene set that gained promoter accessibility, following ectopic BORIS expression, showed enrichment for biological processes associated with melanoma invasion, while promoters of genes associated with proliferation showed reduced accessibility. Integration of ATAC-seq and RNA-seq data demonstrated that increased chromatin accessibility was associated with transcriptional upregulation of genes involved in tumor progression processes, and the aberrant activation of oncogenic transcription factors, while reduced chromatin accessibility and downregulated genes were associated with repressed activity of tumor suppressors and proliferation factors. Together, these findings indicate that BORIS mediates transcriptional reprogramming in melanoma cells by altering chromatin accessibility and gene expression, shifting the cellular transcription landscape of melanoma cells toward a mesenchymal-like genetic signature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roy Moscona
- The Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Sanne Marlijn Janssen
- Lady Davis Institute, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Pathology, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | | | | | - Eitan Rubin
- The Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Alan Spatz
- Lady Davis Institute, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Pathology, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Division of Pathology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, McGill University Health Center, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Oncology, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
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11
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Mesenchymal/stromal stem cells: necessary factors in tumour progression. Cell Death Discov 2022; 8:333. [PMID: 35869057 PMCID: PMC9307857 DOI: 10.1038/s41420-022-01107-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2022] [Revised: 06/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Mesenchymal/stromal stem cells (MSCs) are a crucial component of the tumour microenvironment (TME). They can be recruited from normal tissues into the TME and educated by tumour cells to transform into tumour-associated MSCs, which are oncogenic cells that promote tumour development and progression by impacting or transforming into various kinds of cells, such as immune cells and endothelial cells. Targeting MSCs in the TME is a novel strategy to prevent malignant processes. Exosomes, as communicators, carry various RNAs and proteins and thus link MSCs and the TME, which provides options for improving outcomes and developing targeted treatment.
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12
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Houles T, Lavoie G, Nourreddine S, Cheung W, Vaillancourt-Jean É, Guérin CM, Bouttier M, Grondin B, Lin S, Saba-El-Leil MK, Angers S, Meloche S, Roux PP. CDK12 is hyperactivated and a synthetic-lethal target in BRAF-mutated melanoma. Nat Commun 2022; 13:6457. [PMID: 36309522 PMCID: PMC9617877 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34179-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and considered intrinsically resistant to chemotherapy. Nearly all melanomas harbor mutations that activate the RAS/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, which contributes to drug resistance via poorly described mechanisms. Herein we show that the RAS/MAPK pathway regulates the activity of cyclin-dependent kinase 12 (CDK12), which is a transcriptional CDK required for genomic stability. We find that melanoma cells harbor constitutively high CDK12 activity, and that its inhibition decreases the expression of long genes containing multiple exons, including many genes involved in DNA repair. Conversely, our results show that CDK12 inhibition promotes the expression of short genes with few exons, including many growth-promoting genes regulated by the AP-1 and NF-κB transcription factors. Inhibition of these pathways strongly synergize with CDK12 inhibitors to suppress melanoma growth, suggesting promising drug combinations for more effective melanoma treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thibault Houles
- grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, 2950, Chemin de la Polytechnique, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 Canada
| | - Geneviève Lavoie
- grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, 2950, Chemin de la Polytechnique, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 Canada
| | - Sami Nourreddine
- grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, 2950, Chemin de la Polytechnique, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 Canada ,grid.266100.30000 0001 2107 4242Present Address: Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA USA
| | - Winnie Cheung
- grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, 2950, Chemin de la Polytechnique, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 Canada
| | - Éric Vaillancourt-Jean
- grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, 2950, Chemin de la Polytechnique, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 Canada
| | - Célia M. Guérin
- grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, 2950, Chemin de la Polytechnique, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 Canada
| | - Mathieu Bouttier
- grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, 2950, Chemin de la Polytechnique, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 Canada
| | - Benoit Grondin
- grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, 2950, Chemin de la Polytechnique, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 Canada ,grid.38678.320000 0001 2181 0211Present Address: Department of Biological Sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC Canada
| | - Sichun Lin
- grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Marc K. Saba-El-Leil
- grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, 2950, Chemin de la Polytechnique, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 Canada
| | - Stephane Angers
- grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada ,grid.17063.330000 0001 2157 2938Department of Biochemistry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Sylvain Meloche
- grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, 2950, Chemin de la Polytechnique, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 Canada ,grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC Canada
| | - Philippe P. Roux
- grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montreal, 2950, Chemin de la Polytechnique, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 Canada ,grid.14848.310000 0001 2292 3357Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC Canada
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13
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Jiang F, Lin H, Yan H, Sun X, Yang J, Dong M. Construction of mRNA prognosis signature associated with differentially expressed genes in early stage of stomach adenocarcinomas based on TCGA and GEO datasets. Eur J Med Res 2022; 27:205. [PMID: 36253873 PMCID: PMC9578190 DOI: 10.1186/s40001-022-00827-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Stomach adenocarcinomas (STAD) are the most common malignancy of the human digestive system and represent the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. As early-stage STAD are generally mild or asymptomatic, patients with advanced STAD have short overall survival. Early diagnosis of STAD has a considerable influence on clinical outcomes. Methods The mRNA expression data and clinical indicators of STAD and normal tissues were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The gene expression differences were analyzed by R packages, and gene function enrichment analysis was performed. Kaplan–Meier method and univariate Cox proportional risk regression analysis were used to screen differential expressed genes (DEGs) related to survival of STAD patients. Multivariate Cox proportional risk regression analysis was used to further screen and determine the prognostic DEGs in STAD patients, and to construct a multigene prognostic prediction signature. The accuracy of predictive signature was tested by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve software package, and the nomogram of patients with STAD was drawn. Cox regression was used to investigate the correlation between multigene prognostic signature and clinical factors. The predictive performance of this model was compared with two other models proposed in previous studies using KM survival analysis, ROC curve analysis, Harrell consistency index and decision curve analysis (DCA). qRT-PCR and Western blot were used to verify the expression levels of prognostic genes. The pathways and functions of possible involvement of features were predicted using the GSEA method. Results A total of 569 early-stage specific DEGs were retrieved from TCGA-STAD dataset, including 229 up-regulated genes and 340 down-regulated genes. Enrichment analysis showed that the early-stage specific DEGs were associated with cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction, neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction, and calcium signaling pathway. Multiple Cox regression algorithm was used to identify 10 early-stage specific DEGs associated with overall survival (P < 0.01) of STAD patients, and a multi-mRNA prognosis signature was established. The patients were divided into high-risk group and low-risk group according to the risk score. In the training set, the prognostic signature was positively correlated with tumor size and stage (P < 0.05), survival curve (P < 0.001) and time-dependent ROC (AUC = 0.625). In the training dataset and test dataset, the both signatures had good predictive efficiencies. Cox regression and DCA analysis revealed that the prognostic signature was an independent factor and had a better predict effect than the conventional TNM stage classification method and the earlier published biomarkers on the prognosis of STAD patients. Conclusion In this study, based on the early-stage specifically expressed genes, the prognostic signature constructed through TCGA and GEO datasets may become an indicator for clinical prognosis assessment of STAD and a new strategy for targeted therapy in the future. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40001-022-00827-4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fuquan Jiang
- Department of General Surgery, PLA Strategic Support Force Characteristic Medical Center, Beijing, 100101, People's Republic of China
| | - Haiguan Lin
- Department of General Surgery, PLA Strategic Support Force Characteristic Medical Center, Beijing, 100101, People's Republic of China
| | - Hongfeng Yan
- Department of General Surgery, PLA Strategic Support Force Characteristic Medical Center, Beijing, 100101, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaomin Sun
- Department of General Surgery, PLA Strategic Support Force Characteristic Medical Center, Beijing, 100101, People's Republic of China
| | - Jianwu Yang
- Department of General Surgery, PLA Strategic Support Force Characteristic Medical Center, Beijing, 100101, People's Republic of China.
| | - Manku Dong
- Department of General Surgery, PLA Strategic Support Force Characteristic Medical Center, Beijing, 100101, People's Republic of China.
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14
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Darp R, Vittoria MA, Ganem NJ, Ceol CJ. Oncogenic BRAF induces whole-genome doubling through suppression of cytokinesis. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4109. [PMID: 35840569 PMCID: PMC9287415 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31899-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Melanomas and other solid tumors commonly have increased ploidy, with near-tetraploid karyotypes being most frequently observed. Such karyotypes have been shown to arise through whole-genome doubling events that occur during early stages of tumor progression. The generation of tetraploid cells via whole-genome doubling is proposed to allow nascent tumor cells the ability to sample various pro-tumorigenic genomic configurations while avoiding the negative consequences that chromosomal gains or losses have in diploid cells. Whereas a high prevalence of whole-genome doubling events has been established, the means by which whole-genome doubling arises is unclear. Here, we find that BRAFV600E, the most common mutation in melanomas, can induce whole-genome doubling via cytokinesis failure in vitro and in a zebrafish melanoma model. Mechanistically, BRAFV600E causes decreased activation and localization of RhoA, a critical cytokinesis regulator. BRAFV600E activity during G1/S phases of the cell cycle is required to suppress cytokinesis. During G1/S, BRAFV600E activity causes inappropriate centriole amplification, which is linked in part to inhibition of RhoA and suppression of cytokinesis. Together these data suggest that common abnormalities of melanomas linked to tumorigenesis - amplified centrosomes and whole-genome doubling events - can be induced by oncogenic BRAF and other mutations that increase RAS/MAPK pathway activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Revati Darp
- University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Program in Molecular Medicine, Worcester, MA, USA
- University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Cancer Biology, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Marc A Vittoria
- Departments of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Neil J Ganem
- Departments of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Craig J Ceol
- University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Program in Molecular Medicine, Worcester, MA, USA.
- University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Cancer Biology, Worcester, MA, USA.
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15
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Wu H, Fu R, Zhang YH, Liu Z, Chen ZH, Xu J, Tian Y, Jin W, Wong SZH, Wu QF. Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Unravels Upregulation of Immune Cell Crosstalk in Relapsed Pediatric Ependymoma. Front Immunol 2022; 13:903246. [PMID: 35844565 PMCID: PMC9281506 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.903246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2022] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Ependymoma (EPN) is a malignant glial tumor occurring throughout central nervous system, which commonly presents in children. Although recent studies have characterized EPN samples at both the bulk and single-cell level, intratumoral heterogeneity across subclones remains a confounding factor that impedes understanding of EPN biology. In this study, we generated a high-resolution single-cell dataset of pediatric ependymoma with a particular focus on the comparison of subclone differences within tumors and showed upregulation of cilium-associated genes in more highly differentiated subclone populations. As a proxy to traditional pseudotime analysis, we applied a novel trajectory scoring method to reveal cellular compositions associated with poor survival outcomes across primary and relapsed patients. Furthermore, we identified putative cell–cell communication features between relapsed and primary samples and showed upregulation of pathways associated with immune cell crosstalk. Our results revealed both inter- and intratumoral heterogeneity in EPN and provided a framework for studying transcriptomic signatures of individual subclones at single-cell resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haoda Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Development Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- *Correspondence: Haoda Wu, ; Samuel Zheng Hao Wong, ; Wenfei Jin, ; Yongji Tian,
| | - Ruiqing Fu
- Department of Biology, School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yu-Hong Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Development Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Zhiming Liu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Zhen-Hua Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Development Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jingkai Xu
- Department of Dermatology, China–Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Yongji Tian
- Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- *Correspondence: Haoda Wu, ; Samuel Zheng Hao Wong, ; Wenfei Jin, ; Yongji Tian,
| | - Wenfei Jin
- Department of Biology, School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
- *Correspondence: Haoda Wu, ; Samuel Zheng Hao Wong, ; Wenfei Jin, ; Yongji Tian,
| | - Samuel Zheng Hao Wong
- Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, United States
- *Correspondence: Haoda Wu, ; Samuel Zheng Hao Wong, ; Wenfei Jin, ; Yongji Tian,
| | - Qing-Feng Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Development Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
- Beijing Children Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
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16
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Wilcock DJ, Badrock AP, Wong CW, Owen R, Guerin M, Southam AD, Johnston H, Telfer BA, Fullwood P, Watson J, Ferguson H, Ferguson J, Lloyd GR, Jankevics A, Dunn WB, Wellbrock C, Lorigan P, Ceol C, Francavilla C, Smith MP, Hurlstone AFL. Oxidative stress from DGAT1 oncoprotein inhibition in melanoma suppresses tumor growth when ROS defenses are also breached. Cell Rep 2022; 39:110995. [PMID: 35732120 PMCID: PMC9638004 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2021] [Revised: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Dysregulated cellular metabolism is a cancer hallmark for which few druggable oncoprotein targets have been identified. Increased fatty acid (FA) acquisition allows cancer cells to meet their heightened membrane biogenesis, bioenergy, and signaling needs. Excess FAs are toxic to non-transformed cells but surprisingly not to cancer cells. Molecules underlying this cancer adaptation may provide alternative drug targets. Here, we demonstrate that diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), an enzyme integral to triacylglyceride synthesis and lipid droplet formation, is frequently up-regulated in melanoma, allowing melanoma cells to tolerate excess FA. DGAT1 over-expression alone transforms p53-mutant zebrafish melanocytes and co-operates with oncogenic BRAF or NRAS for more rapid melanoma formation. Antagonism of DGAT1 induces oxidative stress in melanoma cells, which adapt by up-regulating cellular reactive oxygen species defenses. We show that inhibiting both DGAT1 and superoxide dismutase 1 profoundly suppress tumor growth through eliciting intolerable oxidative stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J Wilcock
- Division of Cancer Studies, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Andrew P Badrock
- Division of Molecular and Cellular Function, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Chun W Wong
- Division of Infection Immunity and Respiratory Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Rhys Owen
- Division of Cancer Studies, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Melissa Guerin
- Program in Molecular Medicine, Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA
| | - Andrew D Southam
- School of Biosciences, Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Phenome Centre Birmingham, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Hannah Johnston
- Division of Cancer Studies, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Brian A Telfer
- Division of Cancer Studies, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Paul Fullwood
- Division of Molecular and Cellular Function, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Joanne Watson
- Division of Molecular and Cellular Function, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Harriet Ferguson
- Division of Molecular and Cellular Function, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Jennifer Ferguson
- Division of Molecular and Cellular Function, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Gavin R Lloyd
- School of Biosciences, Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Phenome Centre Birmingham, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Andris Jankevics
- School of Biosciences, Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Phenome Centre Birmingham, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Warwick B Dunn
- School of Biosciences, Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Phenome Centre Birmingham, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Claudia Wellbrock
- Division of Cancer Studies, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Paul Lorigan
- Division of Cancer Studies, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK; Department of Medical Oncology, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester M20 4BX, UK
| | - Craig Ceol
- Program in Molecular Medicine, Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA
| | - Chiara Francavilla
- Division of Molecular and Cellular Function, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Michael P Smith
- Division of Molecular and Cellular Function, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
| | - Adam F L Hurlstone
- Division of Infection Immunity and Respiratory Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK; Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology, The University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
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17
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Lu Y, Patton EE. Long-term non-invasive drug treatments in adult zebrafish that lead to melanoma drug resistance. Dis Model Mech 2022; 15:275322. [PMID: 35394030 PMCID: PMC9118090 DOI: 10.1242/dmm.049401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Zebrafish embryos are widely used for drug discovery, however, administering drugs to adult zebrafish is limited by current protocols that can cause stress. Here, we developed a drug formulation and administration method for adult zebrafish by producing food-based drug pellets that are consumed voluntarily. We applied this to zebrafish with BRAF-mutant melanoma, a model that has significantly advanced our understanding of melanoma progression, but not of drug resistance due to the limitations of current treatment methods. Zebrafish with melanomas responded to short-term, precise and daily dosing with drug pellets made with the BRAFV600E inhibitor, vemurafenib. On-target drug efficacy was determined by phospho-Erk staining. Continued drug treatment led to the emergence, for the first time in zebrafish, of acquired drug resistance and melanoma relapse, modelling the responses seen in melanoma patients. This method presents a controlled, non-invasive approach that permits long-term drug studies and can be widely applied to adult zebrafish models. Summary: We developed a precise drug-pellet dosing method for adult zebrafish melanoma models that can be widely applied to drug discovery in adult zebrafish.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuting Lu
- MRC Human Genetics Unit and CRUK Scotland Centre, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital Campus, EH4 2XU, Edinburgh, UK
| | - E Elizabeth Patton
- MRC Human Genetics Unit and CRUK Scotland Centre, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital Campus, EH4 2XU, Edinburgh, UK
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18
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Liu Y, Shou Y, Zhu R, Qiu Z, Zhang Q, Xu J. Construction and Validation of a Ferroptosis-Related Prognostic Signature for Melanoma Based on Single-Cell RNA Sequencing. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 10:818457. [PMID: 35309911 PMCID: PMC8927698 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2022.818457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer, is on the rise globally. The generally poor prognosis makes melanoma still an enormous public health problem. Ferroptosis is a newly emerging form of iron-dependent regulated cell death, which has been implicated in the development and treatment of several tumors. However, whether there is a connection between ferroptosis-related genes and the prognosis of melanoma patients remains an enigma. In the present study, we identified a ferroptosis-related genes signature to predict the prognosis of melanoma patients by analyzing single-cell RNA-sequencing data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Single-cell trajectory analysis was performed to explore malignant differentiation. CellChat was used to investigate intercellular communications in melanoma. Collectively, a novel four-gene signature (CP, MAP1LC3A, transferrin, and TP53) was constructed for prognosis prediction. COX proportional hazards regression analysis showed that the established ferroptosis-associated risk model was an independent prognostic predictor for melanoma patients (HR = 2.3293; 95%CI 1.1528–4.706) (p < 0.018). Patients with low-risk scores had significantly better overall survival (OS) than those with high-risk scores in The Cancer Genome Atlas, GSE59455, and GSE22153 dataset (p = 0.0015, p = 0.031, p = 0.077). Furthermore, the gene expression level of the four genes were verified in multistrain melanoma cell lines and normal human epidermal melanocytes (NHEM). The protein expression level of the four genes in clinical samples were further verified in the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) databases. Taken together, our study identified the prognostic significance of the ferroptosis-related genes in melanoma and developed a novel four-gene prognostic signature, which may shed light on the prognostic assessment and clinical decision making for melanoma patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yating Liu
- Department of Dermatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yanhong Shou
- Department of Dermatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ronghui Zhu
- Department of Dermatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhuoqiong Qiu
- Department of Dermatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qi Zhang
- Department of Dermatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- *Correspondence: Qi Zhang, ; Jinhua Xu,
| | - Jinhua Xu
- Department of Dermatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Institute of Dermatology, Shanghai, China
- *Correspondence: Qi Zhang, ; Jinhua Xu,
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19
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Research Techniques Made Simple: Zebrafish Models for Human Dermatologic Disease. J Invest Dermatol 2022; 142:499-506.e1. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2021.10.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2021] [Revised: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 10/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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20
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In Vivo Melanoma Cell Morphology Reflects Molecular Signature and Tumor Aggressiveness. J Invest Dermatol 2022; 142:2205-2216.e6. [PMID: 35007555 DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2021.12.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2021] [Revised: 11/29/2021] [Accepted: 12/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer, characterized by high cellular heterogeneity which contributes to therapy resistance and unpredictable disease outcome. Recently, by correlating Reflectance-Confocal-Microscopy (RCM) morphology with histopathological type, we identified four distinct melanoma-subtypes: dendritic-cell (DC), round-cell (RC), dermal-nest (DN), and combined-type (CT) melanomas. In the present study, each RCM-melanoma subtype expressed a specific biomolecular profile and biological behavior in vitro. Markers of tumor aggressiveness, including Ki67, MERTK, nestin and stemness markers, were highest in the most invasive CT and DN melanomas, as compared to DC and RC. This was also confirmed in multicellular tumor spheroids. Transcriptomic analysis showed a modulation of cancer progression-associated genes from DC to CT melanomas. The switch from E- to N-cadherin expression proved the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition from DC to CT subtypes. The DN melanoma was predominantly located in the dermis, as also shown in skin reconstructs. It displayed a unique behavior and a molecular profile associated with a high degree of aggressiveness. Altogether, our results demonstrate that each RCM-melanoma subtype has a distinct biological and gene expression profile, related to tumor aggressiveness, confirming that RCM can be a dependable tool for in vivo detecting different types of melanoma and for early diagnostic screening.
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21
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Weiss JM, Lumaquin-Yin D, Montal E, Suresh S, Leonhardt CS, White RM. Shifting the focus of zebrafish toward a model of the tumor microenvironment. eLife 2022; 11:69703. [PMID: 36538362 PMCID: PMC9767465 DOI: 10.7554/elife.69703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Cancer cells exist in a complex ecosystem with numerous other cell types in the tumor microenvironment (TME). The composition of this tumor/TME ecosystem will vary at each anatomic site and affects phenotypes such as initiation, metastasis, and drug resistance. A mechanistic understanding of the large number of cell-cell interactions between tumor and TME requires models that allow us to both characterize as well as genetically perturb this complexity. Zebrafish are a model system optimized for this problem, because of the large number of existing cell-type-specific drivers that can label nearly any cell in the TME. These include stromal cells, immune cells, and tissue resident normal cells. These cell-type-specific promoters/enhancers can be used to drive fluorophores to facilitate imaging and also CRISPR cassettes to facilitate perturbations. A major advantage of the zebrafish is the ease by which large numbers of TME cell types can be studied at once, within the same animal. While these features make the zebrafish well suited to investigate the TME, the model has important limitations, which we also discuss. In this review, we describe the existing toolset for studying the TME using zebrafish models of cancer and highlight unique biological insights that can be gained by leveraging this powerful resource.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua M Weiss
- Weill-Cornel Medical College, Tri-Institutional M.D./Ph.D. ProgramNew YorkUnited States
| | - Dianne Lumaquin-Yin
- Weill-Cornel Medical College, Tri-Institutional M.D./Ph.D. ProgramNew YorkUnited States
| | - Emily Montal
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Department of Cancer Biology & GeneticsNew YorkUnited States
| | - Shruthy Suresh
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Department of Cancer Biology & GeneticsNew YorkUnited States
| | - Carl S Leonhardt
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Department of Cancer Biology & GeneticsNew YorkUnited States
| | - Richard M White
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Department of Cancer Biology & GeneticsNew YorkUnited States,Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CenterNew YorkUnited States
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22
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Kramer ET, Godoy PM, Kaufman CK. TRANSCRIPTIONAL PROFILE AND CHROMATIN ACCESSIBILITY IN ZEBRAFISH MELANOCYTES AND MELANOMA TUMORS. G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS 2021; 12:6428538. [PMID: 34791221 PMCID: PMC8727958 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkab379] [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: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 10/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Transcriptional and epigenetic characterization of melanocytes and melanoma cells isolated from their in vivo context promises to unveil key differences between these developmentally related normal and cancer cell populations. We therefore engineered an enhanced Danio rerio (zebrafish) melanoma model with fluorescently labeled melanocytes to allow for isolation of normal (wild type) and premalignant (BRAFV600E-mutant) populations for comparison to fully transformed BRAFV600E-mutant, p53 loss-of-function melanoma cells. Using fluorescence-activated cell sorting to isolate these populations, we performed high-quality RNA- and ATAC-seq on sorted zebrafish melanocytes vs. melanoma cells, which we provide as a resource here. Melanocytes had consistent transcriptional and accessibility profiles, as did melanoma cells. Comparing melanocytes and melanoma, we note 4128 differentially expressed genes and 56,936 differentially accessible regions with overall gene expression profiles analogous to human melanocytes and the pigmentation melanoma subtype. Combining the RNA- and ATAC-seq data surprisingly revealed that increased chromatin accessibility did not always correspond with increased gene expression, suggesting that though there is widespread dysregulation in chromatin accessibility in melanoma, there is a potentially more refined gene expression program driving cancerous melanoma. These data serve as a resource to identify candidate regulators of the normal vs. diseased states in a genetically controlled in vivo context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva T Kramer
- Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine and Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110 USA
| | - Paula M Godoy
- Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine and Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110 USA
| | - Charles K Kaufman
- Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine and Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110 USA
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23
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Gao J, Muroya R, Huang F, Nagata K, Shin M, Nagano R, Tajiri Y, Fujii S, Yamaza T, Aoki K, Tamura Y, Inoue M, Chishaki S, Kukita T, Okabe K, Matsuda M, Mori Y, Kiyoshima T, Jimi E. Bone morphogenetic protein induces bone invasion of melanoma by epithelial-mesenchymal transition via the Smad1/5 signaling pathway. J Transl Med 2021; 101:1475-1483. [PMID: 34504305 DOI: 10.1038/s41374-021-00661-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2020] [Revised: 08/07/2021] [Accepted: 08/07/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Oral malignant melanoma, which frequently invades the hard palate or maxillary bone, is extremely rare and has a poor prognosis. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) is abundantly expressed in bone matrix and is highly expressed in malignant melanoma, inducing an aggressive phenotype. We examined the role of BMP signaling in the acquisition of an aggressive phenotype in melanoma cells in vitro and in vivo. In five cases, immunohistochemistry indicated the phosphorylation of Smad1/5 (p-Smad1/5) in the nuclei of melanoma cells. In the B16 mouse and A2058 human melanoma cell lines, BMP2, BMP4, or BMP7 induces morphological changes accompanied by the downregulation of E-cadherin, and the upregulation of N-cadherin and Snail, markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). BMP2 also stimulates cell invasion by increasing matrix metalloproteinase activity in B16 cells. These effects were canceled by the addition of LDN193189, a specific inhibitor of Smad1/5 signaling. In vivo, the injection of B16 cells expressing constitutively activated ALK3 enhanced zygoma destruction in comparison to empty B16 cells by increasing osteoclast numbers. These results suggest that the activation of BMP signaling induces EMT, thus driving the acquisition of an aggressive phenotype in malignant melanoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Gao
- Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Division of Oral Biological Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Ryusuke Muroya
- Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Division of Oral Biological Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
- Section of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Division of Maxillofacial Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Fei Huang
- Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Division of Oral Biological Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Kengo Nagata
- Laboratory of Oral Pathology, Division of Maxillofacial Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Masashi Shin
- Department of Physiological Sciences and Molecular Biology, Fukuoka Dental College, 2-5-1 Tamura, Sawara-ku, Fukuoka, 814-0175, Japan
- Oral Medicine Center, Fukuoka Dental College, 2-5-1 Tamura, Sawara-ku, Fukuoka, 814-0175, Japan
| | - Ryoko Nagano
- Laboratory of Oral Pathology, Division of Maxillofacial Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
- Department of Endodontology and Operative Dentistry, Division of Oral Rehabilitation, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Yudai Tajiri
- Laboratory of Oral Pathology, Division of Maxillofacial Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Shinsuke Fujii
- Laboratory of Oral Pathology, Division of Maxillofacial Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Takayoshi Yamaza
- Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Oral Anatomy, Division of Oral Biological Sciences, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Kazuhiro Aoki
- Department of Functional Dentistry, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8510, Japan
| | - Yukihiko Tamura
- Department of Bio-Matrix, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8510, Japan
| | - Mayuko Inoue
- Oral Health/Brain Health/Total Health Research Center, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Sakura Chishaki
- Oral Health/Brain Health/Total Health Research Center, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Toshio Kukita
- Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Oral Anatomy, Division of Oral Biological Sciences, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Koji Okabe
- Department of Physiological Sciences and Molecular Biology, Fukuoka Dental College, 2-5-1 Tamura, Sawara-ku, Fukuoka, 814-0175, Japan
| | - Miho Matsuda
- Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Division of Oral Biological Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Yoshihide Mori
- Section of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Division of Maxillofacial Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Tamotsu Kiyoshima
- Laboratory of Oral Pathology, Division of Maxillofacial Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan
| | - Eijiro Jimi
- Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Division of Oral Biological Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.
- Oral Health/Brain Health/Total Health Research Center, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.
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24
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Feng T, Zhao J, Wei D, Guo P, Yang X, Li Q, Fang Z, Wei Z, Li M, Jiang Y, Luo Y. Immunogenomic Analyses of the Prognostic Predictive Model for Patients With Renal Cancer. Front Immunol 2021; 12:762120. [PMID: 34712244 PMCID: PMC8546215 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.762120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is associated with poor prognostic outcomes. The current stratifying system does not predict prognostic outcomes and therapeutic benefits precisely for RCC patients. Here, we aim to construct an immune prognostic predictive model to assist clinician to predict RCC prognosis. Methods Herein, an immune prognostic signature was developed, and its predictive ability was confirmed in the kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) cohorts based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. Several immunogenomic analyses were conducted to investigate the correlations between immune risk scores and immune cell infiltrations, immune checkpoints, cancer genotypes, tumor mutational burden, and responses to chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Results The immune prognostic signature contained 14 immune-associated genes and was found to be an independent prognostic factor for KIRC. Furthermore, the immune risk score was established as a novel marker for predicting the overall survival outcomes for RCC. The risk score was correlated with some significant immunophenotypic factors, including T cell infiltration, antitumor immunity, antitumor response, oncogenic pathways, and immunotherapeutic and chemotherapeutic response. Conclusions The immune prognostic, predictive model can be effectively and efficiently used in the prediction of survival outcomes and immunotherapeutic responses of RCC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Feng
- Department of Urology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Jiahui Zhao
- Department of Urology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Dechao Wei
- Department of Urology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Pengju Guo
- Department of Urology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaobing Yang
- Department of Urology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Qiankun Li
- Department of Urology, Beijing Huairou Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Zhou Fang
- Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Ziheng Wei
- Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Mingchuan Li
- Department of Urology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Yongguang Jiang
- Department of Urology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Yong Luo
- Department of Urology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
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25
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Naser FJ, Jackstadt MM, Fowle-Grider R, Spalding JL, Cho K, Stancliffe E, Doonan SR, Kramer ET, Yao L, Krasnick B, Ding L, Fields RC, Kaufman CK, Shriver LP, Johnson SL, Patti GJ. Isotope tracing in adult zebrafish reveals alanine cycling between melanoma and liver. Cell Metab 2021; 33:1493-1504.e5. [PMID: 33989520 PMCID: PMC9275394 DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2021.04.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2020] [Revised: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
The cell-intrinsic nature of tumor metabolism has become increasingly well characterized. The impact that tumors have on systemic metabolism, however, has received less attention. Here, we used adult zebrafish harboring BRAFV600E-driven melanoma to study the effect of cancer on distant tissues. By applying metabolomics and isotope tracing, we found that melanoma consume ~15 times more glucose than other tissues measured. Despite this burden, circulating glucose levels were maintained in disease animals by a tumor-liver alanine cycle. Excretion of glucose-derived alanine from tumors provided a source of carbon for hepatic gluconeogenesis and allowed tumors to remove excess nitrogen from branched-chain amino acid catabolism, which we found to be activated in zebrafish and human melanoma. Pharmacological inhibition of the tumor-liver alanine cycle in zebrafish reduced tumor burden. Our findings underscore the significance of metabolic crosstalk between tumors and distant tissues and establish the adult zebrafish as an attractive model to study such processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fuad J Naser
- Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Madelyn M Jackstadt
- Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Ronald Fowle-Grider
- Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Jonathan L Spalding
- Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Genetics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Kevin Cho
- Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Ethan Stancliffe
- Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Steven R Doonan
- Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Eva T Kramer
- Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Division of Medical Oncology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Lijun Yao
- Department of Genetics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Bradley Krasnick
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Surgery, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Li Ding
- Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Genetics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Ryan C Fields
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Surgery, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Charles K Kaufman
- Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Division of Medical Oncology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Leah P Shriver
- Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Stephen L Johnson
- Department of Genetics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Gary J Patti
- Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
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26
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Nagakawa S, Shiota M, Fujimoto N, Yamamoto Y, Blas L, Tsukahara S, Matsumoto T, Kashiwagi E, Takeuchi A, Inokuchi J, Uchiumi T, Matsuyama H, Eto M. The impact of single-nucleotide polymorphisms on intravesical recurrence after bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer in a genome-wide association study. Urol Oncol 2021; 39:733.e17-733.e24. [PMID: 34215507 DOI: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2021.05.034] [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: 04/19/2021] [Revised: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) instillation therapy is widely used to reduce intravesical recurrence in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). In this study, we aimed to reveal the genetic variations associated with intravesical recurrence after BCG therapy for NMIBC in a genome-wide association study (GWAS). MATERIALS AND METHODS This study included Japanese patients with NMIBC, in whom genomic DNA was obtained from whole blood samples. The association between genetic variation and treatment failure was analyzed by GWAS in 44 patients treated with BCG instillation as a discovery cohort. Candidate single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were examined separately in 47 patients treated with BCG instillation and in 62 patients treated with chemotherapeutic agent instillation as validation studies. RESULTS Among the 44 patients in the discovery cohort, 14 cases experienced intravesical recurrent diseases. GWAS identified 12 candidate SNPs (rs9374832, rs35176001, rs363765, rs2127120, rs4277759, rs73664140, rs1607282, rs12141654, rs4541358, rs6986852, rs12373386, and rs17637903). In the validation study, a genetic risk stratification model using the number of risk alleles in rs363765 and rs6986852 discriminated the risk of intravesical recurrence after BCG therapy, but not after non-BCG therapy. CONCLUSION This study suggested that several SNPs were associated with intravesical recurrence after BCG therapy for NMIBC. A genetic risk model may be useful to predict intravesical recurrence after BCG therapy, warranting further research and development for clinical application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shohei Nagakawa
- Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Masaki Shiota
- Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
| | - Naohiro Fujimoto
- Department of Urology, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Japan
| | - Yoshiaki Yamamoto
- Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan
| | - Leandro Blas
- Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Shigehiro Tsukahara
- Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan; Department of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Takashi Matsumoto
- Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Eiji Kashiwagi
- Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Ario Takeuchi
- Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Junichi Inokuchi
- Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Takeshi Uchiumi
- Department of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Hideyasu Matsuyama
- Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan
| | - Masatoshi Eto
- Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
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27
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Carneiro TNR, Bim LV, Buzatto VC, Galdeno V, Asprino PF, Lee EA, Galante PAF, Cerutti JM. Evidence of Cooperation between Hippo Pathway and RAS Mutation in Thyroid Carcinomas. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:2306. [PMID: 34065786 PMCID: PMC8151534 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13102306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2021] [Revised: 03/30/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Thyroid cancer incidences have been steadily increasing worldwide and are projected to become the fourth leading cancer diagnosis by 2030. Improved diagnosis and prognosis predictions for this type of cancer depend on understanding its genetic bases and disease biology. RAS mutations have been found in a wide range of thyroid tumors, from benign to aggressive thyroid carcinomas. Based on that and in vivo studies, it has been suggested that RAS cooperates with other driver mutations to induce tumorigenesis. This study aims to identify genetic alterations or pathways that cooperate with the RAS mutation in the pathogenesis of thyroid cancer. From a cohort of 120 thyroid carcinomas, 11 RAS-mutated samples were identified. The samples were subjected to RNA-Sequencing analyses. The mutation analysis in our eleven RAS-positive cases uncovered that four genes that belong to the Hippo pathway were mutated. The gene expression analysis revealed that this pathway was dysregulated in the RAS-positive samples. We additionally explored the mutational status and expression profiling of 60 RAS-positive papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC) from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort. Altogether, the mutational landscape and pathway enrichment analysis (gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome (KEGG)) detected the Hippo pathway as dysregulated in RAS-positive thyroid carcinomas. Finally, we suggest a crosstalk between the Hippo and other signaling pathways, such as Wnt and BMP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thaise Nayane Ribeiro Carneiro
- Genetic Bases of Thyroid Tumors Laboratory, Division of Genetics, Department of Morphology and Genetics, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Pedro de Toledo 669, 11 Andar, São Paulo, SP 04039-032, Brazil; (T.N.R.C.); (L.V.B.)
| | - Larissa Valdemarin Bim
- Genetic Bases of Thyroid Tumors Laboratory, Division of Genetics, Department of Morphology and Genetics, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Pedro de Toledo 669, 11 Andar, São Paulo, SP 04039-032, Brazil; (T.N.R.C.); (L.V.B.)
| | - Vanessa Candiotti Buzatto
- Centro de Oncologia Molecular, Hospital Sírio-libanês, Rua Professor Daher Cutait 69, Bela Vista, São Paulo, SP 01308-060, Brazil; (V.C.B.); (V.G.); (P.F.A.); (P.A.F.G.)
| | - Vanessa Galdeno
- Centro de Oncologia Molecular, Hospital Sírio-libanês, Rua Professor Daher Cutait 69, Bela Vista, São Paulo, SP 01308-060, Brazil; (V.C.B.); (V.G.); (P.F.A.); (P.A.F.G.)
| | - Paula Fontes Asprino
- Centro de Oncologia Molecular, Hospital Sírio-libanês, Rua Professor Daher Cutait 69, Bela Vista, São Paulo, SP 01308-060, Brazil; (V.C.B.); (V.G.); (P.F.A.); (P.A.F.G.)
| | - Eunjung Alice Lee
- Division of Genetics and Genomics, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 3 Blackfan Circle, CLS (Center for Life Science) Building 15th Floor, Office 15020 | Lab 15072, Boston, MA 02115, USA;
| | - Pedro Alexandre Favoretto Galante
- Centro de Oncologia Molecular, Hospital Sírio-libanês, Rua Professor Daher Cutait 69, Bela Vista, São Paulo, SP 01308-060, Brazil; (V.C.B.); (V.G.); (P.F.A.); (P.A.F.G.)
| | - Janete Maria Cerutti
- Genetic Bases of Thyroid Tumors Laboratory, Division of Genetics, Department of Morphology and Genetics, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Pedro de Toledo 669, 11 Andar, São Paulo, SP 04039-032, Brazil; (T.N.R.C.); (L.V.B.)
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Patton EE, Mueller KL, Adams DJ, Anandasabapathy N, Aplin AE, Bertolotto C, Bosenberg M, Ceol CJ, Burd CE, Chi P, Herlyn M, Holmen SL, Karreth FA, Kaufman CK, Khan S, Kobold S, Leucci E, Levy C, Lombard DB, Lund AW, Marie KL, Marine JC, Marais R, McMahon M, Robles-Espinoza CD, Ronai ZA, Samuels Y, Soengas MS, Villanueva J, Weeraratna AT, White RM, Yeh I, Zhu J, Zon LI, Hurlbert MS, Merlino G. Melanoma models for the next generation of therapies. Cancer Cell 2021; 39:610-631. [PMID: 33545064 PMCID: PMC8378471 DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2021.01.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2020] [Revised: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
There is a lack of appropriate melanoma models that can be used to evaluate the efficacy of novel therapeutic modalities. Here, we discuss the current state of the art of melanoma models including genetically engineered mouse, patient-derived xenograft, zebrafish, and ex vivo and in vitro models. We also identify five major challenges that can be addressed using such models, including metastasis and tumor dormancy, drug resistance, the melanoma immune response, and the impact of aging and environmental exposures on melanoma progression and drug resistance. Additionally, we discuss the opportunity for building models for rare subtypes of melanomas, which represent an unmet critical need. Finally, we identify key recommendations for melanoma models that may improve accuracy of preclinical testing and predict efficacy in clinical trials, to help usher in the next generation of melanoma therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Elizabeth Patton
- MRC Human Genetics Unit and Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre, MRC Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK.
| | - Kristen L Mueller
- Melanoma Research Alliance, 730 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005, USA.
| | - David J Adams
- Experimental Cancer Genetics, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Niroshana Anandasabapathy
- Department of Dermatology, Meyer Cancer Center, Program in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10026, USA
| | - Andrew E Aplin
- Department of Cancer Biology, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA
| | - Corine Bertolotto
- Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, France; INSERM, Biology and Pathologies of Melanocytes, Team 1, Equipe Labellisée Ligue 2020, Centre Méditerranéen de Médecine Moléculaire, Nice, France
| | - Marcus Bosenberg
- Departments of Dermatology, Pathology, and Immunobiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Craig J Ceol
- Program in Molecular Medicine and Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Christin E Burd
- Departments of Molecular Genetics, Cancer Biology, and Genetics, The Ohio State University, Biomedical Research Tower, Room 918, 460 W. 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Ping Chi
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA; Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA; Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA; Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Sheri L Holmen
- Department of Surgery, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Florian A Karreth
- Department of Molecular Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL 33612, USA
| | - Charles K Kaufman
- Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology, Department of Developmental Biology, McDonnell Science Building, 4518 McKinley Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Shaheen Khan
- Department of Pathology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Sebastian Kobold
- Center of Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPS-M) and Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine IV, Klinikum der Universität München, LMU, Munich, Germany; Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), German Center for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK), partner site Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Eleonora Leucci
- Laboratory for RNA Cancer Biology, Department of Oncology, LKI, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Trace, Department of Oncology, LKI, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Carmit Levy
- Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - David B Lombard
- Department of Pathology, Institute of Gerontology, and Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Amanda W Lund
- Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology and Department of Pathology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Kerrie L Marie
- Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Jean-Christophe Marine
- Laboratory for Molecular Cancer Biology, Center for Cancer Biology, VIB, Leuven, Belgium; Laboratory for Molecular Cancer Biology, Department of Oncology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Richard Marais
- CRUK Manchester Institute, The University of Manchester, Alderley Park, Macclesfield SK10 4TG, UK
| | - Martin McMahon
- Department of Dermatology & Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Carla Daniela Robles-Espinoza
- Laboratorio Internacional de Investigación sobre el Genoma Humano, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Juriquilla, Boulevard Juriquilla 3001, Santiago de Querétaro 76230, Mexico; Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Ze'ev A Ronai
- Cancer Center, Sanford Burnham Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
| | - Yardena Samuels
- Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Maria S Soengas
- Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Jessie Villanueva
- The Wistar Institute, Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Ashani T Weeraratna
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Department of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Richard M White
- Department of Cancer Biology & Genetics and Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Iwei Yeh
- Departments of Dermatology and Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Jiyue Zhu
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University, Spokane, WA, USA
| | - Leonard I Zon
- Stem Cell Program and Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Marc S Hurlbert
- Melanoma Research Alliance, 730 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005, USA
| | - Glenn Merlino
- Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, 37 Convent Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
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29
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Bone Morphogenic Protein Signaling and Melanoma. Curr Treat Options Oncol 2021; 22:48. [PMID: 33866453 DOI: 10.1007/s11864-021-00849-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
OPINION STATEMENT Malignant melanoma is a deadly form of skin cancer caused by neoplastic transformation of melanocytic cells. Despite recent progress in melanoma therapy, by inhibition of activated oncogenes or immunotherapy, survival rate for metastatic melanoma patients remains low. The remarkable phenotypic plasticity of melanoma cells allows for rapid development of invasive properties and metastatic tumors, the main cause of mortality in melanoma patients. Phenotypic and molecular analyses of developing tumors revealed that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a cellular and molecular mechanism, controls transition from mature melanocyte to less differentiated melanocyte lineage progenitor cells forming melanoma tumors. This transition is facilitated by persistence of transcriptional regulatory circuit characteristic of embryonic stage in mature melanocytes. Switching of the developmental program of mature melanocyte to EMT is induced by accumulated mutations, especially targeting BRAF, N-RAS, or MEK1/2 signaling pathways, and further promoted by dynamic stimuli from local environment including hypoxia, interactions with extracellular matrix and growth factors or cytokines. Recent reports demonstrate that signaling mediated by transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and bone morphogenic proteins (BMPs) play critical roles in inducing EMT by controlling expression of critical transcription factors. BMPs are essential modulators of differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis, invasiveness, and metastases in developing melanoma tumors. They control transcription and epigenetic landscape of melanoma cells. Better understanding of the role of BMPs may lead to new strategies to control EMT processes in melanocyte cell lineage and to achieve clinical benefits for the patients.
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Abstract
Zebrafish are rapidly becoming a leading model organism for cancer research. The genetic pathways driving cancer are highly conserved between zebrafish and humans, and the ability to easily manipulate the zebrafish genome to rapidly generate transgenic animals makes zebrafish an excellent model organism. Transgenic zebrafish containing complex, patient-relevant genotypes have been used to model many cancer types. Here we present a comprehensive review of transgenic zebrafish cancer models as a resource to the field and highlight important areas of cancer biology that have yet to be studied in the fish. The ability to image cancer cells and niche biology in an endogenous tumor makes zebrafish an indispensable model organism in which we can further understand the mechanisms that drive tumorigenesis and screen for potential new cancer therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alicia M. McConnell
- Stem Cell Program and Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
- Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02138, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | - Haley R. Noonan
- Stem Cell Program and Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
- Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02138, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
- Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | - Leonard I. Zon
- Stem Cell Program and Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
- Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02138, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
- Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02138, USA
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31
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Gramann AK, Frantz WT, Dresser K, Gomes CBF, Lian CG, Deng A, Ceol CJ. BMP Signaling Promotes Neural Crest Identity and Accelerates Melanoma Onset. J Invest Dermatol 2021; 141:2067-2070.e1. [PMID: 33610560 DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2021.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2020] [Revised: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alec K Gramann
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
| | - William Tyler Frantz
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Karen Dresser
- Department of Dermatology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Camilla Borges Ferreira Gomes
- Program in Dermatopathology, Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Christine G Lian
- Program in Dermatopathology, Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - April Deng
- Department of Dermatology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Craig J Ceol
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
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32
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Fazio M, van Rooijen E, Dang M, van de Hoek G, Ablain J, Mito JK, Yang S, Thomas A, Michael J, Fabo T, Modhurima R, Pessina P, Kaufman CK, Zhou Y, White RM, Zon LI. SATB2 induction of a neural crest mesenchyme-like program drives melanoma invasion and drug resistance. eLife 2021; 10:64370. [PMID: 33527896 PMCID: PMC7880683 DOI: 10.7554/elife.64370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent genomic and scRNA-seq analyses of melanoma demonstrated a lack of recurrent genetic drivers of metastasis, while identifying common transcriptional states correlating with invasion or drug resistance. To test whether transcriptional adaptation can drive melanoma progression, we made use of a zebrafish mitfa:BRAFV600E;tp53-/- model, in which malignant progression is characterized by minimal genetic evolution. We undertook an overexpression-screen of 80 epigenetic/transcriptional regulators and found neural crest-mesenchyme developmental regulator SATB2 to accelerate aggressive melanoma development. Its overexpression induces invadopodia formation and invasion in zebrafish tumors and human melanoma cell lines. SATB2 binds and activates neural crest-regulators, including pdgfab and snai2. The transcriptional program induced by SATB2 overlaps with known MITFlowAXLhigh and AQP1+NGFR1high drug-resistant states and functionally drives enhanced tumor propagation and resistance to Vemurafenib in vivo. In summary, we show that melanoma transcriptional rewiring by SATB2 to a neural crest mesenchyme-like program can drive invasion and drug resistance in autochthonous tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurizio Fazio
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States.,Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, United States
| | - Ellen van Rooijen
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States.,Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, United States
| | - Michelle Dang
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States.,Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, United States
| | - Glenn van de Hoek
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
| | - Julien Ablain
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States.,Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, United States
| | - Jeffrey K Mito
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States.,Brigham and Women's Hospital, Department of Pathology, Boston, United States
| | - Song Yang
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
| | - Andrew Thomas
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
| | - Jonathan Michael
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
| | - Tania Fabo
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States.,Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, United States
| | - Rodsy Modhurima
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States.,Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, United States
| | - Patrizia Pessina
- Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
| | - Charles K Kaufman
- Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, United States.,Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, United States
| | - Yi Zhou
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States.,Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, United States
| | - Richard M White
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill-Cornell Medical College, New York, United States
| | - Leonard I Zon
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stem Cell Program and the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States.,Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, United States
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33
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Cai M, Hao Nguyen C, Mamitsuka H, Li L. XGSEA: CROSS-species gene set enrichment analysis via domain adaptation. Brief Bioinform 2021; 22:6120324. [PMID: 33515011 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbaa406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Revised: 12/12/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) has been widely used to identify gene sets with statistically significant difference between cases and controls against a large gene set. GSEA needs both phenotype labels and expression of genes. However, gene expression are assessed more often for model organisms than minor species. Also, importantly gene expression are not measured well under specific conditions for human, due to high risk of direct experiments, such as non-approved treatment or gene knockout, and then often substituted by mouse. Thus, predicting enrichment significance (on a phenotype) of a given gene set of a species (target, say human), by using gene expression measured under the same phenotype of the other species (source, say mouse) is a vital and challenging problem, which we call CROSS-species gene set enrichment problem (XGSEP). RESULTS For XGSEP, we propose the CROSS-species gene set enrichment analysis (XGSEA), with three steps of: (1) running GSEA for a source species to obtain enrichment scores and $p$-values of source gene sets; (2) representing the relation between source and target gene sets by domain adaptation; and (3) using regression to predict $p$-values of target gene sets, based on the representation in (2). We extensively validated the XGSEA by using five regression and one classification measurements on four real data sets under various settings, proving that the XGSEA significantly outperformed three baseline methods in most cases. A case study of identifying important human pathways for T -cell dysfunction and reprogramming from mouse ATAC-Seq data further confirmed the reliability of the XGSEA. AVAILABILITY Source code of the XGSEA is available through https://github.com/LiminLi-xjtu/XGSEA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Menglan Cai
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China
| | - Canh Hao Nguyen
- Bioinformatics Center, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Uji, 6110011, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Mamitsuka
- Bioinformatics Center, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Uji, 6110011, Japan.,Department of Computer Science, Aalto Unviersity, Espoo, Finland
| | - Limin Li
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China
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34
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Deciphering Melanoma Cell States and Plasticity with Zebrafish Models. J Invest Dermatol 2020; 141:1389-1394. [PMID: 33340501 PMCID: PMC8168147 DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2020.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Revised: 12/01/2020] [Accepted: 12/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Dynamic cellular heterogeneity underlies melanoma progression and therapy resistance. Advances in single-cell technologies have revealed an increasing number of tumor and microenvironment cell states in melanoma, but little is understood about their function in vivo. Zebrafish models are a powerful system for discovery, live imaging, and functional investigation of cell states throughout melanoma progression and treatment. By capturing dynamic melanoma states in living animals, zebrafish have the potential to resolve the complexity of melanoma heterogeneity from a single cell through disease processes within the context of the whole body, revealing novel cancer biology and therapeutic targets.
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35
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Darp R, Ceol C. Making a melanoma: Molecular and cellular changes underlying melanoma initiation. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res 2020; 34:280-287. [PMID: 33283422 DOI: 10.1111/pcmr.12950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2020] [Revised: 11/18/2020] [Accepted: 12/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Melanoma arises from the melanocyte lineage and is the most aggressive and lethal form of skin cancer. There are several genetic, genomic, and cellular changes associated with melanoma initiation. Here, we discuss these alterations and the melanoma cells of origin in which they are proposed to promote melanomagenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Revati Darp
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.,Department of Molecular, Cellular and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Craig Ceol
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.,Department of Molecular, Cellular and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
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36
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Infarinato NR, Stewart KS, Yang Y, Gomez NC, Pasolli HA, Hidalgo L, Polak L, Carroll TS, Fuchs E. BMP signaling: at the gate between activated melanocyte stem cells and differentiation. Genes Dev 2020; 34:1713-1734. [PMID: 33184221 PMCID: PMC7706702 DOI: 10.1101/gad.340281.120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2020] [Accepted: 10/09/2020] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Through recurrent bouts synchronous with the hair cycle, quiescent melanocyte stem cells (McSCs) become activated to generate proliferative progeny that differentiate into pigment-producing melanocytes. The signaling factors orchestrating these events remain incompletely understood. Here, we use single-cell RNA sequencing with comparative gene expression analysis to elucidate the transcriptional dynamics of McSCs through quiescence, activation, and melanocyte maturation. Unearthing converging signs of increased WNT and BMP signaling along this progression, we endeavored to understand how these pathways are integrated. Employing conditional lineage-specific genetic ablation studies in mice, we found that loss of BMP signaling in the lineage leads to hair graying due to a block in melanocyte maturation. We show that interestingly, BMP signaling functions downstream from activated McSCs and maintains WNT effector, transcription factor LEF1. Employing pseudotime analysis, genetics, and chromatin landscaping, we show that following WNT-mediated activation of McSCs, BMP and WNT pathways collaborate to trigger the commitment of proliferative progeny by fueling LEF1- and MITF-dependent differentiation. Our findings shed light upon the signaling interplay and timing of cues that orchestrate melanocyte lineage progression in the hair follicle and underscore a key role for BMP signaling in driving complete differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole R Infarinato
- Robin Neustein Laboratory of Mammalian Development and Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - Katherine S Stewart
- Robin Neustein Laboratory of Mammalian Development and Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - Yihao Yang
- Robin Neustein Laboratory of Mammalian Development and Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - Nicholas C Gomez
- Robin Neustein Laboratory of Mammalian Development and Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - H Amalia Pasolli
- Electron Microscopy Resource Center, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - Lynette Hidalgo
- Robin Neustein Laboratory of Mammalian Development and Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - Lisa Polak
- Robin Neustein Laboratory of Mammalian Development and Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - Thomas S Carroll
- Bioinformatics Resource Center, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - Elaine Fuchs
- Robin Neustein Laboratory of Mammalian Development and Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA
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37
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Iwanaga R, Truong BT, Hsu JY, Lambert KA, Vyas R, Orlicky D, Shellman YG, Tan AC, Ceol C, Artinger KB. Loss of prdm1a accelerates melanoma onset and progression. Mol Carcinog 2020; 59:1052-1063. [PMID: 32562448 PMCID: PMC7864383 DOI: 10.1002/mc.23236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Melanoma is an aggressive, deadly skin cancer derived from melanocytes, a neural crest cell derivative. Melanoma cells mirror the developmental program of neural crest cells in that they exhibit the same gene expression patterns and utilize similar cellular mechanisms, including increased cell proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and migration. Here we studied the role of neural crest regulator PRDM1 in melanoma onset and progression. In development, Prdm1a functions to promote neural crest progenitor fate, and in melanoma, we found that PRDM1 has reduced copy number and is recurrently deleted in both zebrafish and humans. When examining expression of neural crest and melanocyte development genes, we show that sox10 progenitor expression is high in prdm1a-/- mutants, while more differentiated melanocyte markers are reduced, suggesting that normally Prdm1a is required for differentiation. Data mining of human melanoma datasets indicates that high PRDM1 expression in human melanoma is correlated with better patient survival and decreased PRDM1 expression is common in metastatic tumors. When one copy of prdm1a is lost in the zebrafish melanoma model Tg(mitfa:BRAFV600E );p53-/- ;prdm1a+/- , melanoma onset occurs more quickly, and the tumors that form have a larger area with increased expression of sox10. These data demonstrate a novel role for PRDM1 as a tumor suppressor in melanoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ritsuko Iwanaga
- Department of Craniofacial Biology, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Brittany T. Truong
- Department of Craniofacial Biology, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
- Human Medical Genetics & Genomics Graduate Program, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Jessica Y. Hsu
- Pharmacology Graduate Program, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Karoline A. Lambert
- Department of Dermatology, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Rajesh Vyas
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts
| | - David Orlicky
- Department of Pathology, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Yiqun G. Shellman
- Department of Dermatology, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Aik-Choon Tan
- Division of Medical Oncology, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Craig Ceol
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts
| | - Kristin Bruk Artinger
- Department of Craniofacial Biology, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
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38
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Frantz WT, Ceol CJ. From Tank to Treatment: Modeling Melanoma in Zebrafish. Cells 2020; 9:cells9051289. [PMID: 32455885 PMCID: PMC7290816 DOI: 10.3390/cells9051289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2020] [Revised: 05/16/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and one of few cancers with a growing incidence. A thorough understanding of its pathogenesis is fundamental to developing new strategies to combat mortality and morbidity. Zebrafish—due in large part to their tractable genetics, conserved pathways, and optical properties—have emerged as an excellent system to model melanoma. Zebrafish have been used to study melanoma from a single tumor initiating cell, through metastasis, remission, and finally into relapse. In this review, we examine seminal zebrafish studies that have advanced our understanding of melanoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Tyler Frantz
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA;
- Department of Molecular, Cell, and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA
| | - Craig J Ceol
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA;
- Department of Molecular, Cell, and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA
- Correspondence:
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39
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Gramann AK, Venkatesan AM, Guerin M, Ceol CJ. Regulation of zebrafish melanocyte development by ligand-dependent BMP signaling. eLife 2019; 8:50047. [PMID: 31868592 PMCID: PMC6968919 DOI: 10.7554/elife.50047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2019] [Accepted: 12/21/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Preventing terminal differentiation is important in the development and progression of many cancers including melanoma. Recent identification of the BMP ligand GDF6 as a novel melanoma oncogene showed GDF6-activated BMP signaling suppresses differentiation of melanoma cells. Previous studies have identified roles for GDF6 orthologs during early embryonic and neural crest development, but have not identified direct regulation of melanocyte development by GDF6. Here, we investigate the BMP ligand gdf6a, a zebrafish ortholog of human GDF6, during the development of melanocytes from the neural crest. We establish that the loss of gdf6a or inhibition of BMP signaling during neural crest development disrupts normal pigment cell development, leading to an increase in the number of melanocytes and a corresponding decrease in iridophores, another neural crest-derived pigment cell type in zebrafish. This shift occurs as pigment cells arise from the neural crest and depends on mitfa, an ortholog of MITF, a key regulator of melanocyte development that is also targeted by oncogenic BMP signaling. Together, these results indicate that the oncogenic role ligand-dependent BMP signaling plays in suppressing differentiation in melanoma is a reiteration of its physiological roles during melanocyte development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alec K Gramann
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, United States.,Department of Molecular Cell, and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, United States
| | - Arvind M Venkatesan
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, United States.,Department of Molecular Cell, and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, United States
| | - Melissa Guerin
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, United States.,Department of Molecular Cell, and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, United States
| | - Craig J Ceol
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, United States.,Department of Molecular Cell, and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, United States
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40
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Sinnberg T, Niessner H, Levesque MP, Dettweiler C, Garbe C, Busch C. Embryonic bone morphogenetic protein and nodal induce invasion in melanocytes and melanoma cells. Biol Open 2018; 7:bio.032656. [PMID: 29716947 PMCID: PMC6031345 DOI: 10.1242/bio.032656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite recent progress in melanoma therapy via inhibition of activated oncogenes or immune stimulation, most stage IV melanoma patients still have limited survival times. Existing therapeutic approaches eventually fail to prevent further invasion and metastasis, which is driven by a morphological process termed epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). We previously demonstrated that inhibition of EMT in melanoma cells via antagonizing the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-pathway abrogated EMT and neural crest migration of melanoma cells in chick embryos. Here, we show that BMP-2 is highly expressed in invasive melanoma cells and is elevated in the serum of stage IV melanoma patients compared to stage IB-IIC patients and healthy controls. Highly BMP-2-expressing melanoma cells display enhanced invasion in the rhombencephalon of the chick embryo. In addition to driving neural crest migration in the zebrafish embryo, the agonists BMP-2, BMP-7 and nodal induce EMT/invasion in radial growth phase melanoma cells and in human melanocytes in skin reconstructs. Blocking either BMP or nodal signaling by antagonists (noggin, lefty), or the Alk4/5/7-receptor inhibitor SB431542, decreases EMT and invasion of melanoma cells in human epidermal skin reconstructs. Together, our data suggest that inhibition of EMT-inducing pathways in melanoma might be a therapeutic approach to attenuate melanoma cell invasiveness. Summary: We show that bone morphogenetic protein and nodal drive epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and invasiveness in melanoma cells, induce EMT and a melanoma-like invasive phenotype in melanocytes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Sinnberg
- Section of Dermato-Oncology, Department of Dermatology, Tuebingen University Hospital, Liebermeisterstrasse 25, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Heike Niessner
- Section of Dermato-Oncology, Department of Dermatology, Tuebingen University Hospital, Liebermeisterstrasse 25, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Mitchell P Levesque
- Department of Dermatology, UniversitaetsSpital Zuerich, Gloriastrasse 31, 8091 Zuerich, Switzerland
| | - Christoph Dettweiler
- Section of Dermato-Oncology, Department of Dermatology, Tuebingen University Hospital, Liebermeisterstrasse 25, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Claus Garbe
- Section of Dermato-Oncology, Department of Dermatology, Tuebingen University Hospital, Liebermeisterstrasse 25, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Christian Busch
- Section of Dermato-Oncology, Department of Dermatology, Tuebingen University Hospital, Liebermeisterstrasse 25, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany
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