Normal mammary development and function in mice with Ift88 deleted in MMTV- and K14-Cre expressing cells

Arl13b controls basal cell stemness properties and Hedgehog signaling in the mouse epididymis

Epithelial cells orchestrate a series of intercellular signaling events in response to tissue damage. While the epididymis is composed of a pseudostratified epithelium that controls the acquisition of male fertility, the maintenance of its integrity in the context of tissue damage or inflammation remains largely unknown. Basal cells of the epididymis contain a primary cilium, an organelle that controls cellular differentiation in response to Hedgehog signaling cues. Hypothesizing its contribution to epithelial homeostasis, we knocked out the ciliary component ARL13B in keratin 5-positive basal cells. In this model, the reduced size of basal cell primary cilia was associated with impaired Hedgehog signaling and the loss of KRT5, KRT14, and P63 basal cell markers. When subjected to tissue injury, the epididymal epithelium from knock-out mice displayed imbalanced rates of cell proliferation/apoptosis and failed to properly regenerate in vivo. This response was associated with changes in the transcriptomic landscape related to immune response, cell differentiation, cell adhesion, and triggered severe hypoplasia of the epithelium. Together our results indicate that the ciliary GTPase, ARL13B, participates in the transduction of the Hedgehog signaling pathway to maintain basal cell stemness needed for tissue regeneration. These findings provide new insights into the role of basal cell primary cilia as safeguards of pseudostratified epithelia.

Ciliary signaling in stem cells in health and disease: Hedgehog pathway and beyond

The primary cilium is a hair-like sensory compartment that protrudes from the cellular surface. The primary cilium is enriched in a variety of signaling molecules that regulate cellular activities. Stem cells have primary cilia. They reside in a specialized environment, called the stem cell niche. This niche contains a variety of secreted factors, and some of their receptors are localized in the primary cilia of stem cells. Here, we summarize the current understanding of the function of cilia in compartmentalized signaling in stem cells. We describe how ciliary signaling regulates stem cells and progenitor cells during development, tissue homeostasis and tumorigenesis. We summarize our understanding of cilia regulated signaling -primary involving the hedgehog pathway- in stem cells in diverse settings that include neuroepithelial cells, radial glia, cerebellar granule neuron precursors, hematopoietic stem cells, hair follicle stem cells, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and mammary gland stem cells. Overall, our review highlights a variety of roles that ciliary signaling plays in regulating stem cells throughout life.

Depletion of Trp53 and Cdkn2a Does Not Promote Self-Renewal in the Mammary Gland but Amplifies Proliferation Induced by TNF-α

The mammary epithelium undergoes several rounds of extensive proliferation during the female reproductive cycle. Its expansion is a tightly regulated process, fueled by the mammary stem cells and these cells' unique property of self-renewal. Sufficient new cells have to be produced to maintain the integrity of a tissue, but excessive proliferation resulting in tumorigenesis needs to be prevented. Three well-known tumor suppressors, p53, p16^INK4a, and p19^ARF, have been connected to the limiting of stem cell self-renewal and proliferation. Here we investigate the roles of these three proteins in the regulation of self-renewal and proliferation of mammary epithelial cells. Using mammary epithelial-specific mouse models targeting Trp53 and Cdkn2a, the gene coding for p16^INK4a and p19^ARF, we demonstrate that p53, p16^INK4a, and p19^ARF do not play a significant role in the limitation of normal mammary epithelium self-renewal and proliferation, whereas in the presence of the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α, Trp53^−/−Cdkn2a^−/− mammary basal cells exhibit amplified proliferation.

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p53, p16^INK4a, and p19^ARF do not limit self-renewal of mammary epithelial cells

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p53, p16^INK4a, and p19^ARF do not limit proliferation of mammary epithelial cells

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TNF-α stimulates mammary basal cell organoid formation and proliferation

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Trp53^−/−Cdkn2a^−/− organoids are sensitized to TNF-α-induced proliferation

SPEN, a new player in primary cilia formation and cell migration in breast cancer

Background

The primary cilium is a microtubule-based and nonmotile organelle functioning as a cellular antenna that is involved in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, and migration. In breast cancer cells, the primary cilium is a structure that decreases in incidence with increasing degrees of transformation and may be biologically more important in estrogen receptor (ERα)-negative breast cancer cells. Split ends (SPEN) is an ERα corepressor that we have identified as a tumor suppressor protein in ERα-positive breast cancer cells whose hormone-independent roles in breast cancer have never been explored.

Methods

We determined the hormone-independent transcriptional program regulated by the ERα cofactor SPEN in breast cancer using DNA microarrays. The biological functions regulated by SPEN independently of hormones were studied in vitro in ERα-positive and ERα-negative breast cancer cells. Finally, we examined the clinical relevance of SPEN expression in cohorts of breast cancer samples with outcome data.

Results

We found that SPEN is coexpressed with a number of genes involved in ciliary biology, including the ciliogenic transcription factor RFX3, in a hormone-independent manner. SPEN reexpression in T47D cells containing a nonsense mutation in SPEN restored the primary cilium, whereas its knockdown in MCF10A and Hs578T cells considerably decreased primary cilia levels. We also report that SPEN regulates migration in breast cells, but only in those harboring primary cilia, and that KIF3A silencing, a critical factor in primary cilia, partially reverses SPEN’s effects, suggesting that SPEN may coordinate cellular movement through primary cilia-dependent mechanisms. Finally, we found that high SPEN RNA levels were predictive of early metastasis in two independent cohorts of 77 (HR 2.25, P = 0.03) and 170 (HR = 2.23, P = 0.004) patients with ERα-negative breast cancer.

Conclusions

Together, our data demonstrate a role for SPEN in the regulation of primary cilia formation and cell migration in breast cancer cells, which may collectively explain why its expression is associated with time to metastasis in cohorts of patients with ERα-negative breast cancers.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13058-017-0897-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Inhibition of Ciliogenesis Promotes Hedgehog Signaling, Tumorigenesis, and Metastasis in Breast Cancer

Primary cilia are chemosensors that play a dual role to either activate or repress Hedgehog signaling, depending on presence or absence of ligand, respectively. While inhibition of ciliogenesis has been shown to be characteristic of breast cancers, the functional consequence is unknown. Here, for the first time, inhibition of ciliogenesis led to earlier tumor formation, faster tumor growth rate, higher grade tumor formation, and increased metastasis in the polyoma middle T (PyMT) mouse model of breast cancer. In in vitro model systems, inhibition of ciliogenesis resulted in increased expression of Hedgehog-target genes through a mechanism involving loss of the repressor form of the GLI transcription factor (GLIR) and activation of Hedgehog target gene expression through cross-talk with TGF-alpha (TGFA) signaling. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that increased Hedgehog signaling is frequently associated with increased TGFA; signaling in patients with triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC), a particularly aggressive breast cancer subtype. These results identify a previously unrecognized role for inhibition of ciliogenesis in breast cancer progression. This study identifies inhibition of ciliogenesis as an important event for activation of Hedgehog signaling and progression of breast cancer to a more aggressive, metastatic disease.Implications: These findings change the way we understand how cancer cells turn on a critical signaling pathways and a provide rationale for developing novel therapeutic approaches to target noncanonical Hedgehog signaling for the treatment of breast cancer. Mol Cancer Res; 15(10); 1421-30. ©2017 AACR.

The Action of Discoidin Domain Receptor 2 in Basal Tumor Cells and Stromal Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Is Critical for Breast Cancer Metastasis

High levels of collagen deposition in human and mouse breast tumors are associated with poor outcome due to increased local invasion and distant metastases. Using a genetic approach, we show that, in mice, the action of the fibrillar collagen receptor discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2) in both tumor and tumor-stromal cells is critical for breast cancer metastasis yet does not affect primary tumor growth. In tumor cells, DDR2 in basal epithelial cells regulates the collective invasion of tumor organoids. In stromal cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), DDR2 is critical for extracellular matrix production and the organization of collagen fibers. The action of DDR2 in CAFs also enhances tumor cell collective invasion through a pathway distinct from the tumor-cell-intrinsic function of DDR2. This work identifies DDR2 as a potential therapeutic target that controls breast cancer metastases through its action in both tumor cells and tumor-stromal cells at the primary tumor site.

Foxa1 is essential for mammary duct formation

The transcription factor forkhead box protein A1 (FOXA1) plays a critical role in the proliferation of human breast cancer cells, particularly estrogen receptor alpha (ERα)-positive luminal breast cancer cells. However, genetic studies of the requirement for Foxa1 in mammary tumor formation in mice have been hampered by the lack of a conditional gene ablation. We examined three mouse models of mammary-specific ablation of Foxa1 in ductal epithelial cells to identify the best system for complete and mammary-specific ablation of Foxa1. We found that MMTV-Cre and MMTV-rtTA;Tet-On-Cre led to partial deletion of Foxa1 and attenuated mammary duct formation, whereas Krt14-Cre led to complete ablation of Foxa1 and abolished mammary duct formation, in Foxa1(loxP/loxP) mice. These results demonstrate that Foxa1 is essential for mammary duct formation, and reveal a series of mouse models in which mammary expression of Foxa1 can be attenuated or completely blocked. Our study also suggests a potentially powerful model for complete ablation of Foxa1 in mammary epithelial cells using Krt14-driven Cre expression in an inducible manner, such as Krt14-rtTA;Tet-On-Cre. This model system will facilitate further in vivo functional studies of Foxa1 or other factors in mammary gland development and tumor formation and progression. genesis 54:277-285, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Fate Mapping Mammalian Corneal Epithelia

The anterior aspect of the cornea consists of a stratified squamous epithelium, thought to be maintained by a rare population of stem cells (SCs) that reside in the limbal transition zone. Although migration of cells that replenish the corneal epithelium has been studied for over a century, the process is still poorly understood and not well characterized. Numerous techniques have been employed to examine corneal epithelial dynamics, including visualization by light microscopy, the incorporation of vital dyes and DNA labels, and transplantation of genetically marked cells that have acted as cell and lineage beacons. Modern-day lineage tracing utilizes molecular methods to determine the fate of a specific cell and its progeny over time. Classically employed in developmental biology, lineage tracing has been used more recently to track the progeny of adult SCs in a number of organs to pin-point their location and understand their movement and influence on tissue regeneration. This review highlights key discoveries that have led researchers to develop cutting-edge genetic tools to effectively and more accurately monitor turnover and displacement of cells within the mammalian corneal epithelium. Collating information on the basic biology of SCs will have clinical ramifications in furthering our knowledge of the processes that govern their role in homeostasis, wound-healing, transplantation, and how we can improve current unsatisfactory SC-based therapies for patients suffering blinding corneal disease.