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Sikandar SS, Gulati GS, Antony J, Fetter I, Kuo AH, Ho WHD, Haro-Acosta V, Das S, Steen CB, Pereira TA, Qian D, Beachy PA, Dirbas FM, Red-Horse K, Rabbitts TH, Thiery JP, Newman AM, Clarke MF. Identification of a minority population of LMO2 + breast cancer cells that integrate into the vasculature and initiate metastasis. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabm3548. [PMID: 36351009 PMCID: PMC10939096 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm3548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Metastasis is responsible for most breast cancer-related deaths; however, identifying the cellular determinants of metastasis has remained challenging. Here, we identified a minority population of immature THY1+/VEGFA+ tumor epithelial cells in human breast tumor biopsies that display angiogenic features and are marked by the expression of the oncogene, LMO2. Higher abundance of LMO2+ basal cells correlated with tumor endothelial content and predicted poor distant recurrence-free survival in patients. Using MMTV-PyMT/Lmo2CreERT2 mice, we demonstrated that Lmo2 lineage-traced cells integrate into the vasculature and have a higher propensity to metastasize. LMO2 knockdown in human breast tumors reduced lung metastasis by impairing intravasation, leading to a reduced frequency of circulating tumor cells. Mechanistically, we find that LMO2 binds to STAT3 and is required for STAT3 activation by tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6. Collectively, our study identifies a population of metastasis-initiating cells with angiogenic features and establishes the LMO2-STAT3 signaling axis as a therapeutic target in breast cancer metastasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaheen S. Sikandar
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Gunsagar S. Gulati
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Jane Antony
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Isobel Fetter
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Angera H. Kuo
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - William Hai Dang Ho
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Veronica Haro-Acosta
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Soumyashree Das
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Chloé B. Steen
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Thiago Almeida Pereira
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Dalong Qian
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Philip A. Beachy
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Frederick M. Dirbas
- Department of Surgery, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, 875 Blake Wilbur Drive, Rm CC2235, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Kristy Red-Horse
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Terence H. Rabbitts
- Division of Cancer Therapeutics, Institute of Cancer Research, London SM2 5NG, UK
| | - Jean Paul Thiery
- Guangzhou Laboratory, International Biological Island, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510005, China
| | - Aaron M. Newman
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Michael F. Clarke
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
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T-ALL can evolve to oncogene independence. Leukemia 2021; 35:2205-2219. [PMID: 33483615 DOI: 10.1038/s41375-021-01120-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2020] [Revised: 09/09/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
The majority of cases of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) contain chromosomal abnormalities that drive overexpression of oncogenic transcription factors. However, whether these initiating oncogenes are required for leukemia maintenance is poorly understood. To address this, we developed a tetracycline-regulated mouse model of T-ALL driven by the oncogenic transcription factor Lmo2. This revealed that whilst thymus-resident pre-Leukemic Stem Cells (pre-LSCs) required continuous Lmo2 expression, the majority of leukemias relapsed despite Lmo2 withdrawal. Relapse was associated with a mature phenotype and frequent mutation or loss of tumor suppressor genes including Ikzf1 (Ikaros), with targeted deletion Ikzf1 being sufficient to transform Lmo2-dependent leukemias to Lmo2-independence. Moreover, we found that the related transcription factor TAL1 was dispensable in several human T-ALL cell lines that contain SIL-TAL1 chromosomal deletions driving its overexpression, indicating that evolution to oncogene independence can also occur in human T-ALL. Together these results indicate an evolution of oncogene addiction in murine and human T-ALL and show that loss of Ikaros is a mechanism that can promote self-renewal of T-ALL lymphoblasts in the absence of an initiating oncogenic transcription factor.
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Canning P, Bataille C, Bery N, Milhas S, Hayes A, Raynaud F, Miller A, Rabbitts T. Competitive SPR using an intracellular anti-LMO2 antibody identifies novel LMO2-interacting compounds. J Immunol Methods 2021; 494:113051. [PMID: 33794223 PMCID: PMC8208243 DOI: 10.1016/j.jim.2021.113051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2020] [Revised: 03/10/2021] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The use of intracellular antibodies as templates to derive surrogate compounds is an important objective because intracellular antibodies can be employed initially for target validation in pre-clinical assays and subsequently employed in compound library screens. LMO2 is a T cell oncogenic protein activated in the majority of T cell acute leukaemias. We have used an inhibitory intracellular antibody fragment as a competitor in a small molecule library screen using competitive surface plasmon resonance (cSPR) to identify compounds that bind to LMO2. We selected four compounds that bind to LMO2 but not when the anti-LMO2 intracellular antibody fragment is bound to it. These findings further illustrate the value of intracellular antibodies in the initial stages of drug discovery campaigns and more generally antibodies, or antibody fragments, can be the starting point for chemical compound development as surrogates of the antibody combining site.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Canning
- Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Carole Bataille
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, 12 Mansfield Rd, Oxford OX1 3TA, UK
| | - Nicolas Bery
- Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Sabine Milhas
- Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Angela Hayes
- Institute of Cancer Research, 15 Cotswold Road, Sutton, London SM2 5NG, UK
| | - Florence Raynaud
- Institute of Cancer Research, 15 Cotswold Road, Sutton, London SM2 5NG, UK
| | - Ami Miller
- Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK; Institute of Cancer Research, 15 Cotswold Road, Sutton, London SM2 5NG, UK
| | - Terry Rabbitts
- Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK; Institute of Cancer Research, 15 Cotswold Road, Sutton, London SM2 5NG, UK.
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