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Li CMC, Gocheva V, Oudin MJ, Bhutkar A, Wang SY, Date SR, Ng SR, Whittaker CA, Bronson RT, Snyder EL, Gertler FB, Jacks T. Foxa2 and Cdx2 cooperate with Nkx2-1 to inhibit lung adenocarcinoma metastasis. Genes Dev 2015; 29:1850-62. [PMID: 26341558 PMCID: PMC4573857 DOI: 10.1101/gad.267393.115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Li et al. demonstrate that loss of Foxa2 and Cdx2 synergizes with loss of Nkx2-1 to fully activate the metastatic program in lung cancer. Silencing of these three transcription factors is sufficient to account for a significant fraction of the gene expression differences between the nonmetastatic and metastatic states in lung adenocarcinoma. Despite the fact that the majority of lung cancer deaths are due to metastasis, the molecular mechanisms driving metastatic progression are poorly understood. Here, we present evidence that loss of Foxa2 and Cdx2 synergizes with loss of Nkx2-1 to fully activate the metastatic program. These three lineage-specific transcription factors are consistently down-regulated in metastatic cells compared with nonmetastatic cells. Knockdown of these three factors acts synergistically and is sufficient to promote the metastatic potential of nonmetastatic cells to that of naturally arising metastatic cells in vivo. Furthermore, silencing of these three transcription factors is sufficient to account for a significant fraction of the gene expression differences between the nonmetastatic and metastatic states in lung adenocarcinoma, including up-regulated expression of the invadopodia component Tks5long, the embryonal proto-oncogene Hmga2, and the epithelial-to-mesenchymal mediator Snail. Finally, analyses of tumors from a genetically engineered mouse model and patients show that low expression of Nkx2-1, Foxa2, and Cdx2 strongly correlates with more advanced tumors and worse survival. Our findings reveal that a large part of the complex transcriptional network in metastasis can be controlled by a small number of regulatory nodes that function redundantly, and loss of multiple nodes is required to fully activate the metastatic program.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carman Man-Chung Li
- David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Vasilena Gocheva
- David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Madeleine J Oudin
- David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Arjun Bhutkar
- David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Shi Yun Wang
- David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Saya R Date
- David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Sheng Rong Ng
- David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Charles A Whittaker
- David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Roderick T Bronson
- Department of Pathology, Tufts University School of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, Massachusetts 01536, USA
| | - Eric L Snyder
- Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA; Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA
| | - Frank B Gertler
- David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Tyler Jacks
- David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
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