Essential role for the planarian intestinal GATA transcription factor in stem cells and regeneration

The cellular turnover of adult tissues and injury-induced repair proceed through an exquisite integration of proliferation, differentiation, and survival signals that involve stem/progenitor cell populations, their progeny, and differentiated tissues. GATA factors are DNA binding proteins that control stem cells and the development of tissues by activating or repressing transcription. Here we examined the role of GATA transcription factors in Schmidtea mediterranea, a freshwater planarian that provides an excellent model to investigate gene function in adult stem cells, regeneration, and differentiation. Smed-gata4/5/6, the homolog of the three mammalian GATA-4,-5,-6 factors is expressed at high levels in differentiated gut cells but also at lower levels in neoblast populations, the planarian stem cells. Smed-gata4/5/6 knock-down results in broad differentiation defects, especially in response to injury. These defects are not restricted to the intestinal lineage. In particular, at late time points during the response to injury, loss of Smed-gata4/5/6 leads to decreased neoblast proliferation and to gene expression changes in several neoblast subpopulations. Thus, Smed-gata4/5/6 plays a key evolutionary conserved role in intestinal differentiation in planarians. These data further support a model in which defects in the intestinal lineage can indirectly affect other differentiation pathways in planarians.

GATA6 is overexpressed in breast cancer and promotes breast cancer cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition by upregulating slug expression

Metastasis is the leading cause of death in breast cancer (BC) patients. However, until now, the mechanisms of BC metastasis remain elusive. GATA6 is a member of the GATA transcription factor family that plays critical regulatory roles in tissue development, which has been proposed as an oncogene in many types of tumors; however, its role and underlying mechanisms in BC remain unclear. Here we show that GATA6 is elevated in BC and its expression level is positively correlated with metastasis. In addition Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that high expression of GATA6 was associated with decreased overall survival of BC patients. Overexpression of GATA6 in BC cells increased epithelial-mesenchymal transition. In contrast, silencing GATA6 in aggressive BC cells inhibited this process. Mechanistically, we found GATA6 exerts its function through active slug transcription. Slug knockdown blocked the GATA6-driven EMT. Furthermore, slug expression in human BC is positively correlated with GATA6 expression. Our results, for the first time, portray a pivotal role of GATA6 in regulating metastatic behaviors of BC cells, suggesting GATA6 is a potential therapeutic target in metastatic BCs.

Mechanism of Resistance and Novel Targets Mediating Resistance to EGFR and c-Met Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) against EGFR and c-Met are initially effective when administered individually or in combination to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, the overall efficacies of TKIs are limited due to the development of drug resistance. Therefore, it is important to elucidate mechanisms of EGFR and c-Met TKI resistance in order to develop more effective therapies. Model NSCLC cell lines H1975 and H2170 were used to study the similarities and differences in mechanisms of EGFR/c-Met TKI resistance. H1975 cells are positive for the T790M EGFR mutation, which confers resistance to current EGFR TKI therapies, while H2170 cells are EGFR wild-type. Previously, H2170 cells were made resistant to the EGFR TKI erlotinib and the c-Met TKI SU11274 by exposure to progressively increasing concentrations of TKIs. In H2170 and H1975 TKI-resistant cells, key Wnt and mTOR proteins were found to be differentially modulated. Wnt signaling transducer, active β-catenin was upregulated in TKI-resistant H2170 cells when compared to parental cells. GATA-6, a transcriptional activator of Wnt, was also found to be upregulated in resistant H2170 cells. In H2170 erlotinib resistant cells, upregulation of inactive GSK3β (p-GSK3β) was observed, indicating activation of Wnt and mTOR pathways which are otherwise inhibited by its active form. However, in H1975 cells, Wnt modulators such as active β-catenin, GATA-6 and p-GSK3β were downregulated. Additional results from MTT cell viability assays demonstrated that H1975 cell proliferation was not significantly decreased after Wnt inhibition by XAV939, but combination treatment with everolimus (mTOR inhibitor) and erlotinib resulted in synergistic cell growth inhibition. Thus, in H2170 cells and H1975 cells, simultaneous inhibition of key Wnt or mTOR pathway proteins in addition to EGFR and c-Met may be a promising strategy for overcoming EGFR and c-Met TKI resistance in NSCLC patients.

Analysis of human embryos from zygote to blastocyst reveals distinct gene expression patterns relative to the mouse

Early mammalian embryogenesis is controlled by mechanisms governing the balance between pluripotency and differentiation. The expression of early lineage-specific genes can vary significantly between species, with implications for developmental control and stem cell derivation. However, the mechanisms involved in patterning the human embryo are still unclear. We analyzed the appearance and localization of lineage-specific transcription factors in staged preimplantation human embryos from the zygote until the blastocyst. We observed that the pluripotency-associated transcription factor OCT4 was initially expressed in 8-cell embryos at 3 days post-fertilization (dpf), and restricted to the inner cell mass (ICM) in 128-256 cell blastocysts (6dpf), approximately 2 days later than the mouse. The trophectoderm (TE)-associated transcription factor CDX2 was upregulated in 5dpf blastocysts and initially coincident with OCT4, indicating a lag in CDX2 initiation in the TE lineage, relative to the mouse. Once established, the TE expressed intracellular and cell-surface proteins cytokeratin-7 (CK7) and fibroblast growth factor receptor-1 (FGFR1), which are thought to be specific to post-implantation human trophoblast progenitor cells. The primitive endoderm (PE)-associated transcription factor SOX17 was initially heterogeneously expressed in the ICM where it co-localized with a sub-set of OCT4 expressing cells at 4-5dpf. SOX17 was progressively restricted to the PE adjacent to the blastocoel cavity together with the transcription factor GATA6 by 6dpf. We observed low levels of Laminin expression in the human PE, though this basement membrane component is thought to play an important role in mouse PE cell sorting, suggesting divergence in differentiation mechanisms between species. Additionally, while stem cell lines representing the three distinct cell types that comprise a mouse blastocyst have been established, the identity of cell types that emerge during early human embryonic stem cell derivation is unclear. We observed that derivation from plating intact human blastocysts resulted predominantly in the outgrowth of TE-like cells, which impairs human embryonic stem cell derivation. Altogether, our findings provide important insight into developmental patterning of preimplantation human embryos with potential consequences for stem cell derivation.

A Heterogeneous Expression Pattern for Nanog in Embryonic Stem Cells

Nanog is a critical homeodomain factor responsible for maintaining embryonic stem (ES) cell self-renewal and pluripotency. Of interest, Nanog expression is not homogeneous in the conventional culture of murine ES cells. A Nanog-high population expresses markers for pluripotent ES cells, whereas a Nanog-low population expresses markers for primitive endoderm, such as Gata6. Since the inner cell mass of early blastocysts has recently been reported to be heterogeneous in terms of Nanog and Gata6 expression, ES cells appear to closely resemble the developing stage from which they originate. We further demonstrate that Nanog can directly repress Gata6 expression through its binding to the proximal promoter region of the Gata6 gene and that overexpression of Nanog reduces heterogeneity during ES cell maintenance. Interestingly, Nanog heterogeneity does not correlate with the heterogeneous expression of stage-specific embryonic antigen-1, suggesting that multiple but overlapping levels of heterogeneity may exist in ES cells. These findings provide insight into the factors that control ES cell self-renewal and the earliest lineage commitment to primitive endoderm while also suggesting methods to promote homogeneity during ES cell maintenance. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.