scholarly journals Cooperation between MYC and β-catenin in liver tumorigenesis requires Yap/Taz

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Bisso ◽  
Marco Filipuzzi ◽  
Gianni Paolo Gamarra Figueroa ◽  
Giulia Brumana ◽  
Francesca Biagioni ◽  
...  

AbstractBackground & AimsActivation of MYC and CTNNB1 (encoding β-catenin) can co-occur in liver cancer, but how these oncogenes cooperate in tumorigenesis remains unclear.Approach & ResultsWe generated a mouse model allowing conditional activation of MYC and WNT/β-catenin signaling (through either β-catenin activation or Apc loss) upon expression of CRE recombinase in the liver, and monitored their effects on hepatocyte proliferation, apoptosis, gene expression profiles and tumorigenesis. Conditional activation of WNT/β-catenin signaling strongly accelerated MYC-driven carcinogenesis in the mouse liver. Both pathways also cooperated in promoting cellular transformation in vitro, demonstrating their cell-autonomous action. Short-term induction of MYC and β-catenin in hepatocytes followed by RNA-seq profiling allowed the identification of a “Myc/β-catenin signature”, composed of a discrete set of Myc-activated genes whose expression increased in presence of active β-catenin. Notably this signature enriched for targets of Yap and Taz, two transcriptional co-activators known to be activated by WNT/β-catenin signaling, and to cooperate with MYC in mitogenic activation and liver transformation. Consistent with these regulatory connections, Yap/Taz accumulated upon Myc/β-catenin activation and were required not only for the ensuing proliferative response, but also for tumor cell growth and survival. Finally, the Myc/β-catenin signature was enriched in a subset of human hepatocellular carcinomas characterized by comparatively poor prognosis.ConclusionsYap and Taz mediate the cooperative action of Myc and β-catenin in liver tumorigenesis. This warrants efforts toward therapeutic targeting of Yap/Taz in aggressive liver tumors marked by elevated Myc/β-catenin activity.

2021 ◽  
Vol 218 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoxin Zhang ◽  
Zhen Dong ◽  
Ryan C. Gimple ◽  
Arthur Wolin ◽  
Qiulian Wu ◽  
...  

Glioblastoma ranks among the most lethal of primary brain malignancies, with glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) at the apex of tumor cellular hierarchies. Here, to discover novel therapeutic GSC targets, we interrogated gene expression profiles from GSCs, differentiated glioblastoma cells (DGCs), and neural stem cells (NSCs), revealing EYA2 as preferentially expressed by GSCs. Targeting EYA2 impaired GSC maintenance and induced cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and loss of self-renewal. EYA2 displayed novel localization to centrosomes in GSCs, and EYA2 tyrosine (Tyr) phosphatase activity was essential for proper mitotic spindle assembly and survival of GSCs. Inhibition of the EYA2 Tyr phosphatase activity, via genetic or pharmacological means, mimicked EYA2 loss in GSCs in vitro and extended the survival of tumor-bearing mice. Supporting the clinical relevance of these findings, EYA2 portends poor patient prognosis in glioblastoma. Collectively, our data indicate that EYA2 phosphatase function plays selective critical roles in the growth and survival of GSCs, potentially offering a high therapeutic index for EYA2 inhibitors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Risa Okada ◽  
Shin-ichiro Fujita ◽  
Riku Suzuki ◽  
Takuto Hayashi ◽  
Hirona Tsubouchi ◽  
...  

AbstractSpaceflight causes a decrease in skeletal muscle mass and strength. We set two murine experimental groups in orbit for 35 days aboard the International Space Station, under artificial earth-gravity (artificial 1 g; AG) and microgravity (μg; MG), to investigate whether artificial 1 g exposure prevents muscle atrophy at the molecular level. Our main findings indicated that AG onboard environment prevented changes under microgravity in soleus muscle not only in muscle mass and fiber type composition but also in the alteration of gene expression profiles. In particular, transcriptome analysis suggested that AG condition could prevent the alterations of some atrophy-related genes. We further screened novel candidate genes to reveal the muscle atrophy mechanism from these gene expression profiles. We suggest the potential role of Cacng1 in the atrophy of myotubes using in vitro and in vivo gene transductions. This critical project may accelerate the elucidation of muscle atrophy mechanisms.


Blood ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 116 (15) ◽  
pp. e66-e73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Wen Ni ◽  
Haiwei Qiu ◽  
Amir Rezvan ◽  
Kihwan Kwon ◽  
Douglas Nam ◽  
...  

Abstract Recently, we showed that disturbed flow caused by a partial ligation of mouse carotid artery rapidly induces atherosclerosis. Here, we identified mechanosensitive genes in vivo through a genome-wide microarray study using mouse endothelial RNAs isolated from the flow-disturbed left and the undisturbed right common carotid artery. We found 62 and 523 genes that changed significantly by 12 hours and 48 hours after ligation, respectively. The results were validated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction for 44 of 46 tested genes. This array study discovered numerous novel mechanosensitive genes, including Lmo4, klk10, and dhh, while confirming well-known ones, such as Klf2, eNOS, and BMP4. Four genes were further validated for protein, including LMO4, which showed higher expression in mouse aortic arch and in human coronary endothelium in an asymmetric pattern. Comparison of in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro endothelial gene expression profiles indicates that numerous in vivo mechanosensitive genes appear to be lost or dysregulated during culture. Gene ontology analyses show that disturbed flow regulates genes involved in cell proliferation and morphology by 12 hours, followed by inflammatory and immune responses by 48 hours. Determining the functional importance of these novel mechanosensitive genes may provide important insights into understanding vascular biology and atherosclerosis.


2005 ◽  
Vol 288 (6) ◽  
pp. C1211-C1221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven J. Pardo ◽  
Mamta J. Patel ◽  
Michelle C. Sykes ◽  
Manu O. Platt ◽  
Nolan L. Boyd ◽  
...  

Exposure to microgravity causes bone loss in humans, and the underlying mechanism is thought to be at least partially due to a decrease in bone formation by osteoblasts. In the present study, we examined the hypothesis that microgravity changes osteoblast gene expression profiles, resulting in bone loss. For this study, we developed an in vitro system that simulates microgravity using the Random Positioning Machine (RPM) to study the effects of microgravity on 2T3 preosteoblast cells grown in gas-permeable culture disks. Exposure of 2T3 cells to simulated microgravity using the RPM for up to 9 days significantly inhibited alkaline phosphatase activity, recapitulating a bone loss response that occurs in real microgravity conditions without altering cell proliferation and shape. Next, we performed DNA microarray analysis to determine the gene expression profile of 2T3 cells exposed to 3 days of simulated microgravity. Among 10,000 genes examined using the microarray, 88 were downregulated and 52 were upregulated significantly more than twofold using simulated microgravity compared with the static 1-g condition. We then verified the microarray data for some of the genes relevant in bone biology using real-time PCR assays and immunoblotting. We confirmed that microgravity downregulated levels of alkaline phosphatase, runt-related transcription factor 2, osteomodulin, and parathyroid hormone receptor 1 mRNA; upregulated cathepsin K mRNA; and did not significantly affect bone morphogenic protein 4 and cystatin C protein levels. The identification of gravisensitive genes provides useful insight that may lead to further hypotheses regarding their roles in not only microgravity-induced bone loss but also the general patient population with similar pathological conditions, such as osteoporosis.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (77) ◽  
pp. 3288-3302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neha Arya ◽  
Viren Sardana ◽  
Meera Saxena ◽  
Annapoorni Rangarajan ◽  
Dhirendra S. Katti

Owing to the reduced co-relationship between conventional flat Petri dish culture (two-dimensional) and the tumour microenvironment, there has been a shift towards three-dimensional culture systems that show an improved analogy to the same. In this work, an extracellular matrix (ECM)-mimicking three-dimensional scaffold based on chitosan and gelatin was fabricated and explored for its potential as a tumour model for lung cancer. It was demonstrated that the chitosan–gelatin (CG) scaffolds supported the formation of tumoroids that were similar to tumours grown in vivo for factors involved in tumour-cell–ECM interaction, invasion and metastasis, and response to anti-cancer drugs. On the other hand, the two-dimensional Petri dish surfaces did not demonstrate gene-expression profiles similar to tumours grown in vivo . Further, the three-dimensional CG scaffolds supported the formation of tumoroids, using other types of cancer cells such as breast, cervix and bone, indicating a possible wider potential for in vitro tumoroid generation. Overall, the results demonstrated that CG scaffolds can be an improved in vitro tool to study cancer progression and drug screening for solid tumours.


Blood ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 42-42
Author(s):  
Xiaoli Liu ◽  
Dongyue Zhang ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Qian Ren ◽  
Lina Wang ◽  
...  

Macrophages are important member in tissue microenvironments and play diverse physiologic and pathologic roles. Leukemia associated macrophages (LAM) are a kind of specifically activated macrophages in leukemia microenvironment, which are different from M1, M2 and TAMs. We have reported the heterogeneities in gene expression profiles of LAMs. However, MicroRNA expression profiles of LAMs and regulatory mechanism are still unknown. Here, a MLL-AF9 induced mouse acute myeloid leukemia (AML) model was used, and LAMs in the spleen and bone marrow were sorted for microRNA sequencing. The microRNA expression profiles of LAMs in bone marrow and spleen in AML mice were different from macrophages from control mice. Based on the volcano plot, more than 100 microRNAs were differentially expressed in LAMs compared with macrophages in control mice. Next, five differentially expressed microRNAs were selected and verified by qRT-PCR in LAMs from spleen. The results showed that miR-451a and miR-155-5p in spleen LAMs were significantly upregulated in LAMs from spleen. Overexpression of miR-451a altered the morphology of macrophages, enhanced the phagocytic ability of macrophages, and promotes the expression of macrophage differentiation marker CD11b. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-451a had little effect on M0 macrophages, but increased the proliferation capacity of macrophages upon stimulation toward M1 or M2 phenotype. MiR-451a overexpressed-macrophages had higher level of iNOS when stimulated with LPS or IL-4 whereas there was no difference in the expression of IL-1β, IL-6, CD206 and Arg-1 between MiR-451a overexpressed-macrophages and control macrophage. Therefore, our data revealed the characteristics of the microRNA expression profile of LAMs for the first time, and verified the effect of miR-451a on macrophage in vitro. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Blood ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 27-28
Author(s):  
Marie Lue Antony ◽  
Klara Noble-Orcutt ◽  
Yoonku Lee ◽  
Oluwateniayo Ogunsan ◽  
Jeffrey Lee Jensen ◽  
...  

In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the impact of genetic drivers on response to therapy and long-term survival has been well characterized. AML with complex cytogenetics and TP53 alterations (TP53Alt) is a poor-risk AML subtype that is largely insensitive to chemotherapy, modern targeted agents, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant leading to survival rates 0-10% at 1 year. In contrast, AML with favorable risk molecular features is highly sensitive to chemotherapy and confers survival rates of 50-70%. AML with intermediate risk molecular features can be responsive to chemotherapy and can be cured with hematopoietic stem cell transplant leading to overall survival rates of 30-60%. Leukemia stem cells (LSCs), the cells that recapitulate and propagate leukemia, are central to leukemia progression and relapse. Given the differences in chemo-sensitivity and clinical behavior of genetic subgroups of AML, we asked whether LSCs from poor risk AMLs exhibit distinct signaling activation profiles. We assembled a panel of 23 primary human AML samples with intermediate- and poor- risk genetics and used CyTOF (mass cytometry) to quantitatively measure the levels of immunophenotypic proteins and intracellular signaling molecules in each sample, at the single-cell level. We gated on CD34+CD123+CD3-CD19- cells (LSCs) and measured the level of intracellular signaling molecules within the LSCs of each sample. Notably, the intracellular signaling activation state of LSCs from each AML subtype was distinct; NFkB, pERK, p4EBP1, and pSTAT3 were uniquely upregulated in complex cytogenetics and TP53Alt LSCs, relative to LSCs from intermediate risk AML, suggesting that these signaling pathways may be important for LSC function in this AML subtype. Given that TP53Alt independently confer treatment resistance in AML, we focused on this genetic subgroup. We compared the gene expression profiles of TP53Alt and TP53-wild-type AML samples from the BEAT AML dataset (Tyner et al. Nature 2018) and found that the gene expression profiles of TP53Alt samples are enriched for gene sets representing JAK/STAT signaling, consistent with our CyTOF data, which identified activation of STAT3 in TP53Alt LSCs. A recent drug screen in AML demonstrated that a JAK1/2 kinase inhibitor, AZD1480, can reduce the in vitro viability of TP53-deleted AML cell lines (Nechiporuk et al. Ca Discovery 2019), but these effects were not tested in primary AML samples or on LSCs. Since LSCs confer treatment resistance, we investigated the effect of the AZD1480 on the LSC population in TP53Alt primary human AML samples. AZD1480 treatment abolished all colony formation in primary human TP53Alt AML samples (n=7, 6 replicates per sample, p<0.01). Treatment of these samples in liquid cultures led to a 50% reduction in LSC frequency. We used CyTOF to profile the intracellular signaling states of in vitro treated samples and found that AZD1480 attenuated pSTAT3, pSTAT5, p4EBP1, and NFkB in the LSCs of these samples. The mTOR/4EBp1 and NF༆B pathways have been implicated as drivers of self-renewal and LSC function in AML. Our data suggest that JAK/STAT inhibition may target these pathways in TP53Alt LSCs. These data demonstrate the unique signaling states of TP53Alt LSCs, relative to other LSCs, and show that inhibition of the JAK/STAT pathway specifically targets LSCs within human TP53Alt AML. Figure Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 130 (suppl_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Gomez ◽  
Eric Sum ◽  
Anna Keyte ◽  
Conrad Hodgkinson ◽  
Mary Hutson ◽  
...  

Introduction: The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is an important component of blood pressure regulation in mammals. Renin catalyzes the rate limiting step of RAS, is produced and stored by Juxtaglomerular (JG) cells in the kidney. However, the transcriptional mechanisms that govern the specification of renin expressing cells under normal or pathophysiological conditions remain poorly understood. During blood pressure changes the number of adult renal cells expressing renin increase through a process termed JG recruitment. We found that this process involves differentiation mesenchymal stromal-like cells (MSC) to renin expressing cells. Our aim in this study was to determine new regulators of renin cell fate during kidney development and JG recruitment. Methods: Gene expression profiles of MSC and JG cells were performed with Affymetrix Mouse 430 2.0 array. In vitro assays were performed in adult renal MSCs isolated from C57BL6 Ren1c YFP mice. Renin expression in vitro was induced by treatment with IBMX and Forskolin. MSC were transduced with lentivirus carrying vectors for Sox6, Sox6 shRNA or controls. Ex vivo analysis was performed in embryonic kidneys (14.5 dpc) isolated and transduced with Sox6 or scrambled shRNA, kidneys were then cultured for 4 days and the expression of Sox6 and Renin analyzed by IHC. Results: Data showed that the transcription factor Sox6 is expressed in renin producing cells in the developing kidney (n=4) and in the adult kidney after stimulation that promotes JG recruitment (n=3). Overexpression of Sox6 (n=3, P<0.05) enhanced differentiation of renal MSCs to renin producing cells in vitro , and Sox6 knockdown reduced differentiation of renal MSC to renin producing cells in vitro (6-fold, n=4, P<0.01). Furthermore, knockdown of Sox6 in an ex vivo model of kidney development resulted in a 5-fold reduction in renin expressing cells (n=4, P<0.05). Conclusion: These results support a novel role for Sox6 in the development of renin expressing cells. This may have implications for renal development and physiology, opening new possibilities of addressing questions regarding both developmental and physiological regulation of renin.


RSC Advances ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (28) ◽  
pp. 17107-17116 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. N. Jadeja ◽  
K. M. Vyas ◽  
K. K. Upadhyay ◽  
R. V. Devkar

Mixed-ligand Cu(ii) complexes of 4-acylpyrazolone ligands and poly pyridyls were synthesized, characterized and their anticancer activity was evaluated against A549 lung carcinoma cell lines.


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