scholarly journals SOX4 maintains the stemness of cancer cells via transcriptionally enhancing HDAC1 revealed by comparative proteomics study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingshu Liu ◽  
Jiangfeng Qiu ◽  
Zhiqi Zhang ◽  
Lei Zhou ◽  
Yunzhe Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the root of human cancer development and the major cause of treatment failure. Aberrant elevation of SOX4, a member of SOX (SRY-related HMG-box) family transcription factors, has been identified in many types of human cancer and promotes cancer development. However, the role of SOX4 in CSCs, especially at a proteome-wide level, has remained elusive. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of SOX4 on the stemness of CSCs and reveal the underlying mechanisms by identification of SOX4-induced proteome changes through proteomics study. Results Overexpression of SOX4 promotes sphere formation and self-renewal of colorectal cancer cells in vitro and in vivo and elevates the expression levels of CSCs markers. Through iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics analysis, 215 differentially expressed proteins (128 upregulated, 87 downregulated) in SOX4-overexpressing HCT-116 spheres were identified. The bioinformatic analysis highlighted the importance of HDAC1 as the fundamental roles of its impacted pathways in stem cell maintenance, including Wnt, Notch, cell cycle, and transcriptional misregulation in cancer. The mechanistic study showed that SOX4 directly binds to the promoter of HDAC1, promotes HDAC1 transcription, thereby supporting the stemness of colorectal cancer cells. HDAC1 hallmarks colorectal cancer stem cells and depletion of HDAC1 abolished the stimulatory effect of SOX4. Furthermore, SOX4-HDAC1 axis is conserved in multiple types of cancer. Conclusions The results of this study reveal SOX4-induced proteome changes in HCT-116 spheres and demonstrates that transcriptional activation of HDAC1 is the primary mechanism underlying SOX4 maintaining CSCs. This finding suggests that HDAC1 is a potential drug target for eradicating SOX4-driven human CSCs.

2011 ◽  
Vol 105 (11) ◽  
pp. 1759-1767 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Bose ◽  
L J Zimmerman ◽  
M Pierobon ◽  
E Petricoin ◽  
F Tozzi ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cong Tian ◽  
Tingyuan Lang ◽  
Jiangfeng Qiu ◽  
Kun Han ◽  
Lei Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been recognized as an important drug target, however, the underlying mechanisms have not been fully understood. SKP1 is a traditional drug target for cancer therapy, while, whether SKP1 promotes colorectal cancer (CRC) stem cells (CRC-SCs) and the underlying mechanisms have remained elusive.Methods: Human CRC cell lines HCT-116 and HT-29 and primary human colorectal cancer cells were used in this study. Gene manipulation was performed by lentivirus system. The mRNA and protein levels were examined by qRT-PCR and western blot, respectively. Sphere formation and transwell assay were employed for examination of sphere-forming and migration capacities. The self-renewal capacity was determined by limiting dilution assay. The tumorigenicity was examined by xenograft model. The transcriptional activities of the promoters were examined by luciferase reporter assay. Co-immunoprecipitation assay was used to test protein-protein interaction. The transcription and protein-DNA interaction were examined by nuclear run-on and ChIP-PCR assay. The relationship between gene expression and survival was analyzed by Kaplan-meier analysis. The correlation between two genes was analyzed by Spearman analysis. Data are represented as mean ± s.d. and the significance was determined by Student’s t-test.Results: SKP1 is upregulated in colorectal cancer stem cells and predicts poor prognosis of colon cancer patients. Overexpression of SKP1 promotes the sphere-forming and migration capacities as well as self-renewal of CRC cells, and upregulates the expression of CSCs markers. In contrast, SKP1 depletion produces the opposite effects. SKP1 strengthens YAP activity and knockdown of YAP abolished the effect of SKP1 on the stemness of colorectal cancer cells. SKP1 suppresses RASSF1 at both mRNA and protein levels and overexpression of RASSF1 abolished the effect of SKP1.Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that SKP1 suppresses RASSF1 at both mRNA and protein level, attenuates Hippo signaling, activates YAP, and thereby promoting the stemness of CRC cells. Our works thus revealed a novel underlying mechanism of CRC-SCs maintenance and suggested a novel drug target for eradicating CRC-SCs.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1833
Author(s):  
Tsai-Tsen Liao ◽  
Wei-Chung Cheng ◽  
Chih-Yung Yang ◽  
Yin-Quan Chen ◽  
Shu-Han Su ◽  
...  

Cell migration is critical for regional dissemination and distal metastasis of cancer cells, which remain the major causes of poor prognosis and death in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Although cytoskeletal dynamics and cellular deformability contribute to the migration of cancer cells and metastasis, the mechanisms governing the migratory ability of cancer stem cells (CSCs), a nongenetic source of tumor heterogeneity, are unclear. Here, we expanded colorectal CSCs (CRCSCs) as colonospheres and showed that CRCSCs exhibited higher cell motility in transwell migration assays and 3D invasion assays and greater deformability in particle tracking microrheology than did their parental CRC cells. Mechanistically, in CRCSCs, microRNA-210-3p (miR-210) targeted stathmin1 (STMN1), which is known for inducing microtubule destabilization, to decrease cell elasticity in order to facilitate cell motility without affecting the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) status. Clinically, the miR-210-STMN1 axis was activated in CRC patients with liver metastasis and correlated with a worse clinical outcome. This study elucidates a miRNA-oriented mechanism regulating the deformability of CRCSCs beyond the EMT process.


2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (5) ◽  
pp. 1262-1272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Mustapha ◽  
Aline Pinon ◽  
Youness Limami ◽  
Alain Simon ◽  
Kamel Ghedira ◽  
...  

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