The Hippo pathway origin and its oncogenic alteration in evolution

The Hippo pathway is a central regulator of organ size and a key tumor suppressor via coordinating cell proliferation and death. Initially discovered in Drosophila, the Hippo pathway has been implicated as an evolutionarily conserved pathway in mammals; however, how this pathway was evolved to be functional from its origin is still largely unknown. In this study, we traced the Hippo pathway in premetazoan species, characterized the intrinsic functions of its ancestor components, and unveiled the evolutionary history of this key signaling pathway from its unicellular origin. In addition, we elucidated the paralogous gene history for the mammalian Hippo pathway components and characterized their cancer-derived somatic mutations from an evolutionary perspective. Taken together, our findings not only traced the conserved function of the Hippo pathway to its unicellular ancestor components, but also provided novel evolutionary insights into the Hippo pathway organization and oncogenic alteration.

Unicellular or multicellular origin of human granulocyte-macrophage colonies in vitro

The assumption that human granulocyte-macrophage colonies have a unicellular origin and thus are true clones has been directly tested. Cells from seven females heterozygous for the common glucose-6- phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) gene (GdB) and the variant GdA were cultured in semisolid medium for granulocyte-macrophage colony growth and the enzyme type of individual colonies was determined. When the colony density was less than 20/dish, more than 95% of colonies had either type A or type B G-6-PD, but not both. At colony densities greater than 30/dish, between 15% and 75% of colonies had both enzyme types and therefore arose from more than one cell. These results are consistent with a unicellular origin for the colonies only when they are cultured at low densities. With increasing colony density, there was a greater frequency of colonies with both type A and type B activity, suggesting that accurate enumeration of committed stem cells can only be performed at low colony concentrations.

Unicellular or multicellular origin of human granulocyte-macrophage colonies in vitro

The assumption that human granulocyte-macrophage colonies have a unicellular origin and thus are true clones has been directly tested. Cells from seven females heterozygous for the common glucose-6- phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) gene (GdB) and the variant GdA were cultured in semisolid medium for granulocyte-macrophage colony growth and the enzyme type of individual colonies was determined. When the colony density was less than 20/dish, more than 95% of colonies had either type A or type B G-6-PD, but not both. At colony densities greater than 30/dish, between 15% and 75% of colonies had both enzyme types and therefore arose from more than one cell. These results are consistent with a unicellular origin for the colonies only when they are cultured at low densities. With increasing colony density, there was a greater frequency of colonies with both type A and type B activity, suggesting that accurate enumeration of committed stem cells can only be performed at low colony concentrations.

IMMUNOGLOBULIN AND GLUCOSE-6-PHOSPHATE DEHYDROGENASE AS MARKERS OF CELLULAR ORIGIN IN BURKITT LYMPHOMA

Two independent marker systems, G-6-PD isoenzymes and cell membrane-associated IgM, were used to trace the cellular origin of Burkitt lymphoma. Application of the G-6-PD system is dependent upon the fact that, in accordance with inactivity of one X chromosome in each somatic cell, females heterozygous for the usual B gene (GdB) at the X-linked G-6-PD locus and the variant allele GdA (or GdA-) have two types of cells. GdB is active in one cell population, which consequently produces B type enzyme; in the other population GdA is active, producing the variant A enzyme. Therefore, tumors with a clonal origin in a GdB/GdA heterozygote should exhibit only one enzyme type (B or A) whereas those with multicellular origin may show both A and B enzymes. Utilization of the immunoglobulin system is based upon the supposition that in lymphoid neoplasms with clonal origin either all or none of the tumor cells should have surface-associated IgM and κ-reactivities. 33 of 34 relatively homogeneous (with respect to content of neoplastic cells) individual Burkitt tumors from 19 G-6-PD heterozygotes had single enzyme phenotypes. Similarly, of 95 tumors tested, 92 consisted essentially of IgM(+) or (-) cells. Two neoplasms could not be definitely classified and one tumor had two cell populations. These data suggest a clonal origin for most Burkitt tumors, but the one neoplasm with a double G-6-PD phenotype (A/B) and the one tumor that had two populations of cells with respect to surface IgM, could have originated from multiple cells. G-6-PD was determined in each of two tumors from seven heterozygotes and in all cases both tumors had the same single enzyme phenotype. Surface-associated IgM was tested in four tumors from one patient, three from another, and in two neoplasms from 11 patients. With one exception, all tumors from the same patient were concordant with respect to IgM. These findings suggest that the entire disease has a clonal origin, i.e., it emerges at one focus and then spreads to other parts of the body. Cells from 36 recurrent neoplasms were typed for G-6-PD (in heterozygotes) and/or IgM. In one previously reported patient, initial and recurrent tumors were discordant for G-6-PD. Two other patients had IgM phenotypes in recurrences that were discordant with those found in their initial tumors. Phenotypes from three of nine relapses which occurred after 5 mo were discordant for G-6-PD or IgM but no discordance was detected among 27 earlier recurrences. Thus, some "late" recurrences may be due to emergence of "new" maligant cell lines whereas most early relapses are due to reemergence of the original malignant clones. The probable unicellular origin of Burkitt lymphoma and the findings in tumor recurrences are discussed in terms of the disease's putative viral etiology.