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MRNA sequencing of human colorectal cancer organoids

ABSTRACT: Given that colorectal cancer stem cells (CCSCs) play key roles in the tumor dormancy, metastasis and relapse, targeting CCSCs is a promising strategy in cancer therapy. Here, we aimed to identify new regulators of CCSCs and found that Cullin 4B (CUL4B), which possesses oncogenic properties in multiple solid tumors, drives the development and metastasis of colon cancer by sustaining cancer stem-like features. Elevated expression of CUL4B was confirmed in colon tumors and was associated with poor overall survival. Inhibition of CUL4B in cancer cell lines and patient-derived tumor organoids led to reduced sphere formation, proliferation and metastasis capacity. Mechanistically, CUL4B coordinates with PRC2 complex to repress miR34a expression, thus up-regulates oncogenes including MYCN and NOTCH1, which are targeted by miR34a. Mutation of miR34a binding sites in the 3'UTR of the oncogenes rescues the phenotype caused by CUL4B depletion. Significant correlations were found between expression of CUL4B and miR34a (negatively), miR34a target genes (positively) in clinical samples from colon cancer patients. Collectively, our work demonstrates that CUL4B functions to repress miR34a in maintaining cancer stemness in CRC and provides a potential therapeutic target.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE143505 | GEO | 2020/01/14

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Cullin 4B (CUL4B), a scaffold protein that assembles CRL4B ubiquitin ligase complexes, has been reported to be overexpressed in several types of solid tumors and contributes to epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor. However, its clinical significance and the molecular mechanisms underlying its regulation in gastric cancer (GC) remain largely unknown. Here, we showed that CUL4B was elevated in GC tissues and its overexpression was positively correlated with poor prognosis and lymph node metastasis. CUL4B knockdown in GC cells decreased proliferation, mesenchymal transition and invasion in vitro, as well as tumor growth and metastasis in nude mice, and CUL4B overexpression induced the opposite results. Further studies showed that miR-101 could inhibit CUL4B expression by directly targeting its 3’-UTR and they were inversely correlated in clinical GC specimens. Notably, a positive relationship between CUL4B and HER2 was found in GC clinical specimens, GC cells and GC xenograft tumors. Through bioinformatics analysis of miRNA-seq data and target prediction, we nominated miR-125a as a direct target of CUL4B. ChIP assays demonstrated that CUL4B directly repressed miR-125a expression by physically binding to its promoter. In addition, we confirmed miR-125a is the target of HER2. Consequently, we demonstrated that CUL4B can up-regulate HER2 expression through repressing miR-125a. Most importantly, silencing of HER2 by Herceptin or siRNA partially reversed CUL4B-induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), cell invasion and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. These findings define a CUL4B-miR-125a-HER2 regulatory mechanism shed light on CUL4B oncogenic mechanisms and reveals promising therapeutic targets for progressive GC. CUL4B proteins are frequently upregulated in human cancer, yet little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms of CUL4B induced gastric cancer(GC) carcigenesis.Here, we uncover the critical role of CUL4B in gastric cancer growth and metastasis through the regulation of HER2 expression.CUL4B contributes to GC invasion and metastasis by transcriptional repression of HER2 targeting miR-125a, which provide a new insight into how CUL4B regulates GC progression and metastasis.

Project description:Background & Aims: Hierarchical organization of intestine relies on their stem cells by self-renew and producing committed progenitors. Although signals like Wnt are known to animate the continued renewal by maintaining intestinal stem cells (ISCs) activity, molecular mechanisms especially E3 ubiquitin ligases that modulate ISCs ‘stemness’ and supportive niche have not been well understood. Here, we investigated the role of Cullin 4B (Cul4b) in regulating ISC functions. Methods: We generated mice with intestinal epithelial-specific disruption of Cul4b (pVillin-cre; Cul4bfn/Y), inducible disruption of Cul4b (Lgr5-creERT2; Cul4bfn/Y, CAG-creERT2; Cul4bfn/Y) and their control (Cul4bfn/Y). Intestinal tissues were analyzed by histology, immunofluorescence, RNA sequencing and mass spectrum. Intestinal organoids deprived from mice with pVillin-Cre; Cul4bfn/Y, Lgr5-Cre; Cul4bfn/Y, Tg-Cul4b and their controls were used in assays to measure intestinal self-renewal, proliferation and differentiation. Wnt signaling and intestinal markers were analyzed by immunofluorescence and immunoblot assays. Differential proteins upon Cul4b ablation or Cul4b-interacting proteins were identified by mass spectrometry. Results: Cul4b specifically located at ISCs zone. Block of Cul4b impaired intestinal homeostasis maintenance by reduced self-renewal and proliferation. Transcriptome analysis revealed that Cul4b-null intestine lose ISC characterization and showed disturbed ISC niche. Mechanistically, reactivated Wnt pathway could recover intestinal dysfunction of Cul4b knockout mice. Analysis of differential total and ubiquitylated proteins uncovered the novel targeting substrate of Cullin-Ring ubiquitin ligase 4b (CRL4b), immunity-related GTPase family M member 1 (Irgm1) in intestine. Decreased Irgm1 rescued abnormally interferon signaling, overemphasized autophagy and downstream phosphate proteins in Cul4b knockout mice. Conclusion: We conclude that Cul4b is essential for ISC self-renewal and Paneth cell function by targeting Irgm1 and modulating Wnt signaling. Our results demonstrate that Cul4b is a novel ISC stemness and niche regulator.

Project description:Liver metastasis is one of the major causes of death in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. To understand this process, we investigated whether the gene expression profiling of matched colorectal carcinomas and liver metastases could reveal key molecular events involved in tumor progression and metastasis. We performed experiments using a cDNA microarray containing 17,104 genes with the following tissue samples: paired tissues of 25 normal colorectal mucosa, 27 primary colorectal tumors, 13 normal liver and 27 liver metastasis, and 20 primary colorectal tumors without liver metastasis. To remove the effect of normal cell contamination, we selected 4,583 organ-specific genes with a false discovery rate (FDR) of 0.0067% by comparing normal colon and liver tissues using significant analysis of microarray, and these genes were excluded from further analysis. We then identified and validated 46 liver metastasis-specific genes with an accuracy of 83.3% by comparing the expression of paired primary colorectal tumors and liver metastases using prediction analysis of microarray. The 46 selected genes contained several known oncogenes and 2 ESTs. To confirm that the results correlated with the microarray expression patterns, we performed RT-PCR with WNT5A and carbonic anhydrase II. Additionally, we observed that 21 of the 46 genes were differentially expressed (FDR = 2.27%) in primary tumors with synchronous liver metastasis compared with primary tumors without liver metastasis. We scanned the human genome using a cDNA microarray and identified 46 genes that may play an important role in the progression of liver metastasis in CRC. Keywords: gene expression profiling using cDNA microarray We performed 17K cDNA microarray with the amplified RNAs from the following tissue samples: normal colorectal mucosa, primary colorectal tumors, normal liver and liver metastasis tumors, and primary colorectal tumors without liver metastasis. Organ-specific genes in normal colon and liver tissues were excluded from the pre-filtered genes, and then we discovered and validated liver metastasis-specific genes commonly up-regulated in the primary colorectal tumors and liver metastasis tumors. To confirm the microarray data, we performed a RT-PCR of two genes (WNT5A and carbonic anhydrase II) in the primary colorectal tumors with and without liver metastases.

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MRNA sequencing of human colorectal cancer organoids

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