AP-1 and TGFb-dependent transcriptomic changes in resistant basal cell carcinoma cell line
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Tumor heterogeneity and lack of knowledge about resistant cell states remain a significant barrier to effective targeted cancer therapies. Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) uniformly depend on Hedgehog (Hh)/Gli signaling for cell growth. We previously identified a nuclear myocardin-related transcription factor (nMRTF) resistance pathway that amplifies Gli1 activity, but nMRTF cell state and key factors driving its accumulation remain unknown. We have determined that AP-1 and TGFb transcription factor activity is essential to maintain MRTF activation. Here, we treat a murine BCC cell line with small molecule AP-1 and ALK5 inhibitors and analyze transcriptomic profiles.
Project description:Tumor heterogeneity and lack of knowledge about resistant cell states remain a significant barrier to effective targeted cancer therapies. Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) uniformly depend on Hedgehog (Hh)/Gli signaling for cell growth. We previously identified a nuclear myocardin-related transcription factor (nMRTF) resistance pathway that amplifies Gli1 activity, but nMRTF cell state and key factors driving its accumulation remain unknown. We have determined that AP-1 transcription factor activity is essential to maintain MRTF activation. Here, we treat a murine BCC cell line with small molecule AP-1 inhibitor and analyze chromatin accessibility profiles.
Project description:Tumor heterogeneity and lack of knowledge about resistant cell states remain a significant barrier to effective targeted cancer therapies. Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) uniformly depend on Hedgehog (Hh)/Gli signaling for cell growth. We previously identified a nuclear myocardin-related transcription factor (nMRTF) resistance pathway that amplifies Gli1 activity, but nMRTF cell state and key factors driving its accumulation remain unknown. Epigenetic analysis of isolated nMRTF human tumor subpopulations demonstrates that cooperative AP-1 and TGFß signaling drive nMRTF activation. In this study, we find that AP-1 signaling drives changes in chromatin accessibility leading to differential Smad3 DNA binding and a transcriptional program of upstream activators of Rho, including RhoGEFs, that facilitate nMRTF activity.
Project description:Tumor heterogeneity and lack of knowledge about resistant cell states remain a significant barrier to effective targeted cancer therapies. Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) uniformly depend on Hedgehog (Hh)/Gli signaling for cell growth. We previously identified a nuclear myocardin-related transcription factor (nMRTF) resistance pathway that amplifies Gli1 activity, but nMRTF cell state and key factors driving its accumulation remain unknown. Here, we use three surface markers (LYPD3, TACSTD2, and LY6D) to isolate the nMRTF subpopulation and analyze transcriptomic profiles.
Project description:Tumor heterogeneity and lack of knowledge about resistant cell states remain a significant barrier to effective targeted cancer therapies. Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) uniformly depend on Hedgehog (Hh)/Gli signaling for cell growth. We previously identified a nuclear myocardin-related transcription factor (nMRTF) resistance pathway that amplifies Gli1 activity, but nMRTF cell state and key factors driving its accumulation remain unknown. Here, we use three surface markers (LYPD3, TACSTD2, and LY6D) to isolate the nMRTF subpopulation and analyze chromatin accessibility profiles.
Project description:Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) rely on Hedgehog (HH) pathway growth signal amplification by the microtubule-based organelle, the primary cilium. Despite naïve tumors responsiveness to Smoothened inhibitors (Smoi), resistance in advanced tumors remains frequent. While the resistant BCCs usually maintain HH pathway activation, squamous cell carcinomas with Ras/MAPK pathway activation also arise, with the molecular basis of tumor type and pathway selection still obscure. Here we identify the primary cilium as a critical determinant controlling tumor pathway switching. Strikingly, Smoi-resistant BCCs possess an increased mutational load in ciliome genes, resulting in reduced primary cilia and HH pathway activation compared to naive or Gorlin patient BCCs. Gene set enrichment analysis of resistant BCCs with a low HH pathway signature reveals increased Ras/MAPK pathway activation. Tissue analysis confirms an inverse relationship between primary cilia presence and Ras/MAPK activation, and primary cilia removal in BCCs potentiates Ras/MAPK pathway activation. Moreover, activating Ras in HH-responsive cell lines confers resistance to both canonical (vismodegib) and non-canonical (aPKC and MRTF inhibitors) HH pathway inhibitors, while conferring sensitivity to MAPK inhibitors. Our results provide new insights into BCC treatment and identify the primary cilium as an important lineage gatekeeper, preventing HH to Ras/MAPK pathway switching.
Project description:Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) have relative genomic stability and relatively benign clinical behavior but whether these two are related causally is unknown. To investigate the effects of introducing genomic instability into murine BCCs, we have compared ionizing radiation-induced tumorigenesis in Ptch1+/- mice vs. that in Ptch1+/- mice carrying mutant Blm alleles. We found that BCCs in Ptch1+/- Blmtm3Brd/tm3Brd mice had a trend towards greater genomic instability as measured by array CGH and that these mice developed significantly more microscopic BCCs than did Ptch1+/- Blm+/tm3Brd or Ptch1+/- Blm+/+ mice. The mutant Blm alleles also markedly enhanced the formation of rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS), another cancer to which Ptch1+/- mice and PTCH1+/- (basal cell nevus syndrome) patients are susceptible. Highly recurrent but different copy number changes were associated with the two tumor types and included losses of chromosomes 4 and 10 in all BCCs and gain of chromosome 10 in 80% of RMSs. Loss of chromosome 11 and 13, including the Trp53 and Ptch1 loci respectively, occurred frequently in BCCs, suggesting tissue-specific selection for genes or pathways that collaborate with Ptch deficiency in tumorigenesis. Despite the quantitative differences, there was no dramatic qualitative difference in the BCC or RMS tumors associated with the mutant Blm genotype. We investigated the effect of Blm deficiency on ionizing radiation-induced basal cell carcinoma and rhabdomyosarcoma tumorigenesis in Ptch1+/- mice. Six BCC and five RMS samples were obtained from separate mice. Liver tissue from each mouse was used as the normal reference.
Project description:Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC) including basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are more common kinds of skin cancer. Although these tumors share common pathological and clinical features, their similarity and heterogeneity at molecular levels are not fully elaborated yet. Here, by performing comparative analysis of gene expression profiling of BCC, SCC, and normal skin tissues, we could classify the BCC into three subtypes of classical, SCC-like, and normal-like BCCs. Functional enrichment and pathway analyses revealed the molecular characteristics of each subtype. The analysis of gene expression profiling among non-melanoma skin cancer types
Project description:Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC) including basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are more common kinds of skin cancer. Although these tumors share common pathological and clinical features, their similarity and heterogeneity at molecular levels are not fully elaborated yet. Here, by performing comparative analysis of gene expression profiling of BCC, SCC, and normal skin tissues, we could classify the BCC into three subtypes of classical, SCC-like, and normal-like BCCs. Functional enrichment and pathway analyses revealed the molecular characteristics of each subtype.
Project description:The molecular mechanisms that regulate breast cancer cell (BCC) metastasis and proliferation within the leptomeninges (LM) are poorly understood, limiting development of effective therapies. Here we show that BCCs in mice can invade the LM by abluminal migration along blood vessels that connect vertebral/calvarial bone marrow and meninges, bypassing the blood-brain barrier. This process is dependent on BCC engagement with vascular basement membrane laminin through expression of the neuronal pathfinding molecule integrin α6. Once in the LM, BCCs co-localize with perivascular meningeal macrophages and induce their expression of the pro-survival neurotrophin, GDNF. Intrathecal GDNF blockade, macrophage-specific GDNF ablation, or deletion of the GDNF receptor, NCAM, from BCCs, inhibit BC growth within LM. Here, we performed RNA-seq analysis of GDNF-treated and/or anti-NCAM1-treated EO771-tdT-LM2 cells under glucose-deprived media treatment.
Project description:Chemokine signaling is important for the seeding of different sites by hematopoietic stem cells during development. Serum Response Factor (SRF) controls multiple genes governing adhesion and migration, mainly by recruiting members of the Myocardin-Related Transcription Factor (MRTF) family of G-actin regulated cofactors. We used vav-iCre to inactivate MRTF-SRF signaling early during hematopoietic development. In both Srf- and Mrtf-deleted animals, hematopoiesis in fetal liver and spleen is intact, but does not become established in fetal bone marrow. Srf-null HSC/Ps (hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells) fail to effectively engraft in transplantation experiments, exhibiting normal proximal signaling responses to SDF-1, but reduced adhesiveness, F-actin assembly, and reduced motility. Srf-null HSC/Ps fail to polarise in response to SDF-1, and cannot migrate through restrictive membrane pores to SDF-1 or Scf in vitro. Mrtf-null HSC/Ps were also defective in chemotactic responses to SDF-1. MRTF-SRF signaling is thus critical for the response to chemokine signaling during hematopoietic development. Strand specific RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in sorted WT and SRF deleted LSK cells with or without a 30 minute SDF stimulation and validation by qRT-PCR