Project description:Germline mutations in LKB1 (STK11) are associated with the Peutz–Jeghers syndrome (PJS), which includes aberrant mucocutaneous pigmentation, and somatic LKB1 mutations occur in 10% of cutaneous melanoma. By somatically inactivating Lkb1 with K-Ras activation (+/- p53 loss) in murine melanocytes, we observed variably pigmented and highly metastatic melanoma with 100% penetrance. LKB1 deficiency resulted in increased phosphorylation of the SRC-family kinase (SFK) YES and the subsequent expansion of a CD24+ cell population which showed increased metastatic behavior in vitro and in vivo relative to isogenic CD24- cells. These results suggest that LKB1 inactivation in the context of RAS activation facilitates metastasis by inducing a SFK-dependent expansion of a pro-metastatic, CD24+ tumor sub-population reference x sample
Project description:Germline mutations in LKB1 (STK11) are associated with the Peutz–Jeghers syndrome (PJS), which includes aberrant mucocutaneous pigmentation, and somatic LKB1 mutations occur in 10% of cutaneous melanoma. By somatically inactivating Lkb1 with K-Ras activation (+/- p53 loss) in murine melanocytes, we observed variably pigmented and highly metastatic melanoma with 100% penetrance. LKB1 deficiency resulted in increased phosphorylation of the SRC-family kinase (SFK) YES and the subsequent expansion of a CD24+ cell population which showed increased metastatic behavior in vitro and in vivo relative to isogenic CD24- cells. These results suggest that LKB1 inactivation in the context of RAS activation facilitates metastasis by inducing a SFK-dependent expansion of a pro-metastatic, CD24+ tumor sub-population
Project description:Analysis of gene expression in LKB1(Stk11)-depleted sciatic nerves (LKB1-SCKO) vs control nerves from age-matched mice. Gene expression profiles are predominantly derived from Schwann cell glia and provide important information about the response of peripheral nerve Schwann cells to inactivation of the metabolic regulator protein LKB1(aka Stk11). Total RNA obtained from sciatic nerve segments from 6 LKB1-SCKO mutant mice compared to RNA from nerve segments from 6 control mice (floxed LKB1 mutant mice that do not express Cre recombinase).
Project description:Analysis of gene expression in LKB1(Stk11)-depleted sciatic nerves (LKB1-SCKO) vs control nerves from age-matched mice. Gene expression profiles are predominantly derived from Schwann cell glia and provide important information about the response of peripheral nerve Schwann cells to inactivation of the metabolic regulator protein LKB1(aka Stk11).
Project description:Mutations in STK11/LKB1 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are associated with poor patient responses to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) and introduction of a Stk11/Lkb1 (L) mutation into murine lung adenocarcinomas driven by mutant Kras and Trp53 loss (KP) resulted in an ICB refractory syngeneic KPL tumor. Mechanistically this occurred because KPL mutant NSCLCs lacked TCF1-expressing CD8 T cells, a phenotype recapitulated in human STK11/LKB1 mutant NSCLCs. Systemic inhibition of Axl results in increased type I interferon secretion from dendritic cells that expanded tumor-associated TCF1+ PD-1+ CD8 T cells, restoring therapeutic response to PD-1 ICB for KPL tumors. This was observed in syngeneic immunocompetent mouse models and in humanized mice bearing STK11/LKB1 mutant NSCLC human tumor xenografts. NSCLC patients with identified STK11/LKB1 mutations receiving bemcentinib and pembrolizumab demonstrated objective clinical response to combination therapy. We conclude that AXL is a critical targetable driver of immune suppression in STK11/LKB1 mutant NSCLC.
Project description:STK11/LKB1 mutation is a primary driver for immunotherapy resistance. We employed KRAS/LKB1 syngeneic mouse models by injecting tumor cells with Kras mutation, Kras/Stk11 mutation and MCT4 knockout. We used single-cell RNA-seq to analyze the impact of LKB1 deficiency on the immune microenvironment.
Project description:STK11 (LKB1) missense somatic mutant isoforms promote tumor growth, motility and inflammation. Elucidating the contribution of somatic mutations to cancer is essential for personalized medicine. STK11 (LKB1) tumor suppressor appears to be inactivated in human cancer, however, somatic missense mutations also occur. Despite of our increased knowledge about LKB1 function, the role/s of these alterations in cancer are mostly unknown. Here, we investigated the contribution of four missense LKB1 somatic mutations in tumor biology. Three, out of the four mutants, lost their tumor suppressor capabilities and showed a deficient kinase activity. The remaining mutant conserved the enzymatic activity, but conferred an increased cell motility. Mechanistically, LKB1 mutants promoted the differential gene expression regulation of vesicle trafficking regulating molecules, adhesion molecules and cytokines, that correlated with the identified protein networks associated to the comparative secretome analysis. Notably, three mutant isoforms promoted tumor growth, and one of them induced inflammation and hemorrhagic tumors that correlated with the deregulated levels of cytokines. Altogether, our findings uncover oncogenic roles of LKB1 somatic mutations helping to understand their contribution to cancer.
Project description:We performed RNA-sequencing of mouse cells derived from colony forming assays (CFA) to evaluate the transcriptome of MPN cells with deletion of the tumor suppressor STK11/LKB1 and relative controls. The CFA are from mouse primary floxed STK11 hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) transduced with retroviruses encoding the MPN mutation MPLW515L and CRE recombinase to delete STK11.
Project description:The myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) frequently progress to blast phase disease, an aggressive form of acute myeloid leukemia. To identify genes that suppress disease progression, we performed a focused CRISPR/Cas9 screen and discovered that depletion of LKB1/Stk11 led to enhanced in vitro self-renewal of murine MPN cells. Deletion of Stk11 in a mouse MPN model caused rapid lethality with enhanced fibrosis, osteosclerosis, and an accumulation of immature cells in the bone marrow, as well as enhanced engraftment of primary human MPN cells in vivo. LKB1 loss was associated with increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species and stabilization of HIF1α, and downregulation of LKB1 and increased levels of HIF1α were observed in human blast phase MPN specimens. Of note, we observed strong concordance of pathways that were enriched in murine MPN cells with LKB1 loss with those enriched in blast phase MPN patient specimens, supporting the conclusion that STK11 is a tumor suppressor in the MPNs.
Project description:Metastasis is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, enabling cancer cells to expand to secondary tumor sites and compromise systemic organ function1. Given that primary tumors and metastases often share the same constellation of functional driver mutations2–4, the mechanisms driving their distinct phenotypes are unclear. Here, we show that inactivation of a frequently mutated tumor suppressor gene, liver kinase B1 (LKB1), has evolving effects throughout lung cancer progression, differentially re-programming the epigenetic landscape of early-stage primary tumors compared to late-stage metastases. By integrating genome-scale CRISPR/Cas9 screening with bulk and single-cell multi-omic analyses, we unexpectedly identify LKB1 as a master regulator of chromatin state in lung adenocarcinoma primary tumors. Using an in vivo model of metastatic progression, we further reveal that loss of LKB1 activates the early endoderm transcription factor SOX17 in metastases and metastatic-like sub-populations of cancer cells within primary tumors. SOX17 expression is both necessary and sufficient to drive a second wave of epigenetic changes in LKB1-deficient cells that enhances metastatic ability. Overall, our study demonstrates how the downstream effects of an individual driver mutation can change throughout cancer development, with implications for stage-specific therapeutic resistance mechanisms and the gene regulatory underpinnings of metastatic evolution.