Project description:The WNT-TCF signaling pathway participates in adult tissue homeostasis and repair, and is hyperactive in a number of human diseases including cancers of the colon. Whereas to date there are no antagonists approved for patient use, a potential problem for their sustained use is the blockade of WNT signaling in healthy tissues, thus provoking potentially serious co-lateral damage. Here we have screened a library of plant and microorganism small molecules for novel WNT signaling antagonists and describe withanolide F as a potent WNT-TCF response blocker. This steroidal lactone inhibits TCF-dependent colon cancer xenograft growth and mimics the effects of genetic blockade of TCF and of ivermectin, a previously reported WNT-TCF blocker. However, withanolide F is unique in that it imposes a long-lasting repression of tumor growth, WNT-TCF targets and cancer stem cell clonogenicity long after drug treatment
Project description:During canonical Wnt signalling the activity of nuclear beta-catenin is largely mediated by the TCF/LEF family of transcription factors. To challenge this view we used the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing approach to generate HEK 293T cell clones simultaneously carrying loss-of-function alleles of all four TCF/LEF genes. Exploiting unbiased whole transcriptome sequencing studies, we found that a subset of beta-catenin transcriptional targets did not require TCF/LEF factors for their regulation. Consistent with this finding, we observed in a genome-wide analysis that beta-catenin occupied specific genomic regions in the absence of TCF/LEF. Finally, we revealed the existence of a transcriptional activity of beta-catenin that specifically appears when TCF/LEF factors are absent, and refer to this as beta-catenin-GHOST response. Collectively, this study uncovers a previously neglected modus operandi of beta-catenin that bypasses the TCF/LEF transcription factors.
Project description:During canonical Wnt signalling the activity of nuclear beta-catenin is largely mediated by the TCF/LEF family of transcription factors. To challenge this view we used the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing approach to generate HEK 293T cell clones simultaneously carrying loss-of-function alleles of all four TCF/LEF genes. Exploiting unbiased whole transcriptome sequencing studies, we found that a subset of beta-catenin transcriptional targets did not require TCF/LEF factors for their regulation. Consistent with this finding, we observed in a genome-wide analysis that beta-catenin occupied specific genomic regions in the absence of TCF/LEF. Finally, we revealed the existence of a transcriptional activity of beta-catenin that specifically appears when TCF/LEF factors are absent, and refer to this as beta-catenin-GHOST response. Collectively, this study uncovers a previously neglected modus operandi of beta-catenin that bypasses the TCF/LEF transcription factors.
Project description:Dysregulation of Wnt/TCF signaling is closely associated with cancers arising from the gastrointestinal tract, inlcluding colon cancer and liver cancer. The goal of this study is to understand the transcriptional programs underlying Wnt/TCF activation in gastrointestinal cancers. We examined the transcriptional responses to TCF inhibition in cultured human colon cancer cells and liver cancer cells that are characteristic of Wnt pathway activation. Human liver cancer cell line HepG2 and colon cancer cell line LS174T with or without expression of a dominant negative form of TCF4
Project description:Dysregulation of Wnt/TCF signaling is closely associated with cancers arising from the gastrointestinal tract, inlcluding colon cancer and liver cancer. The goal of this study is to understand the transcriptional programs underlying Wnt/TCF activation in gastrointestinal cancers. We examined the transcriptional responses to TCF inhibition in cultured human colon cancer cells and liver cancer cells that are characteristic of Wnt pathway activation.
Project description:To assay Tcf functions during early cardiopharyngeal specification, bulk RNAseq were performed to profile the FACS-purified cardiopharyngeal lineage cells isolated from 15 and 18hpf Ciona larvae with CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Tcf mutagenesis.
Project description:The microarray gene expression analysis revealed that TCF-4 isoforms activate different downstream target genes in HCC. TCF-4J upregulated genes associated with Wnt/beta-catenin, Notch, and insulin/IGF-1/IRS1 signal transduction pathway.