Project description:Aberrant differentiation, driven by activation of normally silent tissue-specific genes, results in a switch of cell identity and often leads to cancer progression. The underlying genetic and epigenetic events are largely unexplored. Here, we report ectopic activation of the hepatobiliary-, intestinal- and neural-specific gene one cut homeobox 2 (ONECUT2) in various subtypes of lung cancer. ONECUT2 expression was associated with poor prognosis of RAS-driven lung adenocarcinoma. ONECUT2 overexpression promoted the malignant growth and invasion of A549 lung cancer cells in vitro, as well as xenograft tumorigenesis and bone metastases of these cells in vivo. Integrative transcriptomics and epigenomics analyses suggested that ONECUT2 promoted the trans-differentiation of lung cancer cells by preferentially targeting and regulating the activity of bivalent chromatin domains through modulating Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) occupancy. Our findings demonstrate that ONECUT2 is a lineage-specific and context-dependent oncogene in lung adenocarcinoma and suggest that ONECUT2 is a potential therapeutic target for these tumors.
Project description:41 lung adenocarcinoma from never-smokers hybridized on Illumina SNP arrays on 13 HumanCNV370-Quadv3 chips. High-resolution array comparative genomic hybridization analysis of lung adenocarcinoma in 41 never smokers for identification of new minimal common regions (MCR) of gain or loss. The SNP array analysis validated copy-number aberrations and revealed that RB1 and WRN were altered by recurrent copy-neutral loss of heterozygosity.The present study has uncovered new aberrations containing cancer genes. The oncogene FUS is a candidate gene in the 16p region that is frequently gained in never smokers. Multiple genetic pathways defined by gains of MYC, deletions of RB1 and WRN or gains on 7p and 7q are involved in lung adenocarcinoma in never smokers. A 'Cartes d'Identite des Tumeurs' (CIT) project from the French National League Against Cancer (http://cit.ligue-cancer.net) 41 samples hybridized on Illumina SNP arrays. Submitter : Fabien PETEL petelf@ligue-cancer.net . Project leader : Pr Pierre FOURET pierre.fouret@psl.aphp.fr
Project description:Although the expression of some long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), including MALAT1 (metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1), is predictive of metastasis, their impact and mechanism of action remain elusive. Here we use CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) to model MALAT1/Malat1 overexpression in patient-derived lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cell lines and in the autochthonous K-ras/p53 LUAD mouse model. The results indicate that Malat1 overexpression alone is sufficient to enable the progression of LUAD to metastatic disease. We show that overexpressed MALAT1/Malat1 enhances cell mobility and promotes the recruitment of pro-tumor macrophages to the tumor microenvironment through paracrine secretion of the CCL2/Ccl2 cytokine. We determine that Ccl2 upregulation results from an increase in global chromatin accessibility upon Malat1 overexpression. Importantly, macrophage depletion and Ccl2 blockade counteracted the effects of Malat1 overexpression. These data demonstrate that a single lncRNA can drive LUAD metastasis through reprogramming of the tumor microenvironment.
Project description:The AP-1 transcription factor c-Jun is required for Ras-driven tumorigenesis in many tissues. Surprisingly, we found that inactivation of c-Jun increased tumor burden in a model of K-RasG12D-induced lung adenocarcinoma.
Project description:During malignant disease progression, the extracellular matrix (ECM) of epithelial tumors accumulates inter-molecular cross-links between collagen strands; these cross-links enhance ECM stiffness and trigger tumor cell invasion and dissemination, but the mechanisms that regulate intra-tumoral collagen maturation have not been fully defined. Using a new mouse model of metastatic lung adenocarcinoma driven by mutant K-ras expression and Cdkn1a inactivation, we showed that tumor cell invasion and metastasis are driven by high expression of lysyl hydroxylase 2 (LH2), an enzyme that hydroxylates telomeric lysine (Lys) residues on collagen.
Project description:The aim of the study was to investigate gene expression tumour progression of KRas*/MYC driven lung tumours from adenocarcinoma in situ to invasive disease.