Functional loss of ATRX and telomerase activates Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT)
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PROVIDER: PRJNA531393 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
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Project description:The presence of ALT is strongly associated with recurrent cancer-specific somatic inactivating mutations in the ATRX-DAXX chromatin remodeling complex. Here, we generate an ALT-positive adenocarcinoma cell line following functional inactivation of ATRX and telomerase in a telomerase-positive carcinoma cell line.
2019-09-25 | GSE129448 | GEO
Project description:DNA microarrays were used to define the transcriptional profiles of tumor samples to compare 12 high-grade pediatric osteosarcoma tumor samples on their ALT and ATRX status.
2022-07-12 | E-MTAB-11743 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) supports telomere maintenance and replicative immortality in around 10-15% of cancers, thus representing a compelling target for therapy.To identify anti-cancer drugs that can be repurposed as ALT-centered therapies, we performed for a compound library screen on isogenic cell lines that rely either on telomerase or ALT mechanisms. We validated candidates on a panel of ALT- vs. telomerase-positive sarcoma cells and assessed levels of extrachromosomal telomeric C-circles after drug treatment, as a bona fide marker of ALT activity. We identified a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor ponatinib that deregulated ALT mechanisms, increased telomeric replicative stress and induced telomeric dysfunction in ALT cells. Using a model of ALT sarcoma xenografts, we found that ponatinib targeted ALT-positive cells and mitigated telomere elongation in these tumors. To identify the mode of action of ponatinib on ALT, we performed RNA-sequencing and quantitative proteomic and phosphoproteomic analyses, and shortlisted candidates to test the effect of their loss on telomeric C-circle levels. We identified an ABL1-JNK-JUN signalling circuit to be inhibited by ponatinib and to have a role in suppressing extrachromosomal telomeric C-circle formation. Furthermore, transcriptome and interactome analyses of JUN suggested a role of JUN in DNA damage repair pathways, independently of its capacity as a transcription factor. These results were corroborated by new synergistic drug interactions between ponatinib and either DNA synthesis or repair inhibitors such as triciribine and KU-60019, respectively. Overall, we identified a novel signalling pathway impacting ALT which can be targeted by a clinically approved kinase inhibitor.
2022-03-14 | PXD032188 | Pride
Project description:Alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) supports telomere maintenance and replicative immortality in around 10-15% of cancers, thus representing a compelling target for therapy.To identify anti-cancer drugs that can be repurposed as ALT-centered therapies, we performed for a compound library screen on isogenic cell lines that rely either on telomerase or ALT mechanisms. We validated candidates on a panel of ALT- vs. telomerase-positive sarcoma cells and assessed levels of extrachromosomal telomeric C-circles after drug treatment, as a bona fide marker of ALT activity. We identified a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor ponatinib that deregulated ALT mechanisms, increased telomeric replicative stress and induced telomeric dysfunction in ALT cells. Using a model of ALT sarcoma xenografts, we found that ponatinib targeted ALT-positive cells and mitigated telomere elongation in these tumors. To identify the mode of action of ponatinib on ALT, we performed RNA-sequencing and quantitative proteomic and phosphoproteomic analyses, and shortlisted candidates to test the effect of their loss on telomeric C-circle levels. We identified an ABL1-JNK-JUN signalling circuit to be inhibited by ponatinib and to have a role in suppressing extrachromosomal telomeric C-circle formation. Furthermore, transcriptome and interactome analyses of JUN suggested a role of JUN in DNA damage repair pathways, independently of its capacity as a transcription factor. These results were corroborated by new synergistic drug interactions between ponatinib and either DNA synthesis or repair inhibitors such as triciribine and KU-60019, respectively. Overall, we identified a novel signalling pathway impacting ALT which can be targeted by a clinically approved kinase inhibitor.
2023-02-20 | PXD037501 | Pride
Project description:<p>Many tumors maintain chromosome ends through a telomerase-independent, homologous recombination based mechanism called alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT). While ALT occurs in only a subset of tumors, it is strongly associated with mutations in the genes encoding components of the histone H3.3 chaperone complex, ATRX and DAXX. To date the mechanistic role of ATRX and particularly DAXX mutations in potentiating ALT remains poorly understood. We identify an osteosarcoma cell line, G292, with a unique chromosomal translocation resulting in loss of DAXX function, while retaining functional ATRX. Using this distinctive resource, we demonstrate that introduction of wild type DAXX suppresses the ALT phenotype and restores localization of the ATRX/DAXX complex to PML bodies. This provides the first direct molecular evidence that ongoing DAXX deficiency is essential for maintenance of the ALT phenotype and highlights the potential for therapeutic targeting of this oncogenic pathway.</p>
| phs001495 | dbGaP
Project description:Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) is an aberrant DNA recombination pathway which grants replicative immortality to approximately 10% of all cancers. Despite this high prevalence of ALT in cancer, the mechanism and genetics by which cells activate this pathway remain incompletely understood. A major challenge in dissecting the events that initiate ALT is the extremely low frequency of ALT induction in human cell systems. Guided by the genetic lesions that have been associated with ALT from cancer sequencing studies, we genetically engineered primary human pluripotent stem cells to deterministically induce ALT upon differentiation. Using this genetically defined system, we demonstrate that disruption of the p53 and Rb pathways in combination with ATRX loss-of-function is sufficient to induce all hallmarks of ALT and results in functional immortalization in a cell type-specific manner. We further demonstrate that ALT can be induced in the presence of telomerase, is neither dependent on telomere shortening nor crisis, but is rather driven by continuous telomere instability triggered by the induction of differentiation in ATRX-deficient stem cells.
2023-02-21 | GSE212809 | GEO
Project description:The up-regulation of a telomere maintenance mechanism (TMM) is an essential step in cancer progression to escape dysfunctional telomeres, senescence and apoptosis. Paediatric brain tumors frequently exhibit Alternative Lengthening of Telomere (ALT) as active TMM, but the mechanisms involved in the induction of ALT in brain tumor cells are not clear. Here, we report a model of juvenile zebrafish brain tumor that progressively develops ALT. We discovered that reduced expression of tert and increase in Terra expression precedes ALT development. Additionally, tumors show persistent telomeric DNA damage and loss of heterochromatin marks. Comparative analysis of gene expression after the rescue of ALT with telomerase and analysis of telomerase positive paediatric brain cancers showed normalization of telomeric heterochromatin and maintenance of telomere length, with reduced expression of genes of the pre-replicative complex as hallmark. Thus our study identifies telomere maintenance mechanisms as major drivers of DNA replication and chromatin status at telomeres in brain cancers.
2022-07-01 | GSE134135 | GEO
Project description:A gene expression signature classifying telomerase and ALT immortalisation reveals an hTERT regulatory network and suggests a mesenchymal stem cell origin for ALT Telomere length is maintained by 2 known mechanisms, activation of telomerase or alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT). The molecular mechanisms regulating the ALT phenotype are poorly understood and it is unknown how the decision of which pathway to activate is made at the cellular level. We have shown previously that active repression of telomerase gene expression by chromatin remodelling of the promoters is one mechanism of regulation, however other genes and signalling networks are likely to be required to regulate telomerase and maintain the ALT phenotype. Using gene expression profiling we have uncovered a signature of 1305 genes to distinguish telomerase positive and ALT cell lines. By combining this with gene expression profiles of liposarcoma tissue samples we refined this signature to 297 genes significantly associated with telomere maintenance mechanism. Network analysis of known direct interactions between genes within this signature revealed a regulatory signalling network consistent with a model of hTERT repression in ALT cell lines and liposarcomas. This network expands on our existing knowledge of hTERT regulation and provides a platform to understand differential regulation of hTERT in different tumour types and normal tissues. In addition we show evidence to suggest a novel mesenchymal stem cell origin for ALT immortalisation in cell lines and mesenchymal tissues. Keywords: cell type comparison, gene expression
2009-11-02 | GSE14487 | GEO
Project description:A gene expression signature classifying telomerase and ALT immortalisation reveals an hTERT regulatory network and suggests a mesenchymal stem cell origin for ALT Telomere length is maintained by 2 known mechanisms, activation of telomerase or alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT). The molecular mechanisms regulating the ALT phenotype are poorly understood and it is unknown how the decision of which pathway to activate is made at the cellular level. We have shown previously that active repression of telomerase gene expression by chromatin remodelling of the promoters is one mechanism of regulation, however other genes and signalling networks are likely to be required to regulate telomerase and maintain the ALT phenotype. Using gene expression profiling we have uncovered a signature of 1305 genes to distinguish telomerase positive and ALT cell lines. By combining this with gene expression profiles of liposarcoma tissue samples we refined this signature to 297 genes significantly associated with telomere maintenance mechanism. Network analysis of known direct interactions between genes within this signature revealed a regulatory signalling network consistent with a model of hTERT repression in ALT cell lines and liposarcomas. This network expands on our existing knowledge of hTERT regulation and provides a platform to understand differential regulation of hTERT in different tumour types and normal tissues. In addition we show evidence to suggest a novel mesenchymal stem cell origin for ALT immortalisation in cell lines and mesenchymal tissues. Keywords: cell type comparison, gene expression
2009-11-02 | GSE14529 | GEO
Project description:Replicative senescence forms a major barrier to tumor progression. Cancer cells bypass this by using one of the two known telomere maintenance mechanisms: telomerase or the recombination-based alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) mechanism. The molecular details of ALT are currently poorly understood. We have previously shown that telomerase is actively repressed through complex networks of kinase, gene expression, and chromatin regulation. In this study, we aimed to gain further understanding of the role of kinases in the regulation of telomerase expression in ALT cells. Using a whole human kinome siRNA screen, we highlighted 106 kinases whose expression is linked to hTERT promoter activity. Network modeling of transcriptional regulation implicated c-Myc as a key regulator of the 106 kinase hits. Given our previous observations of lower c-Myc activity in ALT cells, we further explored its potential to regulate telomerase expression in ALT. We found increased c-Myc binding at the hTERT promoter in telomerase-positive compared with ALT cells, although no expression differences in c-Myc, Mad, or Max were observed between ALT and telomerase-positive cells that could explain decreased c-Myc activity in ALT. Instead, we found increased expression of the c-Myc competitive inhibitor TCEAL7 in ALT cells and tumors and that alteration of TCEAL7 expression levels in ALT and telomerase-positive cells affects hTERT expression. Lower c-Myc activity in ALT may therefore be obtained through TCEAL7 regulation. Thus, TCEAL7 may present an interesting novel target for cancer therapy, which warrants further investigation.
2010-05-04 | GSE17118 | GEO