Project description:The oncogenic potential of cancer-associated genetic alterations displays strong tissue-selectivity, the origins of which remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the lineage transcription factor PAX8 is essential for oncogenic signaling downstream of the most common genetic alterations causing clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Through interaction at a distal enhancer element PAX8 facilitates CCND1 expression by HIF2A, an oncogenic driver that is genetically activated due to VHL loss in ~90% of ccRCCs. PAX8 binding at this enhancer which mediates HIF2A-dependent ccRCC formation is inhibited by the common ccRCC protective allele C at rs7948643. In addition, PAX8 supports MYC expression in ccRCC through HNF1B, another renal lineage factor. Transcriptional lineage factors are thus critical determinants of the tissue-specific cancer risk associated with somatic and inherited genetic variants. Our data also suggest that lineage factors could be targeted for therapeutic inhibition of canonical oncogenic drivers such as MYC and CCND1.
Project description:The oncogenic potential of cancer-associated genetic alterations displays strong tissue-selectivity, the origins of which remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the lineage transcription factor PAX8 is essential for oncogenic signaling downstream of the most common genetic alterations causing clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Through interaction at a distal enhancer element PAX8 facilitates CCND1 expression by HIF2A, an oncogenic driver that is genetically activated due to VHL loss in ~90% of ccRCCs. PAX8 binding at this enhancer which mediates HIF2A-dependent ccRCC formation is inhibited by the common ccRCC protective allele C at rs7948643. In addition, PAX8 supports MYC expression in ccRCC through HNF1B, another renal lineage factor. Transcriptional lineage factors are thus critical determinants of the tissue-specific cancer risk associated with somatic and inherited genetic variants. Our data also suggest that lineage factors could be targeted for therapeutic inhibition of canonical oncogenic drivers such as MYC and CCND1.
Project description:The oncogenic potential of cancer-associated genetic alterations displays strong tissue-selectivity, the origins of which remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the lineage transcription factor PAX8 is essential for oncogenic signaling downstream of the most common genetic alterations causing clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Through interaction at a distal enhancer element PAX8 facilitates CCND1 expression by HIF2A, an oncogenic driver that is genetically activated due to VHL loss in ~90% of ccRCCs. PAX8 binding at this enhancer which mediates HIF2A-dependent ccRCC formation is inhibited by the common ccRCC protective allele C at rs7948643. In addition, PAX8 supports MYC expression in ccRCC through HNF1B, another renal lineage factor. Transcriptional lineage factors are thus critical determinants of the tissue-specific cancer risk associated with somatic and inherited genetic variants. Our data also suggest that lineage factors could be targeted for therapeutic inhibition of canonical oncogenic drivers such as MYC and CCND1.
Project description:The oncogenic potential of cancer-associated genetic alterations displays strong tissue-selectivity, the origins of which remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the lineage transcription factor PAX8 is essential for oncogenic signaling downstream of the most common genetic alterations causing clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Through interaction at a distal enhancer element PAX8 facilitates CCND1 expression by HIF2A, an oncogenic driver that is genetically activated due to VHL loss in ~90% of ccRCCs. PAX8 binding at this enhancer which mediates HIF2A-dependent ccRCC formation is inhibited by the common ccRCC protective allele C at rs7948643. In addition, PAX8 supports MYC expression in ccRCC through HNF1B, another renal lineage factor. Transcriptional lineage factors are thus critical determinants of the tissue-specific cancer risk associated with somatic and inherited genetic variants. Our data also suggest that lineage factors could be targeted for therapeutic inhibition of canonical oncogenic drivers such as MYC and CCND1.
Project description:As shown by large-scale human genetic data, cancer mutations display strong tissue-selectivity, but how this selectivity arises remains unclear. Here, using experimental models, functional genomics and analysis of patient samples, we demonstrate that the lineage transcription factor paired box 8 (PAX8) is required for oncogenic signalling by two common clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC)-causing genetic alterations in humans: the germline variant rs7948643 at 11q13.3 and somatic inactivation of the von Hippel-Lindau tumour suppressor (VHL). VHL loss, observed in ~90% of ccRCCs, can lead to hypoxia-inducible factor 2 alpha (HIF2A) stabilization. We show that HIF2A is preferentially recruited to PAX8-bound transcriptional enhancers, including a pro-tumorigenic cyclin D1 (CCND1) enhancer that is controlled by PAX8 and HIF2A. The ccRCC protective allele C at rs7948643 inhibits PAX8 binding at this enhancer and downstream activation of CCND1 expression. Co-option of a PAX8-dependent physiological programme that supports proliferation of normal renal epithelial cells is also required for MYC expression from the ccRCC metastasis-associated amplicons at 8q21.3-q24.3. These results demonstrate that transcriptional lineage factors are essential for the expression of canonical oncogenes and they mediate tissue-specific cancer risk associated with somatic and inherited genetic variants