Project description:The efficacy of immunotherapies in metastatic melanoma depends on a robust T cell infiltration. Consistently, defining cancer cell intrinsic mechanisms mediating T cell exclusion and immune resistance is crucial. The EMT inducing transcription factor ZEB1 is a major regulator of melanoma cell plasticity, driving resistance to MAPK targeted therapies. Here, by analyzing the immune infiltrates of a cohort of melanoma patients, we demonstrate that high ZEB1 expression in tumor cells is associated with a decrease in CD8+ T lymphocyte infiltration, independently of beta-catenin pathway activation. Moreover, gain- or loss-of-function experiments in melanoma mouse models show that ZEB1 regulates tumor growth by controlling CD8+ T cell recruitment, via its negative action on the production of T cell attracting chemokines, and that its targeting improves the efficacy of anti-PD1 immunotherapy. Overall, the major role of ZEB1 in preventing T cell infiltration suggests it may constitute a new target in metastatic melanoma.
Project description:Cell plasticity sustains intra-tumor heterogeneity and treatment resistance in melanoma. Deciphering the transcriptional mechanisms governing reversible phenotypic transitions between proliferative/differentiated and invasive/stem-like states is required. Expression of the ZEB1 transcription factor is frequently activated in melanoma, where it fosters adaptive resistance to targeted therapies. Here, we performed a genome-wide characterization of ZEB1 transcriptional targets, by combining ChIP-sequencing and RNA-sequencing, upon phenotype switching in melanoma models. We identified and validated ZEB1 binding peaks in the promoter of key lineage-specific genes crucial for melanoma cell identity. Mechanistically, ZEB1 negatively regulates SOX10-MITF dependent proliferative/melanocytic programs and positively regulates AP-1 driven invasive and stem-like programs. Comparative analyses with breast carcinoma cells revealed lineage-specific ZEB1 binding, leading to the design of a more reliable melanoma-specific ZEB1 regulon. We then developed single-cell spatial multiplexed analyses to characterize melanoma cell states intra-tumoral heterogeneity in human melanoma samples. Combined with scRNA-Seq analyses, our findings confirmed increased ZEB1 expression in Neural-Crest-like cells and mesenchymal cells, underscoring its significance in vivo in both populations. Overall, our results define ZEB1 as a major transcriptional regulator of cell states transitions and provide a better understanding of lineage-specific transcriptional programs sustaining intra-tumor heterogeneity in melanoma.
Project description:Cell plasticity sustains intra-tumor heterogeneity and treatment resistance in melanoma. Deciphering the transcriptional mechanisms governing reversible phenotypic transitions between proliferative/differentiated and invasive/stem-like states is required. Expression of the ZEB1 transcription factor is frequently activated in melanoma, where it fosters adaptive resistance to targeted therapies. Here, we performed a genome-wide characterization of ZEB1 transcriptional targets, by combining ChIP-sequencing and RNA-sequencing, upon phenotype switching in melanoma models. We identified and validated ZEB1 binding peaks in the promoter of key lineage-specific genes crucial for melanoma cell identity. Mechanistically, ZEB1 negatively regulates SOX10-MITF dependent proliferative/melanocytic programs and positively regulates AP-1 driven invasive and stem-like programs. Comparative analyses with breast carcinoma cells revealed lineage-specific ZEB1 binding, leading to the design of a more reliable melanoma-specific ZEB1 regulon. We then developed single-cell spatial multiplexed analyses to characterize melanoma cell states intra-tumoral heterogeneity in human melanoma samples. Combined with scRNA-Seq analyses, our findings confirmed increased ZEB1 expression in Neural-Crest-like cells and mesenchymal cells, underscoring its significance in vivo in both populations. Overall, our results define ZEB1 as a major transcriptional regulator of cell states transitions and provide a better understanding of lineage-specific transcriptional programs sustaining intra-tumor heterogeneity in melanoma.
Project description:To investigate the role of ZEB1 in chondrocytes, we transfected an overexpression vector containing cDNA for ZEB1 (Sino Biological; HG17705-UT) into TC28a2 cells using Lipofectamine 3000. We then performed DRUG-seq analysis to determine the impact of ZEB1 on global gene expression.
Project description:Highly invasive integrin and protease-independent amoeboid migration is often employed by cancer cells at the invasive front, though little is known about the transcriptomic changes underlying the switch to an amoeboid migratory mode. Using a metastatic melanoma cell line expressing photoconvertible Dendra2 protein (WM983c-D2), tumour spheroids were cultured in 3D collagen matrices and imaged over time. Spheroids grown from WM983c-D2 cells generate cells of three distinct phenotypes: 1) compact, non-invading cells organised at the spheroid surface with no visual cell protrusions, hereafter termed ‘epithelial’; 2) cells still attached to the spheroid periphery that have commenced tumour escape, exhibiting cellular protrusions and an elongated phenotype, hereafter termed ‘escaping’; 3) singly migrating cells exhibiting a rounded phenotype and no lamellipodia consistent with amoeboid cell migration, hereafter termed 'amoeboid'. Individual amoeboid and escaping cells, as well as groups of epithelial cells at the spheroid edge were photoconverted and single cell sorted via FACS following enzymatic digestion of the collagen matrix. 10 Epithelial, 12 escaping and 13 amoeboid cells were subjected to scRNA-seq and differential expression analyses in order to identify changes in gene expression as melanoma cells convert from a non-invasive epithelial state to invasive amoeboid cells.
Project description:Melanoma accounts for over 80% of skin cancer-related deaths and current therapies provide only short-term benefit to patients. Here, we show in melanoma cells that maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase (MELK) is transcriptionally upregulated by the MAP kinase pathway via transcription factor E2F1. MELK knockdown or pharmacological inhibition blocked melanoma growth and enhanced the effectiveness of BRAFV600E inhibitor against melanoma cells. To identify mediators of MELK function, we performed stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) and identified 469 proteins that had downregulated phosphorylation after MELK inhibition. Remarkably, 139 of these proteins were previously reported as substrates of BRAF or MEK, demonstrating that MELK is an important downstream mediator of the MAPK pathway. Furthermore, we show that MELK promotes melanoma growth by activating NF-B pathway activity via Sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1/p62). Collectively, these results underpin an important role for MELK in melanoma growth, downstream of the MAPK pathway.