Project description:We report the in vivo androgen receptor (AR) binding sites in murine prostate, epididymis and kidney in response to physiological androgen testosterone using ChIP-sequencing and gene expression profiling by microarray. From AR cistrome analysis, we identified tissue-specific collaborating factors i.e. FoxA1 in prostate, Hnf4a in kidney and AP2a in epididymis and validated by ChIP-seq. The ChIP experiments have been performed using antibodies specific to AR, FoxA1, Hnf4a, AP-2a and IgG non-specific antibody as a negative control. Examination of AR binding sites in murine androgen-responsive tissues prostate, epididymis and kidney using ChIP-seq. Further analysis of AR cistromes led to identification of tissue-specific collaborating factors and these collaborating factors are validated by ChIP-seq from the same tissues. Two parallel IgG samples were sequenced, merged together and used as a control data set. Parallel ChIP-seq samples were sequenced and merged for each replicate wherever required to contain approximately the same amount of reads across all tissues and conditions. All ChIP-seq experiments are performed in biological duplicates except for the castrated conditions.
Project description:Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the sixth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Emerging evidence suggests that the androgen receptor (AR) is involved in ESCC tumorigenesis. However, how AR exerts its genomic functions in ESCC remains unknown. Here, by defining AR cistromes and analyzing androgen-regulated transcriptomes, we find that AR downregulates the majority of its target genes in ESCC cells. We further find that the pioneer factor GATA3 governs AR-repressed transcription by recruiting SMRT/HDAC3 co-repressors to target gene loci. Importantly, genetic inhibition of GATA3 or pharmacological inhibition of AR/HDAC3 relieves AR-mediated gene repression, leading to ESCC cell growth inhibition in vitro and in vivo. Our findings reveal molecular mechanisms underlying the oncogenomic function of AR in ESCC and identify the GATA3-directed AR transcriptional repression program as a therapeutic target for ESCC.
Project description:Despite recent advances in the treatment of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC), clinical outcome remains poor. Previous evidence linked the pioneer transcription factor FOXA1 as a mediator of new regulatory elements that drive tumour progression in models of late-stage disease. Given the critical role of FOXA1 as a pioneer factor for nuclear receptor (NR) transcription factors (TF) in breast and prostate cancer (Estrogen Receptor and Androgen Receptor), we hypothesised that FOXA1 might function with a NR in PDAC (1) (2). Using RIME, our unbiased approach for discovering endogenous protein complexes, we identified HNF4A and HNF4G as reproducible, FOXA1-associated proteins, a finding that was validated in clinical samples of PDAC. Using complex and diverse PDAC models, we show that gene transcription in the classical subtype of pancreatic cancer is regulated by FOXA1/GATA5/6 and HNF4G. We show that HNF4G drives primary disease, in part by recruiting the methyltransferase PRMT1 to regulatory regions. In primary tumour context, HNF4G is the dominant protein and the presence of HNF4G masks FOXA1 activity, resulting in FOXA1 being present, but functionally redundant in primary disease. During transition to metastasis however, HNF4G expression decreases, which unmasks FOXA1 activity, where it becomes transcriptionally active and a subsequent driver of metastasis. We provide new molecular insight into the key TFs in PDAC and the stage-specific activity of these proteins.
Project description:The nucleosome is a fundamental unit of chromatin in eukaryotes, and generally prevents the binding of transcription factors to genomic DNA. Pioneer transcription factors overcome the nucleosome barrier, and bind their target DNA sequences in chromatin. OCT4 is a representative pioneer transcription factor that plays a role in stem cell pluripotency. In the present study, we biochemically analyzed the nucleosome binding by OCT4. Crosslinking mass spectrometry showed that OCT4 binds the nucleosome.
Project description:Androgen receptor (AR) drives prostate cancer (CaP) even after androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) failed. Inhibiting AR’s transcription factor function to overcome acquired resistance to ADT is an attractive therapeutic avenue. However, which AR-coregulator interaction should be targeted is not clear, AR-coregulator complex higher order structures and stoichiometry are unknown, and how manipulating AR-coregulator interactions impacts the AR cistrome is not understood. Here, we examine interactions between AR and WD repeat 77 (WDR77, non-catalytic component of the methylosome complex), which are enriched in ADT-resistant CaP and mediate CaP cell survival. We performed CUT&RUN assays defined AR and WDR77 cistromes, the WDR77-dependence of the AR cistrome and the overlap between the AR and WDR77 cistromes in CaP cells.
Project description:Transcription factors are among the most attractive therapeutic targets but are considered largely undruggable. Here we provide evidence that small molecule-mediated partitioning of the androgen receptor, an oncogenic transcription factor, into phase-separated condensates has therapeutic effect in prostate cancer. We show that the phase separation capacity of the androgen receptor is driven by aromatic residues and short unstable helices in its intrinsically disordered activation domain. Based on this knowledge, we developed tool compounds that covalently attach aromatic moieties to cysteines in the receptors’ activation domain. The compounds enhanced partitioning of the receptor into condensates, facilitated degradation of the receptor, inhibited androgen receptor-dependent transcriptional programs, and had antitumorigenic effect in mouse models of prostate cancer and castration resistant prostate cancer. These results establish a generalizable framework to target the phase-separation capacity of intrinsically disordered regions in oncogenic transcription factors and other disease-associated proteins with therapeutic intent.
Project description:Transcription factors are among the most attractive therapeutic targets but are considered largely undruggable. Here we provide evidence that small molecule-mediated partitioning of the androgen receptor, an oncogenic transcription factor, into phase-separated condensates has therapeutic effect in prostate cancer. We show that the phase separation capacity of the androgen receptor is driven by aromatic residues and short unstable helices in its intrinsically disordered activation domain. Based on this knowledge, we developed tool compounds that covalently attach aromatic moieties to cysteines in the receptors’ activation domain. The compounds enhanced partitioning of the receptor into condensates, facilitated degradation of the receptor, inhibited androgen receptor-dependent transcriptional programs, and had antitumorigenic effect in mouse models of prostate cancer and castration resistant prostate cancer. These results establish a generalizable framework to target the phase-separation capacity of intrinsically disordered regions in oncogenic transcription factors and other disease-associated proteins with therapeutic intent.
Project description:Tissue-specific transcription factors control the transcriptome through an association with noncoding regulatory regions (cistromes). Identifying the combination of transcription factors that dictate specific cell fate, their specific cistromes and examining their involvement in complex human traits remain a major challenge. Here we focus on the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE), an essential lineage for retinal development and function and the primary tissue affected in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness. By combining mechanistic findings in stem-cell-derived human RPE, in- vivo functional studies in mice and global transcriptomic and proteomic analyses, we revealed that the key developmental transcription factors LHX2 and OTX2 function together in transcriptional module containing LDB1 and SWI/SNF (BAF) to regulate the RPE transcriptome. Importantly, the intersection between the identified LHX2-OTX2 cistrome with published expression quantitative trait loci, ATAC-seq data from human RPE, and AMD GWAS data, followed by functional validation using a reporter assay, revealed a causal genetic variant that affects AMD risk by altering TRPM1 expression in the RPE through modulation of LHX2 transcriptional activity on its promoter. Taken together, the reported cistrome of LHX2 and OTX2, the identified downstream genes and interacting co-factors reveal the RPE transcription module and uncover a causal regulatory risk SNP in the multifactorial common blinding disease AMD.