Project description:The capacity of stem cells to maintain and regenerate organs is critically dependent on the niche, a complex signaling microenvironment that sustains and regulates stem cell activity. Niche function in the mammary gland must integrate local homeostatic activities with hormonally regulated events, such as pregnancy or the onset of puberty. In the human disorder CPHD (combined pituitary hormone deficiency) breast growth defects at puberty are associated with mutations disrupting the transcription factor, GLI2. Here we find that Gli2 functions in mouse mammary stromal cells to shape a niche signaling program that sustains mammary epithelial stem cells. Ablation of Gli2 in stromal cells thus leads to a disorganized mammary gland, associated with collapse of the niche signaling environment, with a five-fold decrease in functional mammary stem cell activity, and with attenuated response to the mammatrophic hormones estrogen and growth hormone. Consistent with a niche defect, aspects of Gli2-deficient mammary gland architecture can be rescued by local supplementation with IGF and WNT protein signals. Our findings thus identify GLI2 as a critical coordinator of local and hormonal influences on the niche signaling program, and suggest that mammary pathogenesis in CPHD patients results from dysfunction of the mammary epithelial stem cell niche. We used microarrays to identify gene expression signatures associated with stromal Gli2 expression
Project description:We detected and characterized CXCR4+MET+CD44+ cancer stem cells (CSCs) that were quantitatively correlated with aggressive tumors. Transcriptional profiling and single-cell sequencing revealed a strong activation of WNT and NOTCH signaling in these CSCs. CEL-Seq was performed to study heterogeneity of the CXCR4+MET+CD44+ population.
Project description:CSCs may be regulated by extrinsic signals provided by specialized microenvironments, or niches, which sustain CSC expansion. We investigated the role of cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in the regulation of CSCs using a genetically engineered mouse model of basal-like breast cancer driven by combined activation of Wnt/β-catenin and HGF/Met signaling (Wnt-Met mice). We found that CAFs secrete soluble factors that promote the expansion of the population of self-renewing cells that generate mammospheres and enhance the capacity of CSCs to form invasive 3D structures. Using transcriptional profiling, we identified a network of paracrine interactions between CAFs and CSCs that regulate reciprocal functions.
Project description:The combined activation of Wnt/ß-catenin and MET/HGF is required for mammary cancer stem cell (MaCSC) maintenance. We generated mammospheres derived from tumors of mice harboring Wnt/Met signaling mutations on which we performed microarray analysis to evaluate gene expression signatures controlled by Wnt and MET pathways. We used the gene expression profiles to dissect the role and the functions of these pathways in MaCSCs.
Project description:The combined activation of Wnt/ß-catenin and MET/HGF is required for mammary cancer stem cell (MaCSC) maintenance. We generated mammospheres derived from tumors of mice harboring Wnt/Met signaling mutations on which we performed microarray analysis to evaluate gene expression signatures controlled by Wnt and MET pathways. We used the gene expression profiles to dissect the role and the functions of these pathways in MaCSCs. We treated mammospheres with Wnt and MET pathway inhibitors (ICG-001 and PHA665752 respectively) alone or in combination. Samples treated with DMSO were used as vehicle control.
Project description:Previously we have demonstrated that inactivation of retinoic acid receptor beta (Rarb) in the mouse results in a protective effect against ErbB2-induced mammary gland tumorigenesis although Rarb has been reported as a tumor suppressor before. In the current study, we further confirmed that ablation of Rarb has a very similar impact on Wnt1-induced mammary gland tumorigenesis as those on ErbB2-induced mammary gland tumorigenesis. Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which Rarb confers its effects on tumor progression is quite different although both involving in tumor microenvironment (TME) remodeling. In the Wnt1 tumors, ectopic wnt1 produced by malignant luminal cells activates nearby stromal cells by a paracrine manner. In return, the stromal cells secreted IGF1 to regulate the growth of tumor cells. There is a need of Rarb expression in this interaction. Deletion of Rarb inhibits both wnt1/β-catenin signaling and IGF1/Akt axis in the myoepithelial tumor cells which results in the suppression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in these tumors. Since wnt1 tumors resemble basal-like breast cancer with a poor clinical prognosis in which EMT is one of the most important way for tumor cells to survive against standard treatment and to go to metastasis, we propose that (1) the stromal gene expression signature of Rarb ablation in wnt1 tumors could have some clinical value in predicting the breast cancer outcome; and (2) Rarb antagonist might be a potential therapeutic strategy in EMT-driven aggressive cancers such as basal-like breast cancer. Laser capture microdissection (LCM) was performed to separate the mammary tumor samples into epithelial cell compartment and stromal cell compartment. Transcriptional profiling of the two compartments were investigated by microarray analysis.
Project description:SUMMARY: Basal breast cancer has been associated with mutations in a number of specific tumor suppressor genes, however, the mechanism by which these tumors express a basal lineage remains unknown. Notch signaling suppresses mammary stem cell (MaSC) self-renewal, while promoting luminal cell fate specification. Here we show that Lfng, a sugar transferase that facilitates Notch activation, suppresses mammary stem/bipotent progenitor cell proliferation. Targeted deletion of Lfng in mammary epithelium induces basal tumors with reduced expression of Notch targets, amplification of the Met/Caveolin gene locus, and elevated Met and Igf-1R signaling. Human basal breast cancer, a disease associated with elevated MET receptor signaling and Caveolin protein, express low levels of LFNG. Thus, reduced LFNG expression cooperates with a Met/ Caveolin amplicon to promote basal breast disease. SIGNIFICANCE: Anti-Notch therapy is currently being tested for efficacy against basal-like breast cancer in humans. Here we report that LFNG, which controls Notch receptor activation, is consistently expressed at a low level in basal tumors and that deletion of this gene in the mouse mammary gland reduces Notch signaling, increases proliferation and induces basal mammary tumors in cooperation with amplification of the Met/Caveolin gene locus. These mutations interact to promote basal gene expression by decreasing Notch pathway activation, as well as to enhance Met and Igf-1R signaling. These pathways can be targeted at multiple levels in humans harboring basal breast cancer with amplification of MET and CAV1/2 32 array samples
Project description:SUMMARY: Basal breast cancer has been associated with mutations in a number of specific tumor suppressor genes, however, the mechanism by which these tumors express a basal lineage remains unknown. Notch signaling suppresses mammary stem cell (MaSC) self-renewal, while promoting luminal cell fate specification. Here we show that Lfng, a sugar transferase that facilitates Notch activation, suppresses mammary stem/bipotent progenitor cell proliferation. Targeted deletion of Lfng in mammary epithelium induces basal tumors with reduced expression of Notch targets, amplification of the Met/Caveolin gene locus, and elevated Met and Igf-1R signaling. Human basal breast cancer, a disease associated with elevated MET receptor signaling and Caveolin protein, express low levels of LFNG. Thus, reduced LFNG expression cooperates with a Met/ Caveolin amplicon to promote basal breast disease. SIGNIFICANCE: Anti-Notch therapy is currently being tested for efficacy against basal-like breast cancer in humans. Here we report that LFNG, which controls Notch receptor activation, is consistently expressed at a low level in basal tumors and that deletion of this gene in the mouse mammary gland reduces Notch signaling, increases proliferation and induces basal mammary tumors in cooperation with amplification of the Met/Caveolin gene locus. These mutations interact to promote basal gene expression by decreasing Notch pathway activation, as well as to enhance Met and Igf-1R signaling. These pathways can be targeted at multiple levels in humans harboring basal breast cancer with amplification of MET and CAV1/2
Project description:Previously we have demonstrated that inactivation of retinoic acid receptor beta (Rarb) in the mouse results in a protective effect against ErbB2-induced mammary gland tumorigenesis although Rarb has been reported as a tumor suppressor before. In the current study, we further confirmed that ablation of Rarb has a very similar impact on Wnt1-induced mammary gland tumorigenesis as those on ErbB2-induced mammary gland tumorigenesis. Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which Rarb confers its effects on tumor progression is quite different although both involving in tumor microenvironment (TME) remodeling. In the Wnt1 tumors, ectopic wnt1 produced by malignant luminal cells activates nearby stromal cells by a paracrine manner. In return, the stromal cells secreted IGF1 to regulate the growth of tumor cells. There is a need of Rarb expression in this interaction. Deletion of Rarb inhibits both wnt1/β-catenin signaling and IGF1/Akt axis in the myoepithelial tumor cells which results in the suppression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in these tumors. Since wnt1 tumors resemble basal-like breast cancer with a poor clinical prognosis in which EMT is one of the most important way for tumor cells to survive against standard treatment and to go to metastasis, we propose that (1) the stromal gene expression signature of Rarb ablation in wnt1 tumors could have some clinical value in predicting the breast cancer outcome; and (2) Rarb antagonist might be a potential therapeutic strategy in EMT-driven aggressive cancers such as basal-like breast cancer.
Project description:This dataset belongs to a study in which we functionally dissect the cis-acting enhancer network and spatiotemporal transcriptional mechanisms that regulate WNT4 expression in the mouse mammary gland and the human breast. As part of these efforts, we characterized the chromatin accessibility landscape in the pubertal mouse mammary gland. For this, we FACS sorted basal, luminal and stromal cell populations and performed bulk ATAC-seq analysis