Project description:For the most frequently inactivated tumor suppressor p53, genetic mouse models have demonstrated regression of p53-null tumors upon p53 reactivation. While this was shown in tumor models driven by p53 loss as the initiating lesion, many tumors initially develop in the presence of wild-type p53, acquire aberrations in the p53 pathway to bypass p53-mediated tumor suppression, and inactivate p53 itself only at later stages during metastatic progression or therapy. To explore the efficacy of p53 reactivation in this scenario, we used a reversibly switchable p53 (p53ERTAM) mouse allele to generate Eµ-Myc-driven lymphomas in the presence of active p53 and, after full lymphoma establishment, switched off p53 to model late-stage p53 inactivation.
Project description:Induction of apoptosis by the tumor suppressor p53 is known to protect from Myc-driven lymphomagenesis. The p53 family member p73 is also a pro-apoptotic protein, which is activated in response to oncogenes like Myc. We therefore investigated whether p73 provides a similar protection from Myc-driven lymphomas as p53. To generate B-cell lymphomas with defined genetic alterations in p53 or p73, we crossed the Eµ-Myc transgenic to mice heterozygous for germ-line deletions in p53 (p53+/) or p73 (p73+/-). Lymphomas which have spontaneously developed in Eµ-Myc transgenic animals with the genotypes p53+/+, p53+/-, p73+/+, p73+/- or p73-/- were isolated when the animals were moribund and further processed for gene expression profiling with 22.5K cDNA microarrays.
Project description:The tumor suppressor p53 is a transcription factor that controls the response to stress. Here, we dissected the transcriptional programs triggered upon restoration of p53 in Myc-driven lymphomas, based on the integrated analysis of p53 genomic occupancy and gene regulation. p53 binding sites were identified at promoters and enhancers, both characterized by the pre-existence of active chromatin marks. p53 recruitment at these sites was mainly mediated through protein-protein or protein-chromatin interactions and, only for a small fraction, through recognition of the 20 base-pair p53 consensus motif. At promoters, p53 binding to the consensus motif was associated with gene induction, but not repression, indicating that the latter was most likely indirect. p53 also targeted unmarked distal sites devoid of activation marks, at which binding was prevalently driven by recognition of the consensus motif. At all sites, our data highlighted a functional role for the canonical, unsplit consensus element, but did not provide evidence for p53 recruitment by split motifs. Altogether, our data highlight key features of genome recognition by p53 and provide unprecedented insight into the pathways associated with p53 re-activation and tumor regression.
Project description:The tumor suppressor p53 is a transcription factor that controls the response to stress. Here, we dissected the transcriptional programs triggered upon restoration of p53 in Myc-driven lymphomas, based on the integrated analysis of p53 genomic occupancy and gene regulation. p53 binding sites were identified at promoters and enhancers, both characterized by the pre-existence of active chromatin marks. p53 recruitment at these sites was mainly mediated through protein-protein or protein-chromatin interactions and, only for a small fraction, through recognition of the 20 base-pair p53 consensus motif. At promoters, p53 binding to the consensus motif was associated with gene induction, but not repression, indicating that the latter was most likely indirect. p53 also targeted unmarked distal sites devoid of activation marks, at which binding was prevalently driven by recognition of the consensus motif. At all sites, our data highlighted a functional role for the canonical, unsplit consensus element, but did not provide evidence for p53 recruitment by split motifs. Altogether, our data highlight key features of genome recognition by p53 and provide unprecedented insight into the pathways associated with p53 re-activation and tumor regression.
Project description:The tumor suppressor p53 is a transcription factor that controls the response to stress. Here, we dissected the transcriptional programs triggered upon restoration of p53 in Myc-driven lymphomas, based on the integrated analysis of p53 genomic occupancy and gene regulation. p53 binding sites were identified at promoters and enhancers, both characterized by the pre-existence of active chromatin marks. p53 recruitment at these sites was mainly mediated through protein-protein or protein-chromatin interactions and, only for a small fraction, through recognition of the 20 base-pair p53 consensus motif. At promoters, p53 binding to the consensus motif was associated with gene induction, but not repression, indicating that the latter was most likely indirect. p53 also targeted unmarked distal sites devoid of activation marks, at which binding was prevalently driven by recognition of the consensus motif. At all sites, our data highlighted a functional role for the canonical, unsplit consensus element, but did not provide evidence for p53 recruitment by split motifs. Altogether, our data highlight key features of genome recognition by p53 and provide unprecedented insight into the pathways associated with p53 re-activation and tumor regression.
Project description:Identifying tumor suppressor genes is predicted to inform on the development of novel strategies for cancer therapy. To identify new lymphoma driving processes that cooperate with oncogenic MYC (which is abnormally highly expressed in ~70% of human cancers) we have used a genome-wide CRISPR knockout screen in Eµ-Myc;Cas9 transgenic hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in vivo. We discovered that loss of any of the GATOR1 complex components - NPRL3, DEPDC5, NPRL2 - significantly accelerated c-MYC-driven lymphoma development in mice. Low expression of the GATOR1 complex genes correlated with poor survival outcomes for human patients with high MYC-expressing cancers. Murine lymphomas lacking GATOR1 were highly sensitive to mTOR inhibitors as a single agent therapy, both in vitro and in vivo. These findings identify inhibition of mTORC1 as a potent tumor suppressive mechanism in c-MYC-driven lymphomagenesis and suggest a new avenue for therapeutic intervention in GATOR1-deficient lymphomas through mTOR inhibition.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling Myc-driven lymphomas to determine pathways by which Wrn deficiency impairs tumor development Total RNA isolated from Eµ-Myc and Eµ-Myc Wrn Δhel/Δhel murine B-cell lymphomas (n=4)