Lack of sustained response to therapeutic agents in patients with KRAS mutant lung cancer poses a major challenge and arises partly due to intratumor heterogeneity that defines phenotypically distinct tumor subpopulations. To attain better therapeutic outcomes it is important to understand the differential therapeutic sensitivities of tumor cell subsets. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a biologic phenomenon that can alter the state of cells along a phenotypic spectrum and cause transcriptional rewiring to produce distinct tumor cell subpopulations. We utilized functional shRNA screens, in vitro and in vivo models to identify and confirm an increased dependence of mesenchymal tumor cells on CDK4 for survival, as well as a mechanism of resistance to MEK inhibitors. High ZEB1 levels in mesenchymal tumor cells repressed p21, leading to perturbed CDK4 pathway activity. Increased dependence on CDK4 rendered mesenchymal cancer cells particularly vulnerable to selective CDK4 inhibitors. Co-administration of CDK4 and MEK inhibitors in heterogeneous tumors effectively targeted different tumor subpopulations, subverting the resistance to either single agent treatment.
Aparna Padhye, Jessica M. Konen, B. Leticia Rodriguez, Jared J. Fradette, Joshua K. Ochieng, Lixia Diao, Jing Wang, Wei Lu, Luisa S. Solis, Harsh Batra, Maria G. Raso, Michael D. Peoples, Rosalba Minelli, Alessandro Carugo, Christopher A. Bristow, Don L. Gibbons
γδ T cell is a promising candidate cell in tumor immunotherapy. However, γδ T cells polarized to CD39+γδ Tregs upon colorectal cancer (CRC) induction and the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we discovered that the frequency of CD39+γδ Tregs, which positively correlated with poor prognosis, was significantly higher in right-sided CRC (RSCRC) than in the left-sided CRC (LSCRC). Interestingly, CD39+γδ Tregs from RSCRC showed stronger immunosuppressive phenotype and function than LSCRC. Further, the quantitative mass spectrometry data showed that CD39+γδ Tregs polarization was related to the abnormal activation of the PLA2G4A/AA metabolic pathway in RSCRC. Using an in vitro co-culture system and an orthotopic murine model of CRC, we proved that the overexpression of Pla2g4a in CT26 cells induced CD39+γδ Tregs inhibiting the anti-tumor immune response. Finally, we found that the overall survival of the PLA2G4Ahigh group was significantly shortened compared to PLA2G4Alow RSCRC, while the survival of LSCRC was on the contrary. Collectively, RSCRC with abnormal PLA2G4A expression educates γδ T cells into CD39+γδ Tregs to promote tumor progression and metastasis. Our work highlights the interaction between cancer cells and immune cells by distinguishing the primary tumor site and deepens the understanding of tumor microenvironment and immunosuppression.
Yang Zhan, Lei Zheng, Jia Liu, Dongzhi Hu, Junfeng Wang, Kai Liu, Jiansheng Guo, Ti Zhang, Dalu Kong
Persistent HPV infection is causative for the majority of cervical cancer (CC) cases; however, current guidelines do not require HPV testing for newly diagnosed CC. Using an institutional cohort of 88 CC patients treated uniformly with standard-of-care chemoradiation (CRT) with prospectively collected clinical outcome data, we observed that patients with cervical tumors containing HPV genotypes other than HPV 16 have worse survival outcomes after CRT compared to patients with HPV 16 positive tumors, consistent with previously published studies. Using RNAseq analysis we quantified viral transcription efficiency and found higher levels of E6 and the alternative transcript E6*I in cervical tumors with HPV genotypes other than HPV 16. These findings were validated using whole transcriptome data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (n=304). For the first time transcript expression level of HPV E6*I was identified as a predictive biomarker of CRT outcome in our complete institutional dataset (n=88), and within the HPV 16 positive subset (n=36). In vitro characterization of HPV E6*I and E6 overexpression revealed that both induce CRT resistance through distinct p53-p21 dependent mechanisms. Our findings suggest that high expression of E6*I and E6 may represent novel biomarkers of CRT efficacy and these patients may benefit from alternative treatment strategies.
Fiona J. Ruiz, Matthew Inkman, Ramachandran Rashmi, Naoshad Muhammad, Nishanth Gabriel, Christopher A. Miller, Michael D. McLellan, Michael Goldstein, Stephanie Markovina, Perry W. Grigsby, Jin Zhang, Julie K. Schwarz
The AP-1 transcription factor c-Jun is required for Ras-driven tumorigenesis in many tissues and is considered as a classical proto-oncogene. To determine the requirement for c-Jun in a mouse model of K-RasG12D–induced lung adenocarcinoma, we inducibly deleted c-Jun in the adult lung. Surprisingly, we found that inactivation of c-Jun, or mutation of its JNK phosphorylation sites, actually increased lung tumor burden. Mechanistically, we found that protein levels of the Jun family member JunD were increased in the absence of c-Jun. In c-Jun–deficient cells, JunD phosphorylation was increased, and expression of a dominant-active JNKK2-JNK1 transgene further increased lung tumor formation. Strikingly, deletion of JunD completely abolished Ras-driven lung tumorigenesis. This work identifies JunD, not c-Jun, as the crucial substrate of JNK signaling and oncogene required for Ras-induced lung cancer.
E. Josue Ruiz, Linxiang Lan, Markus Elmar Diefenbacher, Eva Madi Riising, Clive Da Costa, Atanu Chakraborty, Joerg D. Hoeck, Bradley Spencer-Dene, Gavin Kelly, Jean-Pierre David, Emma Nye, Julian Downward, Axel Behrens
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tumors are characterized by a desmoplastic reaction resulting in dense deposition of collagen that is known to promote cancer progression. A central mediator of pro-tumorigenic collagen signaling is the receptor tyrosine kinase discoid domain receptor 1 (DDR1). DDR1 is a critical driver of a mesenchymal and invasive cancer cell PDAC phenotype. Previous studies have demonstrated that genetic or pharmacologic inhibition of DDR1 reduces PDAC tumorigenesis and metastasis. Here, we investigated whether DDR1 signaling has cancer cell non-autonomous effects that promote PDAC progression and metastasis. We demonstrate that collagen-induced DDR1 activation in cancer cells is a major stimulus for CXCL5 production, resulting in the recruitment of tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs), the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and subsequent cancer cell invasion and metastasis. Moreover, we have identified that collagen-induced CXCL5 production was mediated by a DDR1-PKCθ-SYK-NFkB signaling cascade. Together, these results highlight the critical contribution of collagen I-DDR1 interaction in the formation of an immune microenvironment that promotes PDAC metastasis.
Jenying Deng, Ya'an Kang, Chien-Chia Cheng, Xinqun Li, Bingbing Dai, Matthew H. Katz, Taoyan Men, Michael P. Kim, Eugene Koay, Huocong Huang, Rolf A. Brekken, Jason B. Fleming
Cancer cells re-program cellular metabolism to maintain adequate nutrient pools to sustain proliferation. Moreover, autophagy is a regulated mechanism to breakdown dysfunctional cellular components and recycle cellular nutrients. However, the requirement for autophagy and the integration in cancer cell metabolism is not clear in colon cancer. Here we show a cell-autonomous dependency of autophagy for cell growth in colorectal cancer. Loss of epithelial autophagy inhibits tumor growth in both sporadic and colitis associated cancer models. Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of autophagy inhibits cell growth in colon cancer-derived cell lines and patient-derived enteroid models. Importantly, normal colon epithelium and patient-derived normal enteroid growth was not decreased following autophagy inhibition. To couple the role of autophagy to cellular metabolism, a cell culture screen in conjunction with metabolomic analysis was performed. We identified a critical role of autophagy to maintain mitochondrial metabolites for growth. Loss of mitochondrial recycling through inhibition of mitophagy hinders colon cancer cell growth. These findings have revealed a cell-autonomous role of autophagy that plays a critical role in regulating nutrient pools in vivo and in cell models and provides therapeutic targets for colon cancer.
Samantha N. Devenport, Rashi Singhal, Megan D. Radyk, Joseph G. Taranto, Samuel A. Kerk, Brandon Chen, Joshua W. Goyert, Chesta Jain, Nupur K. Das, Katherine Oravecz-Wilson, Li Zhang, Joel K. Greenson, Y. Eugene Chen, Scott A. Soleimanpour, Pavan Reddy, Costas A. Lyssiotis, Yatrik M. Shah
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) prevents antibodies from penetrating the CNS and limits conventional antibody-based approaches to brain tumors. We now show that ENT2, a transporter that regulates nucleoside flux at the BBB, may offer an unexpected path to circumventing this barrier to allow targeting of brain tumors with an anti-DNA autoantibody. Deoxymab-1 (DX1) is a DNA-damaging autoantibody that localizes to tumors and is synthetically lethal to cancer cells with defects in the DNA damage response. We find DX1 penetrates brain endothelial cells and crosses the BBB, and mechanistic studies identify ENT2 as the key transporter. In efficacy studies DX1 crosses the BBB to suppress orthotopic glioblastoma and breast cancer brain metastases. ENT2-linked transport of autoantibodies across the BBB has potential to be exploited in brain tumor immunotherapy, and its discovery raises new hypotheses on actionable mechanisms of CNS penetration by neurotoxic autoantibodies in CNS lupus.
Zahra Rattray, Gang Deng, Shenqi Zhang, Anupama Shirali, Christopher K. May, Xiaoyong Chen, Benedette J. Cuffari, Jun Liu, Pan Zou, Nicholas J.W. Rattray, Caroline H. Johnson, Valentina Dubljevic, James A. Campbell, Anita Huttner, Joachim M. Baehring, Jiangbing Zhou, James E. Hansen
Using genetically engineered mouse models we demonstrate that protein synthesis is essential for efficient urothelial cancer formation and growth but dispensable for bladder homeostasis. Through a candidate gene analysis for translation regulators implicated in this dependency, we discovered that phosphorylation of the translation initiation factor eIF4E at serine 209 is increased in both murine and human bladder cancer which corresponds with an increase in de novo protein synthesis. Employing an eIF4E serine 209 to alanine knock-in mutant mouse model we show that this single post-translational modification is critical for bladder cancer initiation and progression despite having no impact on normal bladder tissue maintenance. Using murine and human models of advanced bladder cancer, we demonstrate that only tumors with high levels of eIF4E phosphorylation are therapeutically vulnerable to eFT508, the first clinical grade inhibitor of MNK1 and MNK2, the upstream kinases of eIF4E. Together, our results show that phospho-eIF4E plays an important role in bladder cancer pathogenesis and targeting its upstream kinases could be an effective therapeutic option for bladder cancer patients with high levels of eIF4E phosphorylation.
Sujata Jana, Rucha Deo, Rowan P. Hough, Yuzhen Liu, Jessie L. Horn, Jonathan L. Wright, Hung-Ming Lam, Kevin R. Webster, Gary G. Chiang, Nahum Sonenberg, Andrew C. Hsieh
The presence of an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment is a major obstacle in the success of cancer immunotherapies. Because extracellular matrix components can shape the microenvironment, we investigated the role of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) in melanoma tumorigenesis. Significantly, we found that MMP2 signals pro-inflammatory pathways on antigen presenting cells which requires both toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4. B16 melanoma cells that express MMP2 at baseline have slower kinetics in Tlr2-/-Tlr4-/- mice, implicating MMP2 in promoting tumor growth. Indeed, Mmp2 overexpression in B16 cells potentiated rapid tumor growth which was accompanied by reduced intra-tumoral cytolytic cells and increased M2 macrophages. In contrast, knockdown of Mmp2 slowed tumor growth, and enhanced T cell proliferation and NK cell recruitment. Finally we found that these effects of MMP2 are mediated through dysfunctional dendritic cell (DC) - T cell cross-talk as they are lost in Batf3-/- and Rag2-/- mice, respectively. These findings provide insights into the detrimental role of endogenous alarmins like MMP2 in modulating immune responses in the tumor microenvironment.
Luciana R. Muniz-Bongers, Christopher B. McClain, Mansi Saxena, Gerold Bongers, Miriam Merad, Nina Bhardwaj
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the 6th-most common and the 4th-most deadly cancer worldwide. The development cost of new therapeutics is a major limitation in patient outcomes. Importantly, there is a paucity of preclinical HCC models in which to test new small molecules. Herein, we implemented novel patient-derived organoid (PDO) and patient-derived xenografts (PDX) strategies for high-throughput drug screening. Omacetaxine, an FDA-approved drug for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), was found to be a top effective small molecule in HCC PDOs. Next, omacetaxine was tested against a larger cohort of 40 human HCC PDOs. Serial dilution experiments demonstrated that omacetaxine is effective at low (nanomolar) concentrations. Mechanistic studies established that omacetaxine inhibits global protein synthesis, with a disproportionate effect on short-half-life proteins. High-throughput expression screening newly identified molecular targets for omacetaxine, including key oncogenes, such as PLK1. In conclusion, by using an innovative strategy, we report, for the first time, the effectiveness of omacetaxine in HCC. In addition, we newly elucidate key mechanisms of omacetaxine action. Finally, we provide a proof-of-principle basis for future studies applying drug screening PDOs sequenced with candidate validation in PDX models. Clinical trials could be considered to evaluate omacetaxine in patients with HCC.
Ling Li, Gilad Halpert, Michael G. Lerner, Haijie Hu, Peter Dimitrion, Matthew J. Weiss, Jin He, Benjamin Philosophe, Richard Burkhart, William R. Burns, Russell N. Wesson, Andrew MacGregor Cameron, Christopher L. Wolfgang, Christos Georgiades, Satomi Kawamoto, Nilofer S. Azad, Mark Yarchoan, Stephen J. Meltzer, Kiyoko Oshima, Laura M. Ensign, Joel S. Bader, Florin M. Selaru
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