Tumor cells that give rise to metastatic disease are a primary cause of cancer-related death and have not been fully elucidated in patients with lung cancer. Here, we addressed this question by using tissues from a mouse that develops metastatic lung adenocarcinoma owing to expression of mutant K-ras and p53. We identified a metastasis-prone population of tumor cells that differed from those with low metastatic capacity on the basis of having sphere-forming capacity in Matrigel cultures, increased expression of CD133 and Notch ligands, and relatively low tumorigenicity in syngeneic mice. Knockdown of jagged1 or pharmacologic inhibition of its downstream mediator phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase abrogated the metastatic but not the tumorigenic activity of these cells. We conclude from these studies on a mouse model of lung adenocarcinoma that CD133 and Notch ligands mark a population of metastasis-prone tumor cells and that the efficacy of Notch inhibitors in metastasis prevention should be explored.
The Notch ligand Jagged2 promotes lung adenocarcinoma metastasis through a miR-200-dependent pathway in mice.
Specimen part
View SamplesOrigins of the brain tumor, medulloblastoma, from stem cells or restricted pro-genitor cells are unclear. To investigate this, we activated oncogenic Hedgehog signaling in multipotent and lineage-restricted CNS progenitors. We observed that normal unipo-tent cerebellar granule neuron precursors (CGNP) derive from hGFAP+ and Olig2+ rhombic lip progenitors. Hedgehog activation in a spectrum of early and late stage CNS progenitors generated similar medulloblastomas, but not other brain cancers, indicating that acquisition of CGNP identity is essential for tumorigenesis. We show in human and mouse medulloblastoma that cells expressing the glia-associated markers Gfap and Olig2 are neoplastic and that they retain features of embryonic-type granule lineage progenitors. Thus, oncogenic Hedgehog signaling promotes medulloblastoma from lineage-restricted granule cell progenitors.
Acquisition of granule neuron precursor identity is a critical determinant of progenitor cell competence to form Shh-induced medulloblastoma.
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View SamplesThe cancer-risk associated rs6983267 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and the accompanying long non-coding RNA CCAT2 in the highly amplified 8q24.21 region has been implicated in cancer predisposition, though causality has not been established. Here, using allele-specific CCAT2 transgenic mice, we demonstrate that CCAT2 overexpression leads to spontaneous myeloid malignancies. CCAT2 is overexpressed in bone marrow and peripheral blood of myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasms (MDS/MPN) patients. CCAT2 induces global deregulation of gene expression by downregulating EZH2 in vitro and in vivo in an allele-specific manner. We also identified a novel disease-specific RNA mutation (named DNA-to-RNA allelic imbalance, DRAI) at the SNP locus in MDS/MPN patients and CCAT2-transgenic mice. The RNA transcribed from the SNP locus in malignant hematopoietic cells have different allelic composition from the corresponding genomic DNA, a phenomenon rarely observed in normal cells. Our findings provide fundamental insights into the functional role of rs6983267 SNP and CCAT2 in myeloid malignancies.
Cancer-associated rs6983267 SNP and its accompanying long noncoding RNA <i>CCAT2</i> induce myeloid malignancies via unique SNP-specific RNA mutations.
Specimen part
View SamplesC/EBPb is an auto-repressed protein that becomes posttranslationally activated by Ras-MEK-ERK signalling. C/EBPb is required for oncogene-induced senescence (OIS) of primary fibroblasts, but also displays pro-oncogenic functions in many tumour cells. Here, we show that C/EBPb activation by H-RasV12 is suppressed in immortalized/transformed cells, but not in primary cells, by its 30 untranslated region (30UTR). 30UTR sequences inhibited Ras-induced cytostatic activity of C/EBPb, DNA binding, transactivation, phosphorylation, and homodimerization, without significantly affecting protein expression. The 30UTR suppressed induction of senescence-associated C/EBPb target genes, while promoting expression of genes linked to cancers and TGFb signalling. An AU-rich element (ARE) and its cognate RNA-binding protein, HuR, were required for 30UTR inhibition. These components also excluded the Cebpb mRNA from a perinuclear cytoplasmic region that contains activated ERK1/2, indicating that the site of C/EBPb translation controls de-repression by Ras signalling. Notably, 30UTR inhibition and Cebpb mRNA compartmentalization were absent in primary fibroblasts, allowing Ras-induced C/EBPb activation and OIS to proceed. Our findings reveal a novel mechanism whereby non-coding mRNA sequences selectively regulate C/EBPb activity and suppress its anti-oncogenic functions.
3'UTR elements inhibit Ras-induced C/EBPβ post-translational activation and senescence in tumour cells.
Cell line
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