The maintenance of advanced malignancies relies on continued activity of driver oncogenes, although their rate-limiting role is highly context-dependent with respect to tumor types and associated genetic alterations. Oncogenic Kras mutation is the signature event in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), serving a critical role in tumor initiation. Here, an inducible KrasG12D-driven p53 mutant PDAC mouse model establishes that advanced PDAC remains strictly dependent on continued KrasG12D expression and that KrasG12D serves a vital role in the control of tumor metabolism, through stimulation of glucose uptake and channeling of glucose intermediates through the hexosamine biosynthesis pathway (HBP) and the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). Notably, these studies reveal that oncogenic Kras regulates ribose biogenesis. Unlike canonical models of PPP-mediated ribose biogenesis, we demonstrate that oncogenic Kras drives intermediates from enhanced glycolytic flux into the non-oxidative arm of the PPP, thereby decoupling ribose biogenesis from NADPNADPH-mediated redox control. Together, this work provides in vivo mechanistic insights into how oncogenic Kras promotes metabolic reprogramming in native tumors and illuminates potential metabolic targets that can be exploited for therapeutic benefit in Kras-driven PDAC.
Oncogenic Kras maintains pancreatic tumors through regulation of anabolic glucose metabolism.
Specimen part, Treatment
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 SamplesThe p53 gain of function p53R172H promotes accelerated tumor growth and progression to carcinoma. To identify gene expression changes associated with the oncogenic function of mutant p53 we compared the expression profiles of oral tumors induced by activation of oncogenic K-ras and p53 gain- or loss-of-function mutations
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Age, Specimen part
View SamplesInitially, we had compared gene expression differences in the embryonic gonads (E13.5) of the 129 and M19 strains by performing microarray analysis. These studies allowed us to identify downregulation of expression of the D19Bwg1357e, Zfp162 and Cox15 genes in the M19 strain.
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Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesWe have determined the consequences of ICN1 overexpression from retroviral vectors introduced into bone marrow cells.
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View SamplesIn this dataset, we include the expression data obtained from KRas expressing tumors, matched Kras expressing tumor spheres, surviving cells and surviving cells after KRas re-expression for 24hs
Oncogene ablation-resistant pancreatic cancer cells depend on mitochondrial function.
Specimen part
View SamplesIncreasing the understanding of the impact of changes in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes is essential for improving the management of lung cancer. Recently, we identified a new mouse lung-specific tumor suppressor - the G-protein coupled receptor 5A (Gprc5a). We sought to understand the molecular consequences of Gprc5a loss and towards this we performed microarray analysis of the transcriptomes of lung epithelial cells cultured from normal tracheas of Gprc5a knockout and wild-type mice to define a loss-of-Gprc5a gene signature. Moreover, we analyzed differential gene expression patterns between Gprc5a knockout normal lung epithelial cells as well as lung adenocarcinoma cells isolated and cultured from tumors of NNK-exposed Gprc5a knockout mice.
A Gprc5a tumor suppressor loss of expression signature is conserved, prevalent, and associated with survival in human lung adenocarcinomas.
Specimen part
View SamplesBACKGROUND: Lim1 is a homeobox gene that is essential for nephrogenesis. During metanephric kidney development, Lim1 is expressed in the nephric duct, ureteric buds, and the induced metanephric mesenchyme. Conditional ablation of Lim1 in the metanephric mesenchyme blocks the formation of nephrons at the nephric vesicle stage, leading to the production of small, non-functional kidneys that lack nephrons.
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View SamplesA key feature of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) is frequent amplification of the 3q26 locus harboring PRKC-iota (PRKCI). Here, we show that PRKCI is also expressed in early fallopian tube lesions, called Serous Tubal Intraepithelial Carcinoma. Transgenic mouse studies establish PRKCI as an ovarian cancer specific oncogene and system level and functional analyses identify YAP1 as a downstream effector in tumor progression. Mechanistically, the oncogenic activity of the PRKCI-YAP1 axis relates in part to the upregulation of TNF to promote an immune suppressive tumor microenvironment characterized by an abundance of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and inhibition of cytotoxic T cell infiltration. In human ovarian cancers, high PRKCI expression also correlates with high expression of YAP1 and low infiltration of cytotoxic T-cell. The PRKCI-YAP1 regulation of the tumor immunity provides a therapeutic strategy for highly lethal ovarian cancer.
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Specimen part
View SamplesThe generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) often results in aberrant silencing of the imprinted Dlk1-Dio3 gene cluster, which compromises their ability to generate entirely iPSC-derived mice (all-iPSC mice). Here, we show that reprogramming in the presence of ascorbic acid attenuates hypermethylation of Dlk1-Dio3 by enabling a chromatin configuration at its imprint control region that interferes with abnormal binding of the DNA methyltransferase Dnmt3a. This approach allowed us to generate adult all-iPSC mice from mature B cells, which have thus far failed to support the development of exclusively iPSC-derived postnatal mice. Our data demonstrate that factor-mediated reprogramming can endow a defined, terminally differentiated cell type with a developmental potential equivalent to that of embryonic stem cells. More generally, these findings indicate that the choice of culture conditions used for transcription factor-mediated reprogramming can strongly influence the epigenetic and biological properties of resultant iPSCs.
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Specimen part, Treatment
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