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SALL4-related gene signature defines a specific stromal subset of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with poor prognostic features.

ABSTRACT: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is marked by molecular heterogeneity and poor prognosis. Among the stemness-related transcription factors, Spalt-like Transcription Factor 4 (SALL4) is correlated with unfavorable outcomes; however, its roles in PDAC remain unclear. SALL4^high expression defines a PDAC subpopulation characterized by a shortened patient survival. Although SALL4 expression was mostly evaluated in tumor cells, our findings identify this embryonic transcription factor as a new biomarker in PDAC-derived stroma. Gene expression analysis reveals that the SALL4^high PDAC subset is enriched in cancer stem cell properties and stromal enrichment pathways; notably, an interaction with cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) activated by TGF-β. A particular oncogenic network was unraveled where Netrin-1 and TGF-β1 collaborate to induce SALL4 expression in CAF and drive their cancer-stemness-promoting functions. A 7-gene stromal signature related to SALL4^high PDAC samples was highlighted and validated by immunochemistry for prognosis and clinical application. This SALL4-related stroma discriminated pancreatic preinvasive from invasive lesions and was enriched in short-term survivors. Our results show that SALL4 transcriptional activity controls a molecular network defined by a specific stromal signature that characterizes PDAC invasiveness and worse clinical outcomes.

SUBMITTER: Vienot A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10323888 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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SALL4-related gene signature defines a specific stromal subset of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with poor prognostic features.

Vienot Angélique A Monnien Franck F Truntzer Caroline C Mougey Virginie V Bouard Adeline A Pallandre Jean-René JR Molimard Chloé C Loyon Romain R Asgarov Kamal K Averous Gerlinde G Ghiringhelli François F Bibeau Frédéric F Peixoto Paul P Borg Christophe C

Molecular oncology 20230121 7

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is marked by molecular heterogeneity and poor prognosis. Among the stemness-related transcription factors, Spalt-like Transcription Factor 4 (SALL4) is correlated with unfavorable outcomes; however, its roles in PDAC remain unclear. SALL4<sup>high</sup> expression defines a PDAC subpopulation characterized by a shortened patient survival. Although SALL4 expression was mostly evaluated in tumor cells, our findings identify this embryonic transcription facto ...[more]

PMID: 36587397

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Project description:BackgroundPancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by an important heterogeneity, reflected by different clinical outcomes and chemoresistance. During carcinogenesis, tumor cells display aberrant glycosylated structures, synthetized by deregulated glycosyltransferases, supporting the tumor progression. In this study, we aimed to determine whether PDAC could be stratified through their glycosyltransferase expression profiles better than the current binary classification (basal-like and classical) in order to improve detection of patients with poor prognosis.MethodsBioinformatic analysis of 169 glycosyltransferase RNA sequencing data were performed for 74 patient-derived xenografts (PDX) of resected and unresectable tumors. The Australian cohort of International Cancer Genome Consortium and the microarray dataset from Puleo patient's cohort were used as independent validation datasets.FindingsNew PDAC stratification based on glycosyltransferase expression profile allowed to distinguish different groups of patients with distinct clinical outcome (p-value = 0.007). A combination of 19 glycosyltransferases differentially expressed in PDX defined a glyco-signature, whose prognostic value was validated on datasets including resected whole tumor tissues. The glyco-signature was able to discriminate three clusters of PDAC patients on the validation cohorts, two clusters displaying a short overall survival compared to one cluster having a better prognosis. Both poor prognostic clusters having different glyco-profiles in Puleo patient's cohort were correlated with stroma activated or desmoplastic subtypes corresponding to distinct microenvironment features (p-value < 0.0001). Besides, differential expression and enrichment analyses revealed deregulated functional pathways specific to different clusters.InterpretationThis study identifies a glyco-signature relevant for a prognostic use, potentially applicable to resected and unresectable PDAC. Furthermore, it provides new potential therapeutic targets.FundingThis work was supported by INCa (Grants number 2018-078 and 2018-079), Fondation ARC (Grant number ARCPJA32020070002326), Cancéropôle PACA, DGOS (labelization SIRIC, Grant number 6038), Amidex Foundation and Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer and by institutional fundings from INSERM and the Aix-Marseille Université.

Dataset Information

SALL4-related gene signature defines a specific stromal subset of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with poor prognostic features.

Publications

SALL4-related gene signature defines a specific stromal subset of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with poor prognostic features.

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