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Coactivation of AKT and ?-catenin in mice rapidly induces formation of lipogenic liver tumors.

ABSTRACT: Obesity is a risk factor for development of certain cancers but the basis for this risk is unclear. In this study, we developed a novel mouse model that demonstrates directly how lipogenic phenotypes commonly associated with diet-induced metabolic syndromes can influence hepatic cancer development. Activated AKT and ?-catenin (AKT/CAT) genes were hydrodynamically codelivered using the Sleeping Beauty transposon to initiate liver tumorigenesis. AKT/CAT and MET/CAT combination induced microscopic tumor foci by 4 weeks, whereas no tumorigenesis resulted from delivery of AKT, MET, or CAT alone. Primary AKT/CAT tumor cells were steatotic (fatty) hepatocellular adenomas which progressed to hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) upon in vivo passage, whereas primary MET/CAT tumors emerged directly as frank HCC. Conversion of AKT/CAT tumor cells to frank HCC during passage was associated with induction of the human HCC marker ?-fetoprotein and the stem cell marker CD133. Using hierarchical clustering and gene set enrichment analysis, we compared the primary murine AKT/CAT and MET/CAT tumors to a panel of 53 human HCCs and determined that these two mouse models could be stratified as distinct subtypes associated in humans with poor clinical prognosis. The chief molecular networks identified in primary and passaged AKT/CAT tumors were steatosis and lipid metabolic pathways, respectively. Our findings show how coactivation of the AKT and CAT pathways in hepatocytes can efficiently model development of a lipogenic tumor phenotype. Furthermore, we believe that our approach could speed the dissection of microenvironmental factors responsible for driving steatotic-neoplastic transformation to frank carcinoma, through genetic modification of existing immunodefined transgenic models.

SUBMITTER: Stauffer JK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3074499 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Coactivation of AKT and β-catenin in mice rapidly induces formation of lipogenic liver tumors.

Stauffer Jimmy K JK Scarzello Anthony J AJ Andersen Jesper B JB De Kluyver Rachel L RL Back Timothy C TC Weiss Jonathan M JM Thorgeirsson Snorri S SS Wiltrout Robert H RH

Cancer research 20110215 7

Obesity is a risk factor for development of certain cancers but the basis for this risk is unclear. In this study, we developed a novel mouse model that demonstrates directly how lipogenic phenotypes commonly associated with diet-induced metabolic syndromes can influence hepatic cancer development. Activated AKT and β-catenin (AKT/CAT) genes were hydrodynamically codelivered using the Sleeping Beauty transposon to initiate liver tumorigenesis. AKT/CAT and MET/CAT combination induced microscopic ...[more]

PMID: 21324921

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Project description:Changes in inhibitory connections are essential for experience-dependent circuit adaptations. Defects in inhibitory synapses are linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, but the molecular processes underlying inhibitory synapse formation are not well understood. Here we use high-resolution two-photon microscopy in organotypic hippocampal slices from GAD65-GFP mice of both sexes to examine the signaling pathways induced by the postsynaptic signaling molecule Semaphorin4D (Sema4D) during inhibitory synapse formation. By monitoring changes in individual GFP-labeled presynaptic boutons, we found that the primary action of Sema4D is to induce stabilization of presynaptic boutons within tens of minutes. Stabilized boutons rapidly recruited synaptic vesicles, followed by accumulation of postsynaptic gephyrin and were functional after 24 h, as determined by electrophysiology and immunohistochemistry. Inhibitory boutons are only sensitive to Sema4D at a specific stage during synapse formation and sensitivity to Sema4D is regulated by network activity. We further examined the intracellular signaling cascade triggered by Sema4D and found that bouton stabilization occurs through rapid remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton. This could be mimicked by the actin-depolymerizing drug latrunculin B or by reducing ROCK activity. We discovered that the intracellular signaling cascade requires activation of the receptor tyrosine kinase MET, which is a well known autism risk factor. By using a viral approach to reduce MET levels specifically in inhibitory neurons, we found that their axons are no longer sensitive to Sema4D signaling. Together, our data yield important insights into the molecular pathway underlying activity-dependent Sema4D-induced synapse formation and reveal a novel role for presynaptic MET at inhibitory synapses.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT GABAergic synapses provide the main inhibitory control of neuronal activity in the brain. We wanted to unravel the sequence of molecular events that take place when formation of inhibitory synapses is triggered by a specific signaling molecule, Sema4D. We find that this signaling pathway depends on network activity and involves specific remodeling of the intracellular actin cytoskeleton. We also reveal a previously unknown role for MET at inhibitory synapses. Our study provides novel insights into the dynamic process of inhibitory synapse formation. As defects in GABAergic synapses have been implied in many brain disorders, and mutations in MET are strong risk factors for autism, our findings urge for a further investigation of the role of MET at inhibitory synapses.

Dataset Information

Coactivation of AKT and ?-catenin in mice rapidly induces formation of lipogenic liver tumors.

Publications

Coactivation of AKT and β-catenin in mice rapidly induces formation of lipogenic liver tumors.

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