Dataset Information

Glycogen synthase kinase 3 inhibitors induce the canonical WNT/?-catenin pathway to suppress growth and self-renewal in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma.

ABSTRACT: Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) is a common pediatric malignancy of muscle, with relapse being the major clinical challenge. Self-renewing tumor-propagating cells (TPCs) drive cancer relapse and are confined to a molecularly definable subset of ERMS cells. To identify drugs that suppress ERMS self-renewal and induce differentiation of TPCs, a large-scale chemical screen was completed. Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) inhibitors were identified as potent suppressors of ERMS growth through inhibiting proliferation and inducing terminal differentiation of TPCs into myosin-expressing cells. In support of GSK3 inhibitors functioning through activation of the canonical WNT/?-catenin pathway, recombinant WNT3A and stabilized ?-catenin also enhanced terminal differentiation of human ERMS cells. Treatment of ERMS-bearing zebrafish with GSK3 inhibitors activated the WNT/?-catenin pathway, resulting in suppressed ERMS growth, depleted TPCs, and diminished self-renewal capacity in vivo. Activation of the canonical WNT/?-catenin pathway also significantly reduced self-renewal of human ERMS, indicating a conserved function for this pathway in modulating ERMS self-renewal. In total, we have identified an unconventional tumor suppressive role for the canonical WNT/?-catenin pathway in regulating self-renewal of ERMS and revealed therapeutic strategies to target differentiation of TPCs in ERMS.

SUBMITTER: Chen EY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3986146 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Glycogen synthase kinase 3 inhibitors induce the canonical WNT/β-catenin pathway to suppress growth and self-renewal in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma.

Chen Eleanor Y EY DeRan Michael T MT Ignatius Myron S MS Grandinetti Kathryn Brooke KB Clagg Ryan R McCarthy Karin M KM Lobbardi Riadh M RM Brockmann Jillian J Keller Charles C Wu Xu X Langenau David M DM

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20140324 14

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) is a common pediatric malignancy of muscle, with relapse being the major clinical challenge. Self-renewing tumor-propagating cells (TPCs) drive cancer relapse and are confined to a molecularly definable subset of ERMS cells. To identify drugs that suppress ERMS self-renewal and induce differentiation of TPCs, a large-scale chemical screen was completed. Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) inhibitors were identified as potent suppressors of ERMS growth through inhi ...[more]

PMID: 24706870

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Project description:Statins are first-line drugs used to control patient lipid levels, but there is recent evidence that statin treatment can lower colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence by 50% and prolong CRC patient survival through mechanisms that are poorly understood. In this study, we found that the treatment of APCmin mice by the mevalonate pathway inhibitor lovastatin significantly reduced the number of colonic masses and improved hypersplenism and peripheral anemia. Furthermore, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis of colonic mass tissues showed a potent inhibitory effect in both Wnt/β-catenin signaling and YAP/TAZ signaling in the lovastatin treatment group. The results of our transcriptomic analyses in RKO indicated that lovastatin regulated several proliferation-related signaling pathways. Moreover, lovastatin suppressed important genes and proteins related to the canonical Wnt/β-catenin and alternative Wnt-YAP/TAZ signaling pathways in RKO and SW480 cells, and these effects were rescued by mevalonic acid (MVA), as confirmed through a series of Western blotting, RT-PCR, and reporter assays. Given that statins suppress oncogenic processes primarily through the inhibition of Rho GTPase in the mevalonate pathway, we speculate that lovastatin can inhibit certain Rho GTPases to suppress both canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling and alternative Wnt-YAP/TAZ signaling. In RKO cells, lovastatin showed similar inhibitory properties as the RhoA inhibitor CCG1423, being able to inhibit β-catenin, TAZ, and p-LATS1 protein activity. Our results revealed that lovastatin inhibited RhoA activity, thereby suppressing the downstream canonical Wnt/β-catenin and alternative Wnt-YAP/TAZ pathways in colon cancer cells. These inhibitory properties suggest the promise of statins as a treatment for CRC. Altogether, the present findings support the potential clinical use of statins in non-cardiovascular contexts and highlight novel targets for anticancer treatments.

Dataset Information

Glycogen synthase kinase 3 inhibitors induce the canonical WNT/?-catenin pathway to suppress growth and self-renewal in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma.

Publications

Glycogen synthase kinase 3 inhibitors induce the canonical WNT/β-catenin pathway to suppress growth and self-renewal in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma.

Similar Datasets

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