C11orf95-RELA fusions drive oncogenic NF-?B signalling in ependymoma.

ABSTRACT: Members of the nuclear factor-?B (NF-?B) family of transcriptional regulators are central mediators of the cellular inflammatory response. Although constitutive NF-?B signalling is present in most human tumours, mutations in pathway members are rare, complicating efforts to understand and block aberrant NF-?B activity in cancer. Here we show that more than two-thirds of supratentorial ependymomas contain oncogenic fusions between RELA, the principal effector of canonical NF-?B signalling, and an uncharacterized gene, C11orf95. In each case, C11orf95-RELA fusions resulted from chromothripsis involving chromosome 11q13.1. C11orf95-RELA fusion proteins translocated spontaneously to the nucleus to activate NF-?B target genes, and rapidly transformed neural stem cells--the cell of origin of ependymoma--to form these tumours in mice. Our data identify a highly recurrent genetic alteration of RELA in human cancer, and the C11orf95-RELA fusion protein as a potential therapeutic target in supratentorial ependymoma.

SUBMITTER: Parker M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4050669 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature