Dataset Information

Profound Reprogramming towards Stemness in Pancreatic Cancer Cells as Adaptation to AKT Inhibition.

ABSTRACT: Cancer cells acquire resistance to cytotoxic therapies targeting major survival pathways by adapting their metabolism. The AKT pathway is a major regulator of human pancreatic adenocarcinoma progression and a key pharmacological target. The mechanisms of adaptation to long-term silencing of AKT isoforms of human and mouse pancreatic adenocarcinoma cancer cells were studied. Following silencing, cancer cells remained quiescent for long periods of time, after which they recovered proliferative capacities. Adaptation caused profound proteomic changes largely affecting mitochondrial biogenesis, energy metabolism and acquisition of a number of distinct cancer stem cell (CSC) characteristics depending on the AKT isoform that was silenced. The adaptation to AKT1 silencing drove most de-differentiation and acquisition of stemness through C-MYC down-modulation and NANOG upregulation, which were required for survival of adapted CSCs. The changes associated to adaptation sensitized cancer cells to inhibitors targeting regulators of oxidative respiration and mitochondrial biogenesis. In vivo pharmacological co-inhibition of AKT and mitochondrial metabolism effectively controlled pancreatic adenocarcinoma growth in pre-clinical models.

SUBMITTER: Arasanz H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7464748 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Profound Reprogramming towards Stemness in Pancreatic Cancer Cells as Adaptation to AKT Inhibition.

Arasanz Hugo H Hernández Carlos C Bocanegra Ana A Chocarro Luisa L Zuazo Miren M Gato Maria M Ausin Karina K Santamaría Enrique E Fernández-Irigoyen Joaquín J Fernandez Gonzalo G Santamaria Eva E Rodríguez Carlos C Blanco-Luquin Idoia I Vera Ruth R Escors David D Kochan Grazyna G

Cancers 20200805 8

Cancer cells acquire resistance to cytotoxic therapies targeting major survival pathways by adapting their metabolism. The AKT pathway is a major regulator of human pancreatic adenocarcinoma progression and a key pharmacological target. The mechanisms of adaptation to long-term silencing of AKT isoforms of human and mouse pancreatic adenocarcinoma cancer cells were studied. Following silencing, cancer cells remained quiescent for long periods of time, after which they recovered proliferative cap ...[more]

PMID: 32764385

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundProfound chemoresistance remains an intractable obstacle in pancreatic cancer treatment. Pancreatic cancer stem cells (CSCs) and the ubiquitous hypoxic niche have been proposed to account for drug resistance. However, the mechanism involved requires further exploration. This study investigated whether the hypoxic niche enhances gemcitabine-induced stemness and acquired resistance in pancreatic cancer cells by activating the AKT/Notch1 signaling cascade. The therapeutic effects of blockading this signaling cascade on gemcitabine-enriched CSCs were also investigated.MethodsThe expression levels of CSC-associated markers Bmi1 and Sox2 as well as those of proteins involved in AKT/Notch1 signaling were measured by Western blot analysis. The expression level of the pancreatic CSC marker CD24 was measured by flow cytometry. Change in gemcitabine sensitivity was evaluated by the MTT assay. The ability of sphere formation was tested by the sphere-forming assay in stem cell medium. The ability of migration and invasion was detected by the transwell migration/invasion assay. A mouse xenograft model of pancreatic cancer was established to determine the effect of Notch1 inhibition on the killing effect of gemcitabine in vivo. The ability of metastasis was investigated by an in vivo lung metastasis assay.ResultsGemcitabine promoted pancreatic cancer cell stemness and associated malignant phenotypes such as enhanced migration, invasion, metastasis, and chemoresistance. The AKT/Notch1 signaling cascade was activated after gemcitabine treatment and mediated this process. Blockading this pathway enhanced the killing effect of gemcitabine in vivo. However, supplementation with hypoxia treatment synergistically enhanced the AKT/Notch1 signaling pathway and collaboratively promoted gemcitabine-induced stemness.ConclusionsThese findings demonstrate a novel mechanism of acquired gemcitabine resistance in pancreatic cancer cells through induction of stemness, which was mediated by the activation of AKT/Notch1 signaling and synergistically aggravated by the ubiquitous hypoxic niche. Our results might provide new insights for identifying potential targets for reversing chemoresistance in patients with pancreatic cancer.

Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the most aggressive cancer types and is well-known for its general low intrinsic radiosensitivity. In order to resolve mechanisms of how PDAC cells carry out radioresistance, a combination of proteomics and phosphoproteomics of two radiosensitive as well as radioresistant murine PDAC cell lines upon exposition to radiation was performed. A high depth of (phospho)proteomic identifications with > 13000 confidently identified phosphorylation sites and > 7800 proteins was achieved. Measuring the response of the phosphoproteome upon radiation revealed >700 phosphorylation sites on >400 proteins which were regulated in all four cell lines independently of the sensitivity status. This analysis validated already known radiomarkers but also uncovered novel members of the radiation-dependent signaling network in PDAC cells that were shown to be exclusively based on protein phosphorylation but not protein expression. Among those radioresponsive phosphoproteins were ten novel ATM substrates, which were validated by in vitro kinase assays. Comparison of radiosensitive and -resistant cells revealed a complex regulation of apoptotic processes, while changes in expression of DNA repair proteins seemed to not play a pivotal role. Especially increased expression of NQO1 was found to be a potential mechanism enabling resistance by clearing harmful reactive oxygen species from the PDAC cells. Further analysis of the radioresistance-associated-phosphoproteome, which was especially enriched in phosphoproteins with cytoskeleton organizational function, uncovered increased Actin dynamics and FAK activity in radioresistant cells. Both likely lead to increased survival, migrational capacity and perturbations in chromatin condensation which could oppose radiation. Based on the displayed adaptions in cellular protein expression and signaling in resistant PDAC cells, pharmacological inhibition of NQO1 and FAK could be suggested to sensitize towards radiation.

Dataset Information

Profound Reprogramming towards Stemness in Pancreatic Cancer Cells as Adaptation to AKT Inhibition.

Publications

Profound Reprogramming towards Stemness in Pancreatic Cancer Cells as Adaptation to AKT Inhibition.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets