Transcriptome analysis of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells in which VASP gene was knocked down
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Previous studies have shown that the main function of VASP is to regulate the cytoskeleton and play an important role in promoting tumor cell metastasis. In this study, we first reveal that VASP is located in the nucleus of breast cancer cells and elucidate a Wnt/β-catenin/VASP positive feedback loop. We identify that VASP is a target gene of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, and activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway can significantly upregulate VASP protein expression, while upregulated VASP protein can in turn promote translocation of β-catenin and DVL3 proteins into the nucleus. In the nucleus, VASP, DVL3, β-catenin and TCF4 can form VASP/DVL3/β-catenin/TCF4 protein complex, activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, and promoting the expression of target genes VASP, c-myc and cyclin D1. Thus, our study reveals that there is a Wnt/β-catenin/VASP malignant positive feedback loop in breast cancer, which promotes the proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells, and breaking this positive feedback loop may provide new strategy for breast cancer treatment.
Project description:Previous studies have shown that the main function of VASP is to regulate the cytoskeleton and play an important role in promoting tumor cell metastasis. In this study, we first reveal that VASP is located in the nucleus of breast cancer cells and elucidate a Wnt/β-catenin/VASP positive feedback loop. We identify that VASP is a target gene of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, and activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway can significantly upregulate VASP protein expression, while upregulated VASP protein can in turn promote translocation of β-catenin and DVL3 proteins into the nucleus. In the nucleus, VASP, DVL3, β-catenin and TCF4 can form VASP/DVL3/β-catenin/TCF4 protein complex, activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, and promoting the expression of target genes VASP, c-myc and cyclin D1. Thus, our study reveals that there is a Wnt/β-catenin/VASP malignant positive feedback loop in breast cancer, which promotes the proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells, and breaking this positive feedback loop may provide new strategy for breast cancer treatment.
Project description:Wnt signals control three functions of intestinal crypts: maintenance of Lgr5 stem cells, proliferation of transit-amplifying daughters and formation of Paneth cells. Here, we study how the Wnt effector β-catenin/Tcf4 cooperates with the Wnt-activated transcription factor Ascl2 to control a stem cell transcription program. DNA elements that are co-occupied and synergistically regulated by Ascl2 and Tcf4 specifically map to stem cell genes. In vitro, Tcf4-/- mini-guts are rescued by Ascl2 expression, while Ascl2-/- organoids are rescued by Wnt signaling. A direct auto-activatory loop leads to an on/off expression pattern of Ascl2 with a threshold that depends on the previous state. Wnt/R-spondin1 activates this loop. This mechanism interprets Wnt levels in crypts and translates this continuous signal into a discrete Ascl2 “on” or “off” decision. In turn Ascl2, together with β-catenin/Tcf, activates stem cell genes. Thus, Ascl2 forms a transcriptional 'stemness switch' that is both Wnt-responsive and Wnt-dependent.
Project description:Wnt signals control three functions of intestinal crypts: maintenance of Lgr5 stem cells, proliferation of transit-amplifying daughters and formation of Paneth cells. Here, we study how the Wnt effector β-catenin/Tcf4 cooperates with the Wnt-activated transcription factor Ascl2 to control a stem cell transcription program. DNA elements that are co-occupied and synergistically regulated by Ascl2 and Tcf4 specifically map to stem cell genes. In vitro, Tcf4-/- mini-guts are rescued by Ascl2 expression, while Ascl2-/- organoids are rescued by Wnt signaling. A direct auto-activatory loop leads to an on/off expression pattern of Ascl2 with a threshold that depends on the previous state. Wnt/R-spondin1 activates this loop. This mechanism interprets Wnt levels in crypts and translates this continuous signal into a discrete Ascl2 “on” or “off” decision. In turn Ascl2, together with β-catenin/Tcf, activates stem cell genes. Thus, Ascl2 forms a transcriptional 'stemness switch' that is both Wnt-responsive and Wnt-dependent
Project description:Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women. One key signaling pathway known to regulate tumor growth, metabolic adaptation, and cellular stress response in breast cancer is Wnt signaling. Breast cancer patients, specifically triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), with upregulated Wnt signaling often have a poor clinical prognosis. However, the effects of Wnt/β-catenin signaling on the nucleolus and the resultant impact on cancer development and progression remain unclear. A notable reduction was observed in the number of nucleoli per nucleus in response to Wnt/β-catenin signaling inhibition in multiple TNBC cell lines. Our comparative proteomic analysis revealed several changes in the composition of the nucleolar proteome of TNBC cells upon inhibition of Wnt signaling. Overall, we demonstrate that Wnt/β-catenin signaling will affects nucleolar functionality and thus influences breast cancer progression. Understanding the role of Wnt signaling in the nucleolus and breast cancer is a critical step towards developing novel therapeutic options for the treatment of breast cancer.
Project description:β-catenin signaling can be both a physiological and an oncogenic pathway in the liver. It controls compartmentalized gene expression, allowing the liver to ensure its essential metabolic function. It is activated by mutations in 20 to 40% of hepatocellular carcinomas with specific metabolic features. We decipher the molecular determinants of β-catenin-dependent zonal transcription using mice with β-catenin-activated or -inactivated hepatocytes, characterizing in vivo their chromatin occupancy by Tcf4 and β-catenin, their transcriptome and their metabolome. We find that Tcf4 DNA-bindings depend on β-catenin. Tcf4/β-catenin binds Wnt-responsive elements preferentially around β-catenin-induced genes. In contrast, genes repressed by β-catenin bind Tcf4 on Hnf4-responsive elements. β-catenin, Tcf4 and Hnf4α interact, dictating β-catenin transcription which is antagonistic to that elicited by Hnf4α. Finally, we find the drug/bile metabolism pathway to be the one most heavily targeted by β-catenin, partly through xenobiotic nuclear receptors. We conclude that β-catenin patterns the zonal liver together with Tcf4, Hnf4α and xenobiotic nuclear receptors. This network represses lipid metabolism, and exacerbates glutamine, drug and bile metabolism, mirroring hepatocellular carcinomas with β-catenin mutational activation. In vivo liver samples in 4 conditions: Betacat activated (WCE, Tcf4 chipseq, Betacat chipseq, mRNAseq with 2 replicates), Betacat null (WCE, Tcf4 chipseq, mRNAseq with 2 replicates), Betacat control (mRNAseq with 2 replicates), Wild type (mRNAseq with 2 replicates)
Project description:We have demonstrated that RAD6B, a ubiquitin conjugating enzyme that is a principal component of translesion synthesis pathway, stabilizes and transcriptionally activates beta-catenin by lysine 63-linked polyubiquitination. RAD6B is also a beta-catenin transcriptional target, triggering a positive feedback loop. Canonical WNT signaling is critical for melanocyte lineage commitment and melanoma development, and RAD6B and beta-catenin are co-expressed in primary and metastatic melanomas. To understand how RAD6B influences melanoma development/progression, we performed RNA-seq of human metastatic M14 melanoma cells, their RAD6B knockout counterpart, and human HEMa-LP normal melanocytes.
Project description:Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is essential for stem cell regulation and cancer formation by activation of target genes transcription. For transcriptional activation, the histone around promoters needs to be modified to remove transcriptional repressors; however, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we report that Wnt signal erases TCF4-associated H3K9me2/me3 by recruitment of KDM4C through β-catenin to activate gene transcription. In the absence of Wnt3a, PKR phosphorylates KDM4C which induces its ubiquitination and degradation. Wnt3a stabilizes KDM4C through inhibition of GSK3-dependent PKR kinase activity. Stabilized KDM4C accumulates in nucleus. Through interaction with β-catenin, KDM4C binds to and demethylates TCF4-associate Histone H3K9 which leads to HP1 removal and transcription activation. KDM4C-dependent H3K9 demethylation is essential for Wnt-induced gene expression and tumorigenesis. Importantly, KDM4C levels directly correlate with Wnt signaling activation in human glioblastomas. These findings demonstrate a pivotal epigenetic regulation mechanism for Wnt/β-catenin signaling activation in tumorigenesis.
Project description:The canonical Wnt pathway plays a central role in stem cell maintenance, differentiation and proliferation in the intestinal epithelium. Constitutive, aberrant activity of the TCF4/β-catenin transcriptional complex is the primary transforming factor in colorectal cancer. Despite significant recent inroads, the full complement of Wnt target genes and the mechanisms of regulation remain incompletely understood. Here we identify a nuclear long non-coding RNA, termed WiNTRLINC1, as a direct target of TCF4/β-catenin in colorectal cancer cells. WiNTRLINC1 positively regulates the expression of its close neighbor ASCL2, a transcription factor that controls intestinal stem cell fate. WiNTRLINC1 interacts with TCF4/β-catenin to mediate the juxtaposition/physical contact of its own promoter with the regulatory regions of ASCL2. ASCL2, in turn, regulates WiNTRLINC1 expression. This feedforward regulatory loop controls stem cell-related gene expression and is highly amplified in colorectal cancer.
Project description:Wnt signals control three functions of intestinal crypts: maintenance of Lgr5 stem cells, proliferation of transit-amplifying daughters and formation of Paneth cells. Here, we study how the Wnt effector β-catenin/Tcf4 cooperates with the Wnt-activated transcription factor Ascl2 to control a stem cell transcription program. DNA elements that are co-occupied and synergistically regulated by Ascl2 and Tcf4 specifically map to stem cell genes. In vitro, Tcf4-/- mini-guts are rescued by Ascl2 expression, while Ascl2-/- organoids are rescued by Wnt signaling. A direct auto-activatory loop leads to an on/off expression pattern of Ascl2 with a threshold that depends on the previous state. Wnt/R-spondin1 activates this loop. This mechanism interprets Wnt levels in crypts and translates this continuous signal into a discrete Ascl2 âonâ or âoffâ decision. In turn Ascl2, together with β-catenin/Tcf, activates stem cell genes. Thus, Ascl2 forms a transcriptional 'stemness switch' that is both Wnt-responsive and Wnt-dependent Examination of Tcf4, B-catenin and Ascl2 DNA occupancy in murine intestinal organoids and human colorectal cancer cell lines *** Original raw files unavailable due to loss during backup ***
Project description:Background: Wnt signaling maintains the undifferentiated state of intestinal crypt progenitor cells by inducing the formation of nuclear TCF4/beta-catenin complexes. In colorectal cancer, activating mutations in Wnt pathway components cause inappropriate activation of TCF4/beta-catenin -driven transcription. Despite the passage of a decade after the discovery of TCF4 and beta-catenin as the molecular effectors of the Wnt signal, few transcriptional activators essential and unique to the regulation of this transcription program have been found. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using proteomics, we identified the leukemia-associated Mllt10/Af10 and the methyltransferase Dot1l, as Tcf4/beta-catenin interactors in mouse small intestinal crypts. Mllt10/Af10-Dot1l, essential for transcription elongation, are recruited to Wnt target genes in a beta-catenin -dependent manner, resulting in H3K79 methylation over their coding regions in vivo in proliferative crypts of mouse small intestine, in colorectal cancer and Wnt-inducible HEK293T cells. Depletion of MLLT10/AF10 in colorectal cancer and Wnt-inducible HEK293T cells followed by expression array analysis identifies MLLT10/AF10 and DOT1L as essential activators dedicated to Wnt target gene regulation. In contrast, previously published b-catenin coactivators p300 and beta-catenin displayed a more pleiotropic target gene expression profile controlling Wnt and other pathways. tcf4, mllt10/af10 and dot1l are co-expressed in Wnt-driven tissues in zebrafish and essential for Wnt-reporter activity. Intestinal differentiation defects in apc-mutant zebrafish can be rescued by depletion of Mllt10 and Dot1l, establishing these genes as activators downstream of Apc in Wnt target gene activation in vivo. Morpholino-depletion of mllt10/af10-dot1l in zebrafish results in defects in intestinal homeostasis and a significant reduction in the in vivo expression of direct Wnt target genes and in the number of proliferative intestinal epithelial cells. Conclusions/Significance: We conclude that Mllt10/Af10-Dot1l are essential, dedicated activators of Wnt-dependent transcription, critical for maintenance of intestinal proliferation and homeostasis. The methyltransferase Dot1l may present an attractive candidate for drug targeting in colorectal cancer. 6 samples for Ls174T cells: si-b-catenin against si-control and dyeswap of it, si-control, si-MLLT10, si-BRG1 and si-P300 are hybridized against common reference RNA; 6 samples of HEK293T cells: Wnt3A or control medium (CM) induction for 9 hours, si-MLLT10, si-DOT1L, si-BRG1 and si-P300 upon 9 hour Wnt3A induction are all hybridized against common reference RNA