CPSF3 inhibition blocks pancreatic cancer cell proliferation through disruption of core histone mRNA processing
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ABSTRACT: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal disease with limited effective treatment options, potentiating the importance of uncovering novel drug targets. Here, we target Cleavage and Polyadenylation Specificity Factor 3 (CPSF3), the 3’ endonuclease that catalyzes mRNA cleavage during polyadenylation and histone mRNA processing. We find that CPSF3 is highly expressed in PDAC and is associated with poor prognosis. CPSF3 knockdown blocks PDAC cell proliferation and colony formation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Chemical inhibition of CPSF3 by the small molecule JTE-607 also attenuates PDAC cell proliferation and colony formation, while it has no effect on cell proliferation of non-transformed immortalized control pancreatic cells. Mechanistically, JTE-607 induces transcriptional read-through in replication-dependent histones, reduces core histone expression, destabilizes chromatin structure and arrests cells in the S-phase of the cell cycle. Therefore, CPSF3 represents a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of PDAC.
Project description:Cleavage and polyadenylation (CPA) defines the 3’ end of almost all eukaryotic mRNAs. CPA inhibition, or CPAi, leads to transcriptional readthrough. Here, we show that the CPSF-73 inhibitor JTE-607 globally perturbs gene expression, especially for those with a high GC content and located in high gene density regions. Based on regulated alternative polyadenylation (APA) events, we found that more frequently used CPA sites are inhibited by JTE-607 to a greater extent. Consistently, cells with elevated CPA activities, as indicated by preferential usage of proximal APA sites, display greater transcriptional readthrough and gene expression disturbance upon JTE-607 treatment. Remarkably, overexpression of the core CPA factor FIP1 enhances global CPA activity in the cell and leads to greater JTE-607 sensitivity. Taken together, our data indicate that CPAi selectively impacts genes based on their genomic features and the CPA activity of a cell is a key determinant of sensitivity to CPAi.
Project description:Cleavage and polyadenylation (CPA) defines the 3’ end of almost all eukaryotic mRNAs. CPA inhibition, or CPAi, leads to transcriptional readthrough. Here, we show that the CPSF-73 inhibitor JTE-607 globally perturbs gene expression, especially for those with a high GC content and located in high gene density regions. Based on regulated alternative polyadenylation (APA) events, we found that more frequently used CPA sites are inhibited by JTE-607 to a greater extent. Consistently, cells with elevated CPA activities, as indicated by preferential usage of proximal APA sites, display greater transcriptional readthrough and gene expression disturbance upon JTE-607 treatment. Remarkably, overexpression of the core CPA factor FIP1 enhances global CPA activity in the cell and leads to greater JTE-607 sensitivity. Taken together, our data indicate that CPAi selectively impacts genes based on their genomic features and the CPA activity of a cell is a key determinant of sensitivity to CPAi.
Project description:Cleavage and polyadenylation (CPA) defines the 3’ end of almost all eukaryotic mRNAs. CPA inhibition, or CPAi, leads to transcriptional readthrough. Here, we show that the CPSF-73 inhibitor JTE-607 globally perturbs gene expression, especially for those with a high GC content and located in high gene density regions. Based on regulated alternative polyadenylation (APA) events, we found that more frequently used CPA sites are inhibited by JTE-607 to a greater extent. Consistently, cells with elevated CPA activities, as indicated by preferential usage of proximal APA sites, display greater transcriptional readthrough and gene expression disturbance upon JTE-607 treatment. Remarkably, overexpression of the core CPA factor FIP1 enhances global CPA activity in the cell and leads to greater JTE-607 sensitivity. Taken together, our data indicate that CPAi selectively impacts genes based on their genomic features and the CPA activity of a cell is a key determinant of sensitivity to CPAi.
Project description:To assess the impact of CPA inhibition by JTE-607 on intra-cell-line transcriptomic heterogeneity, we profiled two lung cancer cell lines treated with DMSO or JTE-607 by 3' tag-based single-cell RNA-seq with 10x Chromium. For data analysis, we performed transcriptome quantification at the PAS-based transcript level to generate a PAS-by-cell count matrix, and then investigate the effect of JTE-607 treatment on PAS usage pattern and cellular states.
Project description:JTE-607 is a small molecule compound with anti-inflammation and anti-cancer activities. Upon entering the cell, it is hydrolyzed to Compound 2, which directly binds to and inhibits CPSF73, the endonuclease for the cleavage step in pre-mRNA 3' processing. Although CPSF73 is universally required for mRNA 3' end formation, we have unexpectedly found that Compound 2-mediated inhibition of pre-mRNA 3' processing is sequence-specific and that the sequences flanking the cleavage site (CS) are a major determinant for drug sensitivity. By using massively parallel in vitro assays, we have measured the Compound 2 sensitivities of over 260,000 sequence variants and identified key sequence features that determine drug sensitivity. A machine learning model trained on these data can predict the impact of JTE-607 on poly(A) site (PAS) selection and transcription termination genome-wide. We propose a biochemical model in which CPSF73 and other mRNA 3' processing factors bind to RNA of the CS region in a sequence-specific manner and the affinity of such interaction determines the Compound 2 sensitivity of a PAS. Together, our study not only characterized the mechanism of action of a compound with clinical implications, but also revealed a previously unknown sequence-specificity of the mRNA 3' processing machinery.
Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) originates from normal pancreatic ducts where digestive juice is regularly produced. It remains unclear how PDAC can escape auto-digestion by digestive enzymes. Here we show that human PDAC tumor cells use gasdermin E (GSDME), a pore-forming protein upon caspase 3 cleavage, to mediate the digestive resistance. We find that GSDME facilitates the expression of mucins 1 and 13 in pancreatic tumor cells, which forms a barrier to prevent chymotrypsin-mediated destruction. Inoculation of GSDME-/- PDAC cells results in subcutaneous but not orthotopic tumor formation in mice. Either inhibiting or knocking out MUC1 or MUC13 abrogates orthotopic PDAC growth in NOD-SCID mice. Mechanistically, GSDME interacts with and transports transcription factor YBX1 into the nucleus where YBX1 directly promotes mucin expression. This GSDME-YBX1-mucin axis is also confirmed in PDAC patients. These findings uncover a unique survival mechanism of PDAC cells in pancreatic microenvironments, thus providing a potential target for PDAC treatment.
Project description:In eukaryotes, the 3' ends of RNA polymerase II-generated transcripts are made in the majority of cases by site-specific endonucleolytic cleavage, followed by the addition of a poly(A) tail. By alternative polyadenylation, a gene can give rise to multiple mRNA isoforms that differ in the length of their 3' UTRs and hence in their susceptibility to post-transcriptional regulatory factors such as microRNAs. A series of recently conducted high-throughput studies of poly(A) site usage revealed an extensive tissue-specific control of 3’ UTR length and drastic changes in 3’ UTR length of mRNAs upon induction of proliferation in resting cells. To understand the dynamics of polyadenylation site usage, we recently identified binding sites of the major pre-mRNA 3’ end processing factors - cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF), cleavage stimulation factor (CstF), and cleavage factor Im (CF Im) - and mapped cleaved polyadenylation sites in HEK293 cells. Our present study extends previous findings on the role of CF Im in alternative polyadenylation and reveals that subunits of the CF Im complex generally control 3’ UTR length. More specifically, we demonstrate that the loss-of-function of CF Im68 and CF Im25 but not of CF Im59 leads to a transcriptome-wide increase of the use of proximal polyadenylation sites. 3' ends of transcripts were profiled by high-throughput sequencing in HEK 293 cells under normal conditions, and in HEK 293 cells depleted of 3' end processing factors CF Im25, CF Im59, and CF Im68.
Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal disease characterized by late diagnosis and treatment resistance. Recurrent genetic alterations in defined genes in association with perturbations of developmental cell signaling pathways have been associated with PDAC development and progression. Here, we show that GATA6 contributes to pancreatic carcinogenesis during the temporal progression of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia by virtue of Wnt pathway activation. GATA6 is recurrently amplified by both quantitative-PCR and fluorescent in-situ hybridization in human pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia and in PDAC tissues, and GATA6 copy number is significantly correlated with overall patient survival. Forced overexpression of GATA6 in cancer cell lines enhanced cell proliferation and colony formation in soft agar in vitro and growth in vivo, as well as increased Wnt signaling. By contrast siRNA mediated knockdown of GATA6 led to corresponding decreases in these same parameters. The effects of GATA6 were found to be due to its ability to bind DNA, as forced overexpression of a DNA-binding mutant of GATA6 had no effects on cell growth in vitro or in vivo, nor did they affect Wnt signaling levels in these same cells. A microarray analysis revealed the Wnt antagonist Dickopf-1 (DKK1) as a dysregulated gene in association with GATA6 knockdown, and direct binding of GATA6 to the DKK1 promoter was confirmed by chromatin immunoprecipitation and electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Transient transfection of GATA6, but not mutant GATA6, into cancer cell lines led to decreased DKK1 mRNA expression and secretion of DKK1 protein into culture media. Forced overexpression of DKK1 antagonized the effects of GATA6 on Wnt signaling in pancreatic cancer cells. These findings illustrate that one mechanism by which GATA6 promotes pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia is by virtue of its activation of canonical Wnt signaling via regulation of DKK1. AsPC1 and A13A cells were stably transfected with a lentivirus expressing mock shRNA or shRNA to GATA6. Each control/shRNA pair (total 4 samples) was analyzed by two-color microarray and the genes commonly dysregulated in both cell lines identified.
Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer fatalities in Western societies, characterized by high metastatic potential and resistance to chemotherapy. Critical molecular mechanisms of these phenotypical features still remain unknown, thus hampering the development of effective prognostic and therapeutic measures in PDAC. Here we show that transcriptional co-factor Transducin beta-like (TBL) 1 was over-expressed in both human and murine PDAC. Inactivation of TBL1 in human and mouse pancreatic cancer cells reduced cellular proliferation and enhanced chemosensitivity, correlating with diminished glucose uptake, glycolytic flux, and PI3kinase signaling. TBL1 deficiency both prevented and reversed pancreatic tumor growth in mice, triggering transcriptional PI3kinase inhibition also in vivo. As TBL1 mRNA levels were also found to correlate with overall and disease-free survival in a cohort of human PDAC patients and to predict therapy responsiveness in these subjects, TBL1 expression may serve both as a novel prognostic marker and molecular target in the treatment of human PDAC. Capan-1 cells were transfected with control-siRNA (#1027292, Qiagen) or siRNA against human TBL1 (SI04329514, Qiagen) and RNA was isolated 24h later
Project description:BACKGROUND & AIMS: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is usually incurable. Contrary to genetic mechanisms involved in PDAC pathogenesis, epigenetic alterations are ill defined. Here we determine the contribution of epigenetically silenced genes to the development of PDAC. METHODS: We investigated methylated DNAs from PDACs, chronic pancreatitis and normal pancreatic tissues using Methyl-CpG immunoprecipitation followed by microarray hybridization. Promoter methylation of selected genes was confirmed with the Epityper assay. Expression levels were evaluated by quantitative RT-PCR. WNK2 was further investigated in tissue microarrays, methylation analysis of early pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanINs), mouse models for PDAC and pancreatitis, re-expression studies after demethylation, and cell growth assays using WNK2 overexpression. RESULTS: A total of 3.8% of 27.800 interrogated CpG islands were hypermethylated in PDAC versus normal and chronic pancreatitis tissues. Hypermethylation was confirmed in 12 out of 13 selected islands and was associated with gene silencing in 4 of them. The most prominently hypermethylated gene, WNK2, was further investigated. Demethylation assays confirmed the link between methylation and expression. WNK2 hypermethylation was higher in pancreatic tumor cells than in surrounding inflamed tissues and was observed in PanIN lesions as well as in a PDAC mouse model. WNK2 mRNA and protein expression were lower in PDAC and chronic pancreatitis compared to normal tissues both in patients and mouse models. Overexpression of WNK2 led to a reduced cell growth and WNK2 expression in tissues correlated negatively with the expression of pERK1/2, a downstream target of WNK2 responsible for cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: WNK2 is downregulated by promoter hypermethylation early in PDAC pathogenesis and may support tumor cell growth via the ERK-MAPK pathway. 3 types of pancreatic tissue samples: 5 normals, 2 chronic pancreatitis, 7 tumors (PDAC)