Modeling Lung Adenocarcinoma Metastases Using Patient-Derived Organoids
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Approximately 50% of patients with surgically resected early-stage lung cancer develop distant metastasis. At present, there is no in vivo metastasis model to investigate the biology of human lung cancer metastases. Using well-characterized patient-derived organoids (PDOs) from patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), we establish an in vivo metastasis model that preserves the biologic features of human LUAD metastases. Results of whole-genome and RNA sequencing performed in this study establish that our in vivo PDO metastasis model can be used to study clonality and tumor evolution and to identify biomarkers related to organotropism. Investigation of the response of KRASG12C PDOs to Sotorasib demonstrates that the model can examine the efficacy of treatments to suppress metastasis and identify mechanisms of drug resistance. Finally, our PDO model cocultured with autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells can potentially be used to determine the optimal immune-priming strategy for individual patients with LUAD.
Project description:Approximately 50% of patients with early-stage, surgically resected lung cancer will develop distant metastasis. There remains an unmet need to identify patients likely to develop recurrence and to design innovative therapies to decrease this risk. Two primary isoforms of BRMS1, v1 and v2 are present in humans. Using next generation sequencing of BRMS1 on matched human noncancerous lung tissue and NSCLC specimens we identified single-nucleotide polymorphism rs1052566 that results in an A273V mutation of BRMS1v2. This SNP is homozygous (BRMS1v2A273V/A273V) in 8% of the population and correlates with aggressive biology in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Mechanistically we show that BRMS1v2 A273V abolishes the metastasis suppressor function of BRMS1v2 and promotes robust cell invasion and metastases by activation of c-fos-mediated gene-specific transcriptional regulation. Specifically, BRMS1v2 A273V increases cell invasion in vitro and increased metastases in both tail-vein injection xenografts and LUAD patient-derived organoid (PDO) intracardiac injection metastasis in vivo models. Moreover, we show that BRMS1v2 A273V fails to interact with nuclear Src, thereby activating intratumoral c-fos in vitro. Higher c-fos results in upregulation of CEACAM6, which drives metastases in vitro and in vivo. Using both xenograft and PDO metastasis models, we repurposed T5224, a c-fos pharmacologic inhibitor investigated in clinical trials for arthritis, and observed suppression of metastases in BRMS1v2A273V/A273V LUAD in mice. Collectively, we elucidate the mechanism of BRMS1v2A273V/A273V-induced metastases and offer a putative therapeutic strategy for patients with LUAD with this germline alteration.
Project description:To characterize sotorasib resistance in lung adenocarcinomas (LUAD), we implanted pieces derived from a patient-derived KRAS-G12C positive xenograft (PDX) lung tumor model in immunocompromised mice
Project description:To characterize sotorasib resistance in lung adenocarcinomas (LUAD), we generated genetically engineered mice (Kras-G12C, Trp53-KO) and compared the transcriptional profiles of untreated and sotorasib-resistant tumors
Project description:Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and lung adenocarcinoma is the most common form of lung cancer. Genomic studies of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) have advanced our understanding of the disease's biology and accelerated targeted therapy. However, the proteomic characteristics of LUAD are still insufficiently understood. Prognosis for lung cancer patients remains poor and is strongly related to the stage of disease at the time of diagnosis. Therefore, our study focuses on metastasis formation in LUAD. We performed high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) on a total of 40 FFPE samples and compared proteomic profiles of primary tumors to those of matched distant metastases. Using differential expression analysis and unsupervised clustering we identified candidate proteins playing a role in metastatic spread. Selected proteins were validated by immunoblotting. Our findings give a better understanding of tumor progression and metastasis formation in LUAD and might help to develop biomarker specific therapy.
Project description:Brain metastases are common in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients, and by far, the metastasis mechanisms are not fully understood. We performed a comprehensive single-cell level transcriptomic analysis on one LUAD patient with CTC, primary tumor tissue and metastatic tumor tissue using scRNA-seq approach to identify metastasis related biomarkers. Further scRNA-seq were performed on 7 patients to validate the cancer metastatic hallmark. with single cells collected from either metastatic or primary LUAD tissues. we obtained a more comprehensive picture over lung cancer metastasis in the single-cell level, giving a new perspective to the role of RAC1 in the LUAD brain metastasis, and related pathways to participate in the metastasis process.
Project description:Stephen Paget first proposed, in 1889, that organ distribution of metastases is a non-random event, yet metastatic organotropism remains one of the greatest mysteries in cancer biology. Here, we demonstrate that exosomes released by lung-, liver- and brain-tropic tumor cells fuse preferentially with resident cells at their predicted destination, such as fibroblasts and epithelial cells in the lung, Kupffer cells in the liver, and endothelial cells in the brain. We found that exosome homing to organ-specific cell types prepares the pre-metastatic niche and that treatment with exosomes derived from lung tropic models can redirect metastasis to the lung. Proteomic profiling of exosomes revealed distinct integrin expression patterns associated with each organ-specific metastasis. Whereas exosomal integrins α6β4 and α6β1 were associated with lung metastasis, exosomal integrins αvβ5 and αvβ3 were linked with liver and brain metastases, respectively. Targeting α6β4 and αvβ5 integrins decreased exosome uptake and metastasis in the lung and liver, respectively. Importantly, we demonstrate that exosome uptake activates a cell-specific subset of S100 family genes, known to support cell migration and niche formation. Finally, our clinical data indicate that integrin-expression profiles in circulating plasma exosomes from cancer patients could be used to predict organ-specific metastasis. Education of human von Kupffer cells in vitro with human pancreatic cancer exosomes
Project description:Brain metastasis developed in nearly 40% of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients diagnosed with distant metastasis. There is lack of transcriptomic data of brain lesions from human lung adenocarcinoma patients. As part of the project to understanding the tumor microenvironment in brain metastasis of LUAD patients, we performed bulk RNA analysis on brain metastases from 6 LUAD patients. In order to understand the tumor intrinsic factors that potential shape the tumor microenvironment, we compared these data with bulk RNA sequencing data from 14 early stage and 11 late stage primary LUAD tumor from TCGA database. Pathway expression analysis showed a downregulation of pro-inflammatory signals in brain metastasis and upregulation of DNA synthesis and oxidative phosphorylation pathways related to rapid proliferation in brain lesions.
Project description:Introduction: The incidence of brain metastases in cancer patients is increasing, with lung and breast cancer being the most common sources. Despite advancements in targeted therapies, the prognosis remains poor, highlighting the importance to investigate the underlying mechanisms in brain metastases. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in the molecular mechanisms involved in brain metastasis of breast and lung cancers. In addition, we aimed to identify cancer lineage-specific druggable targets in the brain metastasis. Methods: To that aim, a cohort of 44 FFPE tissue samples, including 22 breast cancer and 22 lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and their matched-paired brain metastases were collected. Targeted gene expression profiles of primary tumors were compared to their matched-paired brain metastases samples using nCounter PanCancer IO 360™ Panel of NanoString technologies. Pathway analysis was performed using gene set analysis (GSA) and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). The validation was performed by using Immunohistochemistry (IHC) to confirm the expression of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Results: Our results revealed the significant upregulation of cancer-related genes in primary tumors compared to their matched-paired brain metastases (adj. p ≤ 0.05). We found that upregulated differentially expressed genes in breast cancer brain metastasis (BM-BC) and brain metastasis from lung adenocarcinoma (BM-LUAD) were associated with the metabolic stress pathway, particularly related to the glycolysis. Additionally, we found that the upregulated genes in BM-BC and BM-LUAD played roles in immune response regulation, tumor growth, and proliferation. Importantly, we identified high expression of the immune checkpoint VTCN1 in BM-BC, and VISTA, IDO1, NT5E, and HDAC3 in BM-LUAD. Validation using immunohistochemistry further supported these findings. Conclusion: In conclusion, the findings highlight the significance of using matched-paired samples to identify cancer lineage-specific therapies that may improve brain metastasis patients outcomes.
Project description:Stephen Paget first proposed, in 1889, that organ distribution of metastases is a non-random event, yet metastatic organotropism remains one of the greatest mysteries in cancer biology. Here, we demonstrate that exosomes released by lung-, liver- and brain-tropic tumor cells fuse preferentially with resident cells at their predicted destination, such as fibroblasts and epithelial cells in the lung, Kupffer cells in the liver, and endothelial cells in the brain. We found that exosome homing to organ-specific cell types prepares the pre-metastatic niche and that treatment with exosomes derived from lung tropic models can redirect metastasis to the lung. Proteomic profiling of exosomes revealed distinct integrin expression patterns associated with each organ-specific metastasis. Whereas exosomal integrins α6β4 and α6β1 were associated with lung metastasis, exosomal integrins αvβ5 and αvβ3 were linked with liver and brain metastases, respectively. Targeting α6β4 and αvβ5 integrins decreased exosome uptake and metastasis in the lung and liver, respectively. Importantly, we demonstrate that exosome uptake activates a cell-specific subset of S100 family genes, known to support cell migration and niche formation. Finally, our clinical data indicate that integrin-expression profiles in circulating plasma exosomes from cancer patients could be used to predict organ-specific metastasis.
Project description:Metastases in the brain are the most severe and devastating complication of cancer. The incidence of brain metastasis is increasing. Therefore, the need of finding specific druggable targets for brain metastasis is demanding. The aim of this study was to compare the brain (immune) response to brain metastases of the most common tumor lineages, viz., lung adenocarcinoma and breast cancer. Targeted gene expression profiles of 11 brain metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma (BM-LUAD) were compared to 11 brain metastasis of breast cancer (BCBM) using NanoString nCounter PanCancer IO 360™ Panel. The most promising results were validated spatially using the novel GeoMx™ Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP) Technology. Additionally, Immune cell profiles and expression of drug targets were validated by multiplex immunohistochemistry. We found more active immune response in BM-LUAD as compared to BCBM. In the BM-LUAD, 138 genes were upregulated as compared to BCBM (adj. p ≤ 0.05). Conversely, in BCBM 28 genes were upregulated (adj. p ≤ 0.05). Additionally, genes related to CD45+ cells, T cells and cytotoxic T cells showed to be expressed higher in BM-LUAD compared to BCBM (adj. p = 0.01, adj. p = 0.023, adj. p = 0.023, respectively). The spatial quantification of the immune cells using the GeoMx DSP technique revealed the significantly higher quantification of CD14 and CD163 in tumor regions of BM-LUAD as compared to BCBM. Importantly, the immune checkpoint VISTA and IDO1 were identified as highly expressed in the BM-LUAD. Multiplex immunohistochemistry confirmed the finding and showed that VISTA is expressed mainly in BM-LUAD tumor cells, CD3+ cells, and to less levels in some microglial cells in BM-LUAD. This is the first report on differences in the brain immune response between metastatic tumor of different lineages. We found a far more extensive infiltration of immune cells in BM-LUAD as compared to BCBM. In addition, we found higher expression of VISTA and IDO1 in BM-LUAD. Taken together, targeted immune therapy should be considered to treat patients with BM-LUAD.