Genes activated by 5-aza-dC (DAC) in pancreatic cancer (KPC-Brca1) epithelial cells
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignancy that resists current treatments. To test epigenetic therapy against this cancer we used the DNA demethylating drug 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine (DAC) in a KrasLSL-G12D; p53LSL-R270H/+; Pdx1-cre; Brca1flex2/flex2 (KPC-Brca1) mouse model of aggressive stroma-rich PDAC. In untreated tumors, we found globally decreased 5-methyl-cytosine (5mC) in malignant epithelial cells and in cancer-associated myofibroblasts (CAFs), and increased amounts of 5-hydroxymethyl-cytosine (5HmC) in CAFs, in progression from pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) to PDAC. DAC further reduced DNA methylation and slowed PDAC progression, markedly extending survival in an early treatment protocol and significantly though transiently inhibiting tumor growth when initiated later, without adverse side effects. Escaping tumors contained areas of sarcomatoid transformation with disappearance of CAFs. Mixing-allografting experiments and proliferation indices showed that DAC efficacy was due to inhibition of both the malignant epithelial cells and the stromal CAFs. Expression profiling and immunohistochemistry highlighted DAC-induction of STAT1 in the tumors, and DAC plus gamma-interferon produced an additive anti-proliferative effect on PDAC cells. DAC induced strong expression of the testis antigen DAZL in CAFs. These data show that DAC is effective against PDAC in vivo and provide a rationale for future studies combining hypomethylating agents with cytokines and immunotherapy.
Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignancy that resists current treatments. To test epigenetic therapy against this cancer we used the DNA demethylating drug 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine (DAC) in a KrasLSL-G12D; p53LSL-R270H/+; Pdx1-cre; Brca1flex2/flex2 (KPC-Brca1) mouse model of aggressive stroma-rich PDAC. In untreated tumors, we found globally decreased 5-methyl-cytosine (5mC) in malignant epithelial cells and in cancer-associated myofibroblasts (CAFs), and increased amounts of 5-hydroxymethyl-cytosine (5HmC) in CAFs, in progression from pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) to PDAC. DAC further reduced DNA methylation and slowed PDAC progression, markedly extending survival in an early treatment protocol and significantly though transiently inhibiting tumor growth when initiated later, without adverse side effects. Escaping tumors contained areas of sarcomatoid transformation with disappearance of CAFs. Mixing-allografting experiments and proliferation indices showed that DAC efficacy was due to inhibition of both the malignant epithelial cells and the stromal CAFs. Expression profiling and immunohistochemistry highlighted DAC-induction of STAT1 in the tumors, and DAC plus gamma-interferon produced an additive anti-proliferative effect on PDAC cells. DAC induced strong expression of the testis antigen DAZL in CAFs. These data show that DAC is effective against PDAC in vivo and provide a rationale for future studies combining hypomethylating agents with cytokines and immunotherapy. Treatment of a short-term explant culture of malignant epithelial cells from a KPC-Brca1 mouse pancreatic carcinoma, with 0.5 micromolar 5-aza-dC (decitabine; DAC) for 48 hours. The experiment includes 3 replicate plates untreated and 3 replicates treated.
Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignancy that resists current treatments. To test epigenetic therapy against this cancer we used the DNA demethylating drug 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine (DAC) in a KrasLSL-G12D; p53LSL-R270H/+; Pdx1-cre; Brca1flex2/flex2 (KPC-Brca1) mouse model of aggressive stroma-rich PDAC. In untreated tumors, we found globally decreased 5-methyl-cytosine (5mC) in malignant epithelial cells and in cancer-associated myofibroblasts (CAFs), and increased amounts of 5-hydroxymethyl-cytosine (5HmC) in CAFs, in progression from pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) to PDAC. DAC further reduced DNA methylation and slowed PDAC progression, markedly extending survival in an early treatment protocol and significantly though transiently inhibiting tumor growth when initiated later, without adverse side effects. Escaping tumors contained areas of sarcomatoid transformation with disappearance of CAFs. Mixing-allografting experiments and proliferation indices showed that DAC efficacy was due to inhibition of both the malignant epithelial cells and the stromal CAFs. Expression profiling and immunohistochemistry highlighted DAC-induction of STAT1 in the tumors, and DAC plus gamma-interferon produced an additive anti-proliferative effect on PDAC cells. DAC induced strong expression of the testis antigen DAZL in CAFs. These data show that DAC is effective against PDAC in vivo and provide a rationale for future studies combining hypomethylating agents with cytokines and immunotherapy. Treatment of a short-term explant culture of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) from a KPC-Brca1 mouse pancreatic carcinoma, with 2 micromolar 5-aza-dC (decitabine; DAC) for 48 hours. The experiment includes 3 replicate plates untreated and 3 replicates treated.
Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignancy that resists current treatments. To test epigenetic therapy against this cancer we used the DNA demethylating drug 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine (DAC) in a KrasLSL-G12D; p53LSL-R270H/+; Pdx1-cre; Brca1flex2/flex2 (KPC-Brca1) mouse model of aggressive stroma-rich PDAC. In untreated tumors, we found globally decreased 5-methyl-cytosine (5mC) in malignant epithelial cells and in cancer-associated myofibroblasts (CAFs), and increased amounts of 5-hydroxymethyl-cytosine (5HmC) in CAFs, in progression from pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) to PDAC. DAC further reduced DNA methylation and slowed PDAC progression, markedly extending survival in an early treatment protocol and significantly though transiently inhibiting tumor growth when initiated later, without adverse side effects. Escaping tumors contained areas of sarcomatoid transformation with disappearance of CAFs. Mixing-allografting experiments and proliferation indices showed that DAC efficacy was due to inhibition of both the malignant epithelial cells and the stromal CAFs. Expression profiling and immunohistochemistry highlighted DAC-induction of STAT1 in the tumors, and DAC plus gamma-interferon produced an additive anti-proliferative effect on PDAC cells. DAC induced strong expression of the testis antigen DAZL in CAFs. These data show that DAC is effective against PDAC in vivo and provide a rationale for future studies combining hypomethylating agents with cytokines and immunotherapy.
Project description:Neuropathy is a feature more frequently observed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) than other tumors. Schwann cells, the most prevalent cell in peripheral nerves, migrate toward tumor cells and associate with poor prognosis in PDAC. To unveil the effects of Schwann cells on the neuro-stroma niche, single-cell RNA-sequencing and microarray-based spatial transcriptome analysis of PDAC tissues were performed. Results suggested that Schwann cells may drive tumor cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) to more malignant subtypes: basal-like and inflammatory CAFs (iCAFs), respectively. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo assays demonstrated that Schwann cells enhanced the proliferation and migration of PDAC cells via Midkine and promoted the switch of CAFs to iCAFs via interleukin-1a. By Schwann cells condition medium, tumor cells together with iCAFs accelerate PDAC progression. Thus, we revealed, for the first time, that Schwann cells induce malignant subtypes of tumor cells and CAFs in the PDAC milieu.
Project description:Neuropathy is a feature more frequently observed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) than other tumors. Schwann cells, the most prevalent cell in peripheral nerves, migrate toward tumor cells and associate with poor prognosis in PDAC. To unveil the effects of Schwann cells on the neuro-stroma niche, single-cell RNA-sequencing and microarray-based spatial transcriptome analysis of PDAC tissues were performed. Results suggested that Schwann cells may drive tumor cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) to more malignant subtypes: basal-like and inflammatory CAFs (iCAFs), respectively. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo assays demonstrated that Schwann cells enhanced the proliferation and migration of PDAC cells via Midkine and promoted the switch of CAFs to iCAFs via interleukin-1a. By Schwann cells condition medium, tumor cells together with iCAFs accelerate PDAC progression. Thus, we revealed, for the first time, that Schwann cells induce malignant subtypes of tumor cells and CAFs in the PDAC milieu.
Project description:Neuropathy is a feature more frequently observed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) than other tumors. Schwann cells, the most prevalent cell in peripheral nerves, migrate toward tumor cells and associate with poor prognosis in PDAC. To unveil the effects of Schwann cells on the neuro-stroma niche, single-cell RNA-sequencing and microarray-based spatial transcriptome analysis of PDAC tissues were performed. Results suggested that Schwann cells may drive tumor cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) to more malignant subtypes: basal-like and inflammatory CAFs (iCAFs), respectively. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo assays demonstrated that Schwann cells enhanced the proliferation and migration of PDAC cells via Midkine and promoted the switch of CAFs to iCAFs via interleukin-1a. By Schwann cells condition medium, tumor cells together with iCAFs accelerate PDAC progression. Thus, we revealed, for the first time, that Schwann cells induce malignant subtypes of tumor cells and CAFs in the PDAC milieu.
Project description:<p>Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are major players in the progression and drug resistance of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). CAFs constitute a diverse cell population consisting of several recently described subtypes, although the extent of CAF heterogeneity has remained undefined. Here we employ single-cell RNA-sequencing to thoroughly characterize the neoplastic and tumor microenvironment content of human PDAC tumors. Six human PDAC tumor specimens from six patients were collected, and processed for single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis. Adjacent-normal pancreas tissue was also collected from two of the patients. Tumor samples were digested, and fluorescence-activated cell sorting was used to isolate viable cells. For one tumor sample, viable, CD45-negative, CD31-negative, and EpCAM-negative cells were also isolated to enrich for CAFs. The 10X Chromium platform was then used to isolate single cells for RNA-sequencing analysis. This work has demonstrated the differences in immune cell populations between adjacent-normal and tumor tissues, and identified subpopulations of epithelial cells and CAFs present in PDAC tumors. This high-throughput analysis is a resource to better understand the cell populations present in PDAC, and may ultimately aid in the development of more effective therapies for this deadly malignancy.</p>
Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a characteristically dense stroma comprised predominantly of cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs). CAFs promote tumor growth, metastasis and treatment resistance. We aimed to investigate the molecular changes and functional consequences associated with chemotherapy treatment of PDAC CAFs. Chemoresistant immortalized CAFs (R-CAFs) were generated by continuous incubation in 100nM gemcitabine. Gene expression differences between treatment naïve CAFs (N-CAFs) and R-CAFs were compared by array analysis. Immortalized human pancreatic CAFs were grown for 30 days in either control media or media containing 100nM gemcitabine. RNA was then isolated and hybidized on U133 Plus 2.0 Affymetrix arrays.
Project description:Targeting the desmoplastic stroma of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) holds promise to augment the effect of chemotherapy, but so far success remains limited in the clinic. Furthermore, preclinical mouse models suggest that near-depletion of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) carries a risk of accelerating PDAC progression. These concerns underscore the need to concurrently target the key signaling mechanisms that drive the malignant attributes of both CAFs and PDAC cells. We previously reported that inhibition of Interleukin-1 Receptor Associated Kinase 4 (IRAK4) suppresses NF-kB activity and promotes chemotherapy response in PDAC cells. In this study, we show that CAFs in PDAC tumors robustly express activated IRAK4 and NF-kb. The role of IRAK4 and NF-kB in PDAC CAFs has not been reported, and should be clarified before advancing IRAK4 inhibitors to the clinic. Using shRNAs and small molecular inhibitors, we found that IRAK4 is a key driver of NF-kB activity in CAFs. We showed that CAFs utilizes IRAK4 to drive tumor fibrosis, support PDAC cells proliferation, survival and chemoresistance in vitro and in vivo. From cytokine array analysis of CAFs and microarray analysis of PDAC cells, we identified IL-1b as a key cytokine that activates IRAK4 in CAFs. Targeting IRAK4 or IL-1b renders PDAC tumors less fibrotic and more sensitive to gemcitabine in vivo. Moreover, high IL-1b expression by immunohistochemistry in PDAC stroma is strongly associated with poor overall survival. Together, our studies established a tumor-stroma IL-1b-IRAK4 feedforward circuitry that can be therapeutically disrupted to render chemotherapy more effective in PDAC.
Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a deadly disease when diagnosed at a late stage, however patient survivorship significantly increases when the disease is detect prior to metastasis. To study the earliest events leading to PDAC initiation, we developed a genetically engineered mouse model of PDAC utilizing a tamoxifen-inducible Cre Recombinase knocked into the transcription factor Ptf1a locus to induce expression of oncogenic KrasG12D and Trp53R270H alleles in adult pancreatic acinar cells. Mice of the genotype KrasLSL-G12D/+; Trp53LSL-R270H/+; Ptf1aCreERTM/+ (KPT) developed PDAC following tamoxifen injection while control Cre recombinase negative KrasLSL-G12D/+; Trp53LSL-R270H/+; (KP) mice injected with tamoxifen did not develop PDAC. Acinar cells comprising the pancreata of tamoxifen treated KPT mice we observed to undergo acinar to ductal metaplasia (ADM), and formed precancerous lesions. We used laser capture microdissection (LCM) and RNA sequencing to generate, to our knowledge, the first transcriptional profile of an enriched population of metaplastic acinar cells in situ. Comparing the transcriptional profile of metaplastic acinar cells with the transcriptional profile of healthy pancreatic tissue identified differentially expressed genes associated with ADM. Ingenuity pathway analysis revealed transcriptional regulators and canonical signaling pathways involved in ADM. LCM was used to generate a transactional profile of cancer cells isolated from pancreatic tumors, and differential gene expression analysis revealed a subset of genes which are overexpressed in both ADM and PDAC relative to healthy pancreas. Further analysis of genes expressed in both pancreatic cancer precursor ADM lesions and invasive PDAC may lead to the identification of novel biomarkers of PDAC.