Project description:Neuroblastomas are tumors of the developing peripheral sympathetic nervous system, which originates from the neural crest. Twenty percent of neuroblastomas show amplification of the MYCN oncogene, which correlates with poor prognosis. The MYCN transcription factor can activate and repress gene expression. To broaden our insight in the spectrum of genes down-regulated by MYCN, we generated gene expression profiles of the neuroblastoma cell lines SHEP-21N and SKNAS-NmycER, in which MYCN activity can be regulated. In this study, we show that MYCN suppresses the expression of Dickkopf-1 (DKK1) in both cell lines. DKK1 is a potent inhibitor of the wnt/beta-catenin signalling cascade, which is known to function in neural crest cell migration. We generated a DKK1 inducible cell line, IMR32-DKK1, which showed impaired proliferation upon DKK1 expression. Surprisingly, DKK1 expression did not inhibit the canonical wnt/beta-catenin signalling, suggesting a role of DKK1 in an alternative route of the wnt pathway. Gene expression profiling of two IMR32-DKK1 clones showed that only a few genes, amongst which SYNPO2, were up-regulated by DKK1. SYNPO2 encodes an actin-binding protein and was previously found to inhibit proliferation and invasiveness of prostate cancer cells. These results suggest that MYCN might stimulate cell proliferation by inhibiting the expression of DKK1. DKK1 might exert part of its growth suppressive effect by induction of SYNPO2 expression. Keywords: DKK1, MYCN, neuroblastoma, Dickkopf
Project description:Neuroblastomas are tumors of the developing peripheral sympathetic nervous system, which originates from the neural crest. Twenty percent of neuroblastomas show amplification of the MYCN oncogene, which correlates with poor prognosis. The MYCN transcription factor can activate and repress gene expression. To broaden our insight in the spectrum of genes down-regulated by MYCN, we generated gene expression profiles of the neuroblastoma cell lines SHEP-21N and SKNAS-NmycER, in which MYCN activity can be regulated. In this study, we show that MYCN suppresses the expression of Dickkopf-1 (DKK1) in both cell lines. DKK1 is a potent inhibitor of the wnt/ï?¢-catenin signalling cascade, which is known to function in neural crest cell migration. We generated a DKK1 inducible cell line, IMR32-DKK1, which showed impaired proliferation upon DKK1 expression. Surprisingly, DKK1 expression did not inhibit the canonical wnt/ï?¢-catenin signalling, suggesting a role of DKK1 in an alternative route of the wnt pathway. Gene expression profiling of two IMR32-DKK1 clones showed that only a few genes, amongst which SYNPO2, were up-regulated by DKK1. SYNPO2 encodes an actin-binding protein and was previously found to inhibit proliferation and invasiveness of prostate cancer cells. These results suggest that MYCN might stimulate cell proliferation by inhibiting the expression of DKK1. DKK1 might exert part of its growth suppressive effect by induction of SYNPO2 expression. Experiment Overall Design: Single time course experiment, including 4 time points
Project description:In neuroblastoma, amplification of the oncogenic basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor (TF) MYCN is the defining prognosticator of high-risk disease, occurs in one-third of neuroblastoma, and drastically reduces overall survival rates. As a proto-oncogene, targeted MYCN overexpression in peripheral neural crest is sufficient to initiate disease in mouse models. In MYCN amplified neuroblastoma, elevated expression of the factor is crucial to maintain tumor stemness and is associated with increased proliferation and aberrant cell cycle progression, as these tumors lack the ability to arrest in G1 in response to irradiation. MYCN down-regulation broadly reverses these oncogenic phenotypes in a variety of neuroblastoma models and recent thereapeutic strategies to indirectly target MYCN production or protein stability have reduced tumor growth in vivo. These observations motivate an investigation of MYCN binding in MYCN amplified tumors as it remains fundamentally unclear how elevated levels of the factor occupy the genome and alter transcriptional programs in neuroblastoma. Here we present the first dynamic chromatin and transcriptional landscape of direct MYCN perturbation in neuroblastoma. We find that at oncogenic levels, MYCN associates with E-box (CANNTG) binding motifs in an affinity dependent manner across most active cis-regulatory promoters and enhancers. MYCN shutdown globally reduces histone acetylation and transcription, consistent with prior descriptions of MYC proteins as non-linear amplifiers of gene expression. We establish that MYCN load at the promoter and proximal enhancers predicts transcriptional responsiveness to MYCN shutdown and that MYCN enhancer binding occurs prominently at the most strongly occupied and down-regulated genes, suggesting a role for these tissue specific elements in predicating MYCN responsive âtargetâ genes. At these invaded enhancers, we identify the lineage specific bHLH TWIST1 as a key collaborator and dependency of oncogenic MYCN. These data suggest that MYCN enhancer invasion helps shape transcriptional amplification of the neuroblastoma gene expression program to promote tumorigenesis. ChIP-Seq in SHEP21, BE2C, KELLY, and NGP neuroblastoma cell lines for H3K27ac, H3K4me3, RNA PolII, MYCN, BRD4, or TWIST1
Project description:In neuroblastoma, amplification of the oncogenic basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor (TF) MYCN is the defining prognosticator of high-risk disease, occurs in one-third of neuroblastoma, and drastically reduces overall survival rates1,2. As a proto-oncogene, targeted MYCN overexpression in peripheral neural crest is sufficient to initiate disease in mouse models3. In MYCN amplified neuroblastoma, elevated expression of the factor is crucial to maintain tumor stemness4,5 and is associated with increased proliferation and aberrant cell cycle progression, as these tumors lack the ability to arrest in G1 in response to irradiation6-9. MYCN down-regulation broadly reverses these oncogenic phenotypes in a variety of neuroblastoma models10-12 and recent thereapeutic strategies to indirectly target MYCN production or protein stability have reduced tumor growth in vivo13-15. These observations motivate an investigation of MYCN binding in MYCN amplified tumors as it remains fundamentally unclear how elevated levels of the factor occupy the genome and alter transcriptional programs in neuroblastoma. Here we present the first dynamic chromatin and transcriptional landscape of direct MYCN perturbation in neuroblastoma. We find that at oncogenic levels, MYCN associates with E-box (CANNTG) binding motifs in an affinity dependent manner across most active cis-regulatory promoters and enhancers. MYCN shutdown globally reduces histone acetylation and transcription, consistent with prior descriptions of MYC proteins as non-linear amplifiers of gene expression. We establish that MYCN load at the promoter and proximal enhancers predicts transcriptional responsiveness to MYCN shutdown and that MYCN enhancer binding occurs prominently at the most strongly occupied and down-regulated genes, suggesting a role for these tissue specific elements in predicating MYCN responsive â??targetâ?? genes. At these invaded enhancers, we identify the lineage specific bHLH TWIST1 as a key collaborator and dependency of oncogenic MYCN. These data suggest that MYCN enhancer invasion helps shape transcriptional amplification of the neuroblastoma gene expression program to promote tumorigenesis. ATAC-Seq in SHEP21, BE2C, KELLY, NGP, and MM1S cell lines
Project description:In neuroblastoma, amplification of the oncogenic basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor (TF) MYCN is the defining prognosticator of high-risk disease, occurs in one-third of neuroblastoma, and drastically reduces overall survival rates. As a proto-oncogene, targeted MYCN overexpression in peripheral neural crest is sufficient to initiate disease in mouse models. In MYCN amplified neuroblastoma, elevated expression of the factor is crucial to maintain tumor stemness and is associated with increased proliferation and aberrant cell cycle progression, as these tumors lack the ability to arrest in G1 in response to irradiation. MYCN down-regulation broadly reverses these oncogenic phenotypes in a variety of neuroblastoma models and recent thereapeutic strategies to indirectly target MYCN production or protein stability have reduced tumor growth in vivo. These observations motivate an investigation of MYCN binding in MYCN amplified tumors as it remains fundamentally unclear how elevated levels of the factor occupy the genome and alter transcriptional programs in neuroblastoma. Here we present the first dynamic chromatin and transcriptional landscape of direct MYCN perturbation in neuroblastoma. We find that at oncogenic levels, MYCN associates with E-box (CANNTG) binding motifs in an affinity dependent manner across most active cis-regulatory promoters and enhancers. MYCN shutdown globally reduces histone acetylation and transcription, consistent with prior descriptions of MYC proteins as non-linear amplifiers of gene expression. We establish that MYCN load at the promoter and proximal enhancers predicts transcriptional responsiveness to MYCN shutdown and that MYCN enhancer binding occurs prominently at the most strongly occupied and down-regulated genes, suggesting a role for these tissue specific elements in predicating MYCN responsive “target” genes. At these invaded enhancers, we identify the lineage specific bHLH TWIST1 as a key collaborator and dependency of oncogenic MYCN. These data suggest that MYCN enhancer invasion helps shape transcriptional amplification of the neuroblastoma gene expression program to promote tumorigenesis.
Project description:In neuroblastoma, amplification of the oncogenic basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor (TF) MYCN is the defining prognosticator of high-risk disease, occurs in one-third of neuroblastoma, and drastically reduces overall survival rates. As a proto-oncogene, targeted MYCN overexpression in peripheral neural crest is sufficient to initiate disease in mouse models. In MYCN amplified neuroblastoma, elevated expression of the factor is crucial to maintain tumor stemness and is associated with increased proliferation and aberrant cell cycle progression, as these tumors lack the ability to arrest in G1 in response to irradiation. MYCN down-regulation broadly reverses these oncogenic phenotypes in a variety of neuroblastoma models and recent thereapeutic strategies to indirectly target MYCN production or protein stability have reduced tumor growth in vivo. These observations motivate an investigation of MYCN binding in MYCN amplified tumors as it remains fundamentally unclear how elevated levels of the factor occupy the genome and alter transcriptional programs in neuroblastoma. Here we present the first dynamic chromatin and transcriptional landscape of direct MYCN perturbation in neuroblastoma. We find that at oncogenic levels, MYCN associates with E-box (CANNTG) binding motifs in an affinity dependent manner across most active cis-regulatory promoters and enhancers. MYCN shutdown globally reduces histone acetylation and transcription, consistent with prior descriptions of MYC proteins as non-linear amplifiers of gene expression. We establish that MYCN load at the promoter and proximal enhancers predicts transcriptional responsiveness to MYCN shutdown and that MYCN enhancer binding occurs prominently at the most strongly occupied and down-regulated genes, suggesting a role for these tissue specific elements in predicating MYCN responsive “target” genes. At these invaded enhancers, we identify the lineage specific bHLH TWIST1 as a key collaborator and dependency of oncogenic MYCN. These data suggest that MYCN enhancer invasion helps shape transcriptional amplification of the neuroblastoma gene expression program to promote tumorigenesis.
Project description:In neuroblastoma, amplification of the oncogenic basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor (TF) MYCN is the defining prognosticator of high-risk disease, occurs in one-third of neuroblastoma, and drastically reduces overall survival rates. As a proto-oncogene, targeted MYCN overexpression in peripheral neural crest is sufficient to initiate disease in mouse models. In MYCN amplified neuroblastoma, elevated expression of the factor is crucial to maintain tumor stemness and is associated with increased proliferation and aberrant cell cycle progression, as these tumors lack the ability to arrest in G1 in response to irradiation. MYCN down-regulation broadly reverses these oncogenic phenotypes in a variety of neuroblastoma models and recent thereapeutic strategies to indirectly target MYCN production or protein stability have reduced tumor growth in vivo. These observations motivate an investigation of MYCN binding in MYCN amplified tumors as it remains fundamentally unclear how elevated levels of the factor occupy the genome and alter transcriptional programs in neuroblastoma. Here we present the first dynamic chromatin and transcriptional landscape of direct MYCN perturbation in neuroblastoma. We find that at oncogenic levels, MYCN associates with E-box (CANNTG) binding motifs in an affinity dependent manner across most active cis-regulatory promoters and enhancers. MYCN shutdown globally reduces histone acetylation and transcription, consistent with prior descriptions of MYC proteins as non-linear amplifiers of gene expression. We establish that MYCN load at the promoter and proximal enhancers predicts transcriptional responsiveness to MYCN shutdown and that MYCN enhancer binding occurs prominently at the most strongly occupied and down-regulated genes, suggesting a role for these tissue specific elements in predicating MYCN responsive “target” genes. At these invaded enhancers, we identify the lineage specific bHLH TWIST1 as a key collaborator and dependency of oncogenic MYCN. These data suggest that MYCN enhancer invasion helps shape transcriptional amplification of the neuroblastoma gene expression program to promote tumorigenesis.
Project description:Neuroblastoma is a pediatric cancer of the sympathetic nervous system. MYCN amplification is a key indicator of poor prognosis for the disease, however, mechanisms by which MYCN promotes neuroblastoma tumorigenesis are not fully understood. In this study, we analyzed global miRNA and mRNA expression profiles of tissues at different stages of tumorigenesis from TH-MYCN transgenic mice, a model of MYCN-driven neuroblastoma. Based on a Bayesian learning network model in which we compared pre-tumor ganglia from TH-MYCN+/+ mice to age-matched wild-type controls, we devised a predicted miRNA-mRNA interaction network. Among the miRNA-mRNA interactions operating during human neuroblastoma tumorigenesis, we identified that miR-204 is a tumor suppressor miRNA that inhibits a subnetwork of oncogenes strongly associated with MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma and poor patient outcome. Accordingly, we found that MYCN was bound to the miR-204 promoter and repressed miR-204 transcription, while in contrast, miR-204 directly bound MYCN mRNA and repressed MYCN expression. In support of a tumor suppressor role, miR-204 overexpression significantly inhibited neuroblastoma cell proliferation in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo. Together these findings identify novel tumorigenic miRNA gene networks and miR-204 as a tumor suppressor that regulates MYCN expression in neuroblastoma tumorigenesis.
Project description:MYCN is an oncogene amplified in approximately 20% of all neuroblastomas and 50% of high risk neuroblastoma. It is a transcription factor regulating the expression of genes involved in proliferation and apoptosis.We would like to identify genes potentially regulated by MYCN in a conditional MYCN expression system. The SHEP Tet21N system is a conditional, tetracycline-regulated MYCN expression system established in the MYCN non-amplified SHEP neuroblastoma cell line (Lutz et al., 1996). Expression of MYCN is switched off by the addition of tetracycline to the growth medium. Levels of MYCN protein and RNA in the absence of tetracycline are comparable with those present in MYCN amplified cell lines (Bell et al., 2006).<br><br><br><br>By performing microarray analyses on the Tet21n cell lines in the presence and absence of MYCN we hope to identify genes whose expression had been altered by MYCN either upregulated or downregulated and may be potential MYCN targets. The altered expression of some of these genes will then be validated using quantitative RTPCR and a selection will be further investigated to determine if they are MYCN transcriptional targets and may be potential candidates for anti-MYCN therapies for neuroblastoma<br><br><br><br>Specific objectives<br><br>1) To investigate genes which are altered by 2 fold or more in the presence of or absence of MYCN in Tet21N cells.<br><br><br><br>Refs:<br><br>Bell, E., Premkumar, R., Carr, J., Lu, X., Lovat, P.E., Kees, U.R., Lunec, J. & Tweddle, D.A. (2006). The role of MYCN in the failure of MYCN amplified neuroblastoma cell lines to G1 arrest after DNA damage. Cell Cycle, 5, 2639-47.<br><br>Lutz, W., Stohr, M., Schurmann, J., Wenzel, A., Lohr, A. & Schwab, M. (1996). Conditional expression of N-myc in human neuroblastoma cells increases expression of alpha-prothymosin and ornithine decarboxylase and accelerates progression into S-phase early after mitogenic stimulation of quiescent cells. Oncogene, 13, 803-12.