Project description:Adenocarcinoma is the most common histologic subtype of lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death. We and others previously identified TTF-1, a lineage-specific transcription factor required for branching morphogenesis and physiological lung functions, as a lineage-survival oncogene in lung adenocarcinoma. However, how TTF-1 mediates survival signals remains elusive. Here we show that TTF-1 induces receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1), which in turn mediates TTF-1 survival signaling in lung adenocarcinoma. Inhibition of ROR1 impaired prosurvival signaling through the PI3K-AKT pathway and induced nuclear accumulation of FOXO1. These were found to be imposed, at least in part, through PTEN inactivation via c-Src, while ROR1 was shown to physically interact with and phosphorylate c-Src. ROR1 inhibition also elicited marked p38 activation, provoking ill-balance between prosurvival and proapoptotic signaling, and consequential “oncogenic shock.” In addition, we found that ROR1 is crucially involved in EGFR- and MET-mediated prosurvival signaling. ROR1 knockdown effectively induced apoptosis in lung adenocarcinoma cell lines with acquired EGFR TKI resistance conferred by a secondary T790M EGFR mutation, or HGF-elicited MET signaling and resultant switching of the addicted receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). Taken together, our findings indicate that ROR1 RTK is a very promising molecular target for development of a novel therapeutic means to treat this hard-to-cure cancer. Dye-swap experiment, vector control vs. stable TTF-1 transfectant of HPL1D, immortalized human peripheral lung epithelial cell line.
Project description:Adenocarcinoma is the most common histologic subtype of lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death. We and others previously identified TTF-1, a lineage-specific transcription factor required for branching morphogenesis and physiological lung functions, as a lineage-survival oncogene in lung adenocarcinoma. However, how TTF-1 mediates survival signals remains elusive. Here we show that TTF-1 induces receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1), which in turn mediates TTF-1 survival signaling in lung adenocarcinoma. Inhibition of ROR1 impaired prosurvival signaling through the PI3K-AKT pathway and induced nuclear accumulation of FOXO1. These were found to be imposed, at least in part, through PTEN inactivation via c-Src, while ROR1 was shown to physically interact with and phosphorylate c-Src. ROR1 inhibition also elicited marked p38 activation, provoking ill-balance between prosurvival and proapoptotic signaling, and consequential “oncogenic shock.” In addition, we found that ROR1 is crucially involved in EGFR- and MET-mediated prosurvival signaling. ROR1 knockdown effectively induced apoptosis in lung adenocarcinoma cell lines with acquired EGFR TKI resistance conferred by a secondary T790M EGFR mutation, or HGF-elicited MET signaling and resultant switching of the addicted receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). Taken together, our findings indicate that ROR1 RTK is a very promising molecular target for development of a novel therapeutic means to treat this hard-to-cure cancer.
Project description:We previously reported that ROR1 is a crucial downstream gene for the TTF-1/NKX2-1 lineage-survival oncogene in lung adenocarcinoma, while others have found altered expression of ROR1 in multiple cancer types. Accumulated evidence therefore indicates ROR1 as an attractive molecular target, though it has yet to be determined whether targeting Ror1 can inhibit tumor development and growth in vivo. To this end, genetically engineered mice carrying homozygously floxed Ror1 alleles and an SP-C promoter-driven human mutant EGFR transgene were generated. Ror1 ablation resulted in marked retardation of tumor development and progression in association with reduced malignant characteristics and significantly better survival. Interestingly, gene set enrichment analysis identified a hypoxia-induced gene set (HALLMARK_HYPOXIA) as most significantly downregulated by Ror1 ablation in vivo, which led to findings showing that ROR1 knockdown diminished HIF-1α expression under normoxia and clearly hampered HIF-1α induction in response to hypoxia in human lung adenocarcinoma cell lines. The present results directly demonstrate the importance of Ror1 for in vivo development and progression of lung adenocarcinoma, and also identify Ror1 as a novel regulator of Hif-1α. Thus, a future study aimed at the development of a novel therapeutic targeting ROR1 for treatment of solid tumors such as seen in lung cancer, which are frequently accompanied with a hypoxic tumor microenvironment, is warranted.
Project description:Through the study of EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma we show that NFkB signaling is rapidly engaged by EGFR oncogene inhibition to promote tumor cell persistence and therapy resistance. Unexpectedly, we found that EGFR oncogene inhibition induced an EGFR-TRAF2-RIP1-IKK complex that stimulated an NFkB-mediated transcriptional survival program. We identified a direct pharmacologic NFkB inhibitor, PBS-1086, that suppressed this adaptive survival program and increased both the magnitude and duration of initial EGFR TKI response in cellular and in vivo tumor models, including a novel patient-derived NSCLC xenograft. These findings unveil NFkB as a critical adaptive survival mechanism engaged in response to EGFR oncogene inhibition and identify PBS-1086 as a promising NFkB inhibitor to eliminate disease persistence and potentially prevent the emergence of resistance in patients. RNAseq analysis of 11-18 (EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma) cells in the context of drug treatment with erlotinib and/or genetic or pharmacological inactivation of NFkB
Project description:Thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1), also known as NKX2-1, plays a role as a lineage-survival oncogene in lung adenocarcinoma with double-edged sword characteristics. Although previous studies steadily accumulated evidence for roles of TTF-1 in the transcriptional regulation of protein-coding genes, very little is known about its regulatory relationship with miRNAs. In this study, we have identified miR-532-5p as a novel transcriptional target of TTF-1 by an integrative approach, which was designed to extract maximal information from expression profiles of both patient tumors in vivo and TTF-1-inducible cell lines in vitro. Consequently, we have found that miR-532-5p is directly regulated by TTF-1 through its binding to a genomic region 8 kb upstream of miR-532-5p, which appeared to impose transcriptional regulation independent of that of CLCN5, a protein-coding gene harboring miR-532-5p in its intron 3. Further, we have also identified KRAS and MKL2 as novel direct targets of miR-532-5p. Introduction of miR-532-5p mimics markedly induced apoptosis in KRAS-mutant as well as KRAS wildtype lung adenocarcinoma cell lines. Interestingly, miR-532-5p affected the MEK-ERK pathway signaling specifically in cell lines sensitive to siKRAS treatment, while the miR-532-5p-mediated effects were clearly phenocopied by repressing expression or inhibiting function of MKL2 regardless of KRAS mutation status. In summary, our findings demonstrate that miR-532-5p is as novel transcriptional target of TTF-1 and plays a tumor suppressive role by targeting KRAS and MKL2 in lung adenocarcinoma. Novel therapeutic strategies using miR-532-5p or an MKL2 inhibitor may prove effective against this hard-to-cure cancer irrespective of the dependence on KRAS-mediated signaling.
Project description:Thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1), also known as NKX2-1, plays a role as a lineage-survival oncogene in lung adenocarcinoma with double-edged sword characteristics. Although previous studies steadily accumulated evidence for roles of TTF-1 in the transcriptional regulation of protein-coding genes, very little is known about its regulatory relationship with miRNAs. In this study, we have identified miR-532-5p as a novel transcriptional target of TTF-1 by an integrative approach, which was designed to extract maximal information from expression profiles of both patient tumors in vivo and TTF-1-inducible cell lines in vitro. Consequently, we have found that miR-532-5p is directly regulated by TTF-1 through its binding to a genomic region 8 kb upstream of miR-532-5p, which appeared to impose transcriptional regulation independent of that of CLCN5, a protein-coding gene harboring miR-532-5p in its intron 3. Further, we have also identified KRAS and MKL2 as novel direct targets of miR-532-5p. Introduction of miR-532-5p mimics markedly induced apoptosis in KRAS-mutant as well as KRAS wildtype lung adenocarcinoma cell lines. Interestingly, miR-532-5p affected the MEK-ERK pathway signaling specifically in cell lines sensitive to siKRAS treatment, while the miR-532-5p-mediated effects were clearly phenocopied by repressing expression or inhibiting function of MKL2 regardless of KRAS mutation status. In summary, our findings demonstrate that miR-532-5p is as novel transcriptional target of TTF-1 and plays a tumor suppressive role by targeting KRAS and MKL2 in lung adenocarcinoma. Novel therapeutic strategies using miR-532-5p or an MKL2 inhibitor may prove effective against this hard-to-cure cancer irrespective of the dependence on KRAS-mediated signaling.
Project description:Thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1), also known as NKX2-1, plays a role as a lineage-survival oncogene in lung adenocarcinoma with double-edged sword characteristics. Although previous studies steadily accumulated evidence for roles of TTF-1 in the transcriptional regulation of protein-coding genes, very little is known about its regulatory relationship with miRNAs. In this study, we have identified miR-532-5p as a novel transcriptional target of TTF-1 by an integrative approach, which was designed to extract maximal information from expression profiles of both patient tumors in vivo and TTF-1-inducible cell lines in vitro. Consequently, we have found that miR-532-5p is directly regulated by TTF-1 through its binding to a genomic region 8 kb upstream of miR-532-5p, which appeared to impose transcriptional regulation independent of that of CLCN5, a protein-coding gene harboring miR-532-5p in its intron 3. Further, we have also identified KRAS and MKL2 as novel direct targets of miR-532-5p. Introduction of miR-532-5p mimics markedly induced apoptosis in KRAS-mutant as well as KRAS wildtype lung adenocarcinoma cell lines. Interestingly, miR-532-5p affected the MEK-ERK pathway signaling specifically in cell lines sensitive to siKRAS treatment, while the miR-532-5p-mediated effects were clearly phenocopied by repressing expression or inhibiting function of MKL2 regardless of KRAS mutation status. In summary, our findings demonstrate that miR-532-5p is as novel transcriptional target of TTF-1 and plays a tumor suppressive role by targeting KRAS and MKL2 in lung adenocarcinoma. Novel therapeutic strategies using miR-532-5p or an MKL2 inhibitor may prove effective against this hard-to-cure cancer irrespective of the dependence on KRAS-mediated signaling.
Project description:The model is based on publication:
Mathematical analysis of gefitinib resistance of lung adenocarcinoma caused by MET amplification
Abstract:
Gefitinib, one of the tyrosine kinase inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), is effective for treating lung adenocarcinoma harboring EGFR mutation; but later, most cases acquire a resistance to gefitinib. One of the mechanisms conferring gefitinib resistance to lung adenocarcinoma is the amplification of the MET gene, which is observed in 5–22% of gefitinib-resistant tumors. A previous study suggested that MET amplification could cause gefitinib resistance by driving ErbB3-dependent activation of the PI3K pathway. In this study, we built a mathematical model of gefitinib resistance caused by MET amplification using lung adenocarcinoma HCC827-GR (gefitinib resistant) cells. The molecular reactions involved in gefitinib resistance consisted of dimerization and phosphorylation of three molecules, EGFR, ErbB3, and MET were described by a series of ordinary differential equations. To perform a computer simulation, we quantified each molecule on the cell surface using flow cytometry and estimated unknown parameters by dimensional analysis. Our simulation showed that the number of active ErbB3 molecules is around a hundred-fold smaller than that of active MET molecules. Limited contribution of ErbB3 in gefitinib resistance by MET amplification is also demonstrated using HCC827-GR cells in culture experiments. Our mathematical model provides a quantitative understanding of the molecular reactions underlying drug resistance.
Project description:Through the study of EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma we show that NFkB signaling is rapidly engaged by EGFR oncogene inhibition to promote tumor cell persistence and therapy resistance. Unexpectedly, we found that EGFR oncogene inhibition induced an EGFR-TRAF2-RIP1-IKK complex that stimulated an NFkB-mediated transcriptional survival program. We identified a direct pharmacologic NFkB inhibitor, PBS-1086, that suppressed this adaptive survival program and increased both the magnitude and duration of initial EGFR TKI response in cellular and in vivo tumor models, including a novel patient-derived NSCLC xenograft. These findings unveil NFkB as a critical adaptive survival mechanism engaged in response to EGFR oncogene inhibition and identify PBS-1086 as a promising NFkB inhibitor to eliminate disease persistence and potentially prevent the emergence of resistance in patients.
Project description:Approximately 15% of lung cancer cases are not associated with smoking and show molecular and clinical characteristics distinct from those in smokers. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations, which are correlated with sensitivity to EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs), are more frequent in never-smoker lung cancers. In this study, microRNA (miRNA) expression profiling of 28 never-smoker lung cancer cases identified aberrantly expressed miRNAs, which were much fewer than in lung cancers of smokers and included miRNAs previously identified (e.g., upregulated miR-21) and unidentified (e.g., downregulated miR-138) in those smoker cases. The changes in expression of some of these miRNAs were more remarkable in cases with EGFR mutations than in those without: the most upregulated miRNA, miR-21, was more abundant in cancers with EGFR mutation. A significant correlation between phosphorylated-EGFR (p-EGFR) and miR-21 levels in lung carcinoma cell lines and the suppression of miR-21 by an EGFR-TKI, AG1478, suggested that the EGFR signaling pathway positively regulated miR-21 expression. In a never-smoker-derived lung adenocarcinoma cell line H3255 with mutant EGFR and high levels of p-EGFR and miR-21, antisense inhibition of miR-21 enhanced AG1478-induced apoptosis. In a never-smoker-derived adenocarcinoma cell line H441 with wild-type EGFR, the antisense miR-21 not only showed the additive effect with AG1478 but also induced apoptosis by itself. These results suggest that aberrantly increased expression of miR-21, which is further enhanced by the activated EGFR signaling pathway, plays a critical role in lung carcinogenesis in never-smokers and is a potential therapeutic target in both EGFR mutant and wild-type cases. Twenty-eight pairs of lung cancer tissues and corresponding noncancerous lung tissues were obtained from never-smokers who had undergone surgical resection from 2000 to 2004 at the University of Maryland Medical Center (n=15), Mayo Clinic (n=7) in United States and Hamamatsu University School of Medicine (n=6) in Japan.