ABSTRACT: Tissue overgrowth induced by coexpression of the progenitor genes hth/MEIS1 and tsh/TSHZ results from an imbalance in the estrogen response pathway in Drosophila [FAIRE-Seq]
Project description:Tissue overgrowth induced by coexpression of the progenitor genes hth/MEIS1 and tsh/TSHZ results from an imbalance in the estrogen response pathway in Drosophila
Project description:Analysis of third instar eye-antennal Drosophila imaginal discs with forced expression of hth, tsh or hth+tsh in the eye using an eye-specific GAL4 driver (optix2.3-GAL4). Forced maintenance of hth+tsh expression (but not of any of the two alone) results in overgrowth and aberrant cell differentiation. Results provide insight into new targets of hth+tsh.
Project description:Analysis of third instar eye-antennal Drosophila imaginal discs with forced expression of hth, tsh or hth+tsh in the eye using an eye-specific GAL4 driver (optix2.3-GAL4). Forced maintenance of hth+tsh expression (but not of any of the two alone) results in overgrowth and aberrant cell differentiation. Results provide insight into new targets of hth+tsh.
Project description:Tissue overgrowth induced by coexpression of the progenitor genes hth/MEIS1 and tsh/TSHZ results from an imbalance in the estrogen response pathway in Drosophila [RNA-Seq]
Project description:The transcription factor Meis1 drives myeloid leukemogenesis in the context of Hox gene overexpression but is currently considered undruggable. We therefore investigated whether myeloid progenitor cells transformed by Hoxa9 and Meis1 become addicted to targetable signaling pathways. A comprehensive (phospho)proteomic analysis revealed that Meis1 increased Syk protein expression and activity. Syk upregulation occurs through a Meis1-dependent feed-forward loop. By dissecting this loop, we show that Syk is a direct target of miR-146a, whose expression is indirectly regulated by Meis1 through the transcription factor PU.1. In the context of Hoxa9 overexpression, Syk induces Meis1, recapitulating several leukemogenic features of Hoxa9/Meis1-driven leukemia. Finally, we show that Syk inhibition disrupts the identified regulatory loop, prolonging survival of mice with Hoxa9/Meis1-driven leukemia.
Project description:MEIS1 is a transcription factor expressed in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) and in mature megakaryocytes. In contrast to its role in leukemogenesis, the role of MEIS1 in normal hematopoiesis is largely unknown. We show that MEIS1 can direct human hematopoietic progenitors towards a megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitor (MEP) fate. Ectopoic expression of MEIS1 in CD34+ cells resulted in increased erythroid differentiation at the expense of granulocyte and monocyte (GM) differentiation. MEIS1 overexpression not only skewed differentiation of CMPs towards the erythroid lineage but also reprogrammed GM progenitors towards erythrocyte differentiation. Expression profiling was used to determine the transcriptional changes induced by MEIS1 that lead to the oberved phenotype. A transcriptional program enriched for erythrocytic and megakaryocytic genes was detected.
Project description:The capacity of tumor cells to maintain continual overgrowth potential has been linked to the commandeering of normal self-renewal pathways. Using an epithelial cancer model in Drosophila we carried out an overexpression screen for oncogenes capable of cooperating with the loss of the epithelial apico-basal cell polarity regulator, scribbled, and identified the cell fate regulator, Abrupt, a BTB-zinc finger protein. Abrupt overexpression alone is insufficient to transform cells, but in cooperation with scrib loss of function, Abrupt promotes the formation of massive tumors in the eye/antennal disc. The steroid hormone receptor coactivator, Taiman (SRC3/AIB1), is known to associate with Abrupt, and Taiman overexpression also drives tumor formation in cooperation with the loss of Scribbled. Expression arrays and ChIP-Seq indicates that Abrupt overexpression represses a large number of genes, including steroid hormone-response genes and multiple cell fate regulators, thereby maintaining cells within an epithelial progenitor-like state. The progenitor-like state is characterised by the failure to express the conserved Eyes absent/Dachshund regulatory complex in the eye disc, and in the antennal disc by the failure to express cell fate regulators that define the temporal elaboration of the appendage along the proximo-distal axis downstream of Distalless. Loss of scribbled promotes cooperation with Abrupt through impaired Hippo signaling, which is required and sufficient for cooperative overgrowth with Abrupt, and JNK signaling, which is required for tumor cell migration/invasion but not overgrowth. These results thus identify a novel cooperating oncogene, mammalian family members of which are also known oncogenes, and demonstrate that epithelial tumors in Drosophila can be characterised by the maintenance of a progenitor-like state. ChIP-Seq of Abrupt, ChIP-Seq of Abrupt (scrib-), Input, Input (scrib-)
Project description:Our results reveal a link between environmental HTH and abnormal bile acids, gut dysbiosis, and abnormal lipid metabolism, which plays a pivotal role in HTH related metabolic-inflammation diseases.
Project description:Counterintuitively, increased tumour predisposition is associated with ribosomal protein (RP) loss. Here, we provide the first evidence that RP depletion can directly drive tissue overgrowth. Haematopoietic compartment-specific knockdown (KD) of RpS19a in the Drosophila lymph gland not only results in haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) loss but also drives excess proliferation and tissue overgrowth. In accordance with continued ribosome assembly and protein synthesis, actively translating ribosomes (polysomes) are detected in RpS19a KD Drosophila S2 cells. The RpS19a KD ribosomes do, however, display heterogeneity and significantly altered stoichiometry of the associated translation initiation factors eIF4A and eIF5. Consistent with altered translation, in addition to increased association between polysomes and mRNA encoding growth promoting genes (e.g. Ras), we observe increased abundance of the ortholog of ribosomal (r)RNA small subunit methyltransferase NEP1. Although uncharacterised in Drosophila, in yeast and human NEP1 is implicated in methylation of 18S rRNA and, thus, 40S assembly and 80S ribosome stability. Moreover, NEP1 (EMG1) mutations in humans underpin Bowen-Conradi syndrome, a ribosomopathy associated with developmental defects, growth failure, and infantile death. Remarkably, NEP1 depletion suppresses the RpS19a KD phenotype, restoring both stem and progenitor cells and suppressing lymph gland overgrowth. We further demonstrate NEP1 depletion significantly decreases methylation of the 18S rRNA residue (Ψ1,279) that is implicated in ribosome assembly. Together, these data suggest the increased NEP1 expression associated with RpS19a KD promotes assembly of pro-proliferative “onco-ribosomes” to drive haematopoietic compartment overgrowth.