Project description:Ewing Sarcoma (EwS) is a EWS-FLI1- fusion driven pediatric bone cancer with high metastatic potential. Cellular plasticity, typically regulated via the Rho-pathway, is a prerequisite for metastasis initiation. Here we interrogated the role of the Rho transcriptional effectors MRTFA/B in EwS. We find MRTFB transcriptional function strongly repressed by EWS-FLI1. Under EWS-FLI1-low (knock-down) conditions, MRTFB is activated and antagonizes global EWS-FLI1-dependent transcription. Furthermore, ChIP-Seq revealed strong overlaps in MRTFB and EWS-FLI1 chromatin occupation, especially for EWS-FLI1 suppressed-(anticorrelated) genes. Enrichment of TEAD binding motifs in these shared genomic binding regions, and overlapping transcriptional footprints of MRTFB and TEAD1-4 perturbation led us to propose synergy between MRTFB and TEAD in the regulation of EWS-FLI1 suppressed-anticorrelated genes. Finally, we find F-actin assembly to be already perturbed in our EwS model, F-actin polymerization is perturbed by EWS-FLI1 in our model cell line, however,but pharmacological inhibition of actin polymerization still reduced expression serum-induced expression of MRTFB/YAP-1/TEAD target genes. In summary our data support a model of indirect and direct EWS-FLI1-driven perturbation of MRTFB/YAP-1/TEAD target gene regulation .
Project description:Ewing Sarcoma (EwS) is a EWS-FLI1- fusion driven pediatric bone cancer with high metastatic potential. Cellular plasticity, typically regulated via the Rho-pathway, is a prerequisite for metastasis initiation. Here we interrogated the role of the Rho transcriptional effectors MRTFA/B in EwS. We find MRTFB transcriptional function strongly repressed by EWS-FLI1. Under EWS-FLI1-low (knock-down) conditions, MRTFB is activated and antagonizes global EWS-FLI1-dependent transcription. Furthermore, ChIP-Seq revealed strong overlaps in MRTFB and EWS-FLI1 chromatin occupation, especially for EWS-FLI1 suppressed-(anticorrelated) genes. Enrichment of TEAD binding motifs in these shared genomic binding regions, and overlapping transcriptional footprints of MRTFB and TEAD1-4 perturbation led us to propose synergy between MRTFB and TEAD in the regulation of EWS-FLI1 suppressed-anticorrelated genes. Finally, we find F-actin assembly to be already perturbed in our EwS model, F-actin polymerization is perturbed by EWS-FLI1 in our model cell line, however,but pharmacological inhibition of actin polymerization still reduced expression serum-induced expression of MRTFB/YAP-1/TEAD target genes. In summary our data support a model of indirect and direct EWS-FLI1-driven perturbation of MRTFB/YAP-1/TEAD target gene regulation .
Project description:Ewing Sarcoma (EwS) is a EWS-FLI1- fusion driven pediatric bone cancer with high metastatic potential. Cellular plasticity, typically regulated via the Rho-pathway, is a prerequisite for metastasis initiation. Here we interrogated the role of the Rho transcriptional effectors MRTFA/B in EwS. We find MRTFB transcriptional function strongly repressed by EWS-FLI1. Under EWS-FLI1-low (knock-down) conditions, MRTFB is activated and antagonizes global EWS-FLI1-dependent transcription. Furthermore, ChIP-Seq revealed strong overlaps in MRTFB and EWS-FLI1 chromatin occupation, especially for EWS-FLI1 suppressed-(anticorrelated) genes. Enrichment of TEAD binding motifs in these shared genomic binding regions, and overlapping transcriptional footprints of MRTFB and TEAD1-4 perturbation led us to propose synergy between MRTFB and TEAD in the regulation of EWS-FLI1 suppressed-anticorrelated genes. Finally, we find F-actin assembly to be already perturbed in our EwS model, F-actin polymerization is perturbed by EWS-FLI1 in our model cell line, however,but pharmacological inhibition of actin polymerization still reduced expression serum-induced expression of MRTFB/YAP-1/TEAD target genes. In summary our data support a model of indirect and direct EWS-FLI1-driven perturbation of MRTFB/YAP-1/TEAD target gene regulation .
Project description:Ewing sarcoma (EWS) is a malignant pediatric bone cancer. Most Ewing sarcomas are driven by EWS-FLI1 oncogenic transcription factor that plays roles in transcriptional regulation, DNA damage response, cell cycle checkpoint control, and alternative splicing. USP1, a deubiquitylase which regulates DNA damage and replication stress responses, is overexpressed at both the mRNA and protein levels in EWS cell lines compared to human mesenchymal stem cells, the EWS cell of origin. The functional significance of high USP1 expression in Ewing sarcoma is not known. Here, we identify USP1 as a transcriptional target of EWS-FLI1 and a key regulator of EWS cell survival. We show that EWS-FLI1 knockdown decreases USP1 mRNA and protein levels. ChIP and ChIP-seq analyses show EWS-FLI1 occupancy on the USP1 promoter. Importantly, USP1 knockdown or inhibition arrests EWS cell growth and induces cell death by apoptosis. We observe destabilization of Survivin (also known as BIRC5 or IAP4) and activation of caspases-3 and -7 following USP1 knockdown or inhibition in the absence of external DNA damage stimuli. Notably, EWS cells display hypersensitivity to combinatorial treatment of doxorubicin or etoposide, EWS standard of care drugs, and USP1 inhibitor compared to single agents alone. Together, our study demonstrates that USP1 is regulated by EWS-FLI1, the USP1-Survivin axis promotes EWS cell survival, and USP1 inhibition sensitizes EWS cells to standard of care chemotherapy.
Project description:The cellular origin of Ewing tumor (ET), a tumor of bone or soft tissues characterized by specific fusions between EWS and ETS genes, is highly debated. Through gene expression analysis comparing ETs with a variety of normal tissues, we show that the profiles of different EWS-FLI1-silenced Ewing cell lines converge toward that of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). Moreover, upon EWS-FLI1 silencing, two different Ewing cell lines can differentiate along the adipogenic lineage when incubated in appropriate differentiation cocktails. In addition, Ewing cells can also differentiate along the osteogenic lineage upon long-term inhibition of EWS-FLI1. These in silico and experimental data strongly suggest that the inhibition of EWS-FLI1 may allow Ewing cells to recover the phenotype of their MSC progenitor. Experiment Overall Design: Ewing tumors and EWS-FLI-1 inhibited cell lines were profiled on Affymetrix U133A (GPL96) arrays.
Project description:Ewing sarcoma (EwS) is an adolescent and young adult sarcoma characterized by chromosome translocations between members of the FET family of RNA binding proteins and members of the ETS family of transcription factors, the most frequent fusion being EWS-FLI1. EWS-FLI1 acts as a pioneer factor, creating de novo enhancers and activating genes located in the vicinity of EWS-FLI1-bound microsatellite sequences. recent results from our lab indicate that EWS-FLI1, which activates transcription through binding to the DNA at specific sites, can generate fully novel, unconventional transcription units in regions of the genome that are fully quiescent in normal cells (manuscript in preparation). The hypothesis of the project is that the open reading frames (ORFs) of these transcripts may encode peptides presented at the cell surface by HLA class I molecules and hence be recognized as non-self by the immune system. The aim of this study is to detect Ewing-specific neo-peptides/proteins using proteomics approach.
Project description:We show that EWS-FLI1, an aberrant transcription factor responsible for the pathogenesis of Ewing sarcoma, reprograms gene regulatory circuits by directly inducing or directly repressing enhancers. At GGAA repeats, which lack regulatory potential in other cell types and are not evolutionarily conserved, EWS- FLI1 multimers potently induce chromatin opening, recruit p300 and WDR5, and create de novo enhancers. GGAA repeat enhancers can loop to physically interact with target promoters, as demonstrated by chromosome conformation capture assays. Conversely, EWS-FLI1 inactivates conserved enhancers containing canonical ETS motifs by displacing wild-type ETS transcription factors and abrogating p300 recruitment. ChIP-seq for of 4 histone modifications (H3K27ac, H3K4me1, H3K4me3 and H3K27me3), FLI1, p300, WDR5, ELF1 and GABPA in primary Ewing sarcomas, Ewing sarcoma cell lines (A673 and SKMNC cells), and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). EWS-FLI1 was knocked down in Ewing sarcoma cell lines with lentiviral shRNAs (shFLI1 and shGFP control). EWS-FLI1 was expressed in MSCs with lentiviral expression vectors (pLIV EWSFLI1 or pLIV empty vector control). * Raw data not provided for the MSC and Primary Ewing sarcoma samples. *