Project description:Lineage selective transcription factors (TFs) are important regulators of tumorigenesis, but their biological functions are often context dependent and their epigenetic mechanisms of action undefined. In this study, we uncover a conditional role for the endodermal and pulmonary specifying TF GATA6 during the initiation and progression of Kras mutant lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Inhibition of Gata6 in genetically engineered mouse models dampens the proliferation and increases the differentiation of LUAD tumors. These effects are influenced in part by the epithelial cell type that is targeted for transformation. In lung cancer cells derived from surfactant protein C expressing progenitors, we identify multiple genomic loci that are bound by GATA6. Moreover, suppression of Gata6 in these cells significantly alters chromatin accessibility, particularly at distal enhancer elements. Analogous to its paradoxical activity in the developing lungs, GATA6 expression fluctuates during different stages of LUAD progression and can control diverse lineage gene expression networks associated with cell proliferation, alveolar specification, BMP signaling, and epithelial plasticity. These findings demonstrate how GATA6 can broadly modulate the epigenome of lung tumor cells, which in turn may potentiate its divergent functions during cancer progression
Project description:Lineage selective transcription factors (TFs) are important regulators of tumorigenesis, but their biological functions are often context dependent and their epigenetic mechanisms of action undefined. In this study, we uncover a conditional role for the endodermal and pulmonary specifying TF GATA6 during the initiation and progression of Kras mutant lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Inhibition of Gata6 in genetically engineered mouse models dampens the proliferation and increases the differentiation of LUAD tumors. These effects are influenced in part by the epithelial cell type that is targeted for transformation. In lung cancer cells derived from surfactant protein C expressing progenitors, we identify multiple genomic loci that are bound by GATA6. Moreover, suppression of Gata6 in these cells significantly alters chromatin accessibility, particularly at distal enhancer elements. Analogous to its paradoxical activity in the developing lungs, GATA6 expression fluctuates during different stages of LUAD progression and can control diverse lineage gene expression networks associated with cell proliferation, alveolar specification, BMP signaling, and epithelial plasticity. These findings demonstrate how GATA6 can broadly modulate the epigenome of lung tumor cells, which in turn may potentiate its divergent functions during cancer progression
Project description:Lineage selective transcription factors (TFs) are important regulators of tumorigenesis, but their biological functions are often context dependent and their epigenetic mechanisms of action undefined. In this study, we uncover a conditional role for the endodermal and pulmonary specifying TF GATA6 during the initiation and progression of Kras mutant lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Inhibition of Gata6 in genetically engineered mouse models dampens the proliferation and increases the differentiation of LUAD tumors. These effects are influenced in part by the epithelial cell type that is targeted for transformation. In lung cancer cells derived from surfactant protein C expressing progenitors, we identify multiple genomic loci that are bound by GATA6. Moreover, suppression of Gata6 in these cells significantly alters chromatin accessibility, particularly at distal enhancer elements. Analogous to its paradoxical activity in the developing lungs, GATA6 expression fluctuates during different stages of LUAD progression and can control diverse lineage gene expression networks associated with cell proliferation, alveolar specification, BMP signaling, and epithelial plasticity. These findings demonstrate how GATA6 can broadly modulate the epigenome of lung tumor cells, which in turn may potentiate its divergent functions during cancer progression
Project description:Molecular programs that mediate normal cell differentiation are required for oncogenesis and tumor cell survival in certain types of cancers. How cell lineage restricted genes specifically influence metastatic progression is poorly defined. In lung cancers, we uncovered an alveolar cell-selective transcriptional program that preferentially correlates with lung adenocarcinoma metastasis. This program is required for epithelial specification in the distal airways and is partially regulated by the lineage transcription factors GATA6 and HOPX. These factors cooperatively restrain the metastatic competence of adenocarcinoma cells, without affecting their survival, through the modulation of alveologenic and invasogenic target genes. Thus, GATA6 and HOPX are critical nodes in a lineage-selective pathway that directly links alveolar cell fate with metastasis suppresion in the lung adenocarcinoma subtype. mRNA profiles of human lung Adenocarcinoma PC9 cell lines infected with lentivirus harboring shRNA of control (Arab1) and shRNA of both GATA6 and HOPX were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicate, using Illumina HiSeq2000.
Project description:Molecular programs that mediate normal cell differentiation are required for oncogenesis and tumor cell survival in certain cancers. How cell-lineage-restricted genes specifically influence metastasis is poorly defined. In lung cancers, we uncovered a transcriptional program that is preferentially associated with distal airway epithelial differentiation and lung adenocarcinoma (ADC) progression. This program is regulated in part by the lineage transcription factors GATA6 and HOPX. These factors can cooperatively limit the metastatic competence of ADC cells, by modulating overlapping alveolar differentiation and invasogenic target genes. Thus, GATA6 and HOPX are critical nodes in a lineage-selective pathway that directly links effectors of airway epithelial specification to the inhibition of metastasis in the lung ADC subtype.