Project description:Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive and highly lethal disease. Due to its heterogeneity and lack of hormone receptors or HER2 expression, it is critical to identify novel therapeutic targets in TNBC. Analysis of copy number and gene expression in tumors from The Cancer Genome Atlas suggested that ZHX2 was amplified and overexpressed in breast cancer patients. Correspondingly, we found that ZHX2 was highly expressed in TNBC cell lines and TNBC patient tissues. Functionally, depletion of ZHX2 inhibited TNBC cell growth and invasion in vitro, orthotopic tumor growth and spontaneous lung metastasis in vivo. Mechanistically, ZHX2 bound with Hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) family members and positively regulated HIF1 activity in TNBC by using loss-of-function or gain-of-function studies. Our integrated ChIP-Seq and gene expression profiling demonstrated that ZHX2 co-occupied with HIF1 on transcriptionally active promoters marked by H3K4me3 and H3K27Ac, therefore promoting gene expression. Furthermore, structural simulation and functional studies revealed that multiple residues (R491, R581 and R674) are important in regulating the phenotype of ZHX2 on TNBC tumorigenic potential, which correspond with their roles on controlling HIF1 activity in TNBC cells. These studies establish that ZHX2 activates oncogenic HIF1 signaling, therefore serving as a potential therapeutic target for TNBC.
Project description:Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive and highly lethal disease, which warrants the critical need to identify new therapeutic targets. We show that Zinc Fingers and Homeoboxes 2 (ZHX2) is amplified or overexpressed in TNBC cell lines and patients. Functionally, depletion of ZHX2 inhibited TNBC cell growth and invasion in vitro, orthotopic tumor growth, and spontaneous lung metastasis in vivo. Mechanistically, ZHX2 bound with hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) family members and positively regulated HIF1α activity in TNBC. Integrated ChIP-seq and gene expression profiling demonstrated that ZHX2 co-occupied with HIF1α on transcriptionally active promoters marked by H3K4me3 and H3K27ac, thereby promoting gene expression. Among the identified ZHX2 and HIF1α coregulated genes, overexpression of AP2B1, COX20, KDM3A, or PTGES3L could partially rescue TNBC cell growth defect by ZHX2 depletion, suggested that these downstream targets contribute to the oncogenic role of ZHX2 in an accumulative fashion. Furthermore, multiple residues (R491, R581, and R674) on ZHX2 are important in regulating its phenotype, which correspond with their roles on controlling ZHX2 transcriptional activity in TNBC cells. These studies establish that ZHX2 activates oncogenic HIF1α signaling, therefore serving as a potential therapeutic target for TNBC.
Project description:Inactivation of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) E3 ubiquitin ligase protein is a hallmark of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Identifying how pathways affected by VHL loss contribute to ccRCC remains challenging. We used a genome-wide in vitro expression strategy to identify proteins that bound VHL only when hydroxylated. Zinc fingers and homeoboxes 2 (ZHX2) was found as a VHL target and its hydroxylation allowed VHL to regulate its protein stability. Tumor cells from ccRCC patients with VHL loss-of-function mutations usually had increased ZHX2 amount and nuclear localization. Functionally, depletion of ZHX2 inhibited VHL-deficient ccRCC cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, integrated ChIP-Seq and microarray analysis showed that ZHX2 promoted NF-kB activation. These studies reveal ZHX2 as a potential therapeutic target for ccRCC.
Project description:In order to explore the biological function and molecular mechanism of ZHX2 in VSMCs,in this study, we overexpressed ZHX2 in primery VSMCs used chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) methods to systematically investigate the downstream targets of ZHX2.
Project description:Primary rat VSMCs were infected with Ad-Control and Ad-ZHX2 and stimulated with PDGF-BB of 24h. RNAseq and differential expression analysis were performed to investigate the role of ZHX2 in VSMCs.
Project description:The aim of this study was evaluate the transcriptome changes in the comparison between triple negative tumors with increased SPARC expression and triple negative tumors with decreased SPARC expression according to Nagai et al., 2011 (Breast Cancer Res Treat (2011) 126:1–14) The results generated could be of particular interest to better define the prognostic impact of SPARC expression in triple negative breast tumors
Project description:Background: This study focuses on the analysis of miRNAs expression data in a cohort of 181 well characterised breast cancer samples composed primarily of triple-negative (ER/PR/HER2-negative) tumours with associated genome-wide DNA and mRNA data, extensive patient follow-up and pathological information. Results: We identified 7 miRNAs with a prognostic role in the triple-negative tumours and an additional 8 prognostic miRNAs when the analysis was extended to the set of all ER-negative cases. miRNAs linked to an unfavourable prognosis were associated with a broad spectrum of motility mechanisms involved in the invasion of stromal tissues, such as cell-adhesion, growth factor-mediated signalling pathways, interaction with the extracellular matrix and cytoskeleton remodelling. When we compared different intrinsic molecular subtypes we found 46 miRNAs that were specifically expressed in one or more intrinsic subtypes. Integrated genomic analyses indicated these miRNAs to be largely influenced by DNA genomic aberrations and to exert a silencing effect on their targets through transcriptional down-regulation. Among others, our analyses highlighted the role of miR17-92 and miR-106b-25, two polycistronic miRNA clusters with known oncogenic functions. We showed that their basal-like specific up-regulation is influenced by increased DNA copy number and contributes to the transcriptional phenotype and the activation of oncogenic pathways in basal-like tumours.Conclusions: This is the first study analysing miRNA, mRNA and DNA data in integration with pathological and clinical information, in a large and well-annotated cohort of triple-negative breast cancers. It provides a conceptual framework, as well as integrative methods and system-level results to elucidate the role of miRNAs as biomarkers and modulators of oncogenic processes in these types of tumours. 181 breast tumour samples were analyzed, extracted from 173 patients. For the great majority of patients (165) only one sample was extracted, while for 8 patients two samples were extracted (biological replicates).