Project description:HES3 is a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor that regulates neural stem cell renewal during development. HES3 overexpression is predictive of reduced overall survival in patients with fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma, a pediatric cancer that resembles immature and undifferentiated skeletal muscle. However, the mechanisms of HES3 cooperation in fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma are unclear and are likely related to her3/HES3’s role in neurogenesis. To further investigate how HES3 functions during development, we generated a zebrafish CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of her3, the zebrafish ortholog of HES3. Zebrafish her3 mutants are not embryonic lethal and as adults exhibit expected Mendelian ratios. Embryonic her3 zebrafish mutants are significantly smaller than wildtype and present with lens defects as adults. Transcriptomic analysis of her3 mutant embryos indicates that genes involved in organ development, such as pctp and grinab, are significantly downregulated. Further, differentially expressed genes in her3 knockout embryos are enriched for HOX and sox10 motifs. Several cancer-related gene pathways are impacted, including the inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases. Altogether, this new model is a powerful system to study her3/HES3-mediated neural development and its misappropriation in cancer contexts.
Project description:HES3 is a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor that regulates neural stem cell renewal during development. HES3 overexpression is predictive of reduced overall survival in patients with fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma, a pediatric cancer that resembles immature and undifferentiated skeletal muscle. However, the mechanisms of HES3 cooperation in fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma are unclear and are likely related to her3/HES3's role in neurogenesis. To investigate HES3's function during development, we generated a zebrafish CRISPR/Cas9 null mutation of her3, the zebrafish ortholog of HES3. Loss of her3 is not embryonic lethal and adults exhibit expected Mendelian ratios. Embryonic her3 zebrafish mutants exhibit dysregulated neurog1 expression, a her3 target gene, and the mutant her3 fails to bind the neurog1 promoter sequence. Further, her3 mutants are significantly smaller than wildtype and a subset present with lens defects as adults. Transcriptomic analysis of her3 mutant embryos indicates that genes involved in organ development, such as pctp and grinab, are significantly downregulated. Further, differentially expressed genes in her3 null mutant embryos are enriched for Hox and Sox10 motifs. Several cancer-related gene pathways are impacted, including the inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases. Altogether, this new model is a powerful system to study her3/HES3-mediated neural development and its misappropriation in cancer contexts.
Project description:HER3 (ErbB3) belongs to a family of receptor tyrosine kinases together with the known oncogenes EGFR and HER2. Recently, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) targeting these receptors showed promising clinical activity in extracranial malignancies of breast and lung cancer. We aimed to investigate HER3 expression in breast and lung cancer brain metastases (BM) as the basis for future clinical trial design. Illumina MethylationEPIC 850k microarrays were used to analyze genome-wide DNA methylation patterns of HER3-positive (n=43) and HER3-negative (n=28) BM.
Project description:The tyrosine kinase receptors HER2 and HER3 play an important role in breast cancer. The HER2/HER3 heterodimer is a critical oncogenic unit associated with reduced relapse-free and decreased overall survival. We provide gene expression profile of the mammary epithelial cells MCF10A expressing HER2, HER3 or HER2/HER3 and grown in three-dimensional cultures for 15 days in the presence of heregulin, a known HER3-ligand that stabilizes and activates the HER2/HER3 heterodimer.
Project description:The tyrosine kinase receptors HER2 and HER3 play an important role in breast cancer. The HER2/HER3 heterodimer is a critical oncogenic unit associated with reduced relapse-free and decreased overall survival. We provide gene expression profile of the mammary epithelial cells MCF10A expressing HER2, HER3 or HER2/HER3 and grown in three-dimensional cultures for 15 days in the presence of heregulin, a known HER3-ligand that stabilizes and activates the HER2/HER3 heterodimer. The mammary epithelial cells MCF10A were transduced with retroviral vectors expressing HER2, HER3 or both. Cells from each group were grown for 15 days in three-dimensional cultures. At the end of the experiment, RNA was extracted for gene expression analysis.
Project description:Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are recognized as targets of precision medicine in human cancer upon their gene amplification or constitutive activation, resulting in increased downstream signal complexity including heterotypic crosstalk with other RTKs. The Met hepatocyte growth factor RTK exhibits such reciprocal crosstalk with several members of the human EGFR (HER) family of RTKs when amplified in cancer cells. We observed that Met signaling converges on HER3 tyrosine phosphorylation across a panel of seven MET-amplified cancer cell lines and that HER3 is required for cancer cell expansion and oncogenic capacity in vitro and in vivo. In order to identify genes required for cancer cell proliferation in the MET-amplified setting whose expression, we stably transduced KatoII MET-amplified cells with shRNA targeting ERBB3, the gene encoding HER3. Stably-transduced cells were selected with puromycin, assayed for proliferative phenotype, and lysed for RNA extraction. Pooled libraries of total RNA were then sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq4000 platform, and differentially-expressed genes were identified from read counts normalized across samples. Differentially-expressed genes were further assayed for dependence on HER3 in other MET-amplified cell lines to identify genes recurrently dependent on HER3 in the MET-amplified setting.
Project description:Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) have a poor prognosis and high relapse rate due to limited therapeutic options. This study was conducted to determine the mechanisms of action of panobinostat, a pan-inhibitor of histone deacetylase (HDAC) and FDA-approved medication for multiple myeloma, in TNBC and to provide a rationale for effective drug combinations against this aggressive disease. RNA sequencing analyses of the claudin-low (CL) TNBC (MDA-MB-231) cells untreated or treated with panobinostat were performed to identify the differentially expressed genes. Adaptive alterations in gene expression were analyzed and validated in additional CL TNBC cells. Tumor xenograft models were used to test the in vivo antitumor activity of panobinostat alone or its combinations with gefitinib, an EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). Panobinostat potently inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in all TNBC cells tested. However, in CL TNBC cells, this HDAC inhibitor markedly enhanced expression of HER3, which interacted with EGFR to activate both receptors and Akt signaling pathways. Combinations of panobinostat and gefitinib synergistically suppressed CL TNBC cell proliferation and promoted apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Upregulation of HER3 compromises the efficacy of panobinostat in CL TNBC. Inactivation of HER3 combined with panobinostat represents a practical approach to combat CL TNBC.