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Pantelaiou-Prokaki G, Reinhardt O, Georges NS, Agorku DJ, Hardt O, Prokakis E, Mieczkowska IK, Deppert W, Wegwitz F, Alves F. Basal-like mammary carcinomas stimulate cancer stem cell properties through AXL-signaling to induce chemotherapy resistance. Int J Cancer 2023; 152:1916-1932. [PMID: 36637144 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.34429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2022] [Revised: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is the most aggressive and heterogeneous breast cancer (BC) subtype. Conventional chemotherapies represent next to surgery the most frequently employed treatment options. Unfortunately, resistant tumor phenotypes often develop, resulting in therapeutic failure. To identify the early events occurring upon the first drug application and initiating chemotherapy resistance in BLBC, we leveraged the WAP-T syngeneic mammary carcinoma mouse model and we developed a strategy combining magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS)-based tumor cell enrichment with high-throughput transcriptome analyses. We discovered that chemotherapy induced a massive gene expression reprogramming toward stemness acquisition to tolerate and survive the cytotoxic treatment in vitro and in vivo. Retransplantation experiments revealed that one single cycle of cytotoxic drug combination therapy (Cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin and 5-Fluorouracil) suffices to induce resistant tumor cell phenotypes in vivo. We identified Axl and its ligand Pros1 as highly induced genes driving cancer stem cell (CSC) properties upon chemotherapy in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, from our analysis of BLBC patient datasets, we found that AXL expression is also strongly correlated with CSC-gene signatures, a poor response to conventional therapies and worse survival outcomes in those patients. Finally, we demonstrate that AXL inhibition sensitized BLBC-cells to cytotoxic treatment in vitro. Together, our data support AXL as a promising therapeutic target to optimize the efficiency of conventional cytotoxic therapies in BLBC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Garyfallia Pantelaiou-Prokaki
- Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Translational Molecular Imaging, Göttingen, Germany.,Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Oliver Reinhardt
- Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Translational Molecular Imaging, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Nadine S Georges
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - David J Agorku
- Miltenyi Biotec B.V. & Co. KG, R&D Reagents, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
| | - Olaf Hardt
- Miltenyi Biotec B.V. & Co. KG, R&D Reagents, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
| | - Evangelos Prokakis
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Iga K Mieczkowska
- Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Deppert
- University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Institute for Tumor Biology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Florian Wegwitz
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.,Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Frauke Alves
- Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Translational Molecular Imaging, Göttingen, Germany.,Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.,Clinic for Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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2
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Werner M, Dyas A, Parfentev I, Schmidt GE, Mieczkowska IK, Müller-Kirschbaum LC, Müller C, Kalkhof S, Reinhardt O, Urlaub H, Alves F, Gallwas J, Prokakis E, Wegwitz F. ROBO3s: a novel ROBO3 short isoform promoting breast cancer aggressiveness. Cell Death Dis 2022; 13:762. [PMID: 36057630 PMCID: PMC9440919 DOI: 10.1038/s41419-022-05197-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Revised: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is a highly aggressive breast cancer subtype frequently associated with poor prognosis. Due to the scarcity of targeted treatment options, conventional cytotoxic chemotherapies frequently remain the standard of care. Unfortunately, their efficacy is limited as BLBC malignancies rapidly develop resistant phenotypes. Using transcriptomic and proteomic approaches in human and murine BLBC cells, we aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the acquisition of aggressive and chemotherapy-resistant phenotypes in these mammary tumors. Specifically, we identified and characterized a novel short isoform of Roundabout Guidance Receptor 3 (ROBO3s), upregulated in BLBC in response to chemotherapy and encoding for a protein variant lacking the transmembrane domain. We established an important role for the ROBO3s isoform, mediating cancer stem cell properties by stimulating the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway, and thus driving resistance of BLBC cells to cytotoxic drugs. By uncovering the conservation of ROBO3s expression across multiple cancer types, as well as its association with reduced BLBC-patient survival, we emphasize its potential as a prognostic marker and identify a novel attractive target for anti-cancer drug development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcel Werner
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany ,grid.4567.00000 0004 0483 2525Chromosome Dynamics and Genome Stability, Institute of Epigenetics and Stem Cells, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Munich, Germany
| | - Anna Dyas
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany ,grid.4372.20000 0001 2105 1091International Max-Planck Research School for Molecular Biology, Göttingen, Germany ,Early Cancer Institute, University of Cambridge, Department of Oncology, Hutchison Research Centre, Box 197 Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, Germany
| | - Iwan Parfentev
- grid.4372.20000 0001 2105 1091Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry group, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Geske E. Schmidt
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Oncology and Endocrinology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Iga K. Mieczkowska
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Lukas C. Müller-Kirschbaum
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Claudia Müller
- grid.418008.50000 0004 0494 3022Department of Preclinical Development and Validation, Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Stefan Kalkhof
- grid.418008.50000 0004 0494 3022Department of Preclinical Development and Validation, Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Oliver Reinhardt
- grid.4372.20000 0001 2105 1091Translational Molecular Imaging, Max-Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Henning Urlaub
- grid.4372.20000 0001 2105 1091Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry group, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany ,grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Bioanalytics, Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Frauke Alves
- grid.4372.20000 0001 2105 1091Translational Molecular Imaging, Max-Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany ,grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Medicine Goettingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Julia Gallwas
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Evangelos Prokakis
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Florian Wegwitz
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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3
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Mieczkowska IK, Pantelaiou-Prokaki G, Prokakis E, Schmidt GE, Müller-Kirschbaum LC, Werner M, Sen M, Velychko T, Jannasch K, Dullin C, Napp J, Pantel K, Wikman H, Wiese M, Kramm CM, Alves F, Wegwitz F. Decreased PRC2 activity supports the survival of basal-like breast cancer cells to cytotoxic treatments. Cell Death Dis 2021; 12:1118. [PMID: 34845197 PMCID: PMC8630036 DOI: 10.1038/s41419-021-04407-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Revised: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer occurring in women but also rarely develops in men. Recent advances in early diagnosis and development of targeted therapies have greatly improved the survival rate of BC patients. However, the basal-like BC subtype (BLBC), largely overlapping with the triple-negative BC subtype (TNBC), lacks such drug targets and conventional cytotoxic chemotherapies often remain the only treatment option. Thus, the development of resistance to cytotoxic therapies has fatal consequences. To assess the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms and their therapeutic potential increasing cytotoxic drug efficiency, we combined high-throughput RNA- and ChIP-sequencing analyses in BLBC cells. Tumor cells surviving chemotherapy upregulated transcriptional programs of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stemness. To our surprise, the same cells showed a pronounced reduction of polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) activity via downregulation of its subunits Ezh2, Suz12, Rbbp7 and Mtf2. Mechanistically, loss of PRC2 activity leads to the de-repression of a set of genes through an epigenetic switch from repressive H3K27me3 to activating H3K27ac mark at regulatory regions. We identified Nfatc1 as an upregulated gene upon loss of PRC2 activity and directly implicated in the transcriptional changes happening upon survival to chemotherapy. Blocking NFATc1 activation reduced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, aggressiveness, and therapy resistance of BLBC cells. Our data demonstrate a previously unknown function of PRC2 maintaining low Nfatc1 expression levels and thereby repressing aggressiveness and therapy resistance in BLBC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iga K. Mieczkowska
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Garyfallia Pantelaiou-Prokaki
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany ,grid.419522.90000 0001 0668 6902Translational Molecular Imaging, Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Evangelos Prokakis
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Geske E. Schmidt
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of Gastroenterology, GI-Oncology and Endocrinology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Lukas C. Müller-Kirschbaum
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Marcel Werner
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Madhobi Sen
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Taras Velychko
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Katharina Jannasch
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Clinic for Haematology and Medical Oncology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Christian Dullin
- grid.419522.90000 0001 0668 6902Translational Molecular Imaging, Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany ,grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Clinic for Haematology and Medical Oncology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany ,grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Joanna Napp
- grid.419522.90000 0001 0668 6902Translational Molecular Imaging, Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany ,grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Klaus Pantel
- grid.13648.380000 0001 2180 3484Institute of Tumor Biology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Harriet Wikman
- grid.13648.380000 0001 2180 3484Institute of Tumor Biology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Maria Wiese
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Christof M. Kramm
- grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Frauke Alves
- grid.419522.90000 0001 0668 6902Translational Molecular Imaging, Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany ,grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Clinic for Haematology and Medical Oncology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany ,grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Florian Wegwitz
- Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. .,Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
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4
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Albers J, Svetlove A, Alves J, Kraupner A, di Lillo F, Markus MA, Tromba G, Alves F, Dullin C. Elastic transformation of histological slices allows precise co-registration with microCT data sets for a refined virtual histology approach. Sci Rep 2021; 11:10846. [PMID: 34035350 PMCID: PMC8149420 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-89841-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 04/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Although X-ray based 3D virtual histology is an emerging tool for the analysis of biological tissue, it falls short in terms of specificity when compared to conventional histology. Thus, the aim was to establish a novel approach that combines 3D information provided by microCT with high specificity that only (immuno-)histochemistry can offer. For this purpose, we developed a software frontend, which utilises an elastic transformation technique to accurately co-register various histological and immunohistochemical stainings with free propagation phase contrast synchrotron radiation microCT. We demonstrate that the precision of the overlay of both imaging modalities is significantly improved by performing our elastic registration workflow, as evidenced by calculation of the displacement index. To illustrate the need for an elastic co-registration approach we examined specimens from a mouse model of breast cancer with injected metal-based nanoparticles. Using the elastic transformation pipeline, we were able to co-localise the nanoparticles to specifically stained cells or tissue structures into their three-dimensional anatomical context. Additionally, we performed a semi-automated tissue structure and cell classification. This workflow provides new insights on histopathological analysis by combining CT specific three-dimensional information with cell/tissue specific information provided by classical histology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Albers
- Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Angelika Svetlove
- Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.,Translational Molecular Imaging, Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Justus Alves
- Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | | | | | - M Andrea Markus
- Translational Molecular Imaging, Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany
| | | | - Frauke Alves
- Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.,Translational Molecular Imaging, Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany.,Clinic for Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Christian Dullin
- Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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5
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Wegwitz F, Lenfert E, Gerstel D, von Ehrenstein L, Einhoff J, Schmidt G, Logsdon M, Brandner J, Tiegs G, Beauchemin N, Wagener C, Deppert W, Horst AK. CEACAM1 controls the EMT switch in murine mammary carcinoma in vitro and in vivo. Oncotarget 2018; 7:63730-63746. [PMID: 27572314 PMCID: PMC5325399 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.11650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2015] [Accepted: 08/08/2016] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
We analyzed the molecular basis for carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1)-controlled inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in a mouse model for mammary adenocarcinoma (WAP-T mice). We demonstrate that silencing of CEACAM1 in WAP-T tumor-derived G-2 cells induces epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity (EMP), as evidenced by typical changes of gene expression, morphology and increased invasion. In contrast, reintroduction of CEACAM1 into G-2 cells reversed up-regulation of genes imposing mesenchymal transition, as well as cellular invasion. We identified the Wnt-pathway as target for CEACAM1-mediated repression of EMT. Importantly, β-catenin phosphorylation status and transcriptional activity strongly depend on CEACAM1 expression: CEACAM1high G-2 cells displayed enhanced phosphorylation of β-catenin at S33/S37/T41 and decreased phosphorylation at Y86, thereby inhibiting canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling. We identified Src-homology 2 domain-containing phosphatase 2 (SHP-2) as a critical binding partner of CEACAM1 that could modulate β-catenin Y86 phosphorylation. Hence, CEACAM1 serves as a scaffold that controls membrane proximal β-catenin signaling. In vivo, mammary tumors of WAP-T/CEACAM1null mice displayed increased nuclear translocation of β-catenin and a dramatically enhanced metastasis rate compared to WAP-T mice. Hence, CEACAM1 controls EMT in vitro and in vivo by site-specific regulation of β-catenin phosphorylation. Survival analyses of human mammary carcinoma patients corroborated these data, indicating that CEACAM1 is a prognostic marker for breast cancer survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florian Wegwitz
- Clinic for General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.,Institute for Tumor Biology, University Medical Center-Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Eva Lenfert
- Institute for Tumor Biology, University Medical Center-Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Daniela Gerstel
- Center for Diagnostics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Lena von Ehrenstein
- Institute for Tumor Biology, University Medical Center-Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Julia Einhoff
- Institute for Tumor Biology, University Medical Center-Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany.,Pharmaceutical Institute, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, D-24118 Kiel, Germany
| | - Geske Schmidt
- Clinic for General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Matthew Logsdon
- Clinic for General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Johanna Brandner
- Dermatology and Venerology Department and Clinic, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Gisa Tiegs
- Institute for Experimental Immunology and Hepatology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Nicole Beauchemin
- Goodman Cancer Research Centre and Departments of Biochemistry, Medicine and Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, H3G1Y6, Canada
| | - Christoph Wagener
- Center for Diagnostics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Deppert
- Institute for Tumor Biology, University Medical Center-Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Andrea Kristina Horst
- Institute for Experimental Immunology and Hepatology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-20251 Hamburg, Germany
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6
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Bruns M, Wanger J, Schumacher U, Deppert W. T-cell epitope strength in WAP-T mouse mammary carcinomas is an important determinant in PD1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Oncotarget 2018; 7:64543-64559. [PMID: 27579535 PMCID: PMC5323098 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.11620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2016] [Accepted: 08/21/2016] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Using the SV40 transgenic WAP-T/WAP-TNP mouse models for mammary carcinomas, we compared the response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy in tumor mice expressing either SV40 T-antigen containing the LCMV NP-epitope (T-AgNP in WAP-TNP mice), or the unmodified T-antigen (T-Ag in WAP-T mice). Specifically, we asked, whether the presence of the highly immunogenic NP-epitope in T-AgNP influences this response in comparison to the weakly immunogenic T-cell epitopes of T-Ag in WAP-T tumor mice. Treatment of WAP-TNP tumor mice with either anti-PD1 or anti-PD-L1 antibodies led to tumor regression, with anti-PD-L1 treatment being more effective. However, tumors had fully re-appeared after 21 days, indicating that CTL exhaustion had been rapidly re-established. Surprisingly, the same treatment applied to WAP-T tumor mice resulted in a significantly prolonged period of tumor regression. We provide evidence that in contrast to the weak antigenic stimuli exerted by T-cell epitopes of T-Ag, the strong antigenic stimulus of the NP-epitope in T-AgNP has a dual effect: (i) a rapid generation of active NP-specific CTLs, accompanied (ii) by accelerated CTL exhaustion. Our data support the hypothesis that the immunogenicity of tumor antigen T-cell epitopes strongly influences the success of immune checkpoint blockade therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Bruns
- Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Leibniz-Institute for Experimental Virology, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Jara Wanger
- Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Leibniz-Institute for Experimental Virology, Hamburg, Germany.,Woldsenweg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Udo Schumacher
- Institute for Anatomy and Experimental Morphology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Deppert
- Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Leibniz-Institute for Experimental Virology, Hamburg, Germany.,Institute for Tumor Biology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
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7
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Drago-García D, Espinal-Enríquez J, Hernández-Lemus E. Network analysis of EMT and MET micro-RNA regulation in breast cancer. Sci Rep 2017; 7:13534. [PMID: 29051564 PMCID: PMC5648819 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-13903-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2016] [Accepted: 09/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Over the last years, microRNAs (miRs) have shown to be crucial for breast tumour establishment and progression. To understand the influence that miRs have over transcriptional regulation in breast cancer, we constructed mutual information networks from 86 TCGA matched breast invasive carcinoma and control tissue RNA-Seq and miRNA-Seq sequencing data. We show that miRs are determinant for tumour and control data network structure. In tumour data network, miR-200, miR-199 and neighbour miRs seem to cooperate on the regulation of the acquisition of epithelial and mesenchymal traits by the biological processes: Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and Mesenchymal to Epithelial Transition (MET). Despite structural differences between tumour and control networks, we found a conserved set of associations between miR-200 family members and genes such as VIM, ZEB-1/2 and TWIST-1/2. Further, a large number of miRs observed in tumour network mapped to a specific chromosomal location in DLK1-DIO3 (Chr14q32); some of those miRs have also been associated with EMT and MET regulation. Pathways related to EMT and TGF-beta reinforce the relevance of miR-200, miR-199 and DLK1-DIO3 cluster in breast cancer. With this approach, we stress that miR inclusion in gene regulatory network construction improves our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms underlying breast cancer biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana Drago-García
- Computational Genomics Division, National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN), Mexico City, 14610, Mexico
| | - Jesús Espinal-Enríquez
- Computational Genomics Division, National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN), Mexico City, 14610, Mexico
- Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico, 04510, Mexico
| | - Enrique Hernández-Lemus
- Computational Genomics Division, National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN), Mexico City, 14610, Mexico.
- Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico, 04510, Mexico.
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8
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Abstract
The SV40 transgenic BALB/c mouse based WAP-T/WAP-TNP model for triple-negative breast cancer allows the analysis of parameters influencing immunotherapeutic approaches. Except for WAP-TNP tumors expressing the immune-dominant LCMV NP-epitope within SV40 T-antigen (T-AgNP) which is not expressed by T-Ag of WAP-T tumors, the tumors are extremely similar. Comparative anti-PD1/PD-L1 immunotherapy of WAP-T and WAP-TNP mice supported the hypothesis that the immunogenicity of tumor antigen T-cell epitopes strongly influences the success of immune checkpoint blockade therapy, with highly immunogenic T-cell epitopes favoring rapid CTL exhaustion. Here we analyzed the immune response in NP8 mice during early times of tumor development. LCMV infection of lactating NP8 mice induced lifelong tumor protection by memory CTLs. Immunization with LCMV after involution and appearance of T-AgNP expressing parity-induced tumor progenitor cells could not cure the mice, as memory CTLs became exhausted. However, immunization significantly prolonged the time of tumor outgrowth. Elimination of exhausted CTLs and of immunosuppressive cells by sub-lethal γ-irradiation, followed by adoptive transfer of NP-epitope specific CTLs into NP8 tumor mice with early lesions, completely prevented tumor outgrowth, when lymphocytes obtained after injection of weakly immunogenic NP8 tumor-derived cells into BALB/c mice were transferred. Transfer of lymphocytes obtained after infection of BALB/c mice with highly immunogenic LCMV into such mice delayed tumor outgrowth for a significant period, but could not prevent it. We conclude that eliminating exhausted CTLs and immune-suppressive cells followed by transfer or generation of low-avidity tumor antigen-specific CTLs might be a promising approach for curative tumor immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Bruns
- Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Leibniz-Institute for Experimental Virology, 20251 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Deppert
- Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Leibniz-Institute for Experimental Virology, 20251 Hamburg, Germany.,Institute for Tumor Biology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), University of Hamburg, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
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