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1
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Dehkordi SR, Wong ITL, Ni J, Luebeck J, Zhu K, Prasad G, Krockenberger L, Xu G, Chowdhury B, Rajkumar U, Caplin A, Muliaditan D, Coruh C, Jin Q, Turner K, Teo SX, Pang AWC, Alexandrov LB, Chua CEL, Furnari FB, Paulson TG, Law JA, Chang HY, Yue F, DasGupta R, Zhao J, Mischel PS, Bafna V. Breakage fusion bridge cycles drive high oncogene copy number, but not intratumoral genetic heterogeneity or rapid cancer genome change. bioRxiv 2023:2023.12.12.571349. [PMID: 38168210 PMCID: PMC10760206 DOI: 10.1101/2023.12.12.571349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
Oncogene amplification is a major driver of cancer pathogenesis. Breakage fusion bridge (BFB) cycles, like extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA), can lead to high copy numbers of oncogenes, but their impact on intratumoral heterogeneity, treatment response, and patient survival are not well understood due to difficulty in detecting them by DNA sequencing. We describe a novel algorithm that detects and reconstructs BFB amplifications using optical genome maps (OGMs), called OM2BFB. OM2BFB showed high precision (>93%) and recall (92%) in detecting BFB amplifications in cancer cell lines, PDX models and primary tumors. OM-based comparisons demonstrated that short-read BFB detection using our AmpliconSuite (AS) toolkit also achieved high precision, albeit with reduced sensitivity. We detected 371 BFB events using whole genome sequences from 2,557 primary tumors and cancer lines. BFB amplifications were preferentially found in cervical, head and neck, lung, and esophageal cancers, but rarely in brain cancers. BFB amplified genes show lower variance of gene expression, with fewer options for regulatory rewiring relative to ecDNA amplified genes. BFB positive (BFB (+)) tumors showed reduced heterogeneity of amplicon structures, and delayed onset of resistance, relative to ecDNA(+) tumors. EcDNA and BFB amplifications represent contrasting mechanisms to increase the copy numbers of oncogene with markedly different characteristics that suggest different routes for intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siavash Raeisi Dehkordi
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Ivy Tsz-Lo Wong
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Jing Ni
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215 USA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 USA
| | - Jens Luebeck
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Kaiyuan Zhu
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Gino Prasad
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Lena Krockenberger
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Guanghui Xu
- Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
| | - Biswanath Chowdhury
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Utkrisht Rajkumar
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Ann Caplin
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Daniel Muliaditan
- Laboratory of Precision Oncology and Cancer Evolution, Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ceyda Coruh
- Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
- ClearNote Health, San Diego, CA 92121 USA
| | - Qiushi Jin
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | - Shu Xian Teo
- Singapore Nuclear Research and Safety Initiative, National University of Singapore
| | | | - Ludmil B Alexandrov
- Moores Cancer Center, UC San Diego Health, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | | | - Frank B Furnari
- Department of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Thomas G Paulson
- Translational Science and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Julie A Law
- Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Howard Y Chang
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Feng Yue
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
- Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Ramanuj DasGupta
- Laboratory of Precision Oncology and Cancer Evolution, Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Jean Zhao
- Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215 USA
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 USA
| | - Paul S Mischel
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Vineet Bafna
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
- Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
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2
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Chapman OS, Luebeck J, Sridhar S, Wong ITL, Dixit D, Wang S, Prasad G, Rajkumar U, Pagadala MS, Larson JD, He BJ, Hung KL, Lange JT, Dehkordi SR, Chandran S, Adam M, Morgan L, Wani S, Tiwari A, Guccione C, Lin Y, Dutta A, Lo YY, Juarez E, Robinson JT, Korshunov A, Michaels JEA, Cho YJ, Malicki DM, Coufal NG, Levy ML, Hobbs C, Scheuermann RH, Crawford JR, Pomeroy SL, Rich JN, Zhang X, Chang HY, Dixon JR, Bagchi A, Deshpande AJ, Carter H, Fraenkel E, Mischel PS, Wechsler-Reya RJ, Bafna V, Mesirov JP, Chavez L. Circular extrachromosomal DNA promotes tumor heterogeneity in high-risk medulloblastoma. Nat Genet 2023; 55:2189-2199. [PMID: 37945900 PMCID: PMC10703696 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01551-3] [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] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
Circular extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) in patient tumors is an important driver of oncogenic gene expression, evolution of drug resistance and poor patient outcomes. Applying computational methods for the detection and reconstruction of ecDNA across a retrospective cohort of 481 medulloblastoma tumors from 465 patients, we identify circular ecDNA in 82 patients (18%). Patients with ecDNA-positive medulloblastoma were more than twice as likely to relapse and three times as likely to die within 5 years of diagnosis. A subset of tumors harbored multiple ecDNA lineages, each containing distinct amplified oncogenes. Multimodal sequencing, imaging and CRISPR inhibition experiments in medulloblastoma models reveal intratumoral heterogeneity of ecDNA copy number per cell and frequent putative 'enhancer rewiring' events on ecDNA. This study reveals the frequency and diversity of ecDNA in medulloblastoma, stratified into molecular subgroups, and suggests copy number heterogeneity and enhancer rewiring as oncogenic features of ecDNA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Owen S Chapman
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Jens Luebeck
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Sunita Sridhar
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, UC San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Ivy Tsz-Lo Wong
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Deobrat Dixit
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, CA, USA
- Department of Neurology and Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Shanqing Wang
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Gino Prasad
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Utkrisht Rajkumar
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Meghana S Pagadala
- Medical Scientist Training Program, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
- Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Jon D Larson
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Britney Jiayu He
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - King L Hung
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Joshua T Lange
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Siavash R Dehkordi
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | | | - Miriam Adam
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Ling Morgan
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Sameena Wani
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Ashutosh Tiwari
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Caitlin Guccione
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Yingxi Lin
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Aditi Dutta
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Yan Yuen Lo
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, CA, USA
- Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine, Rady Children's Hospital and Healthcare Center, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Edwin Juarez
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - James T Robinson
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Andrey Korshunov
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Neuropathology (B300), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), and National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - John-Edward A Michaels
- Papé Pediatric Research Institute, Department of Pediatrics and Knight Cancer Insitute, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Yoon-Jae Cho
- Papé Pediatric Research Institute, Department of Pediatrics and Knight Cancer Insitute, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Denise M Malicki
- Division of Pathology, UC San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Nicole G Coufal
- Department of Pediatrics, UC San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Michael L Levy
- Division of Pathology, UC San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Charlotte Hobbs
- Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine, Rady Children's Hospital and Healthcare Center, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Richard H Scheuermann
- J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - John R Crawford
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California Irvine and Children's Hospital Orange County, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Scott L Pomeroy
- Eli and Edythe Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jeremy N Rich
- UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Xinlian Zhang
- Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Howard Y Chang
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Jesse R Dixon
- Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Anindya Bagchi
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, CA, USA
| | | | - Hannah Carter
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
- Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Ernest Fraenkel
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Eli and Edythe Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Paul S Mischel
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Robert J Wechsler-Reya
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, CA, USA
- Department of Neurology and Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Vineet Bafna
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
- Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Jill P Mesirov
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
- Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Lukas Chavez
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, CA, USA.
- Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine, Rady Children's Hospital and Healthcare Center, San Diego, CA, USA.
- Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
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3
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Rose JC, Wong ITL, Daniel B, Jones MG, Yost KE, Hung KL, Curtis EJ, Mischel PS, Chang HY. Disparate pathways for extrachromosomal DNA biogenesis and genomic DNA repair. bioRxiv 2023:2023.10.22.563489. [PMID: 37961138 PMCID: PMC10634728 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.22.563489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Oncogene amplification on extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) is a pervasive driver event in cancer, yet our understanding of how ecDNA forms is limited. Here, we couple a CRISPR-based method for induction of ecDNA with extensive characterization of newly formed ecDNA to examine ecDNA biogenesis. We find that DNA circularization is efficient, irrespective of 3D genome context, with formation of a 1 Mb and 1.8 Mb ecDNA both reaching 15%. We show non-homologous end joining and microhomology mediated end joining both contribute to ecDNA formation, while inhibition of DNA-PKcs and ATM have opposing impacts on ecDNA formation. EcDNA and the corresponding chromosomal excision scar form at significantly different rates and respond differently to DNA-PKcs and ATM inhibition. Taken together, our results support a model of ecDNA formation in which double strand break ends dissociate from their legitimate ligation partners prior to joining of illegitimate ends to form the ecDNA and excision scar.
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Affiliation(s)
- John C Rose
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Ivy Tsz-Lo Wong
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Bence Daniel
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Matthew G Jones
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Kathryn E Yost
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - King L Hung
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Ellis J Curtis
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Paul S Mischel
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Howard Y Chang
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford, CA, USA
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4
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Hung KL, Jones MG, Wong ITL, Lange JT, Luebeck J, Scanu E, He BJ, Brückner L, Li R, González RC, Schmargon R, Dörr JR, Belk JA, Bafna V, Werner B, Huang W, Henssen AG, Mischel PS, Chang HY. Coordinated inheritance of extrachromosomal DNA species in human cancer cells. bioRxiv 2023:2023.07.18.549597. [PMID: 37503111 PMCID: PMC10371175 DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.18.549597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
The chromosomal theory of inheritance has dominated human genetics, including cancer genetics. Genes on the same chromosome segregate together while genes on different chromosomes assort independently, providing a fundamental tenet of Mendelian inheritance. Extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) is a frequent event in cancer that drives oncogene amplification, dysregulated gene expression and intratumoral heterogeneity, including through random segregation during cell division. Distinct ecDNA sequences, herein termed ecDNA species, can co-exist to facilitate intermolecular cooperation in cancer cells. However, how multiple ecDNA species within a tumor cell are assorted and maintained across somatic cell generations to drive cancer cell evolution is not known. Here we show that cooperative ecDNA species can be coordinately inherited through mitotic co-segregation. Imaging and single-cell analyses show that multiple ecDNAs encoding distinct oncogenes co-occur and are correlated in copy number in human cancer cells. EcDNA species are coordinately segregated asymmetrically during mitosis, resulting in daughter cells with simultaneous copy number gains in multiple ecDNA species prior to any selection. Computational modeling reveals the quantitative principles of ecDNA co-segregation and co-selection, predicting their observed distributions in cancer cells. Finally, we show that coordinated inheritance of ecDNAs enables co-amplification of specialized ecDNAs containing only enhancer elements and guides therapeutic strategies to jointly deplete cooperating ecDNA oncogenes. Coordinated inheritance of ecDNAs confers stability to oncogene cooperation and novel gene regulatory circuits, allowing winning combinations of epigenetic states to be transmitted across cell generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- King L. Hung
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Matthew G. Jones
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Ivy Tsz-Lo Wong
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Joshua T. Lange
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Jens Luebeck
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Elisa Scanu
- Department of Mathematics, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Britney Jiayu He
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Lotte Brückner
- Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin (BIMSB/BIH), Berlin, Germany
- Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Lindenberger Weg 80, 13125, Berlin, Germany
| | - Rui Li
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Rocío Chamorro González
- Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Lindenberger Weg 80, 13125, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Pediatric Oncology/Hematology, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Rachel Schmargon
- Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Lindenberger Weg 80, 13125, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Pediatric Oncology/Hematology, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jan R. Dörr
- Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Lindenberger Weg 80, 13125, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Pediatric Oncology/Hematology, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Julia A. Belk
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Vineet Bafna
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Benjamin Werner
- Evolutionary Dynamics Group, Centre for Cancer Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Weini Huang
- Department of Mathematics, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
- Group of Theoretical Biology, The State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Science, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Anton G. Henssen
- Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Lindenberger Weg 80, 13125, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Pediatric Oncology/Hematology, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), partner site Berlin, and German Cancer Research Center DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
- Berlin Institute of Health, Anna-Louisa-Karsch-Str. 2, 10178, Berlin, Germany
| | - Paul S. Mischel
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Howard Y. Chang
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
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5
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Hung KL, Luebeck J, Dehkordi SR, Colón CI, Li R, Wong ITL, Coruh C, Dharanipragada P, Lomeli SH, Weiser NE, Moriceau G, Zhang X, Bailey C, Houlahan KE, Yang W, González RC, Swanton C, Curtis C, Jamal-Hanjani M, Henssen AG, Law JA, Greenleaf WJ, Lo RS, Mischel PS, Bafna V, Chang HY. Targeted profiling of human extrachromosomal DNA by CRISPR-CATCH. Nat Genet 2022; 54:1746-1754. [PMID: 36253572 PMCID: PMC9649439 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-022-01190-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) is a common mode of oncogene amplification but is challenging to analyze. Here, we adapt CRISPR-CATCH, in vitro CRISPR-Cas9 treatment and pulsed field gel electrophoresis of agarose-entrapped genomic DNA, previously developed for bacterial chromosome segments, to isolate megabase-sized human ecDNAs. We demonstrate strong enrichment of ecDNA molecules containing EGFR, FGFR2 and MYC from human cancer cells and NRAS ecDNA from human metastatic melanoma with acquired therapeutic resistance. Targeted enrichment of ecDNA versus chromosomal DNA enabled phasing of genetic variants, identified the presence of an EGFRvIII mutation exclusively on ecDNAs and supported an excision model of ecDNA genesis in a glioblastoma model. CRISPR-CATCH followed by nanopore sequencing enabled single-molecule ecDNA methylation profiling and revealed hypomethylation of the EGFR promoter on ecDNAs. We distinguished heterogeneous ecDNA species within the same sample by size and sequence with base-pair resolution and discovered functionally specialized ecDNAs that amplify select enhancers or oncogene-coding sequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- King L Hung
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Jens Luebeck
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Siavash R Dehkordi
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Caterina I Colón
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Rui Li
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Ivy Tsz-Lo Wong
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Ceyda Coruh
- Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Prashanthi Dharanipragada
- Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Shirley H Lomeli
- Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Natasha E Weiser
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Gatien Moriceau
- Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Xiao Zhang
- Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Chris Bailey
- Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
| | - Kathleen E Houlahan
- Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Wenting Yang
- Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Rocío Chamorro González
- Department of Pediatric Oncology/Hematology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Charles Swanton
- Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
- Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence, University College London Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
- University College London Hospitals NHS Trust, London, UK
| | - Christina Curtis
- Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Mariam Jamal-Hanjani
- Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence, University College London Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
- University College London Hospitals NHS Trust, London, UK
| | - Anton G Henssen
- Department of Pediatric Oncology/Hematology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), partner site Berlin, and German Cancer Research Center DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Julie A Law
- Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - William J Greenleaf
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Roger S Lo
- Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Paul S Mischel
- Sarafan ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Vineet Bafna
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Howard Y Chang
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
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Hung KL, Yost KE, Xie L, Shi Q, Helmsauer K, Luebeck J, Schöpflin R, Lange JT, Chamorro González R, Weiser NE, Chen C, Valieva ME, Wong ITL, Wu S, Dehkordi SR, Duffy CV, Kraft K, Tang J, Belk JA, Rose JC, Corces MR, Granja JM, Li R, Rajkumar U, Friedlein J, Bagchi A, Satpathy AT, Tjian R, Mundlos S, Bafna V, Henssen AG, Mischel PS, Liu Z, Chang HY. ecDNA hubs drive cooperative intermolecular oncogene expression. Nature 2021; 600:731-736. [PMID: 34819668 PMCID: PMC9126690 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04116-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 34.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Accepted: 10/08/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) is prevalent in human cancers and mediates high expression of oncogenes through gene amplification and altered gene regulation1. Gene induction typically involves cis-regulatory elements that contact and activate genes on the same chromosome2,3. Here we show that ecDNA hubs-clusters of around 10-100 ecDNAs within the nucleus-enable intermolecular enhancer-gene interactions to promote oncogene overexpression. ecDNAs that encode multiple distinct oncogenes form hubs in diverse cancer cell types and primary tumours. Each ecDNA is more likely to transcribe the oncogene when spatially clustered with additional ecDNAs. ecDNA hubs are tethered by the bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) protein BRD4 in a MYC-amplified colorectal cancer cell line. The BET inhibitor JQ1 disperses ecDNA hubs and preferentially inhibits ecDNA-derived-oncogene transcription. The BRD4-bound PVT1 promoter is ectopically fused to MYC and duplicated in ecDNA, receiving promiscuous enhancer input to drive potent expression of MYC. Furthermore, the PVT1 promoter on an exogenous episome suffices to mediate gene activation in trans by ecDNA hubs in a JQ1-sensitive manner. Systematic silencing of ecDNA enhancers by CRISPR interference reveals intermolecular enhancer-gene activation among multiple oncogene loci that are amplified on distinct ecDNAs. Thus, protein-tethered ecDNA hubs enable intermolecular transcriptional regulation and may serve as units of oncogene function and cooperative evolution and as potential targets for cancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- King L Hung
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Kathryn E Yost
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Liangqi Xie
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, CIRM Center of Excellence, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Quanming Shi
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Konstantin Helmsauer
- Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jens Luebeck
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Robert Schöpflin
- Development and Disease Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany
- Institute for Medical and Human Genetics, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Computational Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany
| | - Joshua T Lange
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Rocío Chamorro González
- Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Natasha E Weiser
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Celine Chen
- Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Maria E Valieva
- Development and Disease Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany
- Institute for Medical and Human Genetics, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ivy Tsz-Lo Wong
- ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Sihan Wu
- Children's Medical Center Research Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Siavash R Dehkordi
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Connor V Duffy
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Katerina Kraft
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Jun Tang
- ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Julia A Belk
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - John C Rose
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - M Ryan Corces
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Jeffrey M Granja
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Rui Li
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Utkrisht Rajkumar
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Jordan Friedlein
- Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Anindya Bagchi
- Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | | | - Robert Tjian
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, CIRM Center of Excellence, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Stefan Mundlos
- Development and Disease Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany
- Institute for Medical and Human Genetics, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Vineet Bafna
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Anton G Henssen
- Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), partner site Berlin, and German Cancer Research Center DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Paul S Mischel
- ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Zhe Liu
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA, USA
| | - Howard Y Chang
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
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Bi J, Khan A, Tang J, Armando AM, Wu S, Zhang W, Gimple RC, Reed A, Jing H, Koga T, Wong ITL, Gu Y, Miki S, Yang H, Prager B, Curtis EJ, Wainwright DA, Furnari FB, Rich JN, Cloughesy TF, Kornblum HI, Quehenberger O, Rzhetsky A, Cravatt BF, Mischel PS. Targeting glioblastoma signaling and metabolism with a re-purposed brain-penetrant drug. Cell Rep 2021; 37:109957. [PMID: 34731610 PMCID: PMC8856626 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Revised: 09/10/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The highly lethal brain cancer glioblastoma (GBM) poses a daunting challenge because the blood-brain barrier renders potentially druggable amplified or mutated oncoproteins relatively inaccessible. Here, we identify sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 1 (SMPD1), an enzyme that regulates the conversion of sphingomyelin to ceramide, as an actionable drug target in GBM. We show that the highly brain-penetrant antidepressant fluoxetine potently inhibits SMPD1 activity, killing GBMs, through inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling and via activation of lysosomal stress. Combining fluoxetine with temozolomide, a standard of care for GBM, causes massive increases in GBM cell death and complete tumor regression in mice. Incorporation of real-world evidence from electronic medical records from insurance databases reveals significantly increased survival in GBM patients treated with fluoxetine, which was not seen in patients treated with other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants. These results nominate the repurposing of fluoxetine as a potentially safe and promising therapy for patients with GBM and suggest prospective randomized clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junfeng Bi
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
| | - Atif Khan
- Department of Medicine, Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Jun Tang
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Aaron M Armando
- Department of Pharmacology, UCSD School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Sihan Wu
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Children's Medical Center Research Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Wei Zhang
- Department of Medicine, UCSD School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Ryan C Gimple
- Division of Regenerative Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Alex Reed
- Department of Chemistry, The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Hui Jing
- Department of Chemistry, The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Tomoyuki Koga
- Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Ivy Tsz-Lo Wong
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Yuchao Gu
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Shunichiro Miki
- Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Huijun Yang
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Briana Prager
- Division of Regenerative Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Ellis J Curtis
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Department of Medicine, UCSD School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Derek A Wainwright
- Department of Neurological Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Frank B Furnari
- Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Department of Pathology, UCSD School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA; Moores Cancer Center, UCSD School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Jeremy N Rich
- Division of Regenerative Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Timothy F Cloughesy
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Harley I Kornblum
- Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, David Geffen UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | - Andrey Rzhetsky
- Department of Medicine, Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; Department of Human Genetics, Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Benjamin F Cravatt
- Department of Chemistry, The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Paul S Mischel
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
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Chen L, Wong OGW, Wong ITL, Cheung ANY. Abstract 5906: NUAK2 is highly overexpressed in ovarian cancer and the overexpression of its nuclear form correlates with tumor aggressiveness. Cancer Res 2020. [DOI: 10.1158/1538-7445.am2020-5906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
NUAK2, also known as sucrose non-fermenting (SNF1)-like AMPK-related kinase (SNARK), belongs to the AMPK serine/threonine kinase family. While little is known about the exact biological functions of NUAK2, this kinase has been reported to be overexpressed in multiple cancer types, forming a part of the 1q32 amplicon common in human cancer. When we analysed its expression in the ovarian datasets of The Cancer Genome Atlas and Genotype-Tissue Expression involving 418 ovarian carcinomas and 88 normal ovarian tissues, the level of NUAK2 mRNA was approximately 64-fold elevated in ovarian cancer relative to normal ovaries (p<0.0001). Herein, we aim to gain insights into the potential relevance of NUAK2 overexpression in ovarian cancer and to characterize the functional roles of NUAK2 involved in ovarian carcinogenesis.
We performed an immunohistochemical study of NUAK2 in a clinical archive of ovarian tumor tissues, a cohort consisting of 10 cases of benign ovarian tumors, 9 cases of borderline ovarian tumors, and 88 cases of ovarian carcinomas. Representative ovarian tumor regions of each individual case were analysed using ImageScope, and a histoscore was then generated as a product of staining percentage and intensity. Histoscores together with clinicopathological data of each patient were subjected to statistical analysis by SPSS and GraphPad. In concordance with the public database, the level of NUAK2 protein was significantly higher in ovarian cancer tissues compared to benign and borderline ovarian tissues (p<0.0001). Histoscores of nuclear NUAK2 in particular were positively correlated with high FIGO grade (p=0.0048); a trend of association, though not statistically significant, between nuclear NUAK2 overexpression and poor overall survival rates also existed (p=0.0602). Since NUAK2 is highly overexpressed in ovarian cancer, in vitro functional assays were then performed to determine whether it plays the roles in regulating proliferation and migration of ovarian cancer cells. Cell proliferation was not impeded upon siRNA-mediated knockdown of NUAK2 in OVCAR3 as determined by MTT assay, and Transwell assay showed that ectopic overexpression of NUAK2 in SKOV3 cells had no prominent effect on migration. Together, this study confirmed NUAK2 overexpression in ovarian cancer consistent with the public databases and also postulates the prognostic value of its nuclear form in predicting tumor aggressiveness and disease outcomes of ovarian cancer patients. However, our current study of proliferation and migration in ovarian cancer cells could not address the functional significance of NUAK2 as reflected in its overexpression pattern. It would be important for our future work to identify particular ovarian cancer genotypes that correlate with NUAK2 expression and thereby functionally drive cooperative tumorigenesis together with NUAK2.
Citation Format: Li Chen, Oscar Gee-Wan Wong, Ivy Tsz-Lo Wong, Annie Nga-Yin Cheung. NUAK2 is highly overexpressed in ovarian cancer and the overexpression of its nuclear form correlates with tumor aggressiveness [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 5906.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Chen
- The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
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Suen AMY, Wong ITL, Tse CYS, Chan KK, Wong OGW, Cheung ANY. Abstract 2565: NANOG sustains ovarian cancer cell survival and disrupts ER stress signaling through BiP/PERK under glutamine depletion. Cancer Res 2020. [DOI: 10.1158/1538-7445.am2020-2565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Metabolic reprogramming is a common hallmark of multiple cancers which functions to meet their high proliferation needs. High demand for the amino acid glutamine is frequently observed in many cancers. Catalyzed by glutaminase, glutamine is readily converted to glutamate which then further fuels the tricarboxylic acid cycle. In ovarian cancer, depletion of glutamine significantly inhibited cell growth suggesting that targeting glutamine metabolism might be an effective therapeutic strategy for ovarian cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms involved were not completely understood. In this study, we aim to identify molecular targets and the signaling involved in ovarian cancer cells under glutamine depletion. We observed that glutamine depletion stimulated the expression of the stem cell transcriptional factor NANOG in the serous ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR3. Stable knockdown of NANOG in OVCAR3 (shNANOG-OVCAR3) enhanced the level of reactive oxygen species under glutamine depletion. It was also found that under glutamine depletion, growth rate was not altered in shNANOG-OVCAR3 when compared to control shCtrl-OVCAR3 cells. However, shNANOG-OVCAR3 were more sensitive to glutamine depletion compared to shCtrl-OVCAR3 suggesting that NANOG is in part required to sustain growth of ovarian cancer cells under glutamine depletion. To further decipher the signaling involved in NANOG under glutamine depletion, expressions of markers of ER stress were detected by western blot. We found that shNANOG-OVCAR3 cells expressed lower levels of BiP, a master regulator of ER stress. Under glutamine depletion, knockdown of NANOG further enhanced the expression of phosphorylated PERK but did not alter the levels of cleaved ATF6 or phosphorylated IRE-1a, suggesting NANOG regulates ER stress pathway through BiP/PERK signaling in glutamine-depleted environment. Immunohistochemical studies were performed to determine the expressions of NANOG and BiP in our ovarian cancer patient cohort. NANOG expression was positively correlated with the expression of nuclear BiP. Total BiP expression was significantly higher in cancerous tissue than in benign and borderline ovarian tumor tissue. Altogether, these findings suggested a hitherto unreported role of the stem cell transcription factor NANOG in regulating ER stress through BiP/PERK signaling under glutamine depleted environment.
Citation Format: Astrid Man-Yee Suen, Ivy Tsz-Lo Wong, Cindy Yin-Si Tse, Ka-Kui Chan, Oscar Gee-Wan Wong, Annie Nga-Yin Cheung. NANOG sustains ovarian cancer cell survival and disrupts ER stress signaling through BiP/PERK under glutamine depletion [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 2565.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Ka-Kui Chan
- The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
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Chan KK, Wong ESY, Wong ITL, Cheung CLY, Wong OGW, Ngan HYS, Cheung ANY. Overexpression of iASPP is required for autophagy in response to oxidative stress in choriocarcinoma. BMC Cancer 2019; 19:953. [PMID: 31615473 PMCID: PMC6792270 DOI: 10.1186/s12885-019-6206-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [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: 01/13/2019] [Accepted: 09/25/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) is a heterogeneous group of diseases developed from trophoblasts. ASPP (Ankyrin-repeat, SH3-domain and proline-rich region containing protein) family proteins, ASPP1 and ASPP2, have been reported to be dysregulated in GTD. They modulate p53 activities and are responsible for multiple cellular processes. Nevertheless, the functional role of the ASPP family inhibitory member, iASPP, is not well characterized in GTD. Methods To study the functional role of iASPP in GTD, trophoblastic tissues from normal placentas, hydatidiform mole (HM) and choriocarcinoma were used for immunohistochemistry, whereas siRNAs were used to manipulate iASPP expression in choriocarcinoma cell lines and study the subsequent molecular changes. Results We demonstrated that iASPP was overexpressed in both HM and choriocarcinoma when compared to normal placenta. Progressive increase in iASPP expression from HM to choriocarcinoma suggests that iASPP may be related to the development of trophoblastic malignancy. High iASPP expression in HM was also significantly associated with a high expression of autophagy-related protein LC3. Interestingly, iASPP silencing retarded the growth of choriocarcinoma through senescence instead of induction of apoptosis. LC3 expression decreased once iASPP was knocked down, suggesting a downregulation on autophagy. This may be due to iASPP downregulation rendered decrease in Atg5 expression and concomitantly hindered autophagy in choriocarcinoma cells. Autophagy inhibition per se had no effect on the growth of choriocarcinoma cells but increased the susceptibility of choriocarcinoma cells to oxidative stress, implying a protective role of iASPP against oxidative stress through autophagy in choriocarcinoma. Conclusions iASPP regulates growth and the cellular responses towards oxidative stress in choriocarcinoma cells. Its overexpression is advantageous to the pathogenesis of GTD. (266 words).
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Affiliation(s)
- Ka-Kui Chan
- Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
| | - Esther Shuk-Ying Wong
- Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Ivy Tsz-Lo Wong
- Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | | | - Oscar Gee-Wan Wong
- Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Hextan Yuen-Sheung Ngan
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Annie Nga-Yin Cheung
- Department of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. .,Department of Pathology, University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
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