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Vivekanandhan S, Madamsetty VS, Angom RS, Dutta SK, Wang E, Caulfield T, Pletnev AA, Upstill-Goddard R, Asmann YW, Chang D, Spaller MR, Mukhopadhyay D. Role of PLEXIND1/TGFβ Signaling Axis in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Progression Correlates with the Mutational Status of KRAS. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:cancers13164048. [PMID: 34439202 PMCID: PMC8393884 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13164048] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2021] [Revised: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Pancreatic cancer is among the most lethal cancers. The expression of PLEXIND1, a receptor, is upregulated in many cancers (including pancreatic cancer). Traditionally, PLEXIND1 is known to be involved in neuron development and mediate semaphorin signaling. However, its role and signaling in cancer is not fully understood. In our study, we present a new mechanism through which PLEXIND1 mediates its roles in cancer. For the first time, we demonstrate that it can function as a transforming growth factor beta coreceptor and modulate SMAD3 signaling. Around 90% of pancreatic cancer patients have mutant KRAS. Our work suggests that PLEXIND1 functions differently in pancreatic cancer cell lines, and the difference correlates with KRAS mutational status. Additionally, we demonstrate a novel peptide based therapeutic approach to target PLEXIND1 in cancer cells. Our work is valuable to both neuroscience and cancer fields, as it demonstrates an association between two previously unrelated signaling pathways. Abstract PLEXIND1 is upregulated in several cancers, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). It is an established mediator of semaphorin signaling, and neuropilins are its known coreceptors. Herein, we report data to support the proposal that PLEXIND1 acts as a transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) coreceptor, modulating cell growth through SMAD3 signaling. Our findings demonstrate that PLEXIND1 plays a pro-tumorigenic role in PDAC cells with oncogenic KRAS (KRASmut). We show in KRASmut PDAC cell lines (PANC-1, AsPC-1,4535) PLEXIND1 downregulation results in decreased cell viability (in vitro) and reduced tumor growth (in vivo). Conversely, PLEXIND1 acts as a tumor suppressor in the PDAC cell line (BxPC-3) with wild-type KRAS (KRASwt), as its reduced expression results in higher cell viability (in-vitro) and tumor growth (in vivo). Additionally, we demonstrate that PLEXIND1-mediated interactions can be selectively disrupted using a peptide based on its C-terminal sequence (a PDZ domain-binding motif), an outcome that may possess significant therapeutic implications. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing that (1) PLEXIND1 acts as a TGFβ coreceptor and mediates SMAD3 signaling, and (2) differential roles of PLEXIND1 in PDAC cell lines correlate with KRASmut and KRASwt status.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sneha Vivekanandhan
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA; (S.V.); (V.S.M.); (R.S.A.); (S.K.D.); (E.W.); (T.C.)
| | - Vijay S. Madamsetty
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA; (S.V.); (V.S.M.); (R.S.A.); (S.K.D.); (E.W.); (T.C.)
| | - Ramcharan Singh Angom
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA; (S.V.); (V.S.M.); (R.S.A.); (S.K.D.); (E.W.); (T.C.)
| | - Shamit Kumar Dutta
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA; (S.V.); (V.S.M.); (R.S.A.); (S.K.D.); (E.W.); (T.C.)
| | - Enfeng Wang
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA; (S.V.); (V.S.M.); (R.S.A.); (S.K.D.); (E.W.); (T.C.)
| | - Thomas Caulfield
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA; (S.V.); (V.S.M.); (R.S.A.); (S.K.D.); (E.W.); (T.C.)
| | - Alexandre A. Pletnev
- Department of Chemistry, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA; (A.A.P.); (M.R.S.)
| | - Rosanna Upstill-Goddard
- Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre, Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, Garscube Estate Switchback Road, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK; (R.U.-G.); (D.C.)
| | - Yan W. Asmann
- Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA;
| | - David Chang
- Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre, Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, Garscube Estate Switchback Road, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK; (R.U.-G.); (D.C.)
| | - Mark R. Spaller
- Department of Chemistry, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA; (A.A.P.); (M.R.S.)
- Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA
- Division of Natural and Applied Sciences, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan 215316, China
| | - Debabrata Mukhopadhyay
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA; (S.V.); (V.S.M.); (R.S.A.); (S.K.D.); (E.W.); (T.C.)
- Correspondence:
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