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Mikheev AM, Mikheeva SA, Severs LJ, Funk CC, Huang L, McFaline-Figueroa JL, Schwensen J, Trapnell C, Price ND, Wong S, Rostomily RC. Targeting TWIST1 through loss of function inhibits tumorigenicity of human glioblastoma. Mol Oncol 2018; 12:1188-1202. [PMID: 29754406 PMCID: PMC6026950 DOI: 10.1002/1878-0261.12320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [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: 02/12/2018] [Revised: 04/16/2018] [Accepted: 04/25/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
TWIST1 (TW) is a bHLH transcription factor (TF) and master regulator of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In vitro, TW promotes mesenchymal change, invasion, and self-renewal in glioblastoma (GBM) cells. However, the potential therapeutic relevance of TW has not been established through loss-of-function studies in human GBM cell xenograft models. The effects of TW loss of function (gene editing and knockdown) on inhibition of tumorigenicity of U87MG and GBM4 glioma stem cells were tested in orthotopic xenograft models and conditional knockdown in established flank xenograft tumors. RNAseq and the analysis of tumors investigated putative TW-associated mechanisms. Multiple bioinformatic tools revealed significant alteration of ECM, membrane receptors, signaling transduction kinases, and cytoskeleton dynamics leading to identification of PI3K/AKT signaling. We experimentally show alteration of AKT activity and periostin (POSTN) expression in vivo and/or in vitro. For the first time, we show that effect of TW knockout inhibits AKT activity in U87MG cells in vivo independent of PTEN mutation. The clinical relevance of TW and candidate mechanisms was established by analysis of the TCGA and ENCODE databases. TW expression was associated with decreased patient survival and LASSO regression analysis identified POSTN as one of top targets of TW in human GBM. While we previously demonstrated the role of TW in promoting EMT and invasion of glioma cells, these studies provide direct experimental evidence supporting protumorigenic role of TW independent of invasion in vivo and the therapeutic relevance of targeting TW in human GBM. Further, the role of TW driving POSTN expression and AKT signaling suggests actionable targets, which could be leveraged to mitigate the oncogenic effects of TW in GBM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrei M Mikheev
- Department of Neurosurgery, Houston Methodist Hospital and Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA.,Department of Neurosurgery and Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Svetlana A Mikheeva
- Department of Neurosurgery, Houston Methodist Hospital and Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA.,Department of Neurosurgery and Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Liza J Severs
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Cory C Funk
- Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Lei Huang
- Department of Systems Medicine& Bioengineering, Houston Methodist Hospital and Research Institute, Weil Cornell Medical College, Houston, TX, USA
| | | | - Jeanette Schwensen
- Department of Neurosurgery and Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Cole Trapnell
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | | | - Stephen Wong
- Department of Systems Medicine& Bioengineering, Houston Methodist Hospital and Research Institute, Weil Cornell Medical College, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Robert C Rostomily
- Department of Neurosurgery, Houston Methodist Hospital and Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA.,Department of Neurosurgery and Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
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