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Gkountela S, Castro-Giner F, Szczerba BM, Vetter M, Landin J, Scherrer R, Krol I, Scheidmann MC, Beisel C, Stirnimann CU, Kurzeder C, Heinzelmann-Schwarz V, Rochlitz C, Weber WP, Aceto N. Circulating Tumor Cell Clustering Shapes DNA Methylation to Enable Metastasis Seeding. Cell 2019; 176:98-112.e14. [PMID: 30633912 PMCID: PMC6363966 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.11.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 485] [Impact Index Per Article: 97.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2018] [Revised: 08/31/2018] [Accepted: 11/28/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The ability of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) to form clusters has been linked to increased metastatic potential. Yet biological features and vulnerabilities of CTC clusters remain largely unknown. Here, we profile the DNA methylation landscape of single CTCs and CTC clusters from breast cancer patients and mouse models on a genome-wide scale. We find that binding sites for stemness- and proliferation-associated transcription factors are specifically hypomethylated in CTC clusters, including binding sites for OCT4, NANOG, SOX2, and SIN3A, paralleling embryonic stem cell biology. Among 2,486 FDA-approved compounds, we identify Na+/K+ ATPase inhibitors that enable the dissociation of CTC clusters into single cells, leading to DNA methylation remodeling at critical sites and metastasis suppression. Thus, our results link CTC clustering to specific changes in DNA methylation that promote stemness and metastasis and point to cluster-targeting compounds to suppress the spread of cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Gkountela
- Cancer Metastasis Laboratory, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Francesc Castro-Giner
- Cancer Metastasis Laboratory, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland; SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Barbara Maria Szczerba
- Cancer Metastasis Laboratory, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Marcus Vetter
- Gynecologic Cancer Center, University Hospital Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland; Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Julia Landin
- Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland; Breast Center, University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Ramona Scherrer
- Cancer Metastasis Laboratory, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Ilona Krol
- Cancer Metastasis Laboratory, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Manuel C Scheidmann
- Cancer Metastasis Laboratory, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Christian Beisel
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
| | | | - Christian Kurzeder
- Gynecologic Cancer Center, University Hospital Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland; Breast Center, University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland
| | | | - Christoph Rochlitz
- Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Walter Paul Weber
- Breast Center, University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, 4031 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Nicola Aceto
- Cancer Metastasis Laboratory, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, 4058 Basel, Switzerland.
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