The epigenetic factor UHRF1 regulates transcription by modulating DNA methylation and histone modification, and plays critical roles in proliferation, development, and tumorigenesis. Here, we show ...that Wnt/c-Myc signaling upregulates UHRF1, which in turn downregulates TUSC3, a candidate tumor suppressor gene that is frequently deleted or downregulated in several cancers. We also show that UHRF1-mediated downregulation of TUSC3 is required for the proliferation of colon cancer cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate that UHRF1 suppresses TUSC3 expression by interacting with methylated H3K14 and thereby suppressing the acetylation of H3K14 by the histone acetyltransferase KAT7. Our study provides evidence for the significance of UHRF1-KAT7-mediated regulation of histone methylation/acetylation in the proliferation of tumor cells and in a diverse set of biological processes controlled by Wnt/c-Myc signaling.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer‐related death in women. Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is a chemotherapy‐resistant epithelial ovarian cancer with poor prognosis. As a ...basis for the development of therapeutic agents that could improve the prognosis of OCCC, we performed a screen for proteins critical for the tumorigenicity of OCCC using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Here we show that knockdown of the phosphate exporter XPR1/SLC53A1 induces the growth arrest and apoptosis of OCCC cells in vitro. Moreover, we show that knockdown of XPR1/SLC53A1 inhibits the proliferation of OCCC cells xenografted into immunocompromised mice. These results suggest that XPR1/SLC53A1 plays a critical role in the tumorigenesis of OCCC cells. We speculate that XPR1/SLC53A1 might be a promising molecular target for the therapeutic treatment of OCCC.
We attempted to identify novel molecular targets critical for the proliferation and tumorigenicity of ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. In this study, we have found that the phosphate exporter XPR1/SLC53A1 plays an important role in the proliferation and tumorigenicity of OCCC. Our results suggest that XPR1/SLC53A1 might be a promising molecular target for the therapeutic treatment of OCCC.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) can be used to characterize cellular heterogeneity in thousands of cells. The reconstruction of a gene network based on coexpression patterns is a fundamental task in ...scRNA-seq analyses, and the mutual exclusivity of gene expression can be critical for understanding such heterogeneity. Here, we propose an approach for detecting communities from a genetic network constructed on the basis of coexpression properties. The community-based comparison of multiple coexpression networks enables the identification of functionally related gene clusters that cannot be fully captured through differential gene expression-based analysis. We also developed a novel metric referred to as the exclusively expressed index (EEI) that identifies mutually exclusive gene pairs from sparse scRNA-seq data. EEI quantifies and ranks the exclusive expression levels of all gene pairs from binary expression patterns while maintaining robustness against a low sequencing depth. We applied our methods to glioblastoma scRNA-seq data and found that gene communities were partially conserved after serum stimulation despite a considerable number of differentially expressed genes. We also demonstrate that the identification of mutually exclusive gene sets with EEI can improve the sensitivity of capturing cellular heterogeneity. Our methods complement existing approaches and provide new biological insights, even for a large, sparse dataset, in the single-cell analysis field.
Aberrant activation of Wnt signalling results in colorectal tumours. Lgr5 is specifically expressed in stem cells of the intestine and has an essential role in maintaining tissue homeostasis. ...Lgr5-positive stem cells are responsible for the intestinal adenoma initiated by mutations in adenomatous polyposis coli. Furthermore, Lgr5 interacts with R-spondins and thereby activates Wnt signalling. However, the function of Lgr5 in colorectal tumourigenesis is unclear. Here we show that LGR5 is required for the tumourigenicity of colorectal cancer cells. We show that the transcription factor GATA6 directly enhances the expression of LGR5. We further demonstrate that GATA6 is upregulated in colorectal cancer cells due to the downregulation of miR-363, which directly targets GATA6. Moreover, we show that overexpression of miR-363 suppresses the tumourigenicity of colorectal cancer cells. These results suggest that the miR-363-GATA6-LGR5 pathway is critical for colorectal tumourigenesis and would be a promising target for the treatment of colorectal cancer.
Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive forms of cancers and has a poor prognosis. Genomewide analyses have revealed that a set of core signaling pathways, the p53, RB, and RTK pathways, are ...commonly deregulated in glioblastomas. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the tumorigenicity of glioblastoma are not fully understood. Here, we show that the lysine deacetylase SIRT2 is required for the proliferation and tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells, including glioblastoma stem cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate that SIRT2 regulates p73 transcriptional activity by deacetylation of its C‐terminal lysine residues. Our results suggest that SIRT2‐mediated inactivation of p73 is critical for the proliferation and tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells and that SIRT2 may be a promising molecular target for the therapy of glioblastoma.
Synopsis
SIRT2 targets the tumor suppressor p73, thereby deacetylating its C‐terminus and suppressing its transcriptional activity. SIRT2‐mediated inactivation of p73 is crucial for the tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells.
The lysine deacetylase SIRT2 is required for the proliferation and tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells.
SIRT2 targets and regulates the transcriptional activity of the tumor suppressor p73.
SIRT2‐mediated inactivation of p73 is critical for the proliferation and tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells.
SIRT2 targets the tumor suppressor p73, thereby deacetylating its C‐terminus and suppressing its transcriptional activity. SIRT2‐mediated inactivation of p73 is crucial for the tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Tumour cells are known to be dependent on, or ‘addicted to’, not only oncogenes, but also some non‐oncogenes. However, the mechanisms by which tumour cells are addicted to these genes have not been ...fully explained. Here, we show that overexpression of a member of the ETS family, EHF, is required for the survival of colon tumour cells that contain wild‐type p53. We found that EHF directly activates the transcription of RUVBL1, an ATPase associated with chromatin‐remodelling complexes. RUVBL1 blocks p53‐mediated apoptosis by repressing the expression of p53 and its target genes. Moreover, we found that RUVBL1 represses p53 transcription by binding to the p53 promoter, interfering with RNF20/hBRE1‐mediated histone H2B monoubiquitination and promoting PAF1‐mediated histone H3K9 trimethylation. These results indicate that EHF‐mediated RUVBL1 expression allows colon tumour cells to avoid p53‐mediated apoptosis. Thus, EHF and RUVBL1 might be promising molecular targets for the treatment of colon tumours.
Overexpression of EHF, a member of the ETS family of transcriptional regulators, is required for the survival of colon tumor cells that contain wild‐type p53. EHF activates RUVBL1, which inhibits p53 expression by modulating histone modifications at the p53 promoter.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
LGR5 plays an important role in the self-renewal of stem cells and is used as a marker identifying self-renewing stem cells in small intestine and hair follicles. Moreover, LGR5 has been reported to ...be overexpressed in several cancers. SOX9 is a transcription factor that plays a key role in development, differentiation and lineage commitment in various tissues. It has also been reported that SOX9 is overexpressed in a variety of cancers and contributes to their malignant phenotype. Here we show that LGR5 is required for the tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells. We further show that SOX9 is upregulated in glioblastoma cells and directly enhances the expression of LGR5. We also demonstrate that knockdown of SOX9 suppresses the proliferation and tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells. These results suggest that SOX9-mediated transcriptional regulation of LGR5 is critical for the tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells. We speculate that the SOX9-LGR5 pathway could be a potentially promising target for the therapy of glioblastoma.
•LGR5 is required for the tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells.•SOX9 directly enhances the expression of LGR5.•SOX9 is required for the tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Certain cancers, such as ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC), display high levels of genetic variation between patients, making it difficult to develop effective therapies. In order to identify novel ...genes critical to OCCC growth, we carried out a comprehensive CRISPR‐Cas9 knockout screen against cell growth using an OCCC cell line and a normal ovarian surface epithelium cell line. We identified the gene encoding DHX38/PRP16, an ATP‐dependent RNA helicase involved in splicing, as critical for the growth and tumorigenesis of OCCC. DHX38/PRP16 knockdown in OCCC cells, but not normal cells, induces apoptosis and impairs OCCC tumorigenesis in a mouse model. Our results suggest that DHX38/PRP16 may play a role in OCCC tumorigenesis and could potentially be a promising therapeutic target.
The development of effective therapies against ovarian clear cell carcinoma is complicated by its lack of an overarching mutational signature. By employing a CRISPR‐Cas9 screen, we uncovered DHX38/PRP16 as a novel genetic vulnerability whose knockdown results in growth suppression of ovarian clear cell carcinoma both in vitro and in vivo.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Epithelial ovarian cancer is classified into four major histological subtypes: serous, clear cell, endometrioid and mucinous. Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) responds poorly to conventional ...chemotherapies and shows poor prognosis. Thus, there is a need to develop new drugs for the treatment of OCCC. In this study, we performed CRISPR/Cas9 screens against OCCC cell lines and identified candidate genes important for their proliferation. We found that quite different genes are required for the growth of ARID1A and PIK3CA mutant and wild-type OCCC cell lines, respectively. Furthermore, we found that the epigenetic regulator KDM2A and the translation regulator PAIP1 may play important roles in the growth of ARID1A and PIK3CA mutant, but not wild-type, OCCC cells. The results of our CRISPR/Cas9 screening may be useful in elucidating the molecular mechanism of OCCC tumorigenesis and in developing OCCC-targeted drugs.
The Wnt signaling pathway is aberrantly activated in the majority of human colorectal tumors. β-catenin, a key component of the Wnt signaling pathway, interacts with the T-cell factor/lymphoid ...enhancer-binding factor family of transcription factors and activates transcription of Wnt target genes. Sp5 is one of the Wnt target genes, and its expression is commonly upregulated in colon cancer cells. The present study demonstrates that the expression of Sp5 is not upregulated in the colon cancer cell line HCT116, in which Wnt signaling is constitutively activated. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that Sp5 has the potential to inhibit cell proliferation through upregulation of the cell cycle inhibitor p27. These findings suggest that HCT116 cells downregulate Sp5 to avoid p27-mediated growth arrest.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
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