isolation-culture-characterization-prostate-cancer-associated

Isolation, Culture, and Characterization of Prostate Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts

Tumor stroma can be actively shaped by tumor cells to adopt pro-tumorigenic properties, making it a focal point of cancer research. Among the stromal ...

University Of Torino

The hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) also known as scatter factor activates cancer cell invasion and metastasis. We show that in ovarian cancer cells HGF induced the phosphorylation of the small heat shock protein of 27 kDa (HSP27) by activating the p38MAPK. HSP27 is increased in many cancers at advanced stage including ovarian cancer and associated with cancer resistance to therapy and poor patients' survival. The phosphorylation of HSP27 regulates both its chaperone activity and its control of cytoskeletal stability. We show that HSP27 was necessary for the remodeling of actin filaments induced by HGF and that motility in vitro depended on the p38MAPK-MK2 axis. In vivo, HSP27 silencing impaired the ability of the highly metastatic, HGF-secreting ovarian cancer cells to give rise to spontaneous metastases. This was due to defective motility across the vessel wall and reduced growth. Indeed, HSP27 silencing impaired the ability of circulating ovarian cancer cells to home to the lungs and to form experimental hematogenous metastases and the capability of cancer cells to grow as subcutaneous xenografts. Moreover, HSP27 suppression resulted in the sensitization of xenografts to low doses of the chemotherapeutic paclitaxel, likely because HSP27 protected microtubules from bundling caused by the drug. Altogether, these data show that the HSP27 is required for the proinvasive and prometastatic activity of HGF and suggest that HSP27 might be not only a marker of progression of ovarian cancer, but also a suitable target for therapy.

HSP27 is required for invasion and metastasis triggered by hepatocyte growth factor.

In neuronal cells, actin remodeling plays a well known role in neurite extension but is also deeply involved in the organization of intracellular structures, such as the Golgi apparatus. However, it is still not very clear which mechanisms may regulate actin dynamics at the different sites. In this report we show that high levels of the TTC3 protein, encoded by one of the genes of the Down Syndrome Critical Region (DCR), prevent neurite extension and disrupt Golgi compactness in differentiating primary neurons. These effects largely depend on the capability of TTC3 to promote actin polymerization through signaling pathways involving RhoA, ROCK, CIT-N and PIIa. However, the functional relationships between these molecules differ significantly if considering the TTC3 activity on neurite extension or on Golgi organization. Finally, our results reveal an unexpected stage-dependent requirement for F-actin in Golgi organization at different stages of neuronal differentiation.

The DCR protein TTC3 affects differentiation and Golgi compactness in neurons through specific actin-regulating pathways.

The molecular mechanisms orchestrating peritoneal and hematogenous metastases of ovarian cancer cells are assumed to be distinct. We studied the p90RSK family of serine/threonine kinases that lie downstream the RAS-ERK/MAPK pathway and modulate a variety of cellular processes including cell proliferation, survival, motility and invasiveness. We found the RSK1 and RSK2 isoforms expressed in a number of human ovarian cancer cell lines, where they played redundant roles in sustaining in vitro motility and invasiveness. In vivo, silencing of both RSK1 and RSK2 almost abrogated short-term and long-term metastatic engraftment of ovarian cancer cells in the peritoneum. In addition, RSK1/RSK2 silenced cells failed to colonize the lungs after intravenous injection and to form hematogenous metastasis from subcutaneous xenografts. RSK1/RSK2 suppression resulted in lessened ovarian cancer cell spreading on endogenous fibronectin (FN). Mechanistically, RSK1/RSK2 knockdown diminished FN transcription, α5β1 integrin activation and TGF-β1 translation. Reduced endogenous FN deposition and TGF-β1 secretion depended on the lack of activating phosphorylation of the transcription/translation factor YB-1 by p90RSK. Altogether data show how p90RSK activates a self-reinforcing cell autonomous pro-adhesive circuit necessary for metastatic seeding of ovarian cancer cells. Thus, p90RSK inhibitors might hinder both the hematogenous and the peritoneal metastatic spread of human ovarian cancer.

Peritoneal and hematogenous metastases of ovarian cancer cells are both controlled by the p90RSK through a self-reinforcing cell autonomous mechanism.

Correct orientation of cell division is considered an important factor for the achievement of normal brain size, as mutations in genes that affect this process are among the leading causes of microcephaly. Abnormal spindle orientation is associated with reduction of the neuronal progenitor symmetric divisions, premature cell cycle exit, and reduced neurogenesis. This mechanism has been involved in microcephaly resulting from mutation of ASPM, the most frequently affected gene in autosomal recessive human primary microcephaly (MCPH), but it is presently unknown how ASPM regulates spindle orientation. In this report, we show that ASPM may control spindle positioning by interacting with citron kinase (CITK), a protein whose loss is also responsible for severe microcephaly in mammals. We show that the absence of CITK leads to abnormal spindle orientation in mammals and insects. In mouse cortical development, this phenotype correlates with increased production of basal progenitors. ASPM is required to recruit CITK at the spindle, and CITK overexpression rescues ASPM phenotype. ASPM and CITK affect the organization of astral microtubules (MT), and low doses of MT-stabilizing drug revert the spindle orientation phenotype produced by their knockdown. Finally, CITK regulates both astral-MT nucleation and stability. Our results provide a functional link between two established microcephaly proteins.

ASPM and CITK regulate spindle orientation by affecting the dynamics of astral microtubules.

Mutations in citron (CIT), leading to loss or inactivation of the citron kinase protein (CITK), cause primary microcephaly in humans and rodents, associated with cytokinesis failure and apoptosis in neural progenitors. We show that CITK loss induces DNA damage accumulation and chromosomal instability in both mammals and Drosophila. CITK-deficient cells display "spontaneous" DNA damage, increased sensitivity to ionizing radiation, and defective recovery from radiation-induced DNA lesions. In CITK-deficient cells, DNA double-strand breaks increase independently of cytokinesis failure. Recruitment of RAD51 to DNA damage foci is compromised by CITK loss, and CITK physically interacts with RAD51, suggesting an involvement of CITK in homologous recombination. Consistent with this scenario, in doubly CitK and Trp53 mutant mice, neural progenitor cell death is dramatically reduced; moreover, clinical and neuroanatomical phenotypes are remarkably improved. Our results underscore a crucial role of CIT in the maintenance of genomic integrity during brain development.

Citron Kinase Deficiency Leads to Chromosomal Instability and TP53-Sensitive Microcephaly.

Abscission is the final step of cytokinesis whereby the intercellular bridge (ICB) linking the two daughter cells is cut. The ICB contains a structure called the midbody, required for the recruitment and organization of the abscission machinery. Final midbody severing is mediated by formation of secondary midbody ingression sites, where the ESCRT III component CHMP4B is recruited to mediate membrane fusion. It is presently unknown how cytoskeletal elements cooperate with CHMP4B to mediate abscission. Here, we show that F-actin is associated with midbody secondary sites and is necessary for abscission. F-actin localization at secondary sites depends on the activity of RhoA and on the abscission regulator citron kinase (CITK). CITK depletion accelerates loss of F-actin proteins at the midbody and subsequent cytokinesis defects are reversed by restoring actin polymerization. Conversely, midbody hyperstabilization produced by overexpression of CITK and ANLN is reversed by actin depolymerization. CITK is required for localization of F-actin and ANLN at the abscission sites, as well as for CHMP4B recruitment. These results indicate that control of actin dynamics downstream of CITK prepares the abscission site for the final cut.

Citron kinase-dependent F-actin maintenance at midbody secondary ingression sites mediates abscission.

The p140Cap adaptor protein, encoded by the  gene, negatively controls tumor progression, as demonstrated in the subgroup of -amplified breast cancers and in neuroblastoma patients, where high p140Cap expression predicts a decreased probability of developing metastasis, with a significantly prolonged survival. In NeuT mice, a preclinical model or Her2-positive breast cancer, we previously reported that p140Cap counteracts Her2-dependent breast cancer progression, associating with the specific Rac1 Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor, Tiam1, and limiting the activation of both Tiam1 and Rac1. Here, we show that in TUBO breast cancer cells derived from the NeuT tumors, p140Cap expression causes Tiam1 redistribution along the apicobasal junctional axis. Furthermore, p140Cap and Tiam1 interact with E-cadherin, a member of the adherence junction, with a concomitant increase of E-cadherin at the cell membrane. We characterized biochemically the interaction between p140Cap and Tiam1, showing that the amino terminal region of p140Cap (1-287 amino acids) is sufficient to associate with full length Tiam1, and with the truncated catalytic domain of Tiam1, with a concomitant decrease of the Tiam1 activity. Moreover, in a large cohort of Her2 positive breast cancer, high levels of  expression positively correlates with increased survival in patients with high  expression. Overall, our findings sustain a protective role of p140Cap in Her2 positive breast cancer, where p140Cap can associate with Tiam1 and negatively regulate the Tiam1/Rac1 axis.

The N-terminal domain of the adaptor protein p140Cap interacts with Tiam1 and controls Tiam1/Rac1 axis.

The transcriptome of a tissue can be acquired both by single-cell RNAseq (scRNA-seq) and by spatial transcriptomics (ST). The dissociation step, which is mandatory in scRNA-seq methods, might lead to the loss of fragile cells and of spatial information, thus limiting the acquisition of the tissue cellular organization. Spatial transcriptomics methods moderate the above-mentioned issues and provide single-cell transcripts detection over an intact fresh frozen tissue section. Visium platform, commercialized from 10× Genomics, provides a whole transcriptome spatial transcriptomics platform, which does not require dedicated instruments, other than those available in any pathology laboratory. In spatial transcriptomics, proper tissue handling is mandatory to preserve the morphological quality of the tissue sections and the integrity of mRNA transcripts. Proper tissue handling is critical for downstream library preparation and sequencing performance. In this chapter, we describe the most critical steps of Visium protocol on fresh frozen tissues and we provide indications on how to interpret the data obtained from the quality control analysis recommended during the workflow.

Tissue RNA Integrity in Visium Spatial Protocol (Fresh Frozen Samples).

The p140Cap adaptor protein is a tumor suppressor in breast cancer associated with a favorable prognosis. Here we highlight a function of p140Cap in orchestrating local and systemic tumor-extrinsic events that eventually result in inhibition of the polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cell function in creating an immunosuppressive tumor-promoting environment in the primary tumor, and premetastatic niches at distant sites. Integrative transcriptomic and preclinical studies unravel that p140Cap controls an epistatic axis where, through the upstream inhibition of β-Catenin, it restricts tumorigenicity and self-renewal of tumor-initiating cells limiting the release of the inflammatory cytokine G-CSF, required for polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells to exert their local and systemic tumor conducive function. Mechanistically, p140Cap inhibition of β-Catenin depends on its ability to localize in and stabilize the β-Catenin destruction complex, promoting enhanced β-Catenin inactivation. Clinical studies in women show that low p140Cap expression correlates with reduced presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and more aggressive tumor types in a large cohort of real-life female breast cancer patients, highlighting the potential of p140Cap as a biomarker for therapeutic intervention targeting the β-Catenin/ Tumor-initiating cells /G-CSF/ polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cell axis to restore an efficient anti-tumor immune response.

Article	Year
HSP27 is required for invasion and metastasis triggered by hepatocyte growth factor. International journal of cancer\| PubMed ID: 23996744	2014
The DCR protein TTC3 affects differentiation and Golgi compactness in neurons through specific actin-regulating pathways. PloS one\| PubMed ID: 24695496	2014
Peritoneal and hematogenous metastases of ovarian cancer cells are both controlled by the p90RSK through a self-reinforcing cell autonomous mechanism. Oncotarget\| PubMed ID: 26625210	2016
ASPM and CITK regulate spindle orientation by affecting the dynamics of astral microtubules. EMBO reports\| PubMed ID: 27562601	2016
Citron Kinase Deficiency Leads to Chromosomal Instability and TP53-Sensitive Microcephaly. Cell reports\| PubMed ID: 28199840	2017
Citron kinase-dependent F-actin maintenance at midbody secondary ingression sites mediates abscission. Journal of cell science\| PubMed ID: 29588396	2018
The N-terminal domain of the adaptor protein p140Cap interacts with Tiam1 and controls Tiam1/Rac1 axis. American journal of cancer research\| PubMed ID: 33415001	2020
Tissue RNA Integrity in Visium Spatial Protocol (Fresh Frozen Samples). Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)\| PubMed ID: 36495450	2023
p140Cap inhibits β-Catenin in the breast cancer stem cell compartment instructing a protective anti-tumor immune response. Nature communications\| PubMed ID: 37169737	2023

Marta Gai

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