HNF4a-deficient fatty liver provides a permissive environment for sex-independent hepatocellular carcinoma

©©2019 American Association for Cancer Research. The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is on the rise worldwide. Although the incidence of HCC in males is considerably higher than in females, the projected rates of HCC incidence are increasing for both sexes. A recently appreciated risk factor for HCC is the growing problem of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which is usually associated with obesity and the metabolic syndrome. In this study, we showed that under conditions of fatty liver, female mice were more likely to develop HCC than expected from previous models. Using an inducible knockout model of the tumor-suppressive isoform of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha ( P1-HNF4α ) in the liver in combination with prolonged high fat (HF) diet, we found that HCC developed equally in male and female mice as early as 38 weeks of age. Similar sex-independent HCC occurred in the STAM model of mice, in which severe hyperglycemia and HF feeding results in rapid hepatic lipid deposition, fibrosis, and ultimately HCC. In both sexes, reduced P1-HNF4α activity, which also occurs under chronic HF diet feeding, increased hepatic lipid deposition and produced a greatly augmented circadian rhythm in IL6, a factor previously linked with higher HCC incidence in males. Loss of HNF4α combined with HF feeding induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition in an IL6-dependent manner. Collectively, these data provide a mechanism-based working hypothesis that could explain the rising incidence of aggressive HCC. Significance: This study provides a mechanism for the growing incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in both men and women, which is linked to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

A homozygous p53 R282W mutant human embryonic stem cell line generated using TALEN-mediated precise gene editing

The tumor suppressor gene TP53 is the most frequently mutated gene in human cancers. Many hot-spot mutations of TP53 confer novel functions not found in wild-type p53 and contribute to tumor development and progression. We report on the generation of a H1 human embryonic stem cell line carrying a homozygous TP53 R282W mutation using TALEN-mediated genome editing. The generated cell line demonstrates normal karyotype, maintains a pluripotent state, and is capable of generating a teratoma in vivo containing tissues from all three germ layers

Establishment of a human embryonic stem cell line with homozygous TP53 R248W mutant by TALEN mediated gene editing

Genetic mutations in TP53 contribute to multiple human cancers. Here we report the generation of a H1-p53(R248W/R248W) human embryonic stem cell line harboring a homozygous TP53 R248W mutation created by TALEN-mediated precise gene editing. The H1-p53(R248W/R248W) cell line maintains a normal karyotype, robust pluripotency gene expression, and the potential to differentiate to the three germ layers