TIF1gamma, nouveau régulateur négatif de la voie de signalisation du TGFbeta

The cytokine TGFbeta regulates several cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, migration and apoptosis, from embryonic development to adulthood. TGFbeta is well described for its tumor suppressor role through antiproliferative and proapoptotic activities, in particular in epithelial cells. During tumor progression however, TGFbeta becomes a tumor promotor, favoring angiogenesis, immune suppression and inducing the epitheliomesenchymal transition. Binding of TGFbeta ligand to its receptors activate cytoplasmic messenger Smad2 and Smad3 to complex with Smad4 and shuttle into the nucleus to regulate TGFbetatarget genes expression. Recently, TIF1gamma has been described as a new negative regulator of TGFbeta signaling, through monoubiquitination of Smad4 or direct competition with Smad4 to bind activated Smad2/3. This signaling pathway has to be finely tuned to target an action dependent on a cellular context, which is why we analyze here the regulation of functional interactions between the TGFbeta canonical signaling and TIF1gamma. In this study, we show that TIF1gamma acts as a negative regulator of Smad4 functions in TGFbetasignaling during the epithelio-mesenchymal transition and during terminal differentiation of mammary epithelial cells and lactation. We are also interested in studying TIF1gamma SUMOylation as additional level of regulation of cell response to TGFbeta. Thus we characterized four functional SUMOylation sites in TIF1gamma and we found that this post-translational modification inhibits the formation of Smads transcriptional complex and is needed to temporally restrict Smad4 residence on the promoter of TGFbetatarget genes. Our results show the critical role of TIF1gamma SUMOylation in the regulation of TGFbeta- induced epithelio-mesenchymal transition. As a conclusion, our study unveils the major role of TIF1gamma in the regulation of TGFbeta transcriptional responses. Moreover, we show that TIF1gamma requires SUMOylation to exert its repressive activity on TGFbetasignalingLe TGFbeta intervient dans la régulation de nombreux processus cellulaires comme la prolifération, la différenciation, la migration, l'apoptose, du développement embryonnaire jusqu'à la vie adulte. Le TGFbeta est aujourd'hui bien décrit pour son rôle de suppresseur de tumeur de par ses activités anti-prolifératives et pro-apoptotiques, en particulier sur les cellules épithéliales. Cependant, au cours de la progression tumorale, le TGFbeta devient un promoteur de tumeur en favorisant l'angiogenèse, l'échappement de la tumeur vis-à-vis du système immunitaire et en induisant la transition épithélio-mésenchymateuse. Après fixation du ligand TGFbeta , le complexe de récepteurs active les protéines cytoplasmiques Smad2 et Smad3 qui s'associent à Smad4 pour former le complexe transcriptionnel qui se transloque alors dans le noyau pour réguler la transcription de nombreux gènes cibles. Récemment, la protéine TIF1gamma a été décrite pour intervenir dans la régulation négative de la voie du TGFbeta , en monoubiquitinant Smad4 ou en interagissant avec Smad2/3 en compétition avec Smad4. Cette voie de signalisation devant être finement contrôlée pour cibler son action en fonction du contexte cellulaire, nous analysons ici la régulation des interactions fonctionnelles entre la voie canonique du TGFbeta et la protéine TIF1gamma. Dans cette étude, nous montrons que TIF1gamma agit comme un régulateur négatif des fonctions de Smad4 dans la voie de signalisation du TGFbeta au cours du processus de transition épithélio-mésenchymateuse et au cours de la différenciation terminale des cellules épithéliales mammaires et de la lactation. Nous étudions également la SUMOylation de TIF1gamma comme nouveau niveau de régulation de la réponse cellulaire au TGFbeta . Nous avons ainsi caractérisé les sites fonctionnels de SUMOylation de TIF1gamma et montré que cette modification post-traductionnelle inhibe la formation du complexe transcriptionnel Smad et est nécessaire pour réguler temporellement la résidence de Smad4 au niveau du promoteur de gènes cibles du TGFbeta . Nos résultats montrent le rôle important de la SUMOylation de TIF1gamma dans la régulation de la transition épithélio-mésenchymateuse induite par le TGFbeta . En conclusion, notre travail met en avant le rôle majeur de TIF1gamma dans la régulation de la réponse transcriptionnelle au TGFbeta . De plus, nous montrons que la SUMOylation de TIF1gamma est nécessaire à son activité répressive sur Smad

Early neurological impairment and severe anemia in a newborn with Pearson syndrome

Background: Pearson marrow-pancreas syndrome (PS) is usually a fatal mitochondrial disease, mostly diagnosed during infancy or postmortem. PS is caused by the deletions or duplications of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The tissue distribution and relative proportions of expressed abnormal mtDNA determine the phenotype and the clinical course. Materials and methods: We describe the case of a term baby boy who was diagnosed with PS early in the neonatal period due to severe aregenerative anemia and persistent lactic acidosis. Results: His neurological examination was abnormal since birth. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at term was abnormal, indicating that mitochondrial encephalopathy in PS can be already manifested in the neonatal period. To our knowledge, neonatal encephalopathy in PS has not been previously described. Conclusion: PS is a rare condition diagnosed in the newborn. It should be suspected in the presence of severe anemia and persistent lactic acidosis, and may manifest with early encephalopath

Chromosome 17 alterations identify good-risk and poor-risk tumors independently of clinical factors in medulloblastoma

Current risk stratification schemas for medulloblastoma, based on combinations of clinical variables and histotype, fail to accurately identify particularly good- and poor-risk tumors. Attempts have been made to improve discriminatory power by combining clinical variables with cytogenetic data. We report here a pooled analysis of all previous reports of chromosomal copy number related to survival data in medulloblastoma. We collated data from previous reports that explicitly quoted survival data and chromosomal copy number in medulloblastoma. We analyzed the relative prognostic significance of currently used clinical risk stratifiers and the chromosomal aberrations previously reported to correlate with survival. In the pooled dataset metastatic disease, incomplete tumor resection and severe anaplasia were associated with poor outcome, while young age at presentation was not prognostically significant. Of the chromosomal variables studied, isolated 17p loss and gain of 1q correlated with poor survival. Gain of 17q without associated loss of 17p showed a trend to improved outcome. The most commonly reported alteration, isodicentric chromosome 17, was not prognostically significant. Sequential multivariate models identified isolated 17p loss, isolated 17q gain, and 1q gain as independent prognostic factors. In a historical dataset, we have identified isolated 17p loss as a marker of poor outcome and 17q gain as a novel putative marker of good prognosis. Biological markers of poor-risk and good-risk tumors will be critical in stratifying treatment in future trials. Our findings should be prospectively validated independently in future clinical studies

Republication: Targeting PI3KC2β Impairs Proliferation and Survival in Acute Leukemia, Brain Tumours and Neuroendocrine Tumours

BACKGROUND Eight human catalytic phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) isoforms exist which are subdivided into three classes. While class I isoforms have been well-studied in cancer, little is known about the functions of class II PI3Ks. MATERIALS AND METHODS The expression pattern and functions of the class II PI3KC2β isoform were investigated in a panel of tumour samples and cell lines. RESULTS Overexpression of PI3KC2β was found in subsets of tumours and cell lines from acute myeloid leukemia (AML), glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), medulloblastoma (MB), neuroblastoma (NB), and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Specific pharmacological inhibitors of PI3KC2β or RNA interference impaired proliferation of a panel of human cancer cell lines and primary cultures. Inhibition of PI3KC2β also induced apoptosis and sensitised the cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents. CONCLUSION Together, these data show that PI3KC2β contributes to proliferation and survival in AML, brain tumours and neuroendocrine tumours, and may represent a novel target in these malignancies

Dynamic Regulation of Tgf-B Signaling by Tif1γ: A Computational Approach

TIF1γ (Transcriptional Intermediary Factor 1 γ) has been implicated in Smad-dependent signaling by Transforming Growth Factor beta (TGF-β). Paradoxically, TIF1γ functions both as a transcriptional repressor or as an alternative transcription factor that promotes TGF-β signaling. Using ordinary differential-equation models, we have investigated the effect of TIF1γ on the dynamics of TGF-β signaling. An integrative model that includes the formation of transient TIF1γ-Smad2-Smad4 ternary complexes is the only one that can account for TGF-β signaling compatible with the different observations reported for TIF1γ. In addition, our model predicts that varying TIF1γ/Smad4 ratios play a critical role in the modulation of the transcriptional signal induced by TGF-β, especially for short stimulation times that mediate higher threshold responses. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses and quantification of the expression of TGF-β target genes as a function TIF1γ/Smad4 ratios fully validate this hypothesis. Our integrative model, which successfully unifies the seemingly opposite roles of TIF1γ, also reveals how changing TIF1γ/Smad4 ratios affect the cellular response to stimulation by TGF-β, accounting for a highly graded determination of cell fate

Joint Binding of OTX2 and MYC in Promotor Regions Is Associated with High Gene Expression in Medulloblastoma

Both OTX2 and MYC are important oncogenes in medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in childhood. Much is known about MYC binding to promoter regions, but OTX2 binding is hardly investigated. We used ChIP-on-chip data to analyze the binding patterns of both transcription factors in D425 medulloblastoma cells. When combining the data for all promoter regions in the genome, OTX2 binding showed a remarkable bi-modal distribution pattern with peaks around −250 bp upstream and +650 bp downstream of the transcription start sites (TSSs). Indeed, 40.2% of all OTX2-bound TSSs had more than one significant OTX2-binding peak. This OTX2-binding pattern was very different from the TSS-centered single peak binding pattern observed for MYC and other known transcription factors. However, in individual promoter regions, OTX2 and MYC have a strong tendency to bind in proximity of each other. OTX2-binding sequences are depleted near TSSs in the genome, providing an explanation for the observed bi-modal distribution of OTX2 binding. This contrasts to the enrichment of E-box sequences at TSSs. Both OTX2 and MYC binding independently correlated with higher gene expression. Interestingly, genes of promoter regions with multiple OTX2 binding as well as MYC binding showed the highest expression levels in D425 cells and in primary medulloblastomas. Genes within this class of promoter regions were enriched for medulloblastoma and stem cell specific genes. Our data suggest an important functional interaction between OTX2 and MYC in regulating gene expression in medulloblastoma

Molecular subgroups of medulloblastoma: an international meta-analysis of transcriptome, genetic aberrations, and clinical data of WNT, SHH, Group 3, and Group 4 medulloblastomas

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in childhood. Molecular studies from several groups around the world demonstrated that medulloblastoma is not one disease but comprises a collection of distinct molecular subgroups. However, all these studies reported on different numbers of subgroups. The current consensus is that there are only four core subgroups, which should be termed WNT, SHH, Group 3 and Group 4. Based on this, we performed a meta-analysis of all molecular and clinical data of 550 medulloblastomas brought together from seven independent studies. All cases were analyzed by gene expression profiling and for most cases SNP or array-CGH data were available. Data are presented for all medulloblastomas together and for each subgroup separately. For validation purposes, we compared the results of this meta-analysis with another large medulloblastoma cohort (n = 402) for which subgroup information was obtained by immunohistochemistry. Results from both cohorts are highly similar and show how distinct the molecular subtypes are with respect to their transcriptome, DNA copy-number aberrations, demographics, and survival. Results from these analyses will form the basis for prospective multi-center studies and will have an impact on how the different subgroups of medulloblastoma will be treated in the future

Microarray-Based Oncogenic Pathway Profiling in Advanced Serous Papillary Ovarian Carcinoma

Introduction: The identification of specific targets for treatment of ovarian cancer patients remains a challenge. The objective of this study is the analysis of oncogenic pathways in ovarian cancer and their relation with clinical outcome. Methodology: A meta-analysis of 6 gene expression datasets was done for oncogenic pathway activation scores: AKT, β-Catenin, BRCA, E2F1, EGFR, ER, HER2, INFα, INFγ, MYC, p53, p63, PI3K, PR, RAS, SRC, STAT3, TNFα, and TGFβ and VEGF-A. Advanced serous papillary tumours from uniformly treated patients were selected (N = 464) to find differences independent from stage-, histology- and treatment biases. Survival and correlations with documented prognostic signatures (wound healing response signature WHR/genomic grade index GGI/invasiveness gene signature IGS) were analysed. Results: The GGI, WHR, IGS score were unexpectedly increased in chemosensitive versus chemoresistant patients. PR and RAS activation scor