Hepatic Stem-like Phenotype and Interplay of Wnt/β-Catenin and Myc Signaling in Aggressive Childhood Liver Cancer

SummaryHepatoblastoma, the most common pediatric liver cancer, is tightly linked to excessive Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Here, we used microarray analysis to identify two tumor subclasses resembling distinct phases of liver development and a discriminating 16-gene signature. β-catenin activated different transcriptional programs in the two tumor types, with distinctive expression of hepatic stem/progenitor markers in immature tumors. This highly proliferating subclass was typified by gains of chromosomes 8q and 2p and upregulated Myc signaling. Myc-induced hepatoblastoma-like tumors in mice strikingly resembled the human immature subtype, and Myc downregulation in hepatoblastoma cells impaired tumorigenesis in vivo. Remarkably, the 16-gene signature discriminated invasive and metastatic hepatoblastomas and predicted prognosis with high accuracy

Genetic Alterations and Oncogenic Pathways in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

International audienceA bstract : Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major type of primary liver cancer and one of the rare human neoplasms etiologically linked to viral factors. Chronic infections with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been implicated in about 80% of cases worldwide, and other known environmental risk factors, including alcohol abuse and dietary intake of aflatoxin B1, might synergize with viral infections. Recent insight into the molecular mechanisms leading to HCC development has been provided by the identification of major genetic abnormalities revealed by genomewide allelotype studies and molecular cytogenetic analysis. Moreover, several oncogenic pathways have been implicated in malignant transformation of liver cells. Inactivation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene by mutations and allelic deletions in about 30% of HCC cases has been associated predominantly with exposure to aflatoxin B1 and HBV infection. By contrast, a mutation in the β‐catenin gene in around 22% of HCCs is more rare in HBV‐associated tumors. Activation of cyclin D1 and disruption of the Rb pathway are also commonly involved in liver tumorigenesis. New major challenges include the identification of candidate genes located in frequently altered chromosomal regions and that of oncogenic pathways driven by different risk factors. This search might shed some light on the tumorigenic role of HBV and HCV. It might also permit accurate evaluation of major targets for prognostic and therapeutic intervention

Interaction and Functional Cooperation between the LIM Protein FHL2, CBP/p300, and β-Catenin

Transcriptional activation of gene expression by Wnt signaling is driven by the association of β-catenin with TCF/LEF factors and the recruitment of transcriptional coactivators. It has been shown that the LIM protein FHL2 and the acetyltransferase CBP/p300 individually stimulate β-catenin transactivating activity and that β-catenin is acetylated by p300. Here, we report that FHL2 and CBP/p300 synergistically enhanced β-catenin/TCF-mediated transcription from Wnt-responsive promoters and that the acetyltransferase activity of CBP/p300 was involved in the cooperation. CBP/p300 interacted directly with FHL2, predominantly through the CH3 domain but not the histone acetyltransferase domain, and different regions of CBP/p300 were involved in FHL2 and β-catenin binding. We provided evidence for the formation of a ternary complex by FHL2, CBP/p300, and β-catenin and for colocalization of the three proteins in the nucleus. In murine FHL2(−/−) embryo fibroblasts, the transactivation activity of β-catenin/TCF was markedly reduced, and this defect could be restored by exogenous expression of FHL2. However, CBP/p300 were still able to coactivate the β-catenin/TCF complex in FHL2(−/−) cells, suggesting that FHL2 is dispensable for the coactivator function of CBP/p300 on β-catenin. Furthermore, we found that FHL2 significantly increased acetylation of β-catenin by p300 in vivo. Finally, we showed that FHL2, CBP/p300, and β-catenin could synergistically activate androgen receptor-mediated transcription, indicating that the synergistic coactivator function is not restricted to TCF/LEF

Acetylation of β-Catenin by p300 Regulates β-Catenin-Tcf4 Interaction

Lysine acetylation modulates the activities of nonhistone regulatory proteins and plays a critical role in the regulation of cellular gene transcription. In this study, we showed that the transcriptional coactivator p300 acetylated β-catenin at lysine 345, located in arm repeat 6, in vitro and in vivo. Acetylation of this residue increased the affinity of β-catenin for Tcf4, and the cellular Tcf4-bound pool of β-catenin was significantly enriched in acetylated form. We demonstrated that the acetyltransferase activity of p300 was required for efficient activation of transcription mediated by β-catenin/Tcf4 and that the cooperation between p300 and β-catenin was severely reduced by the K345R mutation, implying that acetylation of β-catenin plays a part in the coactivation of β-catenin by p300. Interestingly, acetylation of β-catenin had opposite, negative effects on the binding of β-catenin to the androgen receptor. Our data suggest that acetylation of β-catenin in the arm 6 domain regulates β-catenin transcriptional activity by differentially modulating its affinity for Tcf4 and the androgen receptor. Thus, our results describe a new mechanism by which p300 might regulate β-catenin transcriptional activity

The LIM-Only Protein FHL2 Mediates Ras-Induced Transformation through Cyclin D1 and p53 Pathways

Background: Four and a half LIM-only protein 2 (FHL2) has been implicated in multiple signaling pathways that regulate cell growth and tissue homeostasis. We reported previously that FHL2 regulates cyclin D1 expression and that immortalized FHL2-null mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) display reduced levels of cyclin D1 and low proliferative activity. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we address the contribution of FHL2 in cell transformation by investigating the effects of oncogenic Ras in FHL2-null context. We show that H-RasV12 provokes cell cycle arrest accompanied by accumulation of p53 and p16 INK4a in immortalized FHL2 2/2 MEFs. These features contrast sharply with Ras transforming activity in wild type cell lines. We further show that establishment of FHL2-null cell lines differs from conventional immortalization scheme by retaining functional p19 ARF /p53 checkpoint that is required for cell cycle arrest imposed by Ras. However, after serial passages of Ras-expressing FHL2 2/2 cells, dramatic increase in the levels of D-type cyclins and Rb phosphorylation correlates with the onset of cell proliferation and transformation without disrupting the p19 ARF /p53 pathway. Interestingly, primary FHL2-null cells overexpressing cyclin D1 undergo a classical immortalization process leading to loss of the p19 ARF /p53 checkpoint and susceptibility to Ras transformation. Conclusions/Significance: Our findings uncover a novel aspect of cellular responses to mitogenic stimulation and illustrat

Identification of the LIM Protein FHL2 as a Coactivator of β-Catenin

International audienceβ-Catenin is a key mediator of the Wnt pathway, which plays a critical role in embryogenesis and oncogenesis. As a transcriptional activator, β-catenin binds the transcription factors, T-cell factor and lymphoid enhancer factor, and regulates gene expression in response to Wnt signaling. Abnormal activation of β-catenin has been linked to various types of cancer. In a yeast two-hybrid screen, we identified the four and a half of LIM-only protein 2 (FHL2) as a novel β-catenin-interacting protein. Here we show specific interaction of FHL2 with β-catenin, which requires the intact structure of FHL2 and armadillo repeats 1–9 of β-catenin. FHL2 cooperated with β-catenin to activate T-cell factor/lymphoid enhancer factor-dependent transcription from a synthetic reporter and the cyclin D1 and interleukin-8 promoters in kidney and colon cell lines. In contrast, coexpression of β-catenin and FHL2 had no synergistic effect on androgen receptor-mediated transcription, whereas each of these two coactivators independently stimulated AR transcriptional activity. Thus, the ability of FHL2 to stimulate the trans-activating function of β-catenin might be dependent on the promoter context. The detection of increased FHL2 expression in hepatoblastoma, a liver tumor harboring frequent β-catenin mutations, suggests that FHL2 might enforce β-catenin transactivation activity in cancer cells. These findings reveal a new function of the LIM coactivator FHL2 in transcriptional activation of Wnt-responsive genes

The LIM-only protein FHL2 regulates cyclin D1 expression and cell proliferation.

International audienceThe LIM-only protein FHL2 acts as a transcriptional modulator that positively or negatively regulates multiple signaling pathways. We recently reported that FHL2 cooperates with CBP/p300 in the activation of ss-catenin/TCF target gene cyclin D1. In this paper, we demonstrate that FHL2 is associated with the cyclin D1 promoter at the TCF/CRE site, providing evidence that cyclin D1 is a direct target of FHL2. We show that deficiency of FHL2 greatly reduces the proliferative capacity of spontaneously immortalized mouse fibroblasts which is associated with decreased expression of cyclin D1 and p16INK4a, and hypophosphorylation of Rb. Reexpression of FHL2 in FHL2-null fibroblasts efficiently restores cyclin D1 levels and cell proliferative capacity, indicating that FHL2 is critical for cyclin D1 activation and cell growth. Moreover, ectopic cyclin D1 expression is sufficient to override growth inhibition of immortalized FHL2-null fibroblasts. Gene expression profiling revealed that FHL2 deficiency triggers a broad change of the cell cycle program that is associated with downregulation of several G1/S and G2/M cyclins, E2F transcription factors and DNA replication machinery, thus correlating with reduced cell proliferation. This change also involves downregulation of the negative cell cycle regulators, particularly INK4 inhibitors, which could counteract the decreased expression of cyclins, allowing cells to grow. Our study illustrates that FHL2 can act on different aspects of the cell cycle program to finely regulate cell proliferation