NRG1 is a critical regulator of differentiation in TP63-driven squamous cell carcinoma
- Genentech Inc, United States
Abstract
Squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) account for the majority of cancer mortalities. Although TP63 is an established lineage-survival oncogene in SCCs, therapeutic strategies have not been developed to target TP63 or it's downstream effectors. In this study we demonstrate that TP63 directly regulates NRG1 expression in human SCC cell lines and that NRG1 is a critical component of the TP63 transcriptional program. Notably, we show that squamous tumors are dependent NRG1 signaling in vivo, in both genetically engineered mouse models and human xenograft models, and demonstrate that inhibition of NRG1 induces keratinization and terminal squamous differentiation of tumor cells, blocking proliferation and inhibiting tumor growth. Together, our findings identify a lineage-specific function of NRG1 in SCCs of diverse anatomic origin.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data file has been provided for Figure 4.
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Funding
The authors declare that there was no funding for this work
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All animal studies were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at Genentech. The animal studies included herein were performed based on approved IACUC protocol numbers (LASAR 10-2319A, 16-1304, 16-1304A, 16-0098, 16-1120, 16-1143 and 16-2005, 16-1120).
Copyright
© 2019, Hegde et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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NRG1 is a critical regulator of differentiation in TP63-driven squamous cell carcinoma
eLife 8:e46551.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.46551
Further reading
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Missense ‘hotspot’ mutations localized in six p53 codons account for 20% of TP53 mutations in human cancers. Hotspot p53 mutants have lost the tumor suppressive functions of the wildtype protein, but whether and how they may gain additional functions promoting tumorigenesis remain controversial. Here, we generated Trp53Y217C, a mouse model of the human hotspot mutant TP53Y220C. DNA damage responses were lost in Trp53Y217C/Y217C (Trp53YC/YC) cells, and Trp53YC/YC fibroblasts exhibited increased chromosome instability compared to Trp53-/- cells. Furthermore, Trp53YC/YC male mice died earlier than Trp53-/- males, with more aggressive thymic lymphomas. This correlated with an increased expression of inflammation-related genes in Trp53YC/YC thymic cells compared to Trp53-/- cells. Surprisingly, we recovered only one Trp53YC/YC female for 22 Trp53YC/YC males at weaning, a skewed distribution explained by a high frequency of Trp53YC/YC female embryos with exencephaly and the death of most Trp53YC/YC female neonates. Strikingly, however, when we treated pregnant females with the anti-inflammatory drug supformin (LCC-12), we observed a fivefold increase in the proportion of viable Trp53YC/YC weaned females in their progeny. Together, these data suggest that the p53Y217C mutation not only abrogates wildtype p53 functions but also promotes inflammation, with oncogenic effects in males and teratogenic effects in females.
