Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA.
Nat Commun. 2023 Mar 15;14(1):1443. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37147-y.
Lineage plasticity has been proposed as a major source of intratumoral heterogeneity and therapeutic resistance. Here, by employing an inducible genetic engineered mouse model, we illustrate that lineage plasticity enables advanced Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tumors to develop spontaneous relapse following elimination of the central oncogenic driver - Yap. Transcriptomic and immunohistochemistry analysis of a large panel of PDAC tumors reveals that within high-grade tumors, small niches of PDAC cells gradually evolve to re-activate pluripotent transcription factors (PTFs), which lessen their dependency on Yap. Comprehensive Cut&Tag analysis demonstrate that although acquisition of PTF expression is coupled with the process of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), PTFs form a core transcriptional regulatory circuitry (CRC) with Jun to overcome Yap dependency, which is distinct from the classic TGFb-induced EMT-TF network. A chemical-genetic screen and follow-up functional studies establish Brd4 as an epigenetic gatekeeper for the PTF-Jun CRC, and strong synergy between BET and Yap inhibitors in blocking PDAC growth.
谱系可塑性被认为是肿瘤内异质性和治疗抵抗的主要来源。在这里,我们通过使用一种可诱导的基因工程小鼠模型,说明了谱系可塑性使晚期胰腺导管腺癌(PDAC)肿瘤在消除中央致癌驱动因子 Yap 后能够自发复发。对大量 PDAC 肿瘤的转录组和免疫组织化学分析表明,在高级别肿瘤中,PDAC 细胞的小龛位逐渐重新激活多能转录因子(PTFs),从而降低对 Yap 的依赖性。全面的 Cut&Tag 分析表明,尽管获得 PTF 表达与上皮间质转化(EMT)过程相关,但 PTFs 与 Jun 形成核心转录调控回路(CRC),以克服对 yap 的依赖性,这与经典的 TGFb 诱导的 EMT-TF 网络不同。化学遗传学筛选和后续功能研究确立了 Brd4 作为 PTF-Jun CRC 的表观遗传守门员,BET 和 yap 抑制剂在阻断 PDAC 生长方面具有很强的协同作用。