Tal Adit, Gunawardana-Zeigler Shimara, Peng Da, Tan Yuqi, Munoz Perez Natalia, Offenbacher Rachel, Kastner Laurel, Ciero Paul, Randolph Matthew E, Gong Yun, Deng Hong-Wen, Cahan Patrick, Loeb David M
Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.
Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, Bronx, New York.
Mol Cancer Ther. 2025 May 2;24(5):728-739. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-24-0744.
Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumor in childhood. Patients who present with metastatic disease at diagnosis or relapse have a very poor prognosis, and this has not changed over the past four decades. The Wnt signaling pathway plays a role in regulating osteogenesis and is implicated in osteosarcoma pathogenesis. DKK-1 inhibits the canonical Wnt signaling pathway, causing inhibition of osteoblast differentiation and disordered bone repair. Our lab previously demonstrated that an mAb against DKK-1 prevented metastatic disease in a mouse model. This study expands upon those findings by demonstrating similar results with a small-molecule inhibitor of DKK-1, WAY262611, both in vitro and in vivo. WAY262611 was evaluated in vitro on osteosarcoma cell lines, including proliferation, caspase activation, cell-cycle analysis, and signaling pathway activation. We utilized our orthotopic implantation/amputation model of osteosarcoma metastasis in vivo to determine the impact of WAY262611 on primary tumor progression and metastatic outgrowth of disseminated tumor cells. Differentiation status was determined using single-cell RNA sequencing. We show here that WAY262611 activates canonical Wnt signaling, enhances nuclear localization and transcriptional activity of β-catenin, and slows proliferation of osteosarcoma cell lines. We also show that WAY262611 induces osteoblastic differentiation of a patient-derived xenograft of osteosarcoma in vivo, as well as inhibiting metastasis. This work credentials DKK-1 as a therapeutic target in osteosarcoma, allowing for manipulation of the Wnt signaling pathway and providing preclinical justification for the development of new biologics for the prevention of osteosarcoma metastasis.
骨肉瘤是儿童期最常见的原发性恶性骨肿瘤。诊断时或复发时出现转移性疾病的患者预后极差,且在过去四十年中这一情况并未改变。Wnt信号通路在调节骨生成中发挥作用,并与骨肉瘤发病机制有关。DKK-1抑制经典Wnt信号通路,导致成骨细胞分化受到抑制和骨修复紊乱。我们实验室之前证明,一种抗DKK-1单克隆抗体可预防小鼠模型中的转移性疾病。本研究通过在体外和体内使用DKK-1的小分子抑制剂WAY262611证明了类似结果,从而扩展了这些发现。WAY262611在体外对骨肉瘤细胞系进行了评估,包括增殖、半胱天冬酶激活、细胞周期分析和信号通路激活。我们利用骨肉瘤转移的原位植入/截肢体内模型来确定WAY262611对原发性肿瘤进展和播散性肿瘤细胞转移生长的影响。使用单细胞RNA测序确定分化状态。我们在此表明,WAY262611激活经典Wnt信号,增强β-连环蛋白的核定位和转录活性,并减缓骨肉瘤细胞系的增殖。我们还表明,WAY262611在体内诱导骨肉瘤患者来源异种移植瘤的成骨细胞分化,并抑制转移。这项工作证明DKK-1是骨肉瘤的治疗靶点,能够调控Wnt信号通路,并为开发预防骨肉瘤转移的新型生物制剂提供临床前依据。
Mol Cancer Ther. 2025-5-2
bioRxiv. 2024-12-11
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2014
Bioinformatics. 2023-1-1
Aging (Albany NY). 2021-8-24
Int J Mol Sci. 2020-7-30