PIK3CA gain-of-function mutations are a common oncogenic event in human malignancy1–4, making PI3K an attractive target for cancer therapy. Despite the great promise of targeted therapy, resistance often develops, resulting in treatment failure. To elucidate mechanisms of resistance to PI3K-targeted therapy, we constructed a mouse model of breast cancer conditionally expressing human PIK3CAH1047R. Surprisingly, most PIK3CAH1047R-driven mammary tumors recurred following PIK3CAH1047R inactivation. Genomic analyses of recurrent tumors revealed multiple lesions, including focal amplification of c-Met or c-Myc. While c-Met amplification allowed tumor survival dependent on activation of endogenous PI3K, tumors with c-Myc amplification became independent of the PI3K pathway. Functional analyses demonstrated that c-Myc contributed to oncogene independence and resistance to PI3K inhibition. Importantly, PI3KCA mutations and increased c-MYC levels co-occur in a substantial fraction of human breast tumors. Together, these data suggest that c-MYC elevation represents a potential mechanism by which tumors develop resistance to current PI3K-targeted therapies.

Summary Basement membranes (BM) are specialized extracellular matrices that are essential for epithelial structure and morphogenesis. However, little is known about how BM proteins are delivered to the basal cell surface, or how this process is regulated during development. Here, we identify a mechanism for polarized BM secretion in the Drosophila follicle cells. BM proteins are synthesized in a basal ER compartment from localized mRNAs, and are then exported through Tango1-positive ER exit sites to basal Golgi clusters. Next, Crag targets Rab10 to structures in the basal cytoplasm where it restricts protein delivery to the basal surface. These events occur during egg chamber elongation, a morphogenetic process that depends on follicle cell planar polarity and BM remodeling. Significantly, Tango1 and Rab10 are also planar polarized at the basal epithelial surface. We propose that the spatial control of BM production along two tissue axes promotes exocytic efficiency, BM remodeling and organ morphogenesis.

Summary Basement membranes (BMs) are planar protein networks that support epithelial function. Regulated changes to BM architecture can also contribute to tissue morphogenesis, but how epithelia dynamically remodel their BMs is unknown. In Drosophila, elongation of the initially spherical egg chamber correlates with the generation of a polarized network of fibrils in its surrounding BM. Here, we use live imaging and genetic manipulations to determine how these fibrils form. BM fibrils are assembled from newly synthesized proteins in the pericellular spaces between the egg chamber’s epithelial cells, and undergo oriented insertion into the BM by directed epithelial migration. We find that a Rab10-based secretion pathway promotes pericellular BM protein accumulation and fibril formation. Finally, by manipulating this pathway, we show that BM fibrillar structure influences egg chamber morphogenesis. This work highlights how regulated protein secretion can synergize with tissue movement to build a polarized BM architecture that controls tissue shape.

Many networks throughout the nervous system are organized into topographic maps, where the positions of neuron cell bodies in the projecting field correspond with the positions of their axons in the target field. Previous studies of topographic map development show evidence for spatial patterning mechanisms, in which molecular determinants expressed across the projecting and target fields are matched directly in a point-to-point mapping process. Here, we describe a novel temporal mechanism of topographic map formation that depends on spatially regulated differences in the timing of axon outgrowth and functions in parallel with spatial point-to-point mapping mechanisms. We focus on the vagus motor neurons, which are topographically arranged in both mammals and fish. We show that cell position along the anterior-posterior axis of hindbrain rhombomere 8 determines expression of hox5 genes, which are expressed in posterior, but not anterior, vagus motor neurons. Using live imaging and transplantation in zebrafish embryos, we additionally reveal that axon initiation is delayed in posterior vagus motor neurons independent of neuron birth time. We show that hox5 expression directs topographic mapping without affecting time of axon outgrowth and that time of axon outgrowth directs topographic mapping without affecting hox5 expression. The vagus motor neuron topographic map is therefore determined by two mechanisms that act in parallel: a hox5-dependent spatial mechanism akin to classic mechanisms of topographic map formation and a novel axon outgrowth-dependent temporal mechanism in which time of axon formation is spatially regulated to direct axon targeting.