No abstract

Chromosomal translocations involving the ERG locus are frequent events observed in human prostate cancer pathogenesis, however the biologic role of ERG aberrant expression is controversial. 1 Here we demonstrate that the aberrant expression of ERG is a progression event in prostate tumorigenesis. We find that prostate cancer specimens containing the TMPRSS2:ERG genetic rearrangement are significantly enriched for loss of the tumor suppressor PTEN. In concordance with these findings, over-expression of ERG in the transgenic mouse prostate promotes a marked acceleration and progression of HGPIN to prostatic adenocarcinoma in a Pten heterozygous background. In vitro over-expression of ERG promotes cell migration, a property necessary for tumorigenesis, without affecting proliferation. ADAMTS1 and CXCR4, two candidate genes strongly associated with cell migration are found up-regulated in the presence of ERG over-expression. Thus, ERG plays a distinct role in prostate cancer progression and cooperates with PTEN haploinsufficiency to promote progression of HGPIN to invasive adenocarcinoma.The first recurrent translocation event in prostate cancer was recently described in a seminal study. 1 It results in the translocation of an ETS transcription factor (ERG or ETV1) to the TMPRSS2 promoter region, which contains androgen responsive elements. 1 The TMPRSS:ERG genetic rearrangement is the most common and has been reported to occur in approximately 40% of primary prostate tumors and results in an aberrant androgen regulated expression of ERG. 1-3 Additionally, ETS family members ETV1, ETV4, and ETV5 have

Cancer susceptibility has been attributed to at least one heterozygous genetic alteration in a tumor suppressor gene (TSG)1. It has been hypothesized that subtle variations in TSG expression can promote cancer development2,3. However, this hypothesis has not yet been definitively supported in vivo. PTEN is a TSG frequently lost in human cancer and mutated in inherited cancer-predisposition syndromes4. Here, we analyze Pten hypermorphic mice (Ptenhy/+), expressing 80% normal levels of Pten. Ptenhy/+ mice develop a spectrum of tumors, with breast tumors occurring at the highest penetrance. All breast tumors analyzed here retained two intact copies of Pten and maintained Pten levels above heterozygosis. Notably, subtle downregulation of Pten altered the steady-state biology of the mammary tissues and the expression profiles of genes involved in cancer cell proliferation. We present an alterative working model for cancer development in which subtle reductions in the dose of TSGs predispose to tumorigenesis in a tissue-specific manner.

Abundant evidence points to a crucial physiological role for cellular senescence in combating tumorigenesis. Thus, the engagement of senescence may represent a key component for therapeutic intervention in the eradication of cancer. In this Opinion article, we focus on concepts that are relevant to a pro-senescence approach to therapy and we propose potential therapeutic strategies that aim to enhance the pro-senescence response in tumours.

Cellular senescence has been recently shown to play an important role in opposing tumour initiation and promotion. Senescence induced by oncogenes or loss of tumour suppressor genes is thought to critically dependent on the induction of the p19Arf-p53 pathway. The Skp2 E3-ubiquitin ligase can act as a proto-oncogene and its aberrant overexpression is frequently observed in human cancers. Here we show that although Skp2 inactivation on its own does not induce cellular senescence, aberrant proto-oncogenic signals as well as inactivation of tumour suppressor genes do trigger a potent, tumor-suppressive senescence response in mice and cells devoid of Skp2. Notably, Skp2 inactivation and oncogenic stress driven senescence neither elicits activation of the p19Arf-p53 pathway nor DNA damage, but instead depends on ATF4, p27, and p21. We further demonstrate that genetic Skp2 inactivation evokes cellular senescence even in oncogenic conditions in which the p19Arf/p53 response is impaired, whereas a Skp2-SCF complex inhibitor can trigger cellular senescence in p53/PTEN deficient cells and tumour regression in preclinical studies. Our findings therefore provide proof of principle evidence that Skp2 pharmacological inhibition may represent a general approach for cancer prevention and therapy.

There is a need to improve treatments for metastatic breast cancer. Here we show activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and MAP kinase (MAPK) pathways in a MMTV-CreBRCA1f/fp53+/− mouse model of breast cancer. When treated with the pan-Class IA PI3K-inhibitor NVP-BKM120, tumor doubling was delayed from 5 to 26 days. NVP-BKM120 reduced AKT phosphorylation, tumor cell proliferation and angiogenesis. Resistant tumors maintained suppression of AKT phosphorylation but exhibited activation of the MAPK-pathway at the “pushing margin”. Surprisingly, PI3K-inhibition increased indicators of DNA damage, poly-ADP-ribosylation and γH2AX, but decreased Rad51 focus formation, suggesting a critical role of PI3K activity for Rad51 recruitment. PARP-inhibitor Olaparib alone attenuated tumor growth modestly; however, the combination of NVP-BKM120 and Olaparib delayed tumor doubling to more than 70 days in the mouse model and over 50 days in xenotransplants from human BRCA1-related tumors, suggesting that combined PI3K- and PARP-inhibition might be effective treatment for BRCA1-related tumors.

Irreversible cell growth arrest, a process termed cellular senescence, is emerging as an intrinsic tumor suppressive mechanism. Oncogene-induced senescence is thought to be invariably preceded by hyperproliferation, aberrant replication, and activation of a DNA damage checkpoint response (DDR), rendering therapeutic enhancement of this process unsuitable for cancer treatment. We previously demonstrated in a mouse model of prostate cancer that inactivation of the tumor suppressor phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (Pten) elicits a senescence response that opposes tumorigenesis. Here, we show that Pten-lossinduced cellular senescence (PICS) represents a senescence response that is distinct from oncogene-induced senescence and can be targeted for cancer therapy. Using mouse embryonic fibroblasts, we determined that PICS occurs rapidly after Pten inactivation, in the absence of cellular proliferation and DDR. Further, we found that PICS is associated with enhanced p53 translation. Consistent with these data, we showed that in mice p53-stabilizing drugs potentiated PICS and its tumor suppressive potential. Importantly, we demonstrated that pharmacological inhibition of PTEN drives senescence and inhibits tumorigenesis in vivo in a human xenograft model of prostate cancer. Taken together, our data identify a type of cellular senescence that can be triggered in nonproliferating cells in the absence of DNA damage, which we believe will be useful for developing a "pro-senescence" approach for cancer prevention and therapy.

Here we report an integrated analysis that leverages data from treatment of genetic mouse models of prostate cancer along with clinical data from patients to elucidate new mechanisms of castration resistance. We show that castration counteracts tumor progression in a Pten-loss driven mouse model of prostate cancer through the induction of apoptosis and proliferation block. Conversely, this response is bypassed upon deletion of either Trp53 or Lrf together with Pten, leading to the development of castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Mechanistically, the integrated acquisition of data from mouse models and patients identifies the expression patterns of XAF1-XIAP/SRD5A1 as a predictive and actionable signature for CRPC. Importantly, we show that combined inhibition of XIAP, SRD5A1, and AR pathways overcomes castration resistance. Thus, our co-clinical approach facilitates stratification of patients and the development of tailored and innovative therapeutic treatments.