SUMMARY Constitutive Kras and NF-κB activation is identified as signature alterations in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, how NF-κB is activated in PDAC is not yet understood. Here, we report that pancreas-targeted IKK2/β inactivation inhibited NF-κB activation and PDAC development in KrasG12D and KrasG12D;Ink4a/ArfF/F mice, demonstrating a mechanistic link between IKK2/β and KrasG12D in PDAC inception. Our findings reveal that KrasG12D-activated AP-1 induces IL-1α, which, in turn, activates NF-κB and its target genes IL-1α and p62, to initiate IL-1α/p62 feedforward loops for inducing and sustaining NF-κB activity. Furthermore, IL-1α overexpression correlates with Kras mutation, NF-κB activity, and poor survival in PDAC patients. Therefore, our findings demonstrate the mechanism by which IKK2/β/NF-κB is activated by KrasG12D through dual feedforward loops of IL-1α/p62.

Cells expressing oncogenic c-Myc are sensitized to TNF superfamily proteins. c-Myc also is an important factor in determining whether a cell is sensitive to TRAIL-induced apoptosis, and it is well established that the mitochondrial pathway is essential for apoptosis induced by c-Myc. We investigated whether c-Myc action on the mitochondria is required for TRAIL sensitivity and found that Myc sensitized cells with defective intrinsic signaling to TRAIL. TRAIL induced expression of antiapoptotic Mcl-1 and cIAP2 through activation of NF-kappaB. Both Myc and the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib block NF-kappaB. Combining sorafenib with TRAIL in vivo showed dramatic efficacy in TRAIL-resistant tumor xenografts. We propose the combination of TRAIL with sorafenib holds promise for further development.

HB-EGF released on wounding acts as an autocrine-paracrine EGFR ligand. HB-EGF shedding and EGFR activation represent a critical event during corneal epithelial wound healing, suggesting a possible manipulation of wound healing during the early phases.

The results of this study suggest that genetic silencing or inhibition of TAK1 kinase activity in vivo is a potential therapeutic approach to reversal of the intrinsic chemoresistance of pancreatic cancer.

In studies of mouse and human pancreatic tumors and precursors, we found that immune cell-derived IL17 regulated development of tuft cells and stem cell features of pancreatic cancer cells via increased expression of DCLK1, POU2F3, ALDH1A1, and IL17RC. Strategies to disrupt this pathway might be developed to prevent pancreatic tumor growth and progression.

The solitary long terminal repeats (LTRs) of ERV-9 endogenous retrovirus contain the U3, R, and U5 regions but no internal viral genes. They are middle repetitive DNAs present at 2,000 to 4,000 copies in primate genomes. Sequence analyses of the 5 boundary area of the erythroid ␤-globin locus control region (␤-LCR) and the intron of the embryonic axin gene show that a solitary ERV-9 LTR has been stably integrated in the respective loci for at least 15 million years in the higher primates from orangutan to human. The solitary long terminal repeats (LTRs) of human endogenous retroviruses comprise approximately 5% of the human genome and belong to the category of middle repetitive DNAs characterized as retrotransposons (14,19,24,35). These solitary LTRs contain the U3 enhancer and promoter region, the transcribed R region whose 5Ј end marks the initiation site of retroviral RNA synthesis, and the U5 region (27) but no internal gag, pol, and env genes. During primate evolution, the LTRs were apparently self-replicated and inserted into various host chromosomal sites. The functional roles in the host genomes of these transposed, repetitive DNAs are not clear. The LTR retrotransposons have been suggested to be selfish DNAs that do not serve relevant host functions (8). However, recent findings indicate that the solo LTRs can provide enhancers and promoters for cis-linked genes and regulate host gene transcription (9,10,22,25,26,29).The human genome contains approximately 50 copies of the ERV-9 endogenous retrovirus and an additional 3,000 to 4,000 copies of solitary ERV-9 LTRs (15,17,19,35,36). Compared with the LTRs of other families of endogenous retroviruses, the ERV-9 LTRs exhibit an unusual sequence feature: the U3 regions contain from 5 to 17 tandem repeats of 37 to 41 bases (17, 18) with recurrent GATA (23), CCAAT (28), and CCACC (21) motifs potentially capable of binding to cognate transcription factors expressed in embryonic and hematopoietic cells.This suggests that the ERV-9 enhancer and promoter could be active in those cells.To gain further insight into the stability and functional significance of the ERV-9 LTRs, here we have mapped the erythroid ␤-globin and embryonic axin gene loci in primates by using human primers in PCR. We found a solitary ERV-9 LTR that is conserved in identical locations in the 5Ј boundary area of the ␤-globin gene locus and in the axin gene in the higher primates orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, and human, whose ancestors diverged over an evolutionary period of 15 million years (12). In the lower primates gibbon and monkey, whose ancestors diverged from the human ancestor 18 and 25 million years ago, respectively (12), the globin and axin LTRs are absent in the respective gene loci. However, other ERV-9 LTRs are detectable in the monkey genome. These results indicate that copies of the ERV-9 LTRs present in the lower primates were inserted into the globin and axin gene loci in the common ancestor of the higher primates 15 to 18 millions years ago and have remained stably integrate...

Retrotransposons including endogenous retroviruses and their solitary long terminal repeats (LTRs) compose >40% of the human genome. Many of them are located in intergenic regions far from genes. Whether these intergenic retrotransposons serve beneficial host functions is not known. Here we show that an LTR retrotransposon of ERV-9 human endogenous retrovirus located 40-70 kb upstream of the human fetal γ-and adult β-globin genes serves a long-range, host function. The ERV-9 LTR contains multiple CCAAT and GATA motifs and competitively recruits a high concentration of NF-Y and GATA-2 present in low abundance in adult erythroid cells to assemble an LTR/RNA polymerase II complex. The LTR complex transcribes intergenic RNAs unidirectionally through the intervening DNA to loop with and modulate transcription factor occupancies at the far downstream globin promoters, thereby modulating globin gene switching by a competitive mechanism.

In the human ε−globin gene locus, the HS2 enhancer in the Locus Control Region regulates transcription of the embryonic ε-globin gene located over 10 kb away. The mechanism of long-range HS2 enhancer function was not fully established. Here we show that the HS2 enhancer complex containing the enhancer DNA together with RNA polymerase II (pol II) and TBP tracks along the intervening DNA, synthesizing short, polyadenylated, intergenic RNAs to ultimately loop with the ε-globin promoter. Guided by this facilitated tracking and transcription mechanism, the HS2 enhancer delivers pol II and TBP to the cis-linked globin promoter to activate mRNA synthesis from the target gene. An insulator inserted in the intervening DNA between the enhancer and the promoter traps the enhancer DNA and the associated pol II and TBP at the insulator site, blocking mid-stream the facilitated tracking and transcription mechanism of the enhancer complex, thereby blocking long-range enhancer function.