Summary A recent surge in obesity has given impetus to better understand the mechanisms of adipogenesis, particularly brown adipose tissue (BAT) due to its potential utilization for anti-obesity therapy. Postnatal brown adipocytes arise from early muscle-progenitors but how brown fat lineage is determined is not completely understood. Here, we show that a multifunctional protein EWS (Ewing Sarcoma) is essential for determining brown fat lineage during development. BATs from Ews-null embryos and newborns are developmentally arrested. Ews mutant brown preadipocytes fail to differentiate due to loss of Bmp7 expression, a critical early brown adipogenic factor. We demonstrate that EWS, along with its binding partner YBX1 (Y-box binding protein 1), activates Bmp7 transcription. Depletion of either Ews or Ybx1 leads to loss of Bmp7 expression and brown adipogenesis. Remarkably, Ews-null BATs and brown preadipocytes ectopically express myogenic genes. These results demonstrate that EWS is essential for early brown fat lineage determination.

Components of silk including silk fibroin have long been used as anti-diabetic remedies in oriental medicine. However, detailed mechanisms underlying these anti-diabetic effects remain unclear. In this study, we examined the anti-diabetic activity of silk fibroin hydrolysate (SFH) in C57BL/KsJ-db/db (db/db) mice, a well-known animal model of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. When the db/db mice were administered SFH in drinking water for 6 weeks, hyperglycemia in the animals gradually disappeared and the level of glycosylated hemoglobin decreased, indicating that SFH plays important role in reducing the symptoms of diabetes. In addition, SFH-treated db/db mice exhibited improved glucose tolerance with increased plasma insulin levels. Immunohistochemical and morphological analyses showed that SFH up-regulated insulin production by increasing pancreatic β cell mass in the mice. In summary, our results suggest that SFH exerts anti-diabetic effects by increasing pancreatic β cell mass in a non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus mouse model.

The oncogenic fusion gene EWS-WT1 is the defining chromosomal translocation in desmoplastic small roundcell tumors (DSRCT), a rare but aggressive soft tissue sarcoma with a high rate of mortality. EWS-WT1 functions as an aberrant transcription factor that drives tumorigenesis, but the mechanistic basis for its pathogenic activity is not well understood. To address this question, we created a transgenic mouse strain that permits physiologic expression of EWS-WT1 under the native murine Ews promoter. EWS-WT1 expression led to a dramatic induction of many neuronal genes in embryonic fibroblasts and primary DSRCT, most notably the neural reprogramming factor ASCL1. Mechanistic analyses demonstrated that EWS-WT1 directly bound the proximal promoter of ASCL1, activating its transcription through multiple WT1-responsive elements. Conversely, EWS-WT1 silencing in DSRCT cells reduced ASCL1 expression and cell viability. Notably, exposure of DSRCT cells to neuronal induction media increased neural gene expression and induced neurite-like projections, both of which were abrogated by silencing EWS-WT1. Taken together, our findings reveal that EWS-WT1 can activate neural gene expression and direct partial neural differentiation via ASCL1, suggesting agents that promote neural differentiation might offer a novel therapeutic approach to treat DSRCT. Cancer Res; 74(16); 4526-35. Ó2014 AACR.

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EWS (Ewing sarcoma) encodes an RNA/ssDNA binding protein that is frequently rearranged in a number of different cancers by chromosomal translocations. Physiologically, EWS has diverse and essential roles in various organ development and cellular processes. In this study, we uncovered a new role of EWS in mitochondrial homeostasis and energy metabolism. Loss of EWS leads to a significant decrease in mitochondria abundance and activity, which is caused by a rapid degradation of Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ Coactivator (PGC-1α), a central regulator of mitochondria biogenesis, function, and cellular energy metabolism. EWS inactivation leads to increased ubiquitination and proteolysis of PGC-1α via proteasome pathway. Complementation of EWS in Ews-deficient cells restores PGC-1α and mitochondrial abundance. We found that expression of E3 ubiquitin ligase, FBXW7 (F-box/WD40 domain protein 7), is increased in the absence of Ews and depletion of Fbxw7 in Ews-null cells restores PGC-1α expression and mitochondrial density. Consistent with these findings, mitochondrial abundance and activity are significantly reduced in brown fat and skeletal muscles of Ews-deficient mice. Furthermore, expression of mitochondrial biogenesis, respiration and fatty acid β-oxidation genes is significantly reduced in the liver of Ews-null mice. These results demonstrate a novel role of EWS in mitochondrial and cellular energy homeostasis by controlling PGC-1α protein stability, and further implicate altered mitochondrial and energy metabolism in cancers harboring the EWS translocation.EWS | PGC-1alpha | protein stability | mitochondria homeostasis | energy metabolism E wing sarcoma breakpoint region 1 (EWSR1, herein termed EWS) was first identified from the Ewing sarcoma chromosomal breakpoint t(11, 22)(q24;q12) region as a translocationgenerated fusion gene between EWS and FLI1 (Friend leukemia integration 1) (1), an ETS-family of transcription factor. EWS is a member of the FET (or TET) family of RNA and ssDNAbinding proteins, which includes two other members, FUS/TLS (Fused in Sarcoma/Translocated in Liposarcoma) and TAF15/ hTAFII68 (TATA-binding protein-associated factor 15/human TATA-binding protein-associated factor II 68) as well as a Drosophila protein, Cabeza/SARFH (1, 2). A transcriptional role of EWS has been inferred by its association with basic transcription factors (3, 4) and by its modulation of several transcription factor activities (5-8). EWS is also involved in alternative splicing of specific genes in response to DNA damage (9, 10). Animal studies with genetic ablation of Ews have revealed a surprisingly diverse role of EWS in various cellular processes such as pre-B lymphocyte development, meiosis, mitosis and prevention of premature cellular senescence in fibroblasts and hematopoietic stem cells (11-13). Recently, it was shown that EWS is required for determining embryonic brown fat cell fate during development (8), for in vitro white fat differentiation (14), and in the regulation of microRNAs (15).The ...