A newly emerged oncogenic cell in the epithelial population has to confront antitumor selective pressures in the host tissue. However, the mechanisms by which surrounding normal tissue exerts antitumor effects against oncogenically transformed cells are poorly understood. In Drosophila imaginal epithelia, clones of cells mutant for evolutionarily conserved tumor suppressor genes such as scrib or dlg lose their epithelial integrity and are eliminated from epithelia when surrounded by wild-type tissue. Here, we show that surrounding normal cells activate nonapoptotic JNK signaling in response to the emergence of oncogenic mutant cells. This JNK activation leads to upregulation of PVR, the Drosophila PDGF/VEGF receptor. Genetic and time-lapse imaging analyses reveal that PVR expression in surrounding cells activates the ELMO/Mbc-mediated phagocytic pathway, thereby eliminating oncogenic neighbors by engulfment. Our data indicate that JNK-mediated cell engulfment could be an evolutionarily conserved intrinsic tumor-suppression mechanism that eliminates premalignant cells from epithelia.
Mitochondrial respiratory function is frequently impaired in human cancers. However, the mechanisms by which mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to tumour progression remain elusive. Here we show in Drosophila imaginal epithelium that defects in mitochondrial function potently induce tumour progression of surrounding tissue in conjunction with oncogenic Ras. Our data show that Ras activation and mitochondrial dysfunction cooperatively stimulate production of reactive oxygen species, which causes activation of c-Jun amino (N)-terminal kinase (JNK) signalling. JNK cooperates with oncogenic Ras to inactivate the Hippo pathway, leading to upregulation of its targets Unpaired (an interleukin-6 homologue) and Wingless (a Wnt homologue). Mitochondrial dysfunction in Ras-activated cells further cooperates with Ras signalling in neighbouring cells with normal mitochondrial function, causing benign tumours to exhibit metastatic behaviour. Our findings provide a mechanistic basis for interclonal tumour progression driven by mitochondrial dysfunction and oncogenic Ras.
Normal epithelial cells often exert anti-tumour effects against nearby oncogenic cells. In the Drosophila imaginal epithelium, clones of oncogenic cells with loss-of-function mutations in the apico-basal polarity genes scribble or discs large are actively eliminated by cell competition when surrounded by wild-type cells. Although c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signalling plays a crucial role in this cell elimination, the initial event, which occurs at the interface between normal cells and polarity-deficient cells, has not previously been identified. Here, through a genetic screen in Drosophila, we identify the ligand Sas and the receptor-type tyrosine phosphatase PTP10D as the cell-surface ligand-receptor system that drives tumour-suppressive cell competition. At the interface between the wild-type 'winner' and the polarity-deficient 'loser' clones, winner cells relocalize Sas to the lateral cell surface, whereas loser cells relocalize PTP10D there. This leads to the trans-activation of Sas-PTP10D signalling in loser cells, which restrains EGFR signalling and thereby enables elevated JNK signalling in loser cells, triggering cell elimination. In the absence of Sas-PTP10D, elevated EGFR signalling in loser cells switches the role of JNK from pro-apoptotic to pro-proliferative by inactivating the Hippo pathway, thereby driving the overgrowth of polarity-deficient cells. These findings uncover the mechanism by which normal epithelial cells recognize oncogenic polarity-deficient neighbours to drive cell competition.
In this new method for determining urinary protein, the reaction is complete within 10 min at 37 degrees C. This method is applicable to automated as well as manual measurements. Protein concentration and absorbance at 600 nm are linearly related throughout a wide range of concentrations, 10 to 16 000 mg/L. However, the chromogenicity of the gamma-globulins in this method is 70% of that of albumin, as estimated from results by a biuret method. Within-run CVs were less than 3.3%; the day-to-day CV was 2.9%. Errors due to interfering components in urine are less than 2%. The normal range for urinary protein as measured by this method was from 28 to 141 mg/day. Results by this method (y) and by a trichloroacetic acid-biuret method (x) correlated well (n = 80, r = 0.995; y = 0.99x - 2.9).
Cell-cell interactions play important roles in epithelial tumorigenesis. Here we show in Drosophila imaginal epithelium that Ras activation and mitochondrial dysfunction, frequent alterations in cancers, cause cellular senescence and senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), which leads to overgrowth of neighbouring tissue. Ras-activated cells express several hallmarks of cellular senescence such as elevation of senescence-associated b-galactosidase activity, upregulation of the Cdk inhibitor Dacapo, heterochromatinization and cellular hypertrophy. Strikingly, defects in mitochondrial function cause Ras-activated cells to undergo DNA damage response, cell cycle arrest and thereby induce SASP, exhibiting full aspects of cellular senescence. Mechanistically, mitochondrial defects in conjunction with Ras cause production of reactive oxygen species, downregulation of CycE activity and activation of p53, which cooperate together to trigger a cell cycle arrest-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) feedback loop that amplifies JNK activation, leading to upregulation of the inflammatory cytokine Unpaired. Our data suggest that mitochondrial defects promote Ras-induced cellular senescence and thereby contribute to tumour progression through SASP.
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