Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in women with advanced estrogen receptor-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer acquire a HER2-positive subpopulation following multiple courses of therapy1,2. In contrast to HER2-amplified primary breast cancer, which is highly sensitive to HER2-targeted therapy, the clinical significance of acquired HER2 heterogeneity during the evolution of metastatic breast cancer is unknown. Here, we analyzed CTCs from 19 ER+/HER2− patients, 84% of whom had acquired CTCs expressing HER2. Cultured CTCs maintain discrete HER2+ and HER2− subpopulations: HER2+ CTCs are more proliferative but not addicted to HER2, consistent with activation of multiple signaling pathways. HER2− CTCs show activation of Notch and DNA damage pathways, exhibiting resistance to cytotoxic chemotherapy, but sensitivity to Notch inhibition. HER2+ and HER2− CTCs interconvert spontaneously, with cells of one phenotype producing daughters of the opposite within four cell doublings. While HER2+ and HER2− CTCs have comparable tumor initiating potential, differential proliferation favors the HER2+ state, while oxidative stress or cytotoxic chemotherapy enhances transition to the HER2− phenotype. Simultaneous treatment with paclitaxel and Notch inhibitors achieves sustained suppression of tumorigenesis in orthotopic CTC-derived tumor models. Together, these results point to distinct yet interconverting phenotypes within patient-derived CTCs, contributing to progression of breast cancer and acquisition of drug resistance.

Highlights d Cancer-associated fibroblasts contribute to pancreatic cancer heterogeneity d Cancer cells can have a double-positive phenotype: proliferation and invasion d High CAF abundance linked with DP cells enriched for MAPK and STAT3 co-signaling d Intra-tumoral gland types provide tissue heterogeneity linked with clinical outcome

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are shed into the bloodstream by invasive cancers, but the difficulty inherent in identifying these rare cells by microscopy has precluded their routine use in monitoring or screening for cancer. We recently described a high-throughput microfluidic CTC-iChip, which efficiently depletes hematopoietic cells from blood specimens and enriches for CTCs with well-preserved RNA. Application of RNA-based digital PCR to detect CTC-derived signatures may thus enable highly accurate tissue lineage-based cancer detection in blood specimens. As proof of principle, we examined hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a cancer that is derived from liver cells bearing a unique gene expression profile. After identifying a digital signature of 10 liver-specific transcripts, we used a cross-validated logistic regression model to identify the presence of HCC-derived CTCs in nine of 16 (56%) untreated patients with HCC versus one of 31 (3%) patients with nonmalignant liver disease at risk for developing HCC (P < 0.0001). Positive CTC scores declined in treated patients: Nine of 32 (28%) patients receiving therapy and only one of 15 (7%) patients who had undergone curative-intent ablation, surgery, or liver transplantation were positive. RNA-based digital CTC scoring was not correlated with the standard HCC serum protein marker alpha fetoprotein (P = 0.57). Modeling the sequential use of these two orthogonal markers for liver cancer screening in patients with high-risk cirrhosis generates positive and negative predictive values of 80% and 86%, respectively. Thus, digital RNA quantitation constitutes a sensitive and specific CTC readout, enabling high-throughput clinical applications, such as noninvasive screening for HCC in populations where viral hepatitis and cirrhosis are prevalent.circulating tumor cells | early cancer detection | hepatocellular carcinoma | blood biopsy | predictive modeling T he shedding by epithelial cancers of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) into the bloodstream underlies the blood-borne dissemination of cancer, although only a small fraction of CTCs gives rise to metastases (1). Enumeration and analysis of CTCs may thus enable noninvasive monitoring of advanced cancers, as well as early detection of invasive but localized tumors before they give rise to viable metastases. Recent advances in CTC isolation provide sensitive and high-throughput platforms to enrich for these rare tumor cells within blood specimens, but antibody staining and microscopic imaging of captured cancer cells remain a critical bottleneck limiting broad application of the technology (2). Classical CTC staining criteria include the presence of cell surface epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and cytoplasmic epithelial cytokeratins and the absence of the hematopoietic CD45 marker (3), but epithelial marker expression is highly variable and extensive imaging criteria must be applied to score immunofluorescent signals reliably from rare cancer cells surrounded by contaminating leukocytes (4). Emerging microfluidic C...

Summary TGFβ secreted by tumor stroma induces Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in cancer cells, a reversible phenotype linked to cancer progression and drug resistance. However, exposure to stromal signals may also lead to heritable changes in cancer cells, which are poorly understood. We show that epithelial cells failing to undergo proliferation arrest during TGFβ-induced EMT sustain mitotic abnormalities due to failed cytokinesis, resulting in aneuploidy. This genomic instability is associated with suppression of multiple nuclear envelope proteins implicated in mitotic regulation, and is phenocopied by modulating the expression of LaminB1. While TGFβ-induced mitotic defects in proliferating cells are reversible upon its withdrawal, the acquired genomic abnormalities persist, leading to increased tumorigenic phenotypes. In metastatic breast cancer patients, increased mesenchymal marker expression within single circulating tumor cells is correlated with genomic instability. These observations identify a mechanism whereby microenvironment-derived signals trigger heritable genetic changes within cancer cells contributing to tumor evolution.

Background: Glioblastomas are the most common and lethal primary brain tumors. Microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain, survey their environment and respond to pathogens, toxins, and tumors. Glioblastoma cells communicate with microglia, in part by releasing extracellular vesicles (EVs). Despite the presence of large numbers of microglia in glioblastoma, the tumors continue to grow, and these neuroimmune cells appear incapable of keeping the tumor in check. To understand this process, we analyzed gene expression in microglia interacting with glioblastoma cells. Methods: We used RNASeq of isolated microglia to analyze the expression patterns of genes involved in key microglial functions in mice with glioblastoma. We focused on microglia that had taken up tumor-derived EVs and therefore were within and immediately adjacent to the tumor. Results: We show that these microglia have downregulated expression of genes involved in sensing tumor cells and tumor-derived danger signals, as well as genes used for tumor killing. In contrast, expression of genes involved in facilitating tumor spread was upregulated. These changes appear to be in part EV-mediated, since intracranial injection of EVs in normal mice led to similar transcriptional changes in microglia. We observed a similar microglial transcriptomic signature when we analyzed datasets from human patients with glioblastoma. Conclusion: Our data define a microglia Glioblastoma specific phenotype, whereby glioblastomas have hijacked gene expression in the neuroimmune system to favor avoiding tumor sensing, suppressing the immune response, clearing a path for invasion, and enhancing tumor propagation. For further exploration, we developed an interactive online tool at http://www.glioma-microglia.com with all expression data and additional functional and pathway information for each gene.

Adney et al. describe the complete and comprehensive codon substitution mutagenesis of human retrotransposon LINE-1 using a synthetic DNA approach. This experiment is the first of its kind for any transposon...

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Tumor-stromal communication within the microenvironment contributes to initiation of metastasis and may present a therapeutic opportunity. Using serial single-cell RNA sequencing in an orthotopic mouse prostate cancer model, we find up-regulation of prolactin receptor as cancer cells that have disseminated to the lungs expand into micrometastases. Secretion of the ligand prolactin by adjacent lung stromal cells is induced by tumor cell production of the COX-2 synthetic product prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). PGE2 treatment of fibroblasts activates the orphan nuclear receptor NR4A (Nur77), with prolactin as a major transcriptional target for the NR4A-retinoid X receptor (RXR) heterodimer. Ectopic expression of prolactin receptor in mouse cancer cells enhances micrometastasis, while treatment with the COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib abrogates prolactin secretion by fibroblasts and reduces tumor initiation. Across multiple human cancers, COX-2, prolactin, and prolactin receptor show consistent differential expression in tumor and stromal compartments. Such paracrine cross-talk may thus contribute to the documented efficacy of COX-2 inhibitors in cancer suppression.