Summary Missense mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor inactivate its anti-proliferative properties but can also promote metastasis through a gain-of-function activity. We show that sustained expression of mutant p53 is required to maintain the pro-metastatic phenotype of a murine model of pancreatic cancer, a highly metastatic disease that frequently displays p53 mutations. Transcriptional profiling and functional screening identified the platelet-derived growth factor receptor b (PDGFRb) as both necessary and sufficient to mediate these effects. Mutant p53 induced PDGFRb through a cell-autonomous mechanism involving inhibition of a p73/NF-Y complex that represses PDGFRb expression in p53-deficient, non-invasive cells. Blocking PDGFRb signaling by RNA interference or small molecule inhibitors prevented pancreatic cancer cell invasion in vitro and metastasis formation in vivo. Finally, high PDGFRb expression correlates with poor disease-free survival in pancreatic, colon, and ovarian cancer patients, implicating PDGFRb as a prognostic marker and possible target for attenuating metastasis in p53 mutant tumors.

Therapeutic targeting of KRAS-mutant lung adenocarcinoma represents a major goal of clinical oncology. KRAS itself has proven difficult to inhibit, and the effectiveness of agents that target key KRAS effectors has been thwarted by activation of compensatory or parallel pathways that limit their efficacy as single agents. Here we take a systematic approach towards identifying combination targets for trametinib, an FDA-approved MEK inhibitor that acts downstream of KRAS to suppress signaling through the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade. Informed by a short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) screen, we show that trametinib provokes a compensatory response involving the fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) that leads to signaling rebound and adaptive drug resistance. As a consequence, genetic or pharmacologic inhibition of FGFR1 in combination with trametinib enhances tumor cell death in vitro and in vivo. This compensatory response shows distinct specificities – it is dominated by FGFR1 in KRAS mutant lung and pancreatic cancer cells, but is not activated or involves other mechanisms in KRAS wild-type lung and KRAS-mutant colon cancer cells. Importantly, KRAS-mutant lung cancer cells and patient tumors treated with trametinib show an increase in FRS2 phosphorylation, a biomarker of FGFR activation; this increase is abolished by FGFR1 inhibition and correlates with sensitivity to trametinib and FGFR inhibitor combinations. These results demonstrate that FGFR1 can mediate adaptive resistance to trametinib and validate a combinatorial approach for treating KRAS-mutant lung cancer.

Although human cancers have complex genotypes and are genomically unstable, they often remain dependent on the continued presence of single-driver mutations-a phenomenon dubbed ''oncogene addiction.'' Such dependencies have been demonstrated in mouse models, where conditional expression systems have revealed that oncogenes able to initiate cancer are often required for tumor maintenance and progression, thus validating the pathways they control as therapeutic targets. Here, we implement an integrative approach that combines genetically defined mouse models, transcriptional profiling, and a novel inducible RNAi platform to characterize cellular programs that underlie addiction to MLL-AF9-a fusion oncoprotein involved in aggressive forms of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We show that MLL-AF9 contributes to leukemia maintenance by enforcing a Mybcoordinated program of aberrant self-renewal involving genes linked to leukemia stem cell potential and poor prognosis in human AML. Accordingly, partial and transient Myb suppression precisely phenocopies MLL-AF9 withdrawal and eradicates aggressive AML in vivo without preventing normal myelopoiesis, indicating that strategies to inhibit Myb-dependent aberrant self-renewal programs hold promise as effective and cancer-specific therapeutics. Together, our results identify Myb as a critical mediator of oncogene addiction in AML, delineate relevant Myb target genes that are amenable to pharmacologic inhibition, and establish a general approach for dissecting oncogene addiction in vivo.

Summary The p53 tumor suppressor coordinates a series of anti-proliferative responses that restrict the expansion of malignant cells and, as a consequence, p53 is lost or mutated in the majority of human cancers. Here, we show that p53 restricts expression of the stem and progenitor cell-associated protein nestin in an Sp1/3 transcription factor-dependent manner and that nestin is required for tumor initiation in vivo. Moreover, loss of p53 facilitates dedifferentiation of mature hepatocytes into nestin-positive progenitor-like cells, which are poised to differentiate into hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) or cholangiocarcinomas (CCs) in response to lineage-specific mutations that target Wnt and Notch signaling, respectively. Many human HCCs and CCs show elevated nestin expression, which correlates with p53 loss of function and is associated with decreased patient survival. Therefore, transcriptional repression of Nestin by p53 restricts cellular plasticity and tumorigenesis in liver cancer.

The large chromosomal deletions frequently observed in cancer genomes are often thought to arise as a "two-hit" mechanism in the process of tumor-suppressor gene (TSG) inactivation. Using a murine model system of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and in vivo RNAi, we test an alternative hypothesis, that such deletions can arise from selective pressure to attenuate the activity of multiple genes. By targeting the mouse orthologs of genes frequently deleted on human 8p22 and adjacent regions, which are lost in approximately half of several other major epithelial cancers, we provide evidence suggesting that multiple genes on chromosome 8p can cooperatively inhibit tumorigenesis in mice, and that their cosuppression can synergistically promote tumor growth. In addition, in human HCC patients, the combined down-regulation of functionally validated 8p TSGs is associated with poor survival, in contrast to the down-regulation of any individual gene. Our data imply that large cancer-associated deletions can produce phenotypes distinct from those arising through loss of a single TSG, and as such should be considered and studied as distinct mutational events.cancer genomics | chromosome 8p deletion | RNAi screen

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal types of cancer due to its high metastatic potential and resistance to existing treatments. Recent advances in cancer genomics have identified mutations and copy number changes that are linked to pancreatic cancer but which of these influence metastatic behavior remain poorly understood. 50-80% of PDACs carry a mutation in the TP53 tumor suppressor gene (p53(mut)), which possibly results in a gain-of-function that contributes to, amongst others, tumor cell invasiveness. Therefore the aim of this study was to explore the underlying molecular pathways of invasive PDAC that are mediated by TP53(mut). To this end, we combined cell lines, murine models, and RNA interference to confirm that p53(mut)-expressing tumors acquire a higher invasive capability, which is dependent on the continued expression of the mutant allele. In-depth transcriptional profiling of p53(mut) versus knockdown cells identified downstream mediators responsible for the gain-of-function phenotype. Specifically, we conducted a follow-up invasion screen to analyse the top 40 deregulated genes for their potential to induce invasiveness and we identified Platelet-derived growth factor receptors isoform b (Pdgfrb) as a p53(mut) downstream mediator. Moreover, we found that the expression of Pdgfrb is transcriptionally regulated by p73. In the presence of p53(mut) proteins, a direct p73-p53(mut) interaction alleviates the inhibitory effect that p73 exerts on the Pdgfrb promoter, thereby inducing Pdgfrb expression and, hence, invasiveness. Attenuating Pdgfrb levels by RNAi or a small molecule inhibitor reduced cellular invasion in a p53(mut) background, thereby mimicking the effects of p53-null cells. We confirmed these findings in several human pancreatic cancer cells. More importantly, we found that elevated Pdgfrb expression in human colorectal and ovarian cancers predicts poor metastasis-free survival, thereby confirming our hypothesis that high Pdgfrb levels drive metastases development. Citation Format: Susann Weissmueller, Michael Saborowski, Eusebio Manchado, Vishal Thapar, Scott W. Lowe. Pdgfrb is an essential mediator of p53(mut)-driven metastasis in pancreatic cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Third AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Basic Cancer Research; Sep 18-22, 2013; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(19 Suppl):Abstract nr C54.