Expression of the CIC-DUX4 fusion oncoprotein mimics human CIC-rearranged sarcoma in genetically engineered mouse models

Abstract

CIC-DUX4 sarcoma (CDS) is a rare but highly aggressive undifferentiated small round cell sarcoma driven by a fusion between the tumor suppressor Capicua (CIC) and DUX4. Currently, there are no effective treatments and efforts to identify and translate better therapies are limited by the scarcity of tissues and patients. To address this limitation, we generated three genetically engineered mouse models of CDS (Ch7CDS, Ai9CDS, and TOPCDS). Remarkably, chimeric mice from all three conditional models developed spontaneous tumors and widespread metastasis in the absence of Cre-recombinase. The penetrance of spontaneous (Cre-independent) tumor formation was complete irrespective of bi-allelic CIC function and loxP site proximity. Characterization of primary and metastatic mouse tumors showed that they consistently expressed the CIC-DUX4 fusion protein as well as other downstream markers of the disease credentialing these models as CDS. In addition, tumor-derived cell lines were generated and ChIP-seq was preformed to map fusion-gene specific binding using an N-terminal HA epitope tag. These datasets, along with paired H3K27ac ChIP-seq maps, validate CIC-DUX4 as a neomorphic transcriptional activator. Moreover, they are consistent with a model where ETS family transcription factors are cooperative and redundant drivers of the core regulatory circuitry in CDS.