Musashi signaling in stem cells and cancer.

How a single cell gives rise to an entire organism is one of biology's greatest mysteries. Within this process, stem cells play a key role by serving as seed cells capable of both self-renewal to sustain themselves as well as differentiation to generate the full diversity of mature cells and functional tissues. Understanding how this balance between self-renewal and differentiation is achieved is crucial to defining not only the underpinnings of normal development but also how its subversion can lead to cancer. Musashi, a family of RNA binding proteins discovered originally in Drosophila and named after the iconic samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, has emerged as a key signal that confers and protects the stem cell state across organisms. Here we explore the role of this signal in stem cells and how its reactivation can be a critical element in oncogenesis. Relative to long-established developmental signals such as Wnt, Hedgehog, and Notch, our understanding of Musashi remains in its infancy; yet all evidence suggests that Musashi will emerge as an equally powerful paradigm for regulating development and cancer and may be destined to have a great impact on biology and medicine.

Image-based detection and targeting of therapy resistance in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia is a pre-malignant lesion that can progress to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, a highly lethal malignancy marked by its late stage at clinical presentation and profound drug resistance. The genomic alterations that commonly occur in pancreatic cancer include activation of KRAS2 and inactivation of p53 and SMAD4 (refs 2-4). So far, however, it has been challenging to target these pathways therapeutically; thus the search for other key mediators of pancreatic cancer growth remains an important endeavour. Here we show that the stem cell determinant Musashi (Msi) is a critical element of pancreatic cancer progression both in genetic models and in patient-derived xenografts. Specifically, we developed Msi reporter mice that allowed image-based tracking of stem cell signals within cancers, revealing that Msi expression rises as pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia progresses to adenocarcinoma, and that Msi-expressing cells are key drivers of pancreatic cancer: they preferentially harbour the capacity to propagate adenocarcinoma, are enriched in circulating tumour cells, and are markedly drug resistant. This population could be effectively targeted by deletion of either Msi1 or Msi2, which led to a striking defect in the progression of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia to adenocarcinoma and an improvement in overall survival. Msi inhibition also blocked the growth of primary patient-derived tumours, suggesting that this signal is required for human disease. To define the translational potential of this work we developed antisense oligonucleotides against Msi; these showed reliable tumour penetration, uptake and target inhibition, and effectively blocked pancreatic cancer growth. Collectively, these studies highlight Msi reporters as a unique tool to identify therapy resistance, and define Msi signalling as a central regulator of pancreatic cancer.

Gene regulatory network for neurogenesis in a sea star embryo connects broad neural specification and localized patterning.

A great challenge in development biology is to understand how interacting networks of regulatory genes can direct the often highly complex patterning of cells in a 3D embryo. Here, we detail the gene regulatory network that describes the distribution of ciliary band-associated neurons in the bipinnaria larva of the sea star. This larva, typically for the ancestral deuterostome dipleurula larval type that it represents, forms two loops of ciliary bands that extend across much of the anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral ectoderm. We show that the sea star first likely uses maternally inherited factors and the Wnt and Delta pathways to distinguish neurogenic ectoderm from endomesoderm. The broad neurogenic potential of the ectoderm persists throughout much of gastrulation. Nodal, bone morphogenetic protein 2/4 (Bmp2/4), and Six3-dependent pathways then sculpt a complex ciliary band territory that is defined by the expression of the forkhead transcription factor, foxg. Foxg is needed to define two molecularly distinct ectodermal domains, and for the formation of differentiated neurons along the edge of these two territories. Thus, significantly, Bmp2/4 signaling in sea stars does not distinguish differentiated neurons from nonneuronal ectoderm as it does in many other animals, but instead contributes to the patterning of an ectodermal territory, which then, in turn, provides cues to permit the final steps of neuronal differentiation. The modularity between specification and patterning likely reflects the evolutionary history of this gene regulatory network, in which an ancient module for specification of a broad neurogenic potential ectoderm was subsequently overlaid with a module for patterning.

A stem cell reporter based platform to identify and target drug resistant stem cells in myeloid leukemia.

Intratumoral heterogeneity is a common feature of many myeloid leukemias and a significant reason for treatment failure and relapse. Thus, identifying the cells responsible for residual disease and leukemia re-growth is critical to better understanding how they are regulated. Here, we show that a knock-in reporter mouse for the stem cell gene Musashi 2 (Msi2) allows identification of leukemia stem cells in aggressive myeloid malignancies, and provides a strategy for defining their core dependencies. Specifically, we carry out a high throughput screen using Msi2-reporter blast crisis chronic myeloid leukemia (bcCML) and identify several adhesion molecules that are preferentially expressed in therapy resistant bcCML cells and play a key role in bcCML. In particular, we focus on syndecan-1, whose deletion triggers defects in bcCML growth and propagation and markedly improves survival of transplanted mice. Further, live imaging reveals that the spatiotemporal dynamics of leukemia cells are critically dependent on syndecan signaling, as loss of this signal impairs their localization, migration and dissemination to distant sites. Finally, at a molecular level, syndecan loss directly impairs integrin ß7 function, suggesting that syndecan exerts its influence, at least in part, by coordinating integrin activity in bcCML. These data present a platform for delineating the biological underpinnings of leukemia stem cell function, and highlight the Sdc1-Itgß7 signaling axis as a key regulatory control point for bcCML growth and dissemination.

High-resolution imaging and computational analysis of haematopoietic cell dynamics in vivo.

Although we know a great deal about the phenotype and function of haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, a major challenge has been mapping their dynamic behaviour within living systems. Here we describe a strategy to image cells in vivo with high spatial and temporal resolution, and quantify their interactions using a high-throughput computational approach. Using these tools, and a new Msi2 reporter model, we show that haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells display preferential spatial affinity for contacting the vascular niche, and a temporal affinity for making stable associations with these cells. These preferences are markedly diminished as cells mature, suggesting that programs that control differentiation state are key determinants of spatiotemporal behaviour, and thus dictate the signals a cell receives from specific microenvironmental domains. These collectively demonstrate that high-resolution imaging coupled with computational analysis can provide new biological insight, and may in the long term enable creation of a dynamic atlas of cells within their native microenvironment.

Tetraspanin 3 Is Required for the Development and Propagation of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.

Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) is an aggressive cancer that strikes both adults and children and is frequently resistant to therapy. Thus, identifying signals needed for AML propagation is a critical step toward developing new approaches for treating this disease. Here, we show that Tetraspanin 3 is a target of the RNA binding protein Musashi 2, which plays a key role in AML. We generated Tspan3 knockout mice that were born without overt defects. However, Tspan3 deletion impaired leukemia stem cell self-renewal and disease propagation and markedly improved survival in mouse models of AML. Additionally, Tspan3 inhibition blocked growth of AML patient samples, suggesting that Tspan3 is also important in human disease. As part of the mechanism, we show that Tspan3 deficiency disabled responses to CXCL12/SDF-1 and led to defects in AML localization within the niche. These identify Tspan3 as an important regulator of aggressive leukemias and highlight a role for Tspan3 in oncogenesis.

Lis1 regulates asymmetric division in hematopoietic stem cells and in leukemia.

Cell fate can be controlled through asymmetric division and segregation of protein determinants, but the regulation of this process in the hematopoietic system is poorly understood. Here we show that the dynein-binding protein Lis1 is critically required for hematopoietic stem cell function and leukemogenesis. Conditional deletion of Lis1 (also known as Pafah1b1) in the hematopoietic system led to a severe bloodless phenotype, depletion of the stem cell pool and embryonic lethality. Further, real-time imaging revealed that loss of Lis1 caused defects in spindle positioning and inheritance of cell fate determinants, triggering accelerated differentiation. Finally, deletion of Lis1 blocked the propagation of myeloid leukemia and led to a marked improvement in survival, suggesting that Lis1 is also required for oncogenic growth. These data identify a key role for Lis1 in hematopoietic stem cells and mark its directed control of asymmetric division as a critical regulator of normal and malignant hematopoietic development.