RESUMO
Estrogen receptor α (ERα) is a hormone receptor and key driver for over 70% of breast cancers that has been studied for decades as a transcription factor. Unexpectedly, we discover that ERα is a potent non-canonical RNA-binding protein. We show that ERα RNA binding function is uncoupled from its activity to bind DNA and critical for breast cancer progression. Employing genome-wide cross-linking immunoprecipitation (CLIP) sequencing and a functional CRISPRi screen, we find that ERα-associated mRNAs sustain cancer cell fitness and elicit cellular responses to stress. Mechanistically, ERα controls different steps of RNA metabolism. In particular, we demonstrate that ERα RNA binding mediates alternative splicing of XBP1 and translation of the eIF4G2 and MCL1 mRNAs, which facilitates survival upon stress conditions and sustains tamoxifen resistance of cancer cells. ERα is therefore a multifaceted RNA-binding protein, and this activity transforms our knowledge of post-transcriptional regulation underlying cancer development and drug response.
Assuntos
Neoplasias da Mama/metabolismo , Neoplasias da Mama/patologia , Resistencia a Medicamentos Antineoplásicos , Receptor alfa de Estrogênio/metabolismo , Proteínas de Ligação a RNA/metabolismo , Animais , Sequência de Bases , Neoplasias da Mama/genética , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Sobrevivência Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Sobrevivência Celular/genética , Progressão da Doença , Resistencia a Medicamentos Antineoplásicos/efeitos dos fármacos , Resistencia a Medicamentos Antineoplásicos/genética , Receptor alfa de Estrogênio/química , Fator de Iniciação Eucariótico 4G/genética , Fator de Iniciação Eucariótico 4G/metabolismo , Feminino , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica/efeitos dos fármacos , Genômica , Humanos , Camundongos Endogâmicos NOD , Proteína de Sequência 1 de Leucemia de Células Mieloides/genética , Proteína de Sequência 1 de Leucemia de Células Mieloides/metabolismo , Oncogenes , Ligação Proteica/efeitos dos fármacos , Domínios Proteicos , Splicing de RNA/genética , RNA Mensageiro/genética , RNA Mensageiro/metabolismo , Estresse Fisiológico/efeitos dos fármacos , Estresse Fisiológico/genética , Tamoxifeno/farmacologia , Proteína 1 de Ligação a X-Box/metabolismoRESUMO
Cancer cells often co-opt post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms to achieve pathologic expression of gene networks that drive metastasis. Translational control is a major regulatory hub in oncogenesis; however, its effects on cancer progression remain poorly understood. Here, to address this, we used ribosome profiling to compare genome-wide translation efficiencies of poorly and highly metastatic breast cancer cells and patient-derived xenografts. We developed dedicated regression-based methods to analyse ribosome profiling and alternative polyadenylation data, and identified heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein C (HNRNPC) as a translational controller of a specific mRNA regulon. We found that HNRNPC is downregulated in highly metastatic cells, which causes HNRNPC-bound mRNAs to undergo 3' untranslated region lengthening and, subsequently, translational repression. We showed that modulating HNRNPC expression impacts the metastatic capacity of breast cancer cells in xenograft mouse models. In addition, the reduced expression of HNRNPC and its regulon is associated with the worse prognosis in breast cancer patient cohorts.
Assuntos
Neoplasias da Mama , Processamento Pós-Transcricional do RNA , Humanos , Animais , Camundongos , Feminino , Neoplasias da Mama/patologia , RNA Mensageiro/genética , RNA Mensageiro/metabolismoRESUMO
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), a population of cancer cells that represent the seeds of metastatic nodules, are a promising model system for studying metastasis. However, the expansion of patient-derived CTCs ex vivo is challenging and dependent on the collection of high numbers of CTCs, which are ultra-rare. Here we report the development of a combined CTC and cultured CTC-derived xenograft (CDX) platform for expanding and studying patient-derived CTCs from metastatic colon, lung, and pancreatic cancers. The propagated CTCs yielded a highly aggressive population of cells that could be used to routinely and robustly establish primary tumors and metastatic lesions in CDXs. Differential gene analysis of the resultant CTC models emphasized a role for NF-κB, EMT, and TGFß signaling as pan-cancer signaling pathways involved in metastasis. Furthermore, metastatic CTCs were identified through a prospective five-gene signature (BCAR1, COL1A1, IGSF3, RRAD, and TFPI2). Whole-exome sequencing of CDX models and metastases further identified mutations in constitutive photomorphogenesis protein 1 (COP1) as a potential driver of metastasis. These findings illustrate the utility of the combined patient-derived CTC model and provide a glimpse of the promise of CTCs in identifying drivers of cancer metastasis.
RESUMO
Translation control is essential in balancing hematopoietic precursors and differentiation; however, the mechanisms underlying this program are poorly understood. We found that the activity of the major cap-binding protein eIF4E is unexpectedly regulated in a dynamic manner throughout erythropoiesis that is uncoupled from global protein synthesis rates. Moreover, eIF4E activity directs erythroid maturation, and increased eIF4E expression maintains cells in an early erythroid state associated with a translation program driving the expression of PTPN6 and Igf2bp1. A cytosine-enriched motif in the 5' untranslated region is important for eIF4E-mediated translation specificity. Therefore, selective translation of key target genes necessary for the maintenance of early erythroid states by eIF4E highlights a unique mechanism used by hematopoietic precursors to rapidly elicit erythropoietic maturation upon need.