RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The vertebrate limb bud is a well-established system for studying the mechanisms driving growth and patterning of an embryonic tissue. However, approaches for manipulating gene expression are currently limited to time-consuming methods. Culturing primary limb bud cells could potentially be used as a quicker assay. However, limb cells in culture quickly differentiate into cartilage under normal conditions, and approaches delivering DNA and siRNA into primary limb cells in culture are limited. These technical limitations have restricted the utility of limb buds for investigating problems that require higher-throughput approaches. RESULTS: In this report, we describe adaptations to a method for culturing primary limb bud cells in a pre-chondrogenic state, and generate a population of mouse primary limb cells that are responsive to Hedgehog (Hh) signaling. Hh-stimulated cells upregulate Hh target genes as well as an exogenous Hh-responsive reporter. We then describe a method for highly efficient delivery of plasmids and siRNAs into cultured primary limb bud cells in a 96-well format. CONCLUSIONS: Cultures of primary limb bud cells are amenable to gene manipulation under conditions that maintain the limb cells in an Hh-responsive, undifferentiated state. This approach provides a medium-throughput system to manipulate gene expression, and test DNA regulatory elements.
Assuntos
Botões de Extremidades/metabolismo , Animais , Células Cultivadas , Eletroporação , Regulação da Expressão Gênica no Desenvolvimento/genética , Regulação da Expressão Gênica no Desenvolvimento/fisiologia , Proteínas Hedgehog/genética , Proteínas Hedgehog/metabolismo , Botões de Extremidades/citologia , Camundongos , RNA Interferente Pequeno/genética , RNA Interferente Pequeno/fisiologia , Transdução de Sinais/genética , Transdução de Sinais/fisiologiaRESUMO
The phenomenon of mixed/heterogenous treatment responses to cancer therapies within an individual patient presents a challenging clinical scenario. Furthermore, the molecular basis of mixed intra-patient tumor responses remains unclear. Here, we show that patients with metastatic lung adenocarcinoma harbouring co-mutations of EGFR and TP53, are more likely to have mixed intra-patient tumor responses to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibition (TKI), compared to those with an EGFR mutation alone. The combined presence of whole genome doubling (WGD) and TP53 co-mutations leads to increased genome instability and genomic copy number aberrations in genes implicated in EGFR TKI resistance. Using mouse models and an in vitro isogenic p53-mutant model system, we provide evidence that WGD provides diverse routes to drug resistance by increasing the probability of acquiring copy-number gains or losses relative to non-WGD cells. These data provide a molecular basis for mixed tumor responses to targeted therapy, within an individual patient, with implications for therapeutic strategies.
Assuntos
Instabilidade Cromossômica , Receptores ErbB , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Mutação , Proteína Supressora de Tumor p53 , Humanos , Proteína Supressora de Tumor p53/genética , Proteína Supressora de Tumor p53/metabolismo , Animais , Camundongos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Receptores ErbB/genética , Receptores ErbB/metabolismo , Receptores ErbB/antagonistas & inibidores , Resistencia a Medicamentos Antineoplásicos/genética , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Inibidores de Proteínas Quinases/farmacologia , Inibidores de Proteínas Quinases/uso terapêutico , Adenocarcinoma de Pulmão/genética , Adenocarcinoma de Pulmão/tratamento farmacológico , Adenocarcinoma de Pulmão/patologia , Terapia de Alvo Molecular/métodos , Feminino , Variações do Número de Cópias de DNA , MasculinoRESUMO
The developing limb is one of the best described vertebrate systems for understanding how coordinated gene expression during embryogenesis leads to the structures present in the mature organism. This knowledge, derived from decades of research, is largely based upon gain- and loss-of-function experiments. These studies have provided limited information about how the key signaling pathways interact with each other and the downstream effectors of these pathways. We summarize our current understanding of known genetic interactions in the context of three temporally defined gene regulatory networks. These networks crystallize our current knowledge, depicting a dynamic process involving multiple feedback loops between the ectoderm and mesoderm. At the same time, they highlight the fact that many essential processes are still largely undescribed. Much of the dynamic transcriptional activity occurring during development is regulated by distal cis-regulatory elements. Modern genomic tools have provided new approaches for studying the function of cis-regulatory elements and we discuss the results of these studies in regard to understanding limb development. Ultimately, these genomic techniques will allow scientists to understand how multiple signaling pathways are integrated in space and time to drive gene expression and regulate the formation of the limb.
Assuntos
Extremidades/embriologia , Regulação da Expressão Gênica no Desenvolvimento , Redes Reguladoras de Genes , Morfogênese/genética , Animais , Padronização Corporal/genética , Humanos , Modelos Anatômicos , Modelos GenéticosRESUMO
The number of phalanges and joints are key features of digit 'identity' and are central to limb functionality and evolutionary adaptation. Prior chick work indicated that digit phalanges and their associated joints arise in a different manner than the more sparsely jointed long bones, and their identity is regulated by differential signalling from adjacent interdigits. Currently, there is no genetic evidence for this model, and the molecular mechanisms governing digit joint specification remain poorly understood. Using genetic approaches in mouse, here we show that functional 5'Hoxd-Gli3 antagonism acts indirectly, through Bmp signalling from the interdigital mesenchyme, to regulate specification of joint progenitors, which arise in conjunction with phalangeal precursors at the digit tip. Phalanx number, although co-regulated, can be uncoupled from joint specification. We propose that 5'Hoxd genes and Gli3 are part of an interdigital signalling centre that sets net Bmp signalling levels from different interdigits to coordinately regulate phalanx and joint formation.