Senescence-Induced Vascular Remodeling Creates Therapeutic Vulnerabilities in Pancreas Cancer.

KRAS mutant pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by a desmoplastic response that promotes hypovascularity, immunosuppression, and resistance to chemo- and immunotherapies. We show that a combination of MEK and CDK4/6 inhibitors that target KRAS-directed oncogenic signaling can suppress PDAC proliferation through induction of retinoblastoma (RB) protein-mediated senescence. In preclinical mouse models of PDAC, this senescence-inducing therapy produces a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) that includes pro-angiogenic factors that promote tumor vascularization, which in turn enhances drug delivery and efficacy of cytotoxic gemcitabine chemotherapy. In addition, SASP-mediated endothelial cell activation stimulates the accumulation of CD8+ T cells into otherwise immunologically "cold" tumors, sensitizing tumors to PD-1 checkpoint blockade. Therefore, in PDAC models, therapy-induced senescence can establish emergent susceptibilities to otherwise ineffective chemo- and immunotherapies through SASP-dependent effects on the tumor vasculature and immune system.

Guidelines and definitions for research on epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) encompasses dynamic changes in cellular organization from epithelial to mesenchymal phenotypes, which leads to functional changes in cell migration and invasion. EMT occurs in a diverse range of physiological and pathological conditions and is driven by a conserved set of inducing signals, transcriptional regulators and downstream effectors. With over 5,700 publications indexed by Web of Science in 2019 alone, research on EMT is expanding rapidly. This growing interest warrants the need for a consensus among researchers when referring to and undertaking research on EMT. This Consensus Statement, mediated by 'the EMT International Association' (TEMTIA), is the outcome of a 2-year-long discussion among EMT researchers and aims to both clarify the nomenclature and provide definitions and guidelines for EMT research in future publications. We trust that these guidelines will help to reduce misunderstanding and misinterpretation of research data generated in various experimental models and to promote cross-disciplinary collaboration to identify and address key open questions in this research field. While recognizing the importance of maintaining diversity in experimental approaches and conceptual frameworks, we emphasize that lasting contributions of EMT research to increasing our understanding of developmental processes and combatting cancer and other diseases depend on the adoption of a unified terminology to describe EMT.

Hippo pathway activity influences liver cell fate.

The Hippo-signaling pathway is an important regulator of cellular proliferation and organ size. However, little is known about the role of this cascade in the control of cell fate. Employing a combination of lineage tracing, clonal analysis, and organoid culture approaches, we demonstrate that Hippo pathway activity is essential for the maintenance of the differentiated hepatocyte state. Remarkably, acute inactivation of Hippo pathway signaling in vivo is sufficient to dedifferentiate, at very high efficiencies, adult hepatocytes into cells bearing progenitor characteristics. These hepatocyte-derived progenitor cells demonstrate self-renewal and engraftment capacity at the single-cell level. We also identify the NOTCH-signaling pathway as a functional important effector downstream of the Hippo transducer YAP. Our findings uncover a potent role for Hippo/YAP signaling in controlling liver cell fate and reveal an unprecedented level of phenotypic plasticity in mature hepatocytes, which has implications for the understanding and manipulation of liver regeneration.

Mutant p53 regulates Survivin to foster lung metastasis.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide and evolves often to lung metastasis. P53R175H (homologous to Trp53R172H in mice) is a common hot spot mutation. How metastasis is regulated by p53R175H in ESCC remains to be investigated. To investigate p53R175H-mediated molecular mechanisms, we used a carcinogen-induced approach in Trp53R172H/- mice to model ESCC. In the primary Trp53R172H/- tumor cell lines, we depleted Trp53R172H (shTrp53) and observed a marked reduction in cell invasion in vitro and lung metastasis burden in a tail-vein injection model in comparing isogenic cells (shCtrl). Furthermore, we performed bulk RNA-seq to compare gene expression profiles of metastatic and primary shCtrl and shTrp53 cells. We identified the YAP-BIRC5 axis as a potential mediator of Trp53R172H -mediated metastasis. We demonstrate that expression of Survivin, an antiapoptotic protein encoded by BIRC5, increases in the presence of Trp53R172H Furthermore, depletion of Survivin specifically decreases Trp53R172H-driven lung metastasis. Mechanistically, Trp53R172H but not wild-type Trp53, binds with YAP in ESCC cells, suggesting their cooperation to induce Survivin expression. Furthermore, Survivin high expression level is associated with increased metastasis in several GI cancers. Taken together, this study unravels new insights into how mutant p53 mediates metastasis.

Adult cell plasticity in vivo: de-differentiation and transdifferentiation are back in style.

Biologists have long been intrigued by the possibility that cells can change their identity, a phenomenon known as cellular plasticity. The discovery that terminally differentiated cells can be experimentally coaxed to become pluripotent has invigorated the field, and recent studies have demonstrated that changes in cell identity are not limited to the laboratory. Specifically, certain adult cells retain the capacity to de-differentiate or transdifferentiate under physiological conditions, as part of an organ's normal injury response. Recent studies have highlighted the extent to which cell plasticity contributes to tissue homeostasis, findings that have implications for cell-based therapy.

Tumor Cell-Intrinsic Factors Underlie Heterogeneity of Immune Cell Infiltration and Response to Immunotherapy.

The biological and functional heterogeneity between tumors-both across and within cancer types-poses a challenge for immunotherapy. To understand the factors underlying tumor immune heterogeneity and immunotherapy sensitivity, we established a library of congenic tumor cell clones from an autochthonous mouse model of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. These clones generated tumors that recapitulated T cell-inflamed and non-T-cell-inflamed tumor microenvironments upon implantation in immunocompetent mice, with distinct patterns of infiltration by immune cell subsets. Co-injecting tumor cell clones revealed the non-T-cell-inflamed phenotype is dominant and that both quantitative and qualitative features of intratumoral CD8+ T cells determine response to therapy. Transcriptomic and epigenetic analyses revealed tumor-cell-intrinsic production of the chemokine CXCL1 as a determinant of the non-T-cell-inflamed microenvironment, and ablation of CXCL1 promoted T cell infiltration and sensitivity to a combination immunotherapy regimen. Thus, tumor cell-intrinsic factors shape the tumor immune microenvironment and influence the outcome of immunotherapy.

EMT and dissemination precede pancreatic tumor formation.

Metastasis is the leading cause of cancer-associated death but has been difficult to study because it involves a series of rare, stochastic events. To capture these events, we developed a sensitive method to tag and track pancreatic epithelial cells in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer. Tagged cells invaded and entered the bloodstream unexpectedly early, before frank malignancy could be detected by rigorous histologic analysis; this behavior was widely associated with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Circulating pancreatic cells maintained a mesenchymal phenotype, exhibited stem cell properties, and seeded the liver. EMT and invasiveness were most abundant at inflammatory foci, and induction of pancreatitis increased the number of circulating pancreatic cells. Conversely, treatment with the immunosuppressive agent dexamethasone abolished dissemination. These results provide insight into the earliest events of cellular invasion in situ and suggest that inflammation enhances cancer progression in part by facilitating EMT and entry into the circulation.

Transdifferentiation occurs without resetting development-specific DNA methylation, a key determinant of full-function cell identity.

A number of studies have demonstrated that it is possible to directly convert one cell type to another by factor-mediated transdifferentiation, but in the vast majority of cases, the resulting reprogrammed cells are unable to maintain their new cell identity for prolonged culture times and have a phenotype only partially similar to their endogenous counterparts. To better understand this phenomenon, we developed an analytical approach for better characterizing trans-differentiation-associated changes in DNA methylation, a major determinant of long-term cell identity. By examining various models of transdifferentiation both in vitro and in vivo, our studies indicate that despite convincing expression changes, transdifferentiated cells seem unable to alter their original developmentally mandated methylation patterns. We propose that this blockage is due to basic developmental limitations built into the regulatory sequences that govern epigenetic programming of cell identity. These results shed light on the molecular rules necessary to achieve complete somatic cell reprogramming.

Hypermetabolic state is associated with circadian rhythm disruption in mouse and human cancer cells.

Crosstalk between metabolism and circadian rhythms is a fundamental building block of multicellular life, and disruption of this reciprocal communication could be relevant to disease. Here, we investigated whether maintenance of circadian rhythms depends on specific metabolic pathways, particularly in the context of cancer. We found that in adult mouse fibroblasts, ATP levels were a major contributor to signal from a clock gene luciferase reporter, although not necessarily to the strength of circadian cycling. In contrast, we identified significant metabolic control of circadian function across a series of pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines. Metabolic profiling of congenic tumor cell clones revealed substantial diversity among these lines that we used to identify clones to generate circadian reporter lines. We observed diverse circadian profiles among these lines that varied with their metabolic phenotype: The most hypometabolic line [exhibiting low levels of oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) and glycolysis] had the strongest rhythms, while the most hypermetabolic line had the weakest rhythms. Pharmacological enhancement of OxPhos decreased the amplitude of circadian oscillation in a subset of tumor cell lines. Strikingly, inhibition of OxPhos enhanced circadian rhythms only in the tumor cell line in which glycolysis was also low, thereby establishing a hypometabolic state. We further analyzed metabolic and circadian phenotypes across a panel of human patient-derived melanoma cell lines and observed a significant negative association between metabolic activity and circadian cycling strength. Together, these findings suggest that metabolic heterogeneity in cancer directly contributes to circadian function and that high levels of glycolysis or OxPhos independently disrupt circadian rhythms in these cells.

The yin and yang of pioneer transcription factors: Dual roles in repression and activation.

Pioneer transcription factors, by virtue of their ability to target nucleosomal DNA in silent chromatin, play crucial roles in eliciting cell fate decisions during development and cellular reprogramming. In addition to their well-established role in chromatin opening to activate gene expression programs, recent studies have demonstrated that pioneer factors have the complementary function of being able to silence the starting cell identity through targeted chromatin repression. Given recent discoveries regarding the repressive aspect of pioneer function, we discuss the basis by which pioneer factors can suppress alternative lineage programs in the context of cell fate control.

Protein biomarkers and alternatively methylated cell-free DNA detect early stage pancreatic cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is commonly diagnosed at an advanced stage. Liquid biopsy approaches may facilitate detection of early stage PDAC when curative treatments can be employed. DESIGN: To assess circulating marker discrimination in training, testing and validation patient cohorts (total n=426 patients), plasma markers were measured among PDAC cases and patients with chronic pancreatitis, colorectal cancer (CRC), and healthy controls. Using CA19-9 as an anchor marker, measurements were made of two protein markers (TIMP1, LRG1) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) pancreas-specific methylation at 9 loci encompassing 61 CpG sites. RESULTS: Comparative methylome analysis identified nine loci that were differentially methylated in exocrine pancreas DNA. In the training set (n=124 patients), cfDNA methylation markers distinguished PDAC from healthy and CRC controls. In the testing set of 86 early stage PDAC and 86 matched healthy controls, CA19-9 had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.88 (95% CI 0.83 to 0.94), which was increased by adding TIMP1 (AUC 0.92; 95% CI 0.88 to 0.96; p=0.06), LRG1 (AUC 0.92; 95% CI 0.88 to 0.96; p=0.02) or exocrine pancreas-specific cfDNA methylation markers at nine loci (AUC 0.92; 95% CI 0.88 to 0.96; p=0.02). In the validation set of 40 early stage PDAC and 40 matched healthy controls, a combined panel including CA19-9, TIMP1 and a 9-loci cfDNA methylation panel had greater discrimination (AUC 0.86, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.95) than CA19-9 alone (AUC 0.82; 95% CI 0.72 to 0.92). CONCLUSION: A combined panel of circulating markers including proteins and methylated cfDNA increased discrimination compared with CA19-9 alone for early stage PDAC.

Rapid in vivo multiplexed editing (RIME) of the adult mouse liver.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Assessing mammalian gene function in vivo has traditionally relied on manipulation of the mouse genome in embryonic stem cells or perizygotic embryos. These approaches are time-consuming and require extensive breeding when simultaneous mutations in multiple genes is desired. The aim of this study is to introduce a rapid in vivo multiplexed editing (RIME) method and provide proof of concept of this system. APPROACH AND RESULTS: RIME, a system wherein CRISPR/caspase 9 technology, paired with adeno-associated viruses (AAVs), permits the inactivation of one or more genes in the adult mouse liver. The method is quick, requiring as little as 1 month from conceptualization to knockout, and highly efficient, enabling editing in >95% of target cells. To highlight its use, we used this system to inactivate, alone or in combination, genes with functions spanning metabolism, mitosis, mitochondrial maintenance, and cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: RIME enables the rapid, efficient, and inexpensive analysis of multiple genes in the mouse liver in vivo .

Nomenclature for cellular plasticity: are the terms as plastic as the cells themselves?

It is now recognized that cell identity is more fluid, and tissues more plastic, than previously thought. The plasticity of cells is relevant to diverse fields, most notably developmental and stem cell biology, regenerative medicine, and cancer biology. To date, a comprehensive and uniform nomenclature to define distinct cell states and their injury-induced interconversions has been elusive. The first Keystone Symposium devoted exclusively to cellular plasticity in regeneration and tumorigenesis was held on January 2019 in Keystone, Colorado, and featured a workshop on terminology in the cell plasticity field. Definitions for terms such as plasticity, de- and transdifferentiation, reversion, and paligenosis were discussed. Here, we summarize the content and tenor of the symposium and nomenclature-focused workshop with regard to terms in the field. We outline the challenges with current definitions and recommend best practices and approaches to developing an accurate and acceptable nomenclature in the future.

Cell Cycle Regulation Meets Tumor Immunosuppression.

Reciprocal interactions between tumor cells and immune cells shape the tumor microenvironment. Recent studies indicate that enhanced cell cycle activity in cancer cells suppresses antitumor immunity. Herein we discuss potential mechanisms by which cell cycle programs intrinsic to tumor cells are coupled to immune behavior, with consequences for immunotherapy.

Antiviral autophagy restrictsRift Valley fever virus infection and is conserved from flies to mammals.

Autophagy has been implicated as a component of host defense, but the significance of antimicrobial autophagy in vivo and the mechanism by which it is regulated during infection are poorly defined. Here we found that antiviral autophagy was conserved in flies and mammals during infection with Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV), a mosquito-borne virus that causes disease in humans and livestock. In Drosophila, Toll-7 limited RVFV replication and mortality through activation of autophagy. RVFV infection also elicited autophagy in mouse and human cells, and viral replication was increased in the absence of autophagy genes. The mammalian Toll-like receptor adaptor, MyD88, was required for anti-RVFV autophagy, revealing an evolutionarily conserved requirement for pattern-recognition receptors in antiviral autophagy. Pharmacologic activation of autophagy inhibited RVFV infection in mammalian cells, including primary hepatocytes and neurons. Thus, autophagy modulation might be an effective strategy for treating RVFV infection, which lacks approved vaccines and therapeutics.

Calcium signaling induces a partial EMT.

Epithelial plasticity, or epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), is a well-recognized form of cellular plasticity, which endows tumor cells with invasive properties and alters their sensitivity to various agents, thus representing a major challenge to cancer therapy. It is increasingly accepted that carcinoma cells exist along a continuum of hybrid epithelial-mesenchymal (E-M) states and that cells exhibiting such partial EMT (P-EMT) states have greater metastatic competence than those characterized by either extreme (E or M). We described recently a P-EMT program operating in vivo by which carcinoma cells lose their epithelial state through post-translational programs. Here, we investigate the underlying mechanisms and report that prolonged calcium signaling induces a P-EMT characterized by the internalization of membrane-associated E-cadherin (ECAD) and other epithelial proteins as well as an increase in cellular migration and invasion. Signaling through Gαq-associated G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) recapitulates these effects, which operate through the downstream activation of calmodulin-Camk2b signaling. These results implicate calcium signaling as a trigger for the acquisition of hybrid/partial epithelial-mesenchymal states in carcinoma cells.

Dynamic Transcriptional and Epigenetic Changes Drive Cellular Plasticity in the Liver.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Following liver injury, a fraction of hepatocytes adopt features of biliary epithelial cells (BECs) in a process known as biliary reprogramming. The aim of this study was to elucidate the molecular events accompanying this dramatic shift in cellular identity. APPROACH AND RESULTS: We applied the techniques of bulk RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), single-cell RNA-seq, and assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with high-throughput sequencing to define the epigenetic and transcriptional changes associated with biliary reprogramming. In addition, we examined the role of TGF-ß signaling by profiling cells undergoing reprogramming in mice with hepatocyte-specific deletion in the downstream TGF-ß signaling component mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (Smad4). Biliary reprogramming followed a stereotyped pattern of altered gene expression consisting of robust induction of biliary genes and weaker repression of hepatocyte genes. These changes in gene expression were accompanied by corresponding modifications at the chromatin level. Although some reprogrammed cells had molecular features of "fully differentiated" BECs, most lacked some biliary characteristics and retained some hepatocyte characteristics. Surprisingly, single-cell analysis of Smad4 mutant mice revealed a dramatic increase in reprogramming. CONCLUSION: Hepatocytes undergo widespread chromatin and transcriptional changes during biliary reprogramming, resulting in epigenetic and gene expression profiles that are similar to, but distinct from, native BECs. Reprogramming involves a progressive accumulation of biliary molecular features without discrete intermediates. Paradoxically, canonical TGF-ß signaling through Smad4 appears to constrain biliary reprogramming, indicating that TGF-ß can either promote or inhibit biliary differentiation depending on which downstream components of the pathway are engaged. This work has implications for the formation of BECs and bile ducts in the adult liver.

LATS1/2 suppress NFκB and aberrant EMT initiation to permit pancreatic progenitor differentiation.

The Hippo pathway directs cell differentiation during organogenesis, in part by restricting proliferation. How Hippo signaling maintains a proliferation-differentiation balance in developing tissues via distinct molecular targets is only beginning to be understood. Our study makes the unexpected finding that Hippo suppresses nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NFκB) signaling in pancreatic progenitors to permit cell differentiation and epithelial morphogenesis. We find that pancreas-specific deletion of the large tumor suppressor kinases 1 and 2 (Lats1/2PanKO) from mouse progenitor epithelia results in failure to differentiate key pancreatic lineages: acinar, ductal, and endocrine. We carried out an unbiased transcriptome analysis to query differentiation defects in Lats1/2PanKO. This analysis revealed increased expression of NFκB activators, including the pantetheinase vanin1 (Vnn1). Using in vivo and ex vivo studies, we show that VNN1 activates a detrimental cascade of processes in Lats1/2PanKO epithelium, including (1) NFκB activation and (2) aberrant initiation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which together disrupt normal differentiation. We show that exogenous stimulation of VNN1 or NFκB can trigger this cascade in wild-type (WT) pancreatic progenitors. These findings reveal an unexpected requirement for active suppression of NFκB by LATS1/2 during pancreas development, which restrains a cell-autonomous deleterious transcriptional program and thereby allows epithelial differentiation.