RESUMO
Tumor growth and relapse are driven by tumor propagating cells (TPCs). However, mechanisms regulating TPC fate choices, maintenance, and self-renewal are not fully understood. Here, we show that Van Gogh-like 2 (Vangl2), a core regulator of the non-canonical Wnt/planar cell polarity (Wnt/PCP) pathway, affects TPC self-renewal in rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS)-a pediatric cancer of muscle. VANGL2 is expressed in a majority of human RMS and within early mononuclear progenitor cells. VANGL2 depletion inhibited cell proliferation, reduced TPC numbers, and induced differentiation of human RMS in vitro and in mouse xenografts. Using a zebrafish model of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS), we determined that Vangl2 expression enriches for TPCs and promotes their self-renewal. Expression of constitutively active and dominant-negative isoforms of RHOA revealed that it acts downstream of VANGL2 to regulate proliferation and maintenance of TPCs in human RMS. Our studies offer insights into pathways that control TPCs and identify new potential therapeutic targets.
Assuntos
Autorrenovação Celular , Peptídeos e Proteínas de Sinalização Intracelular/metabolismo , Proteínas de Membrana/metabolismo , Proteínas Monoméricas de Ligação ao GTP/metabolismo , Células-Tronco Neoplásicas/patologia , Rabdomiossarcoma/patologia , Transdução de Sinais , Proteínas de Peixe-Zebra/metabolismo , Proteína rhoA de Ligação ao GTP/metabolismo , Animais , Diferenciação Celular , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Proliferação de Células , Feminino , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica , Humanos , Masculino , Camundongos , Células-Tronco Neoplásicas/metabolismo , Rabdomiossarcoma/genética , Ensaios Antitumorais Modelo de XenoenxertoRESUMO
Tumor-propagating cells (TPCs) share self-renewal properties with normal stem cells and drive continued tumor growth. However, mechanisms regulating TPC self-renewal are largely unknown, especially in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS)-a common pediatric cancer of muscle. Here, we used a zebrafish transgenic model of ERMS to identify a role for intracellular NOTCH1 (ICN1) in increasing TPCs by 23-fold. ICN1 expanded TPCs by enabling the de-differentiation of zebrafish ERMS cells into self-renewing myf5+ TPCs, breaking the rigid differentiation hierarchies reported in normal muscle. ICN1 also had conserved roles in regulating human ERMS self-renewal and growth. Mechanistically, ICN1 upregulated expression of SNAIL1, a transcriptional repressor, to increase TPC number in human ERMS and to block muscle differentiation through suppressing MEF2C, a myogenic differentiation transcription factor. Our data implicate the NOTCH1/SNAI1/MEF2C signaling axis as a major determinant of TPC self-renewal and differentiation in ERMS, raising hope of therapeutically targeting this pathway in the future.