RESUMEN
Estrogen therapy increases the risk of ovarian cancer and exogenous estradiol accelerates the onset of ovarian cancer in mouse models. Both in vivo and in vitro, ovarian surface epithelial (OSE) cells exposed to estradiol develop a subpopulation that loses cell polarity, contact inhibition, and forms multi-layered foci of dysplastic cells with increased susceptibility to transformation. Here, we use single-cell RNA-sequencing to characterize this dysplastic subpopulation and identify the transcriptional dynamics involved in its emergence. Estradiol-treated cells were characterized by up-regulation of genes associated with proliferation, metabolism, and survival pathways. Pseudotemporal ordering revealed that OSE cells occupy a largely linear phenotypic spectrum that, in estradiol-treated cells, diverges towards cell state consistent with the dysplastic population. This divergence is characterized by the activation of various cancer-associated pathways including an increase in Greb1 which was validated in fallopian tube epithelium and human ovarian cancers. Taken together, this work reveals possible mechanisms by which estradiol increases epithelial cell susceptibility to tumour initiation.
Asunto(s)
Estradiol/efectos adversos , Ovario/efectos de los fármacos , Ovario/metabolismo , Animales , Polaridad Celular/efectos de los fármacos , Proliferación Celular/efectos de los fármacos , Supervivencia Celular/efectos de los fármacos , Transformación Celular Neoplásica/efectos de los fármacos , Transformación Celular Neoplásica/genética , Transformación Celular Neoplásica/metabolismo , Células Cultivadas , Inhibición de Contacto/efectos de los fármacos , Epitelio/efectos de los fármacos , Epitelio/metabolismo , Epitelio/patología , Femenino , Humanos , Proteínas de la Membrana , Ratones , Ovario/patología , Fenotipo , Proteínas/genética , Proteínas/metabolismo , Análisis de Secuencia de ARN , Transducción de Señal/efectos de los fármacos , Análisis de la Célula IndividualRESUMEN
Estrogenic hormone replacement therapy increases the risk of developing ovarian cancer, and estrogen promotes tumour initiation and growth in mouse models of this disease. GREB1 (Growth regulation by estrogen in breast cancer 1) is an ESR1 (estrogen receptor 1)-upregulated protein which may mediate estrogen action. GREB1 knockdown prevents hormone-driven proliferation of several breast and prostate cancer cell lines and prolongs survival of mice engrafted with ovarian cancer cells, but its mechanism of action remains unclear. In this study, we explored GREB1 function in ovarian cancer. GREB1 overexpression in ovarian cancer cell lines increased cell proliferation and migration and promoted a mesenchymal morphology associated with increased Col1a2, which encodes a collagen I subunit. GREB1 knockdown inhibited proliferation and promoted an epithelial morphology associated with decreased Col1a2. In human tissues, GREB1 was expressed in all ESR1-expressing tissues throughout the normal female reproductive tract, in addition to several tissues that did not show ESR1 expression. In a TMA of ovarian cancer cases, GREB1 was expressed in 75-85% of serous, endometrioid, mucinous, and clear cell carcinomas. Serous, endometrioid, and mucinous ovarian cancers were almost always positive for either ESR1 or GREB1, suggesting a possible reliance on signalling through ESR1 and/or GREB1. Targeting GREB1 may inhibit tumour-promoting pathways both downstream and independent of ESR1 and is therefore a possible treatment strategy worthy of further investigation.