Selective Vulnerability to Pyrimidine Starvation in Hematologic Malignancies Revealed by AG-636, a Novel Clinical-Stage Inhibitor of Dihydroorotate Dehydrogenase.

Agents targeting metabolic pathways form the backbone of standard oncology treatments, though a better understanding of differential metabolic dependencies could instruct more rationale-based therapeutic approaches. We performed a chemical biology screen that revealed a strong enrichment in sensitivity to a novel dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) inhibitor, AG-636, in cancer cell lines of hematologic versus solid tumor origin. Differential AG-636 activity translated to the in vivo setting, with complete tumor regression observed in a lymphoma model. Dissection of the relationship between uridine availability and response to AG-636 revealed a divergent ability of lymphoma and solid tumor cell lines to survive and grow in the setting of depleted extracellular uridine and DHODH inhibition. Metabolic characterization paired with unbiased functional genomic and proteomic screens pointed to adaptive mechanisms to cope with nucleotide stress as contributing to response to AG-636. These findings support targeting of DHODH in lymphoma and other hematologic malignancies and suggest combination strategies aimed at interfering with DNA-damage response pathways.

Functional genomic landscape of cancer-intrinsic evasion of killing by T cells.

The genetic circuits that allow cancer cells to evade destruction by the host immune system remain poorly understood1-3. Here, to identify a phenotypically robust core set of genes and pathways that enable cancer cells to evade killing mediated by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), we performed genome-wide CRISPR screens across a panel of genetically diverse mouse cancer cell lines that were cultured in the presence of CTLs. We identify a core set of 182 genes across these mouse cancer models, the individual perturbation of which increases either the sensitivity or the resistance of cancer cells to CTL-mediated toxicity. Systematic exploration of our dataset using genetic co-similarity reveals the hierarchical and coordinated manner in which genes and pathways act in cancer cells to orchestrate their evasion of CTLs, and shows that discrete functional modules that control the interferon response and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-induced cytotoxicity are dominant sub-phenotypes. Our data establish a central role for genes that were previously identified as negative regulators of the type-II interferon response (for example, Ptpn2, Socs1 and Adar1) in mediating CTL evasion, and show that the lipid-droplet-related gene Fitm2 is required for maintaining cell fitness after exposure to interferon-γ (IFNγ). In addition, we identify the autophagy pathway as a conserved mediator of the evasion of CTLs by cancer cells, and show that this pathway is required to resist cytotoxicity induced by the cytokines IFNγ and TNF. Through the mapping of cytokine- and CTL-based genetic interactions, together with in vivo CRISPR screens, we show how the pleiotropic effects of autophagy control cancer-cell-intrinsic evasion of killing by CTLs and we highlight the importance of these effects within the tumour microenvironment. Collectively, these data expand our knowledge of the genetic circuits that are involved in the evasion of the immune system by cancer cells, and highlight genetic interactions that contribute to phenotypes associated with escape from killing by CTLs.

A chemical biology screen identifies a vulnerability of neuroendocrine cancer cells to SQLE inhibition.

Aberrant metabolism of cancer cells is well appreciated, but the identification of cancer subsets with specific metabolic vulnerabilities remains challenging. We conducted a chemical biology screen and identified a subset of neuroendocrine tumors displaying a striking pattern of sensitivity to inhibition of the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway enzyme squalene epoxidase (SQLE). Using a variety of orthogonal approaches, we demonstrate that sensitivity to SQLE inhibition results not from cholesterol biosynthesis pathway inhibition, but rather surprisingly from the specific and toxic accumulation of the SQLE substrate, squalene. These findings highlight SQLE as a potential therapeutic target in a subset of neuroendocrine tumors, particularly small cell lung cancers.

Differential Aspartate Usage Identifies a Subset of Cancer Cells Particularly Dependent on OGDH.

Although aberrant metabolism in tumors has been well described, the identification of cancer subsets with particular metabolic vulnerabilities has remained challenging. Here, we conducted an siRNA screen focusing on enzymes involved in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and uncovered a striking range of cancer cell dependencies on OGDH, the E1 subunit of the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex. Using an integrative metabolomics approach, we identified differential aspartate utilization, via the malate-aspartate shuttle, as a predictor of whether OGDH is required for proliferation in 3D culture assays and for the growth of xenograft tumors. These findings highlight an anaplerotic role of aspartate and, more broadly, suggest that differential nutrient utilization patterns can identify subsets of cancers with distinct metabolic dependencies for potential pharmacological intervention.

The rate of protein synthesis in hematopoietic stem cells is limited partly by 4E-BPs.

Adult stem cells must limit their rate of protein synthesis, but the underlying mechanisms remain largely unexplored. Differences in protein synthesis among hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and progenitor cells did not correlate with differences in proteasome activity, total RNA content, mRNA content, or cell division rate. However, adult HSCs had more hypophosphorylated eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1 (4E-BP1) and 4E-BP2 as compared with most other hematopoietic progenitors. Deficiency for 4E-BP1 and 4E-BP2 significantly increased global protein synthesis in HSCs, but not in other hematopoietic progenitors, and impaired their reconstituting activity, identifying a mechanism that promotes HSC maintenance by attenuating protein synthesis.

Stress from Nucleotide Depletion Activates the Transcriptional Regulator HEXIM1 to Suppress Melanoma.

Studying cancer metabolism gives insight into tumorigenic survival mechanisms and susceptibilities. In melanoma, we identify HEXIM1, a transcription elongation regulator, as a melanoma tumor suppressor that responds to nucleotide stress. HEXIM1 expression is low in melanoma. Its overexpression in a zebrafish melanoma model suppresses cancer formation, while its inactivation accelerates tumor onset in vivo. Knockdown of HEXIM1 rescues zebrafish neural crest defects and human melanoma proliferation defects that arise from nucleotide depletion. Under nucleotide stress, HEXIM1 is induced to form an inhibitory complex with P-TEFb, the kinase that initiates transcription elongation, to inhibit elongation at tumorigenic genes. The resulting alteration in gene expression also causes anti-tumorigenic RNAs to bind to and be stabilized by HEXIM1. HEXIM1 plays an important role in inhibiting cancer cell-specific gene transcription while also facilitating anti-cancer gene expression. Our study reveals an important role for HEXIM1 in coupling nucleotide metabolism with transcriptional regulation in melanoma.

Activation of proto-oncogenes by disruption of chromosome neighborhoods.

Oncogenes are activated through well-known chromosomal alterations such as gene fusion, translocation, and focal amplification. In light of recent evidence that the control of key genes depends on chromosome structures called insulated neighborhoods, we investigated whether proto-oncogenes occur within these structures and whether oncogene activation can occur via disruption of insulated neighborhood boundaries in cancer cells. We mapped insulated neighborhoods in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and found that tumor cell genomes contain recurrent microdeletions that eliminate the boundary sites of insulated neighborhoods containing prominent T-ALL proto-oncogenes. Perturbation of such boundaries in nonmalignant cells was sufficient to activate proto-oncogenes. Mutations affecting chromosome neighborhood boundaries were found in many types of cancer. Thus, oncogene activation can occur via genetic alterations that disrupt insulated neighborhoods in malignant cells.

A zebrafish melanoma model reveals emergence of neural crest identity during melanoma initiation.

The "cancerized field" concept posits that cancer-prone cells in a given tissue share an oncogenic mutation, but only discreet clones within the field initiate tumors. Most benign nevi carry oncogenic BRAF(V600E) mutations but rarely become melanoma. The zebrafish crestin gene is expressed embryonically in neural crest progenitors (NCPs) and specifically reexpressed in melanoma. Live imaging of transgenic zebrafish crestin reporters shows that within a cancerized field (BRAF(V600E)-mutant; p53-deficient), a single melanocyte reactivates the NCP state, revealing a fate change at melanoma initiation in this model. NCP transcription factors, including sox10, regulate crestin expression. Forced sox10 overexpression in melanocytes accelerated melanoma formation, which is consistent with activation of NCP genes and super-enhancers leading to melanoma. Our work highlights NCP state reemergence as a key event in melanoma initiation.

3D Chromosome Regulatory Landscape of Human Pluripotent Cells.

In this study, we describe the 3D chromosome regulatory landscape of human naive and primed embryonic stem cells. To devise this map, we identified transcriptional enhancers and insulators in these cells and placed them within the context of cohesin-associated CTCF-CTCF loops using cohesin ChIA-PET data. The CTCF-CTCF loops we identified form a chromosomal framework of insulated neighborhoods, which in turn form topologically associating domains (TADs) that are largely preserved during the transition between the naive and primed states. Regulatory changes in enhancer-promoter interactions occur within insulated neighborhoods during cell state transition. The CTCF anchor regions we identified are conserved across species, influence gene expression, and are a frequent site of mutations in cancer cells, underscoring their functional importance in cellular regulation. These 3D regulatory maps of human pluripotent cells therefore provide a foundation for future interrogation of the relationships between chromosome structure and gene control in development and disease.

A Systematic Approach to Identify Candidate Transcription Factors that Control Cell Identity.

Hundreds of transcription factors (TFs) are expressed in each cell type, but cell identity can be induced through the activity of just a small number of core TFs. Systematic identification of these core TFs for a wide variety of cell types is currently lacking and would establish a foundation for understanding the transcriptional control of cell identity in development, disease, and cell-based therapy. Here, we describe a computational approach that generates an atlas of candidate core TFs for a broad spectrum of human cells. The potential impact of the atlas was demonstrated via cellular reprogramming efforts where candidate core TFs proved capable of converting human fibroblasts to retinal pigment epithelial-like cells. These results suggest that candidate core TFs from the atlas will prove a useful starting point for studying transcriptional control of cell identity and reprogramming in many human cell types.

Direct lineage conversion of adult mouse liver cells and B lymphocytes to neural stem cells.

Overexpression of transcription factors has been used to directly reprogram somatic cells into a range of other differentiated cell types, including multipotent neural stem cells (NSCs), that can be used to generate neurons and glia. However, the ability to maintain the NSC state independent of the inducing factors and the identity of the somatic donor cells remain two important unresolved issues in transdifferentiation. Here we used transduction of doxycycline-inducible transcription factors to generate stable tripotent NSCs. The induced NSCs (iNSCs) maintained their characteristics in the absence of exogenous factor expression and were transcriptionally, epigenetically, and functionally similar to primary brain-derived NSCs. Importantly, we also generated tripotent iNSCs from multiple adult cell types, including mature liver and B cells. Our results show that self-maintaining proliferative neural cells can be induced from nonectodermal cells by expressing specific combinations of transcription factors.

Control of cell identity genes occurs in insulated neighborhoods in mammalian chromosomes.

The pluripotent state of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is produced by active transcription of genes that control cell identity and repression of genes encoding lineage-specifying developmental regulators. Here, we use ESC cohesin ChIA-PET data to identify the local chromosomal structures at both active and repressed genes across the genome. The results produce a map of enhancer-promoter interactions and reveal that super-enhancer-driven genes generally occur within chromosome structures that are formed by the looping of two interacting CTCF sites co-occupied by cohesin. These looped structures form insulated neighborhoods whose integrity is important for proper expression of local genes. We also find that repressed genes encoding lineage-specifying developmental regulators occur within insulated neighborhoods. These results provide insights into the relationship between transcriptional control of cell identity genes and control of local chromosome structure.

Systematic identification of culture conditions for induction and maintenance of naive human pluripotency.

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) of mice and humans have distinct molecular and biological characteristics, raising the question of whether an earlier, "naive" state of pluripotency may exist in humans. Here we took a systematic approach to identify small molecules that support self-renewal of naive human ESCs based on maintenance of endogenous OCT4 distal enhancer activity, a molecular signature of ground state pluripotency. Iterative chemical screening identified a combination of five kinase inhibitors that induces and maintains OCT4 distal enhancer activity when applied directly to conventional human ESCs. These inhibitors generate human pluripotent cells in which transcription factors associated with the ground state of pluripotency are highly upregulated and bivalent chromatin domains are depleted. Comparison with previously reported naive human ESCs indicates that our conditions capture a distinct pluripotent state in humans that closely resembles that of mouse ESCs. This study presents a framework for defining the culture requirements of naive human pluripotent cells.

Genome-wide localization of small molecules.

A vast number of small-molecule ligands, including therapeutic drugs under development and in clinical use, elicit their effects by binding specific proteins associated with the genome. An ability to map the direct interactions of a chemical entity with chromatin genome-wide could provide important insights into chemical perturbation of cellular function. Here we describe a method that couples ligand-affinity capture and massively parallel DNA sequencing (Chem-seq) to identify the sites bound by small chemical molecules throughout the human genome. We show how Chem-seq can be combined with ChIP-seq to gain unique insights into the interaction of drugs with their target proteins throughout the genome of tumor cells. These methods will be broadly useful to enhance understanding of therapeutic action and to characterize the specificity of chemical entities that interact with DNA or genome-associated proteins.

Single-molecule mRNA detection and counting in mammalian tissue.

We present a protocol for visualizing and quantifying single mRNA molecules in mammalian (mouse and human) tissues. In the approach described here, sets of about 50 short oligonucleotides, each labeled with a single fluorophore, are hybridized to target mRNAs in tissue sections. Each set binds to a single mRNA molecule and can be detected by fluorescence microscopy as a diffraction-limited spot. Tissue architecture is then assessed by counterstaining the sections with DNA dye (DAPI), and cell borders can be visualized with a dye-coupled antibody. Spots are detected automatically with custom-made software, which we make freely available. The mRNA molecules thus detected are assigned to single cells within a tissue semiautomatically by using a graphical user interface developed in our laboratory. In this protocol, we describe an example of quantitative analysis of mRNA levels and localization in mouse small intestine. The procedure (from tissue dissection to obtaining data sets) takes 3 d. Data analysis will require an additional 3-7 d, depending on the type of analysis.

Selective HDAC1/HDAC2 inhibitors induce neuroblastoma differentiation.

While cytotoxic chemotherapy remains the hallmark of cancer treatment, intensive regimens fall short in many malignancies, including high-risk neuroblastoma. One alternative strategy is to therapeutically promote tumor differentiation. We created a gene expression signature to measure neuroblast maturation, adapted it to a high-throughput platform, and screened a diversity oriented synthesis-generated small-molecule library for differentiation inducers. We identified BRD8430, containing a nine-membered lactam, an ortho-amino anilide functionality, and three chiral centers, as a selective class I histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor (HDAC1 > 2 > 3). Further investigation demonstrated that selective HDAC1/HDAC2 inhibition using compounds or RNA interference induced differentiation and decreased viability in neuroblastoma cell lines. Combined treatment with 13-cis retinoic acid augmented these effects and enhanced activation of retinoic acid signaling. Therefore, by applying a chemical genomic screening approach, we identified selective HDAC1/HDAC2 inhibition as a strategy to induce neuroblastoma differentiation.

Core transcriptional regulatory circuit controlled by the TAL1 complex in human T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The oncogenic transcription factor TAL1/SCL is aberrantly expressed in over 40% of cases of human T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), emphasizing its importance in the molecular pathogenesis of T-ALL. Here we identify the core transcriptional regulatory circuit controlled by TAL1 and its regulatory partners HEB, E2A, LMO1/2, GATA3, and RUNX1. We show that TAL1 forms a positive interconnected autoregulatory loop with GATA3 and RUNX1 and that the TAL1 complex directly activates the MYB oncogene, forming a positive feed-forward regulatory loop that reinforces and stabilizes the TAL1-regulated oncogenic program. One of the critical downstream targets in this circuitry is the TRIB2 gene, which is oppositely regulated by TAL1 and E2A/HEB and is essential for the survival of T-ALL cells.

Nanog-like regulates endoderm formation through the Mxtx2-Nodal pathway.

In mammalian embryonic stem cells, the acquisition of pluripotency is dependent on Nanog, but the in vivo analysis of Nanog has been hampered by its requirement for early mouse development. In an effort to examine the role of Nanog in vivo, we identified a zebrafish Nanog ortholog and found that its knockdown impaired endoderm formation. Genome-wide transcription analysis revealed that nanog-like morphants fail to develop the extraembryonic yolk syncytial layer (YSL), which produces Nodal, required for endoderm induction. We examined the genes that were regulated by Nanog-like and identified the homeobox gene mxtx2, which is both necessary and sufficient for YSL induction. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays and genetic studies indicated that Nanog-like directly activates mxtx2, which, in turn, specifies the YSL lineage by directly activating YSL genes. Our study identifies a Nanog-like-Mxtx2-Nodal pathway and establishes a role for Nanog-like in regulating the formation of the extraembryonic tissue required for endoderm induction.