Oncogene (ONCOGENE)

Publications in this journal

• Article: Genome-wide mechanisms of Smad binding.

  Morikawa M, Koinuma D, Miyazono K, Heldin CH
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  ABSTRACT: A dual role of transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), to both suppress and promote tumor progression and metastasis, has been well established, but its molecular basis has remained elusive. In this review, we focus on Smad proteins, which are central mediators of the signal transduction of TGF-β family members. We describe current knowledge of cell-type-specific binding patterns of Smad proteins and mechanisms of transcriptional regulation, obtained from recent studies on genome-wide binding sites of Smad molecules. We also discuss potential application of the genome-wide analyses for cancer research, which will allow clarification of the complex mechanisms occurring during cancer progression, and the identification of potential biomarkers for future cancer diagnosis, prognosis and therapy.
  Oncogene 03/2013; 32(13):1609-15.
• Article: Non-canonical Notch signaling activates IL-6/JAK/STAT signaling in breast tumor cells and is controlled by p53 and IKKα/IKKβ Jin S, Mutvei AP, Chivukula IV, Andersson ER, Ramsköld D, Sandberg R, Lee KL, Kronqvist P, Mamaeva V, Ostling P, Mpindi JP, Kallioniemi O, Screpanti I, Poellinger L, Sahlgren C, Lendahl U. Oncogene. 2012 Nov 26

  Jin S, Mutvei AP, Chivukula IV, Andersson ER, Ramsköld D, Sandberg R, Lee KL, Kronqvist P, Mamaeva V, Ostling P, Mpindi JP, Kallioniemi O, Screpanti I, Poellinger L, Sahlgren C, Lendahl U
  Oncogene 11/2012;
• Article: Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase family member 14 (PARP14) is a novel effector of the JNK2-dependent pro-survival signal in multiple myeloma.

  Barbarulo A, Iansante V, Chaidos A, Naresh K, Rahemtulla A, Franzoso G, Karadimitris A, Haskard DO, Papa S, Bubici C
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  ABSTRACT: Regulation of cell survival is a key part of the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma (MM). Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling has been implicated in MM pathogenesis, but its function is unclear. To elucidate the role of JNK in MM, we evaluated the specific functions of the two major JNK proteins, JNK1 and JNK2. We show here that JNK2 is constitutively activated in a panel of MM cell lines and primary tumors. Using loss-of-function studies, we demonstrate that JNK2 is required for the survival of myeloma cells and constitutively suppresses JNK1-mediated apoptosis by affecting expression of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)14, a key regulator of B-cell survival. Strikingly, we found that PARP14 is highly expressed in myeloma plasma cells and associated with disease progression and poor survival. Overexpression of PARP14 completely rescued myeloma cells from apoptosis induced by JNK2 knockdown, indicating that PARP14 is critically involved in JNK2-dependent survival. Mechanistically, PARP14 was found to promote the survival of myeloma cells by binding and inhibiting JNK1. Moreover, inhibition of PARP14 enhances the sensitization of MM cells to anti-myeloma agents. Our findings reveal a novel regulatory pathway in myeloma cells through which JNK2 signals cell survival via PARP14, and identify PARP14 as a potential therapeutic target in myeloma.
  Oncogene 10/2012;
• Article: p27Kip1 represses transcription by direct interaction with p130/E2F4 at the promoters of target genes.

  Pippa R, Espinosa L, Gundem G, García-Escudero R, Dominguez A, Orlando S, Gallastegui E, Saiz C, Besson A, Pujol MJ, López-Bigas N, Paramio JM, Bigas A, Bachs O
  Oncogene 09/2012; 31(38):4207-20.
• Article: Src family kinases mediate cytoplasmic retention of activated STAT5 in BCR-ABL-positive cells.

  Chatain N, Ziegler P, Fahrenkamp D, Jost E, Moriggl R, Schmitz-Van de Leur H, Müller-Newen G
  Oncogene 08/2012;
• Article: Castelli M, Pieroni S, Brunacci C, Piobbico D, Bartoli D, Bellet MM, ColomboE, Pelicci PG, Della Fazia MA, Servillo G. Hepatocyte odd protein shuttling(HOPS) is a bridging protein in the nucleophosmin-p19(Arf) network. Oncogene.2012 Aug 13. doi: 10.1038/onc.2012.353. PubMed PMID:22890319.

  Castelli M, Pieroni S, Brunacci C, Piobbico D, Bartoli D, Bellet MM, ColomboE, Pelicci PG, Della Fazia MA, Servillo G
  Oncogene 08/2012;
• Article: Conditional activation of Pik3caH1047R in a knock-in mouse model promotes mammary tumorigenesis and emergence of mutationsOpen

  W Yuan, E Stawiski, V Janakiraman, E Chan, S Durinck, K A Edgar, N M Kljavin, C S Rivers, F Gnad, M Roose-Girma, [......], G Fedorowicz, S Heldens, R H Soriano, Z Zhang, J J Wallin, L Johnson, M Merchant, Z Modrusan, H M Stern, S Seshagiri
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  ABSTRACT: Oncogenic mutations in PIK3CA, which encodes the phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K) catalytic subunit p110α, occur in ~25% of human breast cancers. In this study, we report the development of a knock-in mouse model for breast cancer where the endogenous Pik3ca allele was modified to allow tissue-specific conditional expression of a frequently found Pik3caH1047R (Pik3cae20H1047R) mutant allele. We found that activation of the latent Pik3caH1047R allele resulted in breast tumors with multiple histological types. Whole-exome analysis of the Pik3caH1047R-driven mammary tumors identified multiple mutations, including Trp53 mutations that appeared spontaneously during the development of adenocarinoma and spindle cell tumors. Further, we used this model to test the efficacy of GDC-0941, a PI3K inhibitor, in clinical development, and showed that the tumors respond to PI3K inhibition.Keywords: Pik3ca; H1047R; knock-in; mammary gland; Trp53; exome sequencing
  Oncogene 02/2012;
• Article: Endothelial cell dysfunction and cytoskeletal changes associated with repression of p16INK4a during immortalizationOpen

  C-Y Kan, V W Wen, E Pasquier, K Jankowski, M Chang, L A Richards, M Kavallaris, K L MacKenzie
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  ABSTRACT: The immortalization process is a fundamental step in the development of most (if not all) human cancers, including the aggressive endothelial cell (EC)-derived malignancy angiosarcoma. Inactivation of the tumor suppressor p16INK4a and the development of multiple chromosomal abnormalities are features of angiosarcoma that are recapitulated during telomerase-mediated immortalization of human ECs in vitro. The present study used a panel of telomerase-immortalized bone marrow EC (BMEC) lines to define the consequences of inactivation of p16INK4a on EC function and to identify molecular changes associated with repression of p16INK4a. In a comparison of two immortalized BMEC mass cultures and six clones, the cell lines that repressed p16INK4a showed a higher rate of proliferation and an impaired ability to undergo morphogenic differentiation and form vessel-like structures in vitro. Proteomic comparison of a p16INK4a-negative and a p16INK4a-positive BMEC mass culture at early- and late-passage time points following transduction with telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) revealed altered expression of cytoskeletal proteins, including vimentin and α-tropomyosin (αTm), in the immortal cells. Immunoblot analyses of a panel of 11 immortal clones showed that cells that lacked p16INK4a expression tended to accumulate more dramatic changes in these cytoskeletal proteins than cells that retained p16INK4a expression. This corresponded with aberrant cytoskeletal architectures among p16INK4a-negative clones, which featured thicker actin stress fibers and less fluid membrane ruffles than p16INK4a-positive cells. A direct link between p16INK4a repression and defective EC function was confirmed by analysis of normal cells transfected with small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting p16INK4a. siRNA-mediated repression of p16INK4a significantly impaired random motility and vessel formation in vitro. This report is the first to demonstrate that ECs that repress the expression of p16INK4a are prone to defects in motility, morphogenesis and cytoskeletal organization. These defects are likely to reflect alterations that occur during the development of EC-derived malignancies.Keywords: endothelial cell; p16INK4a; TERT; immortalization; cytoskeleton; morphogenesis
  Oncogene 02/2012;
• Article: Direct regulation of microRNA biogenesis and expression by estrogen receptor beta in hormone-responsive breast cancer

  O Paris, L Ferraro, O M V Grober, M Ravo, M R De Filippo, G Giurato, G Nassa, R Tarallo, C Cantarella, F Rizzo, A Di Benedetto, M Mottolese, V Benes, C Ambrosino, E Nola, A Weisz
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  ABSTRACT: Estrogen effects on mammary epithelial and breast cancer (BC) cells are mediated by the nuclear receptors ERα and ERβ, transcription factors that display functional antagonism with each other, with ERβ acting as oncosuppressor and interfering with the effects of ERα on cell proliferation, tumor promotion and progression. Indeed, hormone-responsive, ERα+ BC cells often lack ERβ, which when present associates with a less aggressive clinical phenotype of the disease. Recent evidences point to a significant role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in BC, where specific miRNA expression profiles associate with distinct clinical and biological phenotypes of the lesion. Considering the possibility that ERβ might influence BC cell behavior via miRNAs, we compared miRNome expression in ERβ+ vs ERβ− hormone-responsive BC cells and found a widespread effect of this ER subtype on the expression pattern of these non-coding RNAs. More importantly, the expression pattern of 67 miRNAs, including 10 regulated by ERβ in BC cells, clearly distinguishes ERβ+, node-negative, from ERβ−, metastatic, mammary tumors. Molecular dissection of miRNA biogenesis revealed multiple mechanisms for direct regulation of this process by ERβ+ in BC cell nuclei. In particular, ERβ downregulates miR-30a by binding to two specific sites proximal to the gene and thereby inhibiting pri-miR synthesis. On the other hand, the receptor promotes miR-23b, -27b and 24-1 accumulation in the cell by binding in close proximity of the corresponding gene cluster and preventing in situ the inhibitory effects of ERα on pri-miR maturation by the p68/DDX5-Drosha microprocessor complex. These results indicate that cell autonomous regulation of miRNA expression is part of the mechanism of action of ERβ in BC cells and could contribute to establishment or maintenance of a less aggressive tumor phenotype mediated by this nuclear receptor.Keywords: estrogen receptor beta; microRNA; breast cancer; hormones; gene transcription
  Oncogene 01/2012; 31(38):4196-4206.
• Article: miR-141 regulates KEAP1 and modulates cisplatin sensitivity in ovarian cancer cells.

  M.T.M. van Jaarsveld, J. Helleman, A.W.M. Boersma, P.F. van Kuijk, W.F. van IJcken, E. Despierre, I. Vergote, R.H.J. Mathijssen, E.M.J.J. Berns, J. Verweij, J. Pothof, E.A.C. Wiemer
  Oncogene 01/2012; Accepted.
• Article: Inhibition of miR-9 de-represses HuR and DICER1 and impairs Hodgkin lymphoma tumour outgrowth in vivo

  E Leucci, A Zriwil, LH Gregersen, KT Jensen, S Obad, C Bellan, L Leoncini, S Kauppinen, AH Lund
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  ABSTRACT: MicroRNAs are important regulators of gene expression in normal development and disease. miR-9 is overexpressed in several cancer forms, including brain tumours, hepatocellular carcinomas, breast cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). Here we demonstrated a relevance for miR-9 in HL pathogenesis and identified two new targets Dicer1 and HuR. HL is characterized by a massive infiltration of immune cells and fibroblasts in the tumour, whereas malignant cells represent only 1% of the tumour mass. These infiltrates provide important survival and growth signals to the tumour cells, and several lines of evidence indicate that they are essential for the persistence of HL. We show that inhibition of miR-9 leads to derepression of DICER and HuR, which in turn results in a decrease in cytokine production by HL cells followed by an impaired ability to attract normal inflammatory cells. Finally, inhibition of miR-9 by a systemically delivered antimiR-9 in a xenograft model of HL increases the protein levels of HuR and DICER1 and results in decreased tumour outgrowth, confirming that miR-9 actively participates in HL pathogenesis and points to miR-9 as a potential therapeutic target.
  Oncogene 01/2012; doi:10.1038/onc.2012.15.
• Article: Angiogenin functionally interacts with p53 and regulates p53-mediated apoptosis and cell survival.

  Sadagopan S, Veettil MV, Chakraborty S, Sharma-Walia N, Paudel N, Bottero V, Chandran B
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  ABSTRACT: Angiogenin, a 14-kDa multifunctional pro-angiogenic growth factor, is upregulated in several types of cancers. Anti-angiogenin monoclonal antibodies used as antagonists inhibited the establishment, progression and metastasis of human cancer cells in athymic mice (Olson et al., 1994). Silencing angiogenin and inhibition of angiogenin's nuclear translocation blocked cell survival and induced cell death in B-lymphoma and endothelial cells latently infected with Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (Sadagopan et al., 2009), suggesting that actively proliferating cancer cells could be inducing angiogenin for inhibiting apoptotic pathways. However, the mechanism of cell survival and apoptosis regulation by angiogenin and their functional significance in cancer is not known. We demonstrate that angiogenin interacts with p53 and colocalizes in the nucleus. Silencing endogenous angiogenin induced p53 promoter activation and p53 target gene (p53, p21 and Bax) expression, downregulated anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 gene expression and increased p53-mediated cell death. In contrast, angiogenin expression blocked pro-apoptotic Bax and p21 expression, induced Bcl-2 and blocked cell death. Angiogenin also co-immunoprecipitated with p53 regulator protein Mdm2. Angiogenin expression resulted in the inhibition of p53 phosphorylation, increased p53-Mdm2 interaction, and consequently increased ubiquitination of p53. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that angiogenin promotes the inhibition of p53 function to mediate anti-apoptosis and cell survival. Our results reveal for the first time a novel p53 interacting function of angiogenin in anti-apoptosis and survival of cancer cells and suggest that targeting angiogenin could be an effective therapy for several cancers.Oncogene advance online publication, 23 January 2012; doi:10.1038/onc.2011.648.
  Oncogene 01/2012; doi: 10.1038(doi: 10.1038-onc.2011.648):doi: 10.1038.
• Article: Beclin 1 and autophagy are required for the tumorigenicity of breast cancer stem-like/progenitor cells

  C Gong, C Bauvy, G Tonelli, W Yue, C Delome´ nie, V Nicolas, Y Zhu, V Domergue, V Marin-Esteban, H Tharinger, L Delbos, H Gary-Gouy, A-P Morel, S Ghavami, E Song, P Codogno, M Mehrpour
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  ABSTRACT: Malignant breast tissue contains a rare population of multi-potent cells with the capacity to self-renew; these cells are known as cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) or tumor-initiating cells. Primitive mammary CSCs/progenitor cells can be propagated in culture as floating spherical colonies termed ‘mammospheres’. We show here that the expression of the autophagy protein Beclin 1 is higher in mammospheres established from human breast cancers or breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and BT474) than in the parental adherent cells. As a result, autophagic flux is more robust in mammospheres. We observed that basal and starvation-induced autophagy flux is also higher in aldehyde dehydrogenase 1-positive (ALDH1þ) population derived from mammospheres than in the bulk population. Beclin 1 is critical for CSC maintenance and tumor development in nude mice, whereas its expression limits the development of tumors not enriched with breast CSCs/progenitor cells. We found that decreased survival in autophagy-deficient cells (MCF-7 Atg7 knockdown cells) during detachment does not contribute to an ultimate deficiency in mammosphere formation. This study demonstrates that a prosurvival autophagic pathway is critical for CSC maintenance, and that Beclin 1 plays a dual role in tumor development.
  Oncogene 01/2012;
• Article: 8. Ferreira, L. M. R., Hebrant, A., Dumont, J. E., 2012 Metabolic reprogramming of the tumor. Oncogene (in press)

  Leonardo Ferreira
  Oncogene 01/2012;
• Article: Identification of novel CHD1-associated collaborative alterations of genomic structure and functional assessment of CHD1 in prostate cancer

  W Liu, J Lindberg, G Sui, J Luo, L Egevad, T Li, C Xie, M Wan, S-T Kim, Z Wang, [......], G S Bova, C M Ewing, G Yan, M Gielzak, S D Cramer, R L Vessella, S L Zheng, H Gr|[ouml]|nberg, W B Isaacs, J Xu
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  ABSTRACT: A clearer definition of the molecular determinants that drive the development and progression of prostate cancer (PCa) is urgently needed. Efforts to map recurrent somatic deletions in the tumor genome, especially homozygous deletions (HODs), have provided important positional information in the search for cancer-causing genes. Analyzing HODs in the tumors of 244 patients from two independent cohorts and 22 PCa xenografts using high-resolution single-nucleotide polymorphism arrays, herein we report the identification of CHD1, a chromatin remodeler, as one of the most frequently homozygously deleted genes in PCa, second only to PTEN in this regard. The HODs observed in CHD1, including deletions affecting only internal exons of CHD1, were found to completely extinguish the expression of mRNA of this gene in PCa xenografts. Loss of this chromatin remodeler in clinical specimens is significantly associated with an increased number of additional chromosomal deletions, both hemi- and homozygous, especially on 2q, 5q and 6q. Together with the deletions observed in HEK293 cells stably transfected with CHD1 small hairpin RNA, these data suggest a causal relationship. Downregulation of Chd1 in mouse prostate epithelial cells caused dramatic morphological changes indicative of increased invasiveness, but did not result in transformation. Indicating a new role of CHD1, these findings collectively suggest that distinct CHD1-associated alterations of genomic structure evolve during and are required for the development of PCa.Keywords: CHD1; homozygous deletion; prostate cancer
  Oncogene 12/2011; 31(35):3939-3948.
• Article: Small nucleolar RNA 42 acts as an oncogene in lung tumorigenesisOpen

  Y-P Mei, J-P Liao, J Shen, L Yu, B-L Liu, L Liu, R-Y Li, L Ji, S G Dorsey, Z-R Jiang, R L Katz, J-Y Wang, F Jiang
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  ABSTRACT: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death, reflecting the need for better understanding the oncogenesis, and developing new diagnostic and therapeutic targets for the malignancy. Emerging evidence suggests that small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) have malfunctioning roles in tumorigenesis. Our recent study demonstrated that small nucleolar RNA 42 (SNORA42) was overexpressed in lung tumors. Here, we investigate the role of SNORA42 in tumorigenesis of NSCLC. We simultaneously assess genomic dosages and expression levels of SNORA42 and its host gene, KIAA0907, in 10 NSCLC cell lines and a human bronchial epithelial cell line. We then determine in vitro functional significance of SNORA42 in lung cancer cell lines through gain- and loss-of-function analyses. We also inoculate cancer cells with SNORA42-siRNA into mice through either tail vein or subcutaneous injection. We finally evaluate expression level of SNORA42 on frozen surgically resected lung tumor tissues of 64 patients with stage I NSCLC by using quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR assay. Genomic amplification and associated high expression of SNORA42 rather than KIAA0907 are frequently observed in lung cancer cells, suggesting that SNORA42 overexpression is activated by its genomic amplification. SNORA42 knockdown in NSCLC cells inhibits in vitro and in vivo tumorigenicity, whereas enforced SNORA42 expression in bronchial epitheliums increases cell growth and colony formation. Such pleiotropy of SNORA42 suppression could be achieved at least partially through increased apoptosis of NSCLC cells in a p53-dependent manner. SNORA42 expression in lung tumor tissue specimens is inversely correlated with survival of NSCLC patients. Therefore, SNORA42 activation could have an oncogenic role in lung tumorigenesis and provide potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets for the malignancy.Keywords: small nucleolar RNA; tumorigenesis; biomarkers; apoptosis; p53
  Oncogene 10/2011; 31(22):2794-2804.
• Article: Lysophosphatidic acid and sphingosine-1-phosphate promote morphogenesis and block invasion of prostate cancer cells in three-dimensional organotypic modelsOpen

  V H|[auml]|rm|[auml, M Knuuttila, J Virtanen, T Mirtti, P Kohonen, P Kovanen, A Happonen, S Kaewphan, I Ahonen, O Kallioniemi, R Grafstr|[ouml]|m, J L|[ouml]|tj|[ouml]|nen, M Nees
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  ABSTRACT: Normal prostate and some malignant prostate cancer (PrCa) cell lines undergo acinar differentiation and form spheroids in three-dimensional (3-D) organotypic culture. Acini formed by PC-3 and PC-3M, less pronounced also in other PrCa cell lines, spontaneously undergo an invasive switch, leading to the disintegration of epithelial structures and the basal lamina, and formation of invadopodia. This demonstrates the highly dynamic nature of epithelial plasticity, balancing epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition against metastable acinar differentiation. This study assessed the role of lipid metabolites on epithelial maturation. PC-3 cells completely failed to form acinar structures in delipidated serum. Adding back lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) rescued acinar morphogenesis and repressed invasion effectively. Blocking LPA receptor 1 (LPAR1) functions by siRNA (small interference RNA) or the specific LPAR1 inhibitor Ki16425 promoted invasion, while silencing of other G-protein-coupled receptors responsive to LPA or S1P mainly caused growth arrest or had no effects. The G-proteins Gα12/13 and Gαi were identified as key mediators of LPA signalling via stimulation of RhoA and Rho kinases ROCK1 and 2, activating Rac1, while inhibition of adenylate cyclase and accumulation of cAMP may be secondary. Interfering with these pathways specifically impeded epithelial polarization in transformed cells. In contrast, blocking the same pathways in non-transformed, normal cells promoted differentiation. We conclude that LPA and LPAR1 effectively promote epithelial maturation and block invasion of PrCa cells in 3-D culture. The analysis of clinical transcriptome data confirmed reduced expression of LPAR1 in a subset of PrCa's. Our study demonstrates a metastasis-suppressor function for LPAR1 and Gα12/13 signalling, regulating cell motility and invasion versus epithelial maturation.Keywords: prostate cancer; epithelial plasticity; bioactive lipids; G-protein coupled receptors; lysophosphatidic acid; sphingosine-1-phosphate
  Oncogene 09/2011; 31(16):2075-2089.