Transplantation of Zebrafish Pediatric Brain Tumors into Immune-competent Hosts for Long-term Study of Tumor Cell Behavior and Drug Response

Tumor cell transplantation is an important technique to define the mechanisms controlling cancer cell growth, migration, and host response, as well as to ...

University of Utah School of Medicine

Focal adhesions lie at the convergence of integrin adhesion, signaling and the actin cytoskeleton. Cells modify focal adhesions in response to changes in the molecular composition, two-dimensional (2D) vs. three-dimensional (3D) structure, and physical forces present in their extracellular matrix environment. We consider here how cells use focal adhesions to regulate signaling complexes and integrin function. Furthermore, we examine how this regulation controls complex cellular behaviors in response to matrices of diverse physical and biochemical properties. One event regulated by the physical structure of the ECM is phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) at Y397, which couples FAK to several signaling pathways that regulate cell proliferation, survival, migration, and invasion.

Focal adhesion regulation of cell behavior.

We previously showed that activation of the small GTPase Cdc42 promotes breast cell migration on a collagen matrix. Here we further define the signaling pathways that drive this response and show that Cdc42-mediated migration relies on the adaptor molecule p130(Cas). Activated Cdc42 enhanced p130(Cas) phosphorylation and its binding to Crk. Cdc42-driven migration and p130(Cas) phosphorylation were dependent on the Cdc42 effector Ack1 (activated Cdc42-associated kinase). Ack1 formed a signaling complex that also included Cdc42, p130(Cas), and Crk, formation of which was regulated by collagen stimulation. The interaction between Ack1 and p130(Cas) occurred through their respective SH3 domains, while the substrate domain of p130(Cas) was the major site of Ack1-dependent phosphorylation. Signaling through this complex is functionally relevant, because treatment with either p130(Cas) or Ack1 siRNA blocked Cdc42-induced migration. These results suggest that Cdc42 exerts its effects on cell migration in part through its effector Ack1, which regulates p130(Cas) signaling.

Ack1 mediates Cdc42-dependent cell migration and signaling to p130Cas.

Proper regulation of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)-Ras-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways is critical for normal development and the prevention of cancer. SOS is a dual-function guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) that catalyzes exchange on Ras and Rac. Although the physiologic role of SOS and its CDC25 domain in RTK-mediated Ras activation is well established, the in vivo function of its Dbl Rac GEF domain is less clear. We have identified a novel gain-of-function missense mutation in the Dbl domain of Caenorhabditis elegans SOS-1 that promotes epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling in vivo. Our data indicate that a major developmental function of the Dbl domain is to inhibit EGF-dependent MAPK activation. The amount of inhibition conferred by the Dbl domain is equal to that of established trans-acting inhibitors of the EGFR pathway, including c-Cbl and RasGAP, and more than that of MAPK phosphatase. In conjunction with molecular modeling, our data suggest that the C. elegans mutation, as well as an equivalent mutation in human SOS1, activates the MAPK pathway by disrupting an autoinhibitory function of the Dbl domain on Ras activation. Our work suggests that functionally similar point mutations in humans could directly contribute to disease.

An activating mutation in sos-1 identifies its Dbl domain as a critical inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptor pathway during Caenorhabditis elegans vulval development.

Apoptosis is important for normal development and removal of damaged cells. Evasion of apoptosis by cancer cells is one of the key characteristics of many tumor types. Thus, discovering agents that promote apoptosis in tumor cells could have great therapeutic value. Marine natural products have demonstrated great potential as anticancer agents, and the proapoptotic activity of some of these products is emerging as a potentially useful property for cancer treatments. Using a tumor xenograft assay in rodents, we previously found that the marine alkaloid naamidine A is a potent antitumor agent. In this study, we further characterize the mechanism of action of naamidine A. In cultured tumor cells, we find that naamidine A induces cell death, which is accompanied with annexin V staining, disruption of the mitochondrial membrane potential, and cleavage and activation of caspases 3, 8, and 9, all of which are hallmarks of apoptosis. Furthermore, naamidine A-induced cell death is caspase dependent. We also find that under conditions where naamidine A inhibits tumor xenograft growth, it induces activation of caspase 3, suggesting that apoptosis is part of its antitumorigenic activity in vivo. Apoptosis is not dependent on extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2, previously characterized molecular targets of naamidine A, nor does it require functional p53. Our studies support the continued study of naamidine A and its target(s) for the potential development of better clinical treatments for cancer.

The marine alkaloid naamidine A promotes caspase-dependent apoptosis in tumor cells.

Metazoans display remarkable conservation of gene families, including growth factors, yet somehow these genes are used in different ways to generate tremendous morphological diversity. While variations in the magnitude and spatio-temporal aspects of signaling by a growth factor can generate different body patterns, how these signaling variations are organized and coordinated during development is unclear. Basic body plans are organized by the end of gastrulation and are refined as limbs, organs, and nervous systems co-develop. Despite their proximity to developing tissues, neurons are primarily thought to act after development, on behavior. Here, we show that in Caenorhabditis elegans, the axonal projections of neurons regulate tissue progenitor responses to Wnts so that certain organs develop with the correct morphology at the right axial positions. We find that foreshortening of the posteriorly directed axons of the two canal-associated neurons (CANs) disrupts mid-body vulval morphology, and produces ectopic vulval tissue in the posterior epidermis, in a Wnt-dependent manner. We also provide evidence that suggests that the posterior CAN axons modulate the location and strength of Wnt signaling along the anterior-posterior axis by employing a Ror family Wnt receptor to bind posteriorly derived Wnts, and hence, refine their distributions. Surprisingly, despite high levels of Ror expression in many other cells, these cells cannot substitute for the CAN axons in patterning the epidermis, nor can cells expressing a secreted Wnt inhibitor, SFRP-1. Thus, unmyelinated axon tracts are critical for patterning the C. elegans body. Our findings suggest that the evolution of neurons not only improved metazoans by increasing behavioral complexity, but also by expanding the diversity of developmental patterns generated by growth factors such as Wnts.

Neurons refine the Caenorhabditis elegans body plan by directing axial patterning by Wnts.

Malignant brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children. Primitive neuroectodermal tumors of the CNS (CNS-PNETs) are particularly aggressive embryonal tumors of unknown cellular origin. Recent genomic studies have classified CNS-PNETs into molecularly distinct subgroups that promise to improve diagnosis and treatment; however, the lack of cell- or animal-based models for these subgroups prevents testing of rationally designed therapies. Here, we show that a subset of CNS-PNETs co-express oligoneural precursor cell (OPC) markers OLIG2 and SOX10 with coincident activation of the RAS/MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) pathway. Modeling NRAS activation in embryonic OPCs generated malignant brain tumors in zebrafish that closely mimic the human oligoneural/NB-FOXR2 CNS-PNET subgroup by histology and comparative oncogenomics. The zebrafish CNS-PNET model was used to show that MEK inhibitors selectively eliminate Olig2(+)/Sox10(+) CNS-PNET tumors in vivo without impacting normal brain development. Thus, MEK inhibitors represent a promising rationally designed therapy for children afflicted with oligoneural/NB-FOXR2 CNS-PNETs.

Katarzyna Modzelewska

Department of Oncological Sciences and Huntsman Cancer Institute

University of Utah School of Medicine

Transplantation of Zebrafish Pediatric Brain Tumors into Immune-competent Hosts for Long-term Study of Tumor Cell Behavior and Drug Response

Katarzyna Modzelewska

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Department of Oncological Sciences and Huntsman Cancer Institute

University of Utah School of Medicine

Transplantation of Zebrafish Pediatric Brain Tumors into Immune-competent Hosts for Long-term Study of Tumor Cell Behavior and Drug Response

Department of Oncological Sciences and Huntsman Cancer Institute