Probes for INS

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Transforming growth factor beta (TGFB) superfamily signaling is implicated in the development of sex cord-stromal tumors, a category of poorly defined gonadal tumors. The aim of this study was to determine potential effects of dysregulated TGFB signaling in the ovary using Cre recombinase driven by growth differentiation factor 9 (Gdf9) promoter known to be expressed in oocytes.

METHODS:

A mouse model containing constitutively active TGFBR1 (TGFBR1CA) using Gdf9-iCre (termed TGFBR1-CAG9Cre) was generated. Hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) staining, follicle counting, and immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence analyses using antibodies directed to Ki67, forkhead box L2 (FOXL2), forkhead box O1 (FOXO1), inhibin alpha (INHA), and SRY (sex determining region Y)-box 9 were performed to determine the characteristics of the TGFBR1-CAG9Cre ovary. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) labeling of 3'-OH ends of DNA fragments, real-time PCR, and western blotting were used to examine apoptosis, select gene expression, and TGFBR1 activation. RNAscope in situ hybridization was used to localize the expression of GLI-Kruppel family member GLI1 (Gli1) in ovarian tumortissues.

RESULTS:

TGFBR1-CAG9Cre females were sterile. Sustained activation of TGFBR1 led to altered granulosa cell proliferation evidenced by high expression of Ki67. At an early age, these mice demonstrated follicular defects and development of ovarian granulosa cell tumors, which were immunoreactive for granulosa cell markers including FOXL2, FOXO1, and INHA. Further histochemical and molecular analyses provided evidence of overactivation of TGFBR1 in the granulosa cell compartment during ovarian pathogenesis in TGFBR1-CAG9Cre mice, along with upregulation of Gli1 and Gli2 and downregulation of Tgfbr3 in ovarian tumor tissues.

CONCLUSIONS:

These results reinforce the role of constitutively active TGFBR1 in promoting ovarian tumorigenesis in mice. The mouse model created in this study may be further exploited to define the cellular and molecular mechanisms of TGFB/activin downstream signaling in granulosa cell tumor development. Future studies are needed to test whether activation of TGFB/activin signaling contributes to the development of human granulosa cell tumors.

Obesity increases the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but precise identification and characterization of druggable oncogenic pathways that contribute to the progression of NAFLD to HCC, and hence to the increased incidence and aggressiveness of HCC in obese individuals is lacking. In this regard, we demonstrate that the Indian Hedgehog (Ihh) signaling pathway is upregulated in the fatty livers of mice consuming a high fat diet, and furthermore sustained in HCC tumors specifically within the context of a NAFLD microenvironment. Using a diet-induced mouse model of HCC wherein only obese mice develop HCC, targeted ablation of hepatocyte-secreted Ihh results in a decreased tumor burden and lower grade tumors. Ihh activation regulates the transdifferentiation of ciliated stellate cells and proliferation of Epcam+ ductal cells to promote fibrosis. Mechanistically, increased expression of hitherto uncharacterized effectors of Hh pathway, namely Myc and Tgf-β2 is critical to the observed physiology. This pro-tumorigenic response is driven by increased expression of Wnt5a to effect a poorly-differentiated and invasive tumor phenotype. Wnt5a secreted from activated stellate cells act on Ror2-expressing hepatocytes. We further demonstrate that Wnt5a expression is also elevated in poorly-differentiated HCC cells, suggesting that these ligands are also able to function in an autocrine positive feedback manner to sustain poorly-differentiated tumors. Taken together, our study provides a mechanistic understanding for how Ihh signaling promotes HCC tumorigenesis specifically in obese mice. We propose that therapeutic targeting of the Hh pathway offers benefit for patients with dietary / NAFLD-driven steatotic HCC.

The interaction between signaling pathways is a central question in the study of organogenesis. Using the developing murine tongue as a model, we uncovered unknown relationships between Sonic hedgehog (SHH) and retinoic acid (RA) signaling. Genetic loss of SHH signaling leads to enhanced RA activity subsequent to loss of SHH-dependent expression of Cyp26a1 and Cyp26c1. This causes a cell identity switch, prompting the epithelium of the tongue to form heterotopic minor salivary glands and to overproduce oversized taste buds. At developmental stages during which Wnt10b expression normally ceases and Shh becomes confined to taste bud cells, loss of SHH inputs causes the lingual epithelium to undergo an ectopic and anachronic expression of Shh and Wnt10b in the basal layer, specifying de novo taste placode induction. Surprisingly, in the absence of SHH signaling, lingual epithelial cells adopted a Merkel cell fate, but this was not caused by enhanced RA signaling. We show that RA promotes, whereas SHH, acting strictly within the lingual epithelium, inhibits taste placode and lingual gland formation by thwarting RA activity. These findings reveal key functions for SHH and RA in cell fate specification in the lingual epithelium and aid in deciphering the molecular mechanisms that assign cell identity.

Although hundreds of cytosolic or transmembrane molecules form the primary cilium, few secreted molecules are known to contribute to ciliogenesis. Here, homologous secreted metalloproteases ADAMTS9 and ADAMTS20 are identified as ciliogenesis regulators that act intracellularly. Secreted and furin-processed ADAMTS9 bound heparan sulfate and was internalized by LRP1, LRP2 and clathrin-mediated endocytosis to be gathered in Rab11 vesicles with a unique periciliary localization defined by super-resolution microscopy. CRISPR-Cas9 inactivation of ADAMTS9 impaired ciliogenesis in RPE-1 cells, which was restored by catalytically active ADAMTS9 or ADAMTS20 acting in trans, but not by their proteolytically inactive mutants. Their mutagenesis in mice impaired neural and yolk sac ciliogenesis, leading to morphogenetic anomalies resulting from impaired hedgehog signaling, which is transduced by primary cilia. In addition to their cognate extracellular proteolytic activity, ADAMTS9 and ADAMTS20 thus have an additional proteolytic role intracellularly, revealing an unexpected regulatory dimension in ciliogenesis.

Vascular dementia (VaD) is cognitive decline linked to reduced cerebral blood perfusion, yet there are few therapeutic options to protect cognitive function following cerebrovascular accidents. The purpose of this study was to profile gene expression changes unique to VaD to identify and characterize disease relevant changes that could offer clues for future therapeutic direction. Microarray-based profiling and validation studies of postmortem frontal cortex samples from VaD, Alzheimer disease, and age-matched control subjects revealed that the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) was strongly and differentially upregulated in VaD. Further characterization in fixed tissue from the same cases showed that OXTR upregulation occurs de novo around and within microinfarcts in peri-infarct reactive astrocytes as well as within vascular profiles, likely on microvascular endothelial cells. These results indicate that increased OXTR expression in peri-infarct regions may be a specific response to microvascular insults. Given the established OXTR signaling cascades that elicit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and pro-angiogenic responses, the present findings suggest that de novo OXTR expression in the peri-infarct space is a tissue-protective response by astroglial and vascular cells in the wake of ischemic damage that could be exploited as a therapeutic option for the preservation of cognition following cerebrovascular insults.

Aberrant Notch signalling has been linked to many cancers including choroid plexus (CP) tumours, a group of rare and predominantly paediatric brain neoplasms. We developed animal models of CP tumours, by inducing sustained expression of Notch1, that recapitulate properties of human CP tumours with aberrant NOTCH signalling. Whole-transcriptome and functional analyses showed that tumour cell proliferation is associated with Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) in the tumour microenvironment. Unlike CP epithelial cells, which have multiple primary cilia, tumour cells possess a solitary primary cilium as a result of Notch-mediated suppression of multiciliate differentiation. A Shh-driven signalling cascade in the primary cilium occurs in tumour cells but not in epithelial cells. Lineage studies show that CP tumours arise from monociliated progenitors in the roof plate characterized by elevated Notch signalling. Abnormal SHH signalling and distinct ciliogenesis are detected in human CP tumours, suggesting the SHH pathway and cilia differentiation as potential therapeutic avenues.