bims-cagime 2021-11-21 papers

bims-cagime

Biomed News

on Cancer, aging and metabolism

Issue of 2021–11–21
thirty-six papers selected by
Kıvanç Görgülü, Technical University of Munich

Pancreatic cancer evolution and heterogeneity: integrating omics and clinical data.
Beyond mitophagy: mitochondrial-derived vesicles can get the job done!
Methionine synthase is essential for cancer cell proliferation in physiological folate environments.
Inflammatory cytokine-regulated tRNA-derived fragment tRF-21 suppresses pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma progression.
Genome-wide identification and characterization of circular RNA m6A modification in pancreatic cancer.
Phase-separated protein droplets of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-associated p62/SQSTM1 mutants show reduced inner fluidity.
Adaptation to hypoxia in Drosophila melanogaster requires autophagy.
Methionine synthase supports tumour tetrahydrofolate pools.
Pre-clinical Models of Metastasis in Pancreatic Cancer.
Pancreatic Cancer-Related Mutational Burden Is Not Increased in a Patient Cohort With Clinically Severe Chronic Pancreatitis.
Stabilization of the classical phenotype upon integration of pancreatic cancer cells into the duodenal epithelium.
Metabolic resistance to the inhibition of mitochondrial transcription revealed by CRISPR-Cas9 screen.
Sequence logic at enhancers governs a dual mechanism of endodermal organ fate induction by FOXA pioneer factors.
Organoid Sensitivity Correlates with Therapeutic Response in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer.
The metabolic growth limitations of petite cells lacking the mitochondrial genome.
Molecular mechanisms and biological roles of GOMED.
Osteopenia is associated with wasting in pancreatic adenocarcinoma and predicts survival after surgery.
Activation of the NRF2 antioxidant program sensitizes tumors to G6PD inhibition.
Widespread use of unconventional targeting signals in mitochondrial ribosome proteins.
Can local ablative techniques replace surgery for locally advanced pancreatic cancer?
CRISPR screens unveil signal hubs for nutrient licensing of T cell immunity.
Amelioration of muscle wasting by gintonin in cancer cachexia.
Efferocytosis induces macrophage proliferation to help resolve tissue injury.
Palbociclib-mediated cell cycle arrest can occur in the absence of the CDK inhibitors p21 and p27.
Fasting-mimicking diet is safe and reshapes metabolism and antitumor immunity in cancer patients.
Dynamic CD4+ T cell heterogeneity defines subset-specific suppression and PD-L1-blockade-driven functional restoration in chronic infection.
The Association of Drug-Funding Reimbursement With Survival Outcomes and Use of New Systemic Therapies Among Patients With Advanced Pancreatic Cancer.
PD-L1 sustains chronic, cancer cell-intrinsic responses to type I interferon, enhancing resistance to DNA damage.
AMBRA1 regulates mitophagy by interacting with ATAD3A and promoting PINK1 stability.
Lipolysis: cellular mechanisms for lipid mobilization from fat stores.
Adiponectin alleviated Alzheimer-like pathologies via autophagy-lysosomal activation.
Parp1 promotes sleep, which enhances DNA repair in neurons.
Long-term survival of a patient with pancreatic cancer and lung metastasis: A case report and review of literature.
Cancer catecholamine conundrum.
A proteome-wide map of 20(S)-hydroxycholesterol interactors in cell membranes.
Passive coupling of membrane tension and cell volume during active response of cells to osmosis.

Nat Rev Cancer. 2021 Nov 17.

Pancreatic cancer evolution and heterogeneity: integrating omics and clinical data.

Ashton A Connor, Steven Gallinger.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), already among the deadliest epithelial malignancies, is rising in both incidence and contribution to overall cancer deaths. Decades of research have improved our understanding of PDAC carcinogenesis, including characterizing germline predisposition, the cell of origin, precursor lesions, the sequence of genetic alterations, including simple and structural alterations, transcriptional changes and subtypes, tumour heterogeneity, metastatic progression and the tumour microenvironment. These fundamental advances inform contemporary translational efforts in primary prevention, screening and early detection, multidisciplinary management and survivorship, as prospective clinical trials begin to adopt molecular-based selection criteria to guide targeted therapies. Genomic and transcriptomic data on PDAC were also included in the international pan-cancer analysis of approximately 2,600 cancers, a milestone in cancer research that allows further insight through comparison with other tumour types. Thus, this is an ideal time to review our current knowledge of PDAC evolution and heterogeneity, gained from the study of preclinical models and patient biospecimens, and to propose a model of PDAC evolution that takes into consideration findings from varied sources, with a particular focus on the genomics of human PDAC.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41568-021-00418-1
Autophagy. 2021 Nov 15. 1-3

Beyond mitophagy: mitochondrial-derived vesicles can get the job done!

Payel Mondal, Christina Towers.

  Mitochondria are critical organelles that maintain cellular metabolism and overall function. The catabolic pathway of autophagy plays a central role in recycling damaged mitochondria. Although the autophagy pathway is indispensable for some cancer cell survival, our latest study shows that rare autophagy-dependent cancer cells can adapt to loss of this core pathway. In the process, the autophagy-deficient cells acquire unique dependencies on alternate forms of mitochondrial homeostasis. These rare autophagy-deficient clones circumvent the lack of canonical autophagy by increasing mitochondrial dynamics and by recycling damaged mitochondria via mitochondrial-derived vesicles (MDVs). These studies are the first to implicate MDVs in cancer cell metabolism although many unanswered questions remain about this non-canonical pathway.

Keywords:  Cancer; mitochondrial fusion; mitochondrial-derived vesicles; mitophagy; non-canonical autophagy

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2021.1999562
Nat Metab. 2021 Nov;3(11): 1500-1511

Methionine synthase is essential for cancer cell proliferation in physiological folate environments.

Mark R Sullivan, Alicia M Darnell, Montana F Reilly, Tenzin Kunchok, Lena Joesch-Cohen, Daniel Rosenberg, Ahmed Ali, Matthew G Rees, Jennifer A Roth, Caroline A Lewis, Matthew G Vander Heiden.

Folate metabolism can be an effective target for cancer treatment. However, standard cell culture conditions utilize folic acid, a non-physiological folate source for most tissues. We find that the enzyme that couples folate and methionine metabolic cycles, methionine synthase, is required for cancer cell proliferation and tumour growth when 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate (THF), the major folate found in circulation, is the extracellular folate source. In such physiological conditions, methionine synthase incorporates 5-methyl THF into the folate cycle to maintain intracellular levels of the folates needed for nucleotide production. 5-methyl THF can sustain intracellular folate metabolism in the absence of folic acid. Therefore, cells exposed to 5-methyl THF are more resistant to methotrexate, an antifolate drug that specifically blocks folic acid incorporation into the folate cycle. Together, these data argue that the environmental folate source has a profound effect on folate metabolism, determining how both folate cycle enzymes and antifolate drugs impact proliferation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-021-00486-5
J Clin Invest. 2021 Nov 15. pii: e148130. [Epub ahead of print]131(22):

Inflammatory cytokine-regulated tRNA-derived fragment tRF-21 suppresses pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma progression.

Ling Pan, Xudong Huang, Ze-Xian Liu, Ying Ye, Rui Li, Jialiang Zhang, Guandi Wu, Ruihong Bai, Lisha Zhuang, Lusheng Wei, Mei Li, Yanfen Zheng, Jiachun Su, Junge Deng, Shuang Deng, Lingxing Zeng, Shaoping Zhang, Chen Wu, Xu Che, Chengfeng Wang, Rufu Chen, Dongxin Lin, Jian Zheng.

  The tumorigenic mechanism for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is not clear, although chronic inflammation is implicated. Here, we identified an inflammatory cytokine-regulated transfer RNA-derived (tRNA-derived) fragment, tRF-21-VBY9PYKHD (tRF-21), as a tumor suppressor in PDAC progression. We found that the biogenesis of tRF-21 could be inhibited by leukemia inhibitory factor and IL-6 via the splicing factor SRSF5. Reduced tRF-21 promoted AKT2/1-mediated heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein L (hnRNP L) phosphorylation, enhancing hnRNP L to interact with dead-box helicase 17 (DDX17) to form an alternative splicing complex. The provoked hnRNP L-DDX17 activity preferentially spliced Caspase 9 and mH2A1 pre-mRNAs to form Caspase 9b and mH2A1.2, promoting PDAC cell malignant phenotypes. The tRF-21 levels were significantly lower in PDACs than in normal tissues, and patients with low tRF-21 levels had a poor prognosis. Treatment of mouse PDAC xenografts or patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) with tRF-21 mimics repressed tumor growth and metastasis. These results demonstrate that tRF-21 has a tumor-suppressive effect and is a potential therapeutic agent for PDAC.

Keywords:  Apoptosis; Cancer; Oncology; Therapeutics

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI148130
Genome Med. 2021 Nov 19. 13(1): 183

Genome-wide identification and characterization of circular RNA m6A modification in pancreatic cancer.

Ying Ye, Weiyi Feng, Jialiang Zhang, Kaiyu Zhu, Xudong Huang, Ling Pan, Jiachun Su, Yanfen Zheng, Rui Li, Shuang Deng, Ruihong Bai, Lisha Zhuang, Lusheng Wei, Junge Deng, Mei Li, Rufu Chen, Dongxin Lin, Zhixiang Zuo, Jian Zheng.

   BACKGROUND: N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant modification of RNA in eukaryotic cells and play critical roles in cancer. While most related studies focus on m6A modifications in linear RNA, transcriptome-wide profiling and exploration of m6A modification in circular RNAs in cancer is still lacking.
METHODS: For the detection of m6A modification in circRNAs, we developed a new bioinformatics tools called Circm6A and applied it to the m6A-seq data of 77 tissue samples from 58 individuals with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
RESULTS: Circm6A performs better than the existing circRNA identification tools, which achieved highest F1 score among these tools in the detection of circRNAs with m6A modifications. By using Circm6A, we identified a total of 8807 m6A-circRNAs from our m6A-seq data. The m6A-circRNAs tend to be hypermethylated in PDAC tumor tissues compared with normal tissues. The hypermethylated m6A-circRNAs were associated with a significant gain of circRNA-mRNA coexpression network, leading to the dysregulation of many important cancer-related pathways. Moreover, we found the cues that hypermethylated m6A-circRNAs may promote the circularization and translation of circRNAs.
CONCLUSIONS: These comprehensive findings further bridged the knowledge gaps between m6A modification and circRNAs fields by depicting the m6A-circRNAs genomic landscape of PDAC patients and revealed the emerging roles played by m6A-circRNAs in pancreatic cancer. Circm6A is available at https://github.com/canceromics/circm6a .

Keywords:  Circular RNA; Pancreatic cancer; m6A modification; m6A-seq

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13073-021-01002-w
J Biol Chem. 2021 Nov 11. pii: S0021-9258(21)01212-6. [Epub ahead of print] 101405

Phase-separated protein droplets of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-associated p62/SQSTM1 mutants show reduced inner fluidity.

Mohammad Omar Faruk, Yoshinobu Ichimura, Shun Kageyama, Satoko Komatsu-Hirota, Afnan H El-Gowily, Yu-Shin Sou, Masato Koike, Nobuo N Noda, Masaaki Komatsu.

  Several amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-related proteins such as FUS, TDP-43, and hnRNPA1 demonstrate liquid-liquid phase separation, and their disease-related mutations correlate with a transition of their liquid droplet form into aggregates. Missense mutations in SQSTM1/p62, which have been identified throughout the gene, are associated with ALS, frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), and Paget's disease of bone. SQSTM1/p62 protein forms liquid droplets through interaction with ubiquitinated proteins, and these droplets serve as a platform for autophagosome formation and the anti-oxidative stress response via the LC3-interacting region (LIR) and KEAP1-interacting region (KIR) of p62, respectively. However, it remains unclear whether ALS/FTD-related p62 mutations in the LIR and KIR disrupt liquid droplet formation leading to defects in autophagy, the stress response, or both. To evaluate the effects of ALS/FTD-related p62 mutations in the LIR and KIR on a major oxidative stress system, the Keap1-Nrf2 pathway, as well as on autophagic turnover, we developed systems to monitor each of these with high sensitivity. These methods such as intracellular protein-protein interaction assay, doxycycline-inducible gene expression system and gene expression into primary cultured cells with recombinant adenovirus revealed that some mutants, but not all, caused reduced NRF2 activation and delayed autophagic cargo turnover. In contrast, while all p62 mutants demonstrated sufficient ability to form liquid droplets, all of these droplets also exhibited reduced inner fluidity. These results indicate that like other ALS-related mutant proteins, p62 missense mutations result in a primary defect in ALS/FTD via a qualitative change in p62 liquid droplet fluidity.

Keywords:  NRF2; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; autophagy; liquid droplet; p62

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2021.101405
Autophagy. 2021 Nov 18. 1-12

Adaptation to hypoxia in Drosophila melanogaster requires autophagy.

Ayelén Valko, Sebastián Perez-Pandolfo, Eleonora Sorianello, Andreas Brech, Pablo Wappner, Mariana Melani.

  Macroautophagy/autophagy, a mechanism of degradation of intracellular material required to sustain cellular homeostasis, is exacerbated under stress conditions like nutrient deprivation, protein aggregation, organelle senescence, pathogen invasion, and hypoxia, among others. Detailed in vivo description of autophagic responses triggered by hypoxia is limited. We have characterized the autophagic response induced by hypoxia in Drosophila melanogaster. We found that this process is essential for Drosophila adaptation and survival because larvae with impaired autophagy are hypersensitive to low oxygen levels. Hypoxia triggers a bona fide autophagic response, as evaluated by several autophagy markers including Atg8, LysoTracker, Lamp1, Pi3K59F/Vps34 activity, transcriptional induction of Atg genes, as well as by transmission electron microscopy. Autophagy occurs in waves of autophagosome formation and maturation as hypoxia exposure is prolonged. Hypoxia-triggered autophagy is induced cell autonomously, and different tissues are sensitive to hypoxic treatments. We found that hypoxia-induced autophagy depends on the basic autophagy machinery but not on the hypoxia master regulator sima/HIF1A. Overall, our studies lay the foundation for using D. melanogaster as a model system for studying autophagy under hypoxic conditions, which, in combination with the potency of genetic manipulations available in this organism, provides a platform for studying the involvement of autophagy in hypoxia-associated pathologies and developmentally regulated processes.Abbreviations: Atg: autophagy-related; FYVE: zinc finger domain from Fab1 (yeast ortholog of PIKfyve); GFP: green fluorescent protein; HIF: hypoxia-inducible factor; hsf: heat shock factor; Hx: hypoxia; mCh: mCherry; PtdIns: phosphatidylinositol; PtdIns3P: phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate; Rheb: Ras homolog enriched in brain; sima: similar; Stv: Starvation; TEM: transmission electron microscopy; Tor: target of rapamycin; UAS: upstream activating sequence; Vps: vacuolar protein sorting.

Keywords:  Autophagosome; Drosophila; autophagy; hypoxia; oxygen; starvation

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2021.1991191
Nat Metab. 2021 Nov;3(11): 1512-1520

Methionine synthase supports tumour tetrahydrofolate pools.

Jonathan M Ghergurovich, Xincheng Xu, Joshua Z Wang, Lifeng Yang, Rolf-Peter Ryseck, Lin Wang, Joshua D Rabinowitz.

Mammalian cells require activated folates to generate nucleotides for growth and division. The most abundant circulating folate species is 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate (5-methyl-THF), which is used to synthesize methionine from homocysteine via the cobalamin-dependent enzyme methionine synthase (MTR). Cobalamin deficiency traps folates as 5-methyl-THF. Here, we show using isotope tracing that MTR is only a minor source of methionine in cell culture, tissues or xenografted tumours. Instead, MTR is required for cells to avoid folate trapping and assimilate 5-methyl-THF into other folate species. Under conditions of physiological extracellular folates, genetic MTR knockout in tumour cells leads to folate trapping, purine synthesis stalling, nucleotide depletion and impaired growth in cell culture and as xenografts. These defects are rescued by free folate but not one-carbon unit supplementation. Thus, MTR plays a crucial role in liberating THF for use in one-carbon metabolism.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-021-00465-w
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 ;9 748631

Pre-clinical Models of Metastasis in Pancreatic Cancer.

Maria Miquel, Shuman Zhang, Christian Pilarsky.

  Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a hostile solid malignancy coupled with an extremely high mortality rate. Metastatic disease is already found in most patients at the time of diagnosis, resulting in a 5-year survival rate below 5%. Improved comprehension of the mechanisms leading to metastasis is pivotal for the development of new targeted therapies. A key field to be improved are modeling strategies applied in assessing cancer progression, since traditional platforms fail in recapitulating the complexity of PDAC. Consequently, there is a compelling demand for new preclinical models that mirror tumor progression incorporating the pressure of the immune system, tumor microenvironment, as well as molecular aspects of PDAC. We suggest the incorporation of 3D organoids derived from genetically engineered mouse models or patients as promising new tools capable to transform PDAC pre-clinical modeling and access new frontiers in personalized medicine.

Keywords:  GEMMs; PDAC – pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; metastasis; metastasis models; organoids; pancreatic cancer

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.748631
Clin Transl Gastroenterol. 2021 Nov 18. 12(11): e00431

Pancreatic Cancer-Related Mutational Burden Is Not Increased in a Patient Cohort With Clinically Severe Chronic Pancreatitis.

Robert W Cowan, Erica D Pratt, Jin Muk Kang, Jun Zhao, Joshua J Wilhelm, Muhamad Abdulla, Edmund M Qiao, Luke P Brennan, Peter J Ulintz, Melena D Bellin, Andrew D Rhim.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic pancreatitis is associated with an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer, and patients with inherited forms of pancreatitis are at greatest risk. We investigated whether clinical severity of pancreatitis could also be an indicator of cancer risk independent of etiology by performing targeted DNA sequencing to assess the mutational burden in 55 cancer-associated genes.
METHODS: Using picodroplet digital polymerase chain reaction and next-generation sequencing, we reported the genomic profiles of pancreases from severe clinical cases of chronic pancreatitis that necessitated palliative total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation.
RESULTS: We assessed 57 tissue samples from 39 patients with genetic and idiopathic etiologies and found that despite the clinical severity of disease, there was no corresponding increase in mutational burden. The average allele frequency of somatic variants was 1.19% (range 1.00%-5.97%), and distinct regions from the same patient displayed genomic heterogeneity, suggesting that these variants are subclonal. Few oncogenic KRAS mutations were discovered (7% of all samples), although we detected evidence of frequent cancer-related variants in other genes such as TP53, CDKN2A, and SMAD4. Of note, tissue samples with oncogenic KRAS mutations and samples from patients with PRSS1 mutations harbored an increased total number of somatic variants, suggesting that these patients may have increased genomic instability and could be at an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
DISCUSSION: Overall, we showed that even in those patients with chronic pancreatitis severe enough to warrant total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation, pancreatic cancer-related mutational burden is not appreciably increased.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14309/ctg.0000000000000431
Neoplasia. 2021 Nov 16. pii: S1476-5586(21)00097-X. [Epub ahead of print]23(12): 1300-1306

Stabilization of the classical phenotype upon integration of pancreatic cancer cells into the duodenal epithelium.

Benedek Bozóky, Fernández Moro, Carina Strell, Natalie Geyer, Rainer L Heuchel, J Matthias Löhr, Ingemar Ernberg, Laszlo Szekely, Marco Gerling, Béla Bozóky.

   INTRODUCTION: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive solid tumors. Based on transcriptomic classifiers, basal-like and classical PDAC subtypes have been defined that differ in prognosis. Cells of both subtypes can coexist in individual tumors; however, the contribution of either clonal heterogeneity or microenvironmental cues to subtype heterogeneity is unclear. Here, we report the spatial tumor phenotype dynamics in a cohort of patients in whom PDAC infiltrated the duodenal wall, and identify the duodenal epithelium as a distinct PDAC microniche.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used serial multiplex quantitative immunohistochemistry (smq-IHC) for 24 proteins to phenotypically chart PDAC tumor cells in patients whose tumors infiltrated the duodenal epithelium. Additionally, we used a genetically engineered mouse model to study the PDAC cell phenotype in the small intestinal epithelium in a controlled genetic background.
RESULT: We show that pancreatic cancer cells revert to non-destructive growth upon integration into the duodenal epithelium, where they adopt traits of intestinal cell differentiation, associated with phenotypical stabilization of the classical subtype. The integrated tumor cells replace epithelial cells in an adenoma-like manner, as opposed to invasive growth in the submucosa. Finally, we show that this phenomenon is shared between species, by confirming duodenal integration and phenotypic switching in a genetic PDAC mouse model.
DISCUSSION: Our results identify the duodenal epithelium as a distinct PDAC microniche and tightly link microenvironmental cue to cancer transcriptional subtypes. The phenomenon of "intestinal mimicry" provides a unique opportunity for the systematic investigation of microenvironmental influences on pancreatic cancer plasticity.

Keywords:  Intestinal mimicry; Local invasion; Pancreatic cancer; Transcriptome subtypes; Tumor microenvironment

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neo.2021.11.007
EMBO Rep. 2021 Nov 15. e53054

Metabolic resistance to the inhibition of mitochondrial transcription revealed by CRISPR-Cas9 screen.

Mara Mennuni, Roberta Filograna, Andrea Felser, Nina A Bonekamp, Patrick Giavalisco, Oleksandr Lytovchenko, Nils-Göran Larsson.

  Cancer cells depend on mitochondria to sustain their increased metabolic need and mitochondria therefore constitute possible targets for cancer treatment. We recently developed small-molecule inhibitors of mitochondrial transcription (IMTs) that selectively impair mitochondrial gene expression. IMTs have potent antitumor properties in vitro and in vivo, without affecting normal tissues. Because therapy-induced resistance is a major constraint to successful cancer therapy, we investigated mechanisms conferring resistance to IMTs. We employed a CRISPR-Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-(CRISP-associated protein 9) whole-genome screen to determine pathways conferring resistance to acute IMT1 treatment. Loss of genes belonging to von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) and mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathways caused resistance to acute IMT1 treatment and the relevance of these pathways was confirmed by chemical modulation. We also generated cells resistant to chronic IMT treatment to understand responses to persistent mitochondrial gene expression impairment. We report that IMT1-acquired resistance occurs through a compensatory increase of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) expression and cellular metabolites. We found that mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) downregulation and inhibition of mitochondrial translation impaired survival of resistant cells. The identified susceptibility and resistance mechanisms to IMTs may be relevant for different types of mitochondria-targeted therapies.

Keywords:  CRISPR-Cas9 screen; cancer; chemoresistance; inhibitor of mitochondrial transcription; mtDNA

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.202153054
Nat Commun. 2021 Nov 17. 12(1): 6636

Sequence logic at enhancers governs a dual mechanism of endodermal organ fate induction by FOXA pioneer factors.

Ryan J Geusz, Allen Wang, Dieter K Lam, Nicholas K Vinckier, Konstantinos-Dionysios Alysandratos, David A Roberts, Jinzhao Wang, Samy Kefalopoulou, Araceli Ramirez, Yunjiang Qiu, Joshua Chiou, Kyle J Gaulton, Bing Ren, Darrell N Kotton, Maike Sander.

FOXA pioneer transcription factors (TFs) associate with primed enhancers in endodermal organ precursors. Using a human stem cell model of pancreas differentiation, we here discover that only a subset of pancreatic enhancers is FOXA-primed, whereas the majority is unprimed and engages FOXA upon lineage induction. Primed enhancers are enriched for signal-dependent TF motifs and harbor abundant and strong FOXA motifs. Unprimed enhancers harbor fewer, more degenerate FOXA motifs, and FOXA recruitment to unprimed but not primed enhancers requires pancreatic TFs. Strengthening FOXA motifs at an unprimed enhancer near NKX6.1 renders FOXA recruitment pancreatic TF-independent, induces priming, and broadens the NKX6.1 expression domain. We make analogous observations about FOXA binding during hepatic and lung development. Our findings suggest a dual role for FOXA in endodermal organ development: first, FOXA facilitates signal-dependent lineage initiation via enhancer priming, and second, FOXA enforces organ cell type-specific gene expression via indirect recruitment by lineage-specific TFs.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26950-0
Clin Cancer Res. 2021 Nov 17. pii: clincanres.4116.2020. [Epub ahead of print]

Organoid Sensitivity Correlates with Therapeutic Response in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer.

Joseph E Grossman, Lakshmi Muthuswamy, Ling Huang, Dipikaa Akshinthala, Sofia Perea, Raul S Gonzalez, Leo L Tsai, Jonah Cohen, Bruno Bockorny, Andrea J Bullock, Benjamin Schlechter, Mary Linton B Peters, Catherine Conahan, Supraja Narasimhan, Christine Lim, Roger B Davis, Robert Besaw, Mandeep S Sawhney, Douglas Pleskow, Tyler M Berzin, Martin Smith, Tara S Kent, Mark Callery, Senthil K Muthuswamy, Manuel Hidalgo.

PURPOSE: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a significant health issue. For most patients there are no options for targeted therapy and existing treatments are limited by toxicity. The HOPE trial (Harnessing Organoids for PErsonalized Therapy) was a pilot feasibility trial aiming to prospectively generate patient derived organoids (PDOs) from patients with PDAC and test their drug sensitivity and correlation with clinical outcomes.
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: PDOs were established from a heterogeneous population of patients with PDAC including both basal and classical PDAC subtypes.
RESULTS: A method for classifying PDOs as sensitive or resistant to chemotherapy regimens was developed to predict the clinical outcome of study subjects. Drug sensitivity testing on PDOs correlated with clinical responses to treatment in individual patients.
CONCLUSION: These data support the investigation of PDOs to guide treatment in prospective interventional trials in PDAC.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-4116
Nat Metab. 2021 Nov;3(11): 1521-1535

The metabolic growth limitations of petite cells lacking the mitochondrial genome.

Jakob Vowinckel, Johannes Hartl, Hans Marx, Martin Kerick, Kathrin Runggatscher, Markus A Keller, Michael Mülleder, Jason Day, Manuela Weber, Mark Rinnerthaler, Jason S L Yu, Simran Kaur Aulakh, Andrea Lehmann, Diethard Mattanovich, Bernd Timmermann, Nianshu Zhang, Cory D Dunn, James I MacRae, Michael Breitenbach, Markus Ralser.

Eukaryotic cells can survive the loss of their mitochondrial genome, but consequently suffer from severe growth defects. 'Petite yeasts', characterized by mitochondrial genome loss, are instrumental for studying mitochondrial function and physiology. However, the molecular cause of their reduced growth rate remains an open question. Here we show that petite cells suffer from an insufficient capacity to synthesize glutamate, glutamine, leucine and arginine, negatively impacting their growth. Using a combination of molecular genetics and omics approaches, we demonstrate the evolution of fast growth overcomes these amino acid deficiencies, by alleviating a perturbation in mitochondrial iron metabolism and by restoring a defect in the mitochondrial tricarboxylic acid cycle, caused by aconitase inhibition. Our results hence explain the slow growth of mitochondrial genome-deficient cells with a partial auxotrophy in four amino acids that results from distorted iron metabolism and an inhibited tricarboxylic acid cycle.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-021-00477-6
FEBS J. 2021 Nov 17.

Molecular mechanisms and biological roles of GOMED.

Noguchi Saori, Shigeomi Shimizu.

  We previously discovered an autophagy-like proteolysis mechanism that uses the Golgi membrane, namely, Golgi membrane-associated degradation (GOMED). Morphologically, GOMED resembles canonical autophagy, but the two mechanisms have different cellular functions, as they degrade different substrates and use different membrane sources. Furthermore, although the molecules involved partially overlap, the core molecules are completely different. GOMED preferentially degrades Golgi-trafficking proteins, including insulin granules in pancreatic β-cells and ceruloplasmin in neurons, and is involved in a wide variety of physiological events.

Keywords:  GOMED; Golgi; ULK1; autophagy

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.16281
Cancer Med. 2021 Nov 17.

Osteopenia is associated with wasting in pancreatic adenocarcinoma and predicts survival after surgery.

Miles E Cameron, Patrick W Underwood, Iverson E Williams, Thomas J George, Sarah M Judge, Joshua F Yarrow, Jose G Trevino, Andrew R Judge.

  Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the deadliest of all common malignancies. Treatment is difficult and often complicated by the presence of cachexia. The clinical portrait of cachexia contributes to the poor prognosis experienced by PDAC patients and worsens therapeutic outcomes. We propose that low bone mineral density is a component of cachexia, which we explore herein through a retrospective review of all patients at our facility that underwent surgery for PDAC between 2011 and 2018 and compared to sex-, age- and comorbidity-matched control individuals. Data were abstracted from the medical record and pre-operative computed tomography scans. Muscle mass and quality were measured at the L3 level and bone mineral density was measured as the radiation attenuation of the lumbar vertebral bodies. Patients with PDAC displayed typical signs of cachexia such as weight loss and radiologically appreciable deterioration of skeletal muscle. Critically, PDAC patients had significantly lower bone mineral density than controls, with 61.2% of PDAC patients categorized as osteopenic compared to 36.8% of controls. PDAC patients classified as osteopenic had significantly reduced survival (1.01 years) compared to patients without osteopenia (2.77 years). The presence of osteopenia was the strongest clinical predictor of 1- and 2-year disease-specific mortality, increasing the risk of death by 107% and 80%, respectively. Osteopenia serves as a test of 2-year mortality with sensitivity of 76% and specificity of 58%. These data therefore identify impaired bone mineral density as a key component of cachexia and predictor of postoperative survival in patients with PDAC. The mechanisms that lead to bone wasting in tumor-bearing hosts deserve further study.

Keywords:  bone-muscle interactions; cytokines; human association studies; prognostic markers; sarcopenia; tumor-induced bone disease

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.4416
Sci Adv. 2021 Nov 19. 7(47): eabk1023

Activation of the NRF2 antioxidant program sensitizes tumors to G6PD inhibition.

Hongyu Ding, Zihong Chen, Katherine Wu, Shih Ming Huang, Warren L Wu, Sarah E LeBoeuf, Ray G Pillai, Joshua D Rabinowitz, Thales Papagiannakopoulos.

[Figure: see text].

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abk1023
EMBO J. 2021 Nov 17. e109519

Widespread use of unconventional targeting signals in mitochondrial ribosome proteins.

Yury S Bykov, Tamara Flohr, Felix Boos, Naama Zung, Johannes M Herrmann, Maya Schuldiner.

  Mitochondrial ribosomes are complex molecular machines indispensable for respiration. Their assembly involves the import of several dozens of mitochondrial ribosomal proteins (MRPs), encoded in the nuclear genome, into the mitochondrial matrix. Proteomic and structural data as well as computational predictions indicate that up to 25% of yeast MRPs do not have a conventional N-terminal mitochondrial targeting signal (MTS). We experimentally characterized a set of 15 yeast MRPs in vivo and found that five use internal MTSs. Further analysis of a conserved model MRP, Mrp17/bS6m, revealed the identity of the internal targeting signal. Similar to conventional MTS-containing proteins, the internal sequence mediates binding to TOM complexes. The entire sequence of Mrp17 contains positive charges mediating translocation. The fact that these sequence properties could not be reliably predicted by standard methods shows that mitochondrial protein targeting is more versatile than expected. We hypothesize that structural constraints imposed by ribosome assembly interfaces may have disfavored N-terminal presequences and driven the evolution of internal targeting signals in MRPs.

Keywords:  mitochondria; mitochondrial ribosome; mitochondrial targeting signal; targeting; translocation

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2021109519
J Gastrointest Oncol. 2021 Oct;12(5): 2536-2546

Can local ablative techniques replace surgery for locally advanced pancreatic cancer?

Ulrike Heger, Thilo Hackert.

  In the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) the best chance at long term survival or cure has to date always included the complete surgical removal of the tumor. However, locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC), about 25% of all newly diagnosed PDAC, is defined by its primary technical unresectability due to infiltration of visceral arteries and absence of metastasis. Induction therapies, especially FOLFIRINOX treatment, together with technical surgical advancement have increased the numbers for conversion to secondary resectability. Recent data on resections after induction therapy show promising, almost doubled survival compared to palliative treatment. Yet, around 70% of LAPC remain unresectable after induction therapy, often due to persistent local invasion. As locally ablative techniques are becoming more widely available this review examines their possible applicability to substitute for surgery in these cases which we propose to group under the new term "Inconvertible LAPC". The need for defining this novel subgroup who might benefit from ablative treatment is based on the findings in our review that high-level evidence on ablative techniques for PDAC is largely lacking and the latest effective, harmonized treatment guidelines for LAPC are not often incorporated in these studies. The "inconvertible LAPC" label requires persistent unresectability after staging and induction therapy of LAPC according to current guidelines followed by liberal indication for aggressive surgical exploration at a center equipped for extended pancreatic resections. Ideally, this specification of a new, distinct patient group will also put it in the spotlight more, hopefully prompt more trials designed to generate robust evidence and optimize transferability of study results.

Keywords:  Pancreatic cancer; ablation techniques; induction therapy; irreversible electroporation (IRE); locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC)

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.21037/jgo-20-379
Nature. 2021 Nov 18.

CRISPR screens unveil signal hubs for nutrient licensing of T cell immunity.

Lingyun Long, Jun Wei, Seon Ah Lim, Jana L Raynor, Hao Shi, Jon P Connelly, Hong Wang, Cliff Guy, Boer Xie, Nicole M Chapman, Guotong Fu, Yanyan Wang, Hongling Huang, Wei Su, Jordy Saravia, Isabel Risch, Yong-Dong Wang, Yuxin Li, Mingming Niu, Yogesh Dhungana, Anil Kc, Peipei Zhou, Peter Vogel, Jiyang Yu, Shondra M Pruett-Miller, Junmin Peng, Hongbo Chi.

Nutrients are emerging regulators of adaptive immunity1. Selective nutrients interplay with immunological signals to activate mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), a key driver of cell metabolism2-4, but how these environmental signals are integrated for immune regulation remains unclear. Here we use genome-wide CRISPR screening combined with protein-protein interaction networks to identify regulatory modules that mediate immune receptor- and nutrient-dependent signalling to mTORC1 in mouse regulatory T (Treg) cells. SEC31A is identified to promote mTORC1 activation by interacting with the GATOR2 component SEC13 to protect it from SKP1-dependent proteasomal degradation. Accordingly, loss of SEC31A impairs T cell priming and Treg suppressive function in mice. In addition, the SWI/SNF complex restricts expression of the amino acid sensor CASTOR1, thereby enhancing mTORC1 activation. Moreover, we reveal that the CCDC101-associated SAGA complex is a potent inhibitor of mTORC1, which limits the expression of glucose and amino acid transporters and maintains T cell quiescence in vivo. Specific deletion of Ccdc101 in mouse Treg cells results in uncontrolled inflammation but improved antitumour immunity. Collectively, our results establish epigenetic and post-translational mechanisms that underpin how nutrient transporters, sensors and transducers interplay with immune signals for three-tiered regulation of mTORC1 activity and identify their pivotal roles in licensing T cell immunity and immune tolerance.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04109-7
Neoplasia. 2021 Nov 16. pii: S1476-5586(21)00098-1. [Epub ahead of print]23(12): 1307-1317

Amelioration of muscle wasting by gintonin in cancer cachexia.

Yoseph Toni Wijaya, Tania Setiawan, Ita Novita Sari, Seung-Yeol Nah, Hyog Young Kwon.

  Cancer cachexia is characterized by systemic inflammation, protein degradation, and loss of skeletal muscle. Despite extensive efforts to develop therapeutics, only few effective treatments are available to protect against cancer cachexia. Here, we found that gintonin (GT), a ginseng-derived lysophosphatidic acid receptor (LPAR) ligand, protected C2C12 myotubes from tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα)/interferon γ (IFNγ)- induced muscle wasting condition. The activity of GT was found to be dependent on LPAR/Gαi2, as the LPAR antagonist Ki16425 and Gαi2 siRNA abolished the anti-atrophic effects of GT on myotubes. GT suppressed TNFα-induced oxidative stress by reducing reactive oxygen species and suppressing inflammation-related genes, such as interleukin 6 (IL-6) and NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX-2). In addition, GT exhibited anti-atrophy effects in primary normal human skeletal myoblasts. Further, GT protected against Lewis lung carcinoma cell line (LLC1)-induced cancer cachexia in a mouse model. Specifically, GT rescued the lower levels of grip strength, hanging, and cross-sectional area caused by LLC1. Collectively, our findings suggest that GT may be a good therapeutic candidate for protecting against cancer cachexia.

Keywords:  Cancer cachexia; Gintonin; Muscle atrophy; Oxidative stress

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neo.2021.11.008
Cell Metab. 2021 Nov 10. pii: S1550-4131(21)00527-1. [Epub ahead of print]

Efferocytosis induces macrophage proliferation to help resolve tissue injury.

Brennan D Gerlach, Patrick B Ampomah, Arif Yurdagul, Chuang Liu, Max C Lauring, Xiaobo Wang, Canan Kasikara, Na Kong, Jinjun Shi, Wei Tao, Ira Tabas.

  Apoptotic cell clearance by macrophages (efferocytosis) promotes resolution signaling pathways, which can be triggered by molecules derived from the phagolysosomal degradation of apoptotic cells. We show here that nucleotides derived from the hydrolysis of apoptotic cell DNA by phagolysosomal DNase2a activate a DNA-PKcs-mTORC2/Rictor pathway that increases Myc to promote non-inflammatory macrophage proliferation. Efferocytosis-induced proliferation expands the pool of resolving macrophages in vitro and in mice, including zymosan-induced peritonitis, dexamethasone-induced thymocyte apoptosis, and atherosclerosis regression. In the dexamethasone-thymus model, hematopoietic Rictor deletion blocked efferocytosing macrophage proliferation, apoptotic cell clearance, and tissue resolution. In atherosclerosis regression, silencing macrophage Rictor or DNase2a blocked efferocyte proliferation, apoptotic cell clearance, and plaque stabilization. In view of previous work showing that other types of apoptotic cell cargo can promote resolution in individual efferocytosing macrophages, the findings here suggest that signaling-triggered apoptotic cell-derived nucleotides can amplify this benefit by increasing the number of these macrophages.

Keywords:  DNase2a; Erk1/2 signaling; MerTK; Myc; atherosclerosis; efferocytosis; inflammation resolution; mTORC2/Rictor; macrophage; macrophage proliferation

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2021.10.015
Open Biol. 2021 Nov;11(11): 210125

Palbociclib-mediated cell cycle arrest can occur in the absence of the CDK inhibitors p21 and p27.

Betheney R Pennycook, Alexis R Barr.

  The use of CDK4/6 inhibitors in the treatment of a wide range of cancers is an area of ongoing investigation. Despite their increasing clinical use, there is limited understanding of the determinants of sensitivity and resistance to these drugs. Recent data have cast doubt on how CDK4/6 inhibitors arrest proliferation, provoking renewed interest in the role(s) of CDK4/6 in driving cell proliferation. As the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors in cancer therapies becomes more prominent, an understanding of their effect on the cell cycle becomes more urgent. Here, we investigate the mechanism of action of CDK4/6 inhibitors in promoting cell cycle arrest. Two main models explain how CDK4/6 inhibitors cause G1 cell cycle arrest, which differ in their dependence on the CDK inhibitor proteins p21 and p27. We have used live and fixed single-cell quantitative imaging, with inducible degradation systems, to address the roles of p21 and p27 in the mechanism of action of CDK4/6 inhibitors. We find that CDK4/6 inhibitors can initiate and maintain a cell cycle arrest without p21 or p27. This work clarifies our current understanding of the mechanism of action of CDK4/6 inhibitors and has implications for cancer treatment and patient stratification.

Keywords:  cancer biology; cell cycle; cyclin-dependent kinases; proliferation

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1098/rsob.210125
Cancer Discov. 2021 Nov 17. pii: candisc.0030.2021. [Epub ahead of print]

Fasting-mimicking diet is safe and reshapes metabolism and antitumor immunity in cancer patients.

Claudio Vernieri, Giovanni Fuca, Francesca Ligorio, Veronica Huber, Andrea Vingiani, Fabio Iannelli, Alessandra Raimondi, Darawan Rinchai, Gianmaria Frige, Antonino Belfiore, Luca Lalli, Claudia Chiodoni, Valeria Cancila, Federica Zanardi, Arta Ajazi, Salvatore Cortellino, Viviana Vallacchi, Paola Squarcina, Agata Cova, Samantha Pesce, Paola Frati, Raghvendra Mall, Paola Antonia Corsetto, Angela Maria Rizzo, Cristina Ferraris, Secondo Folli, Marina Chiara Garassino, Giuseppe Capri, Giulia Bianchi, Mario Paolo Colombo, Saverio Minucci, Marco Foiani, Valter Daniel Longo, Giovanni Apolone, Valter Torri, Giancarlo Pruneri, Davide Bedognetti, Licia Rivoltini, Filippo de Braud.

In tumor-bearing mice, cyclic fasting or fasting-mimicking diets (FMDs) enhance the activity of antineoplastic treatments by modulating systemic metabolism and boosting antitumor immunity. Here we conducted a clinical trial to investigate the safety and biological effects of cyclic, five-day FMD in combination with standard antitumor therapies. In 101 patients, the FMD was safe, feasible, and resulted in a consistent decrease of blood glucose and growth factor concentration, thus recapitulating metabolic changes that mediate fasting/FMD anticancer effects in preclinical experiments. Integrated transcriptomic and deep-phenotyping analyses revealed that FMD profoundly reshapes anticancer immunity by inducing the contraction of peripheral blood immunosuppressive myeloid and regulatory T-cell compartments, paralleled by enhanced intratumor T-helper 1/cytotoxic responses and an enrichment of interferon-gamma and other immune signatures associated with better clinical outcomes in cancer patients. Our findings lay the foundations for phase II/III clinical trials aimed at investigating FMD antitumor efficacy in combination with standard antineoplastic treatments.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-0030
Nat Immunol. 2021 Nov 18.

Dynamic CD4+ T cell heterogeneity defines subset-specific suppression and PD-L1-blockade-driven functional restoration in chronic infection.

Laura M Snell, Wenxi Xu, Diala Abd-Rabbo, Giselle Boukhaled, Mengdi Guo, Bethany L Macleod, Heidi J Elsaesser, Kebria Hezaveh, Nirmin Alsahafi, Sabelo Lukhele, Sara Nejat, Ramanandan Prabhakaran, Slava Epelman, Tracy L McGaha, David G Brooks.

Inhibiting PD-1:PD-L1 signaling has transformed therapeutic immune restoration. CD4+ T cells sustain immunity in chronic infections and cancer, yet little is known about how PD-1 signaling modulates CD4+ helper T (TH) cell responses or the ability to restore CD4+ TH-mediated immunity by checkpoint blockade. We demonstrate that PD-1:PD-L1 specifically suppressed CD4+ TH1 cell amplification, prevents CD4+ TH1 cytokine production and abolishes CD4+ cytotoxic killing capacity during chronic infection in mice. Inhibiting PD-L1 rapidly restored these functions, while simultaneously amplifying and activating TH1-like T regulatory cells, demonstrating a system-wide CD4-TH1 recalibration. This effect coincided with decreased T cell antigen receptor signaling, and re-directed type I interferon (IFN) signaling networks towards dominant IFN-γ-mediated responses. Mechanistically, PD-L1 blockade specifically targeted defined populations with pre-established, but actively suppressed proliferative potential, with limited impact on minimally cycling TCF-1+ follicular helper T cells, despite high PD-1 expression. Thus, CD4+ T cells require unique differentiation and functional states to be targets of PD-L1-directed suppression and therapeutic restoration.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-021-01060-7
JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Nov 01. 4(11): e2133388

The Association of Drug-Funding Reimbursement With Survival Outcomes and Use of New Systemic Therapies Among Patients With Advanced Pancreatic Cancer.

Michael J Raphael, William Raskin, Steven Habbous, Xiaochen Tai, Jaclyn Beca, Wei F Dai, Jessica Arias, Leta Forbes, Scott Gavura, James J Biagi, Craig C Earle, Kelvin K W Chan.

Importance: Gemcitabine-nab-paclitaxel (GEMNAB) and fluorouracil, leucovorin, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin (FOLFIRINOX) both improve survival of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer when compared with single-agent gemcitabine in clinical trials.
Objective: To describe changes in the survival of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer associated with sequential drug-funding approvals and to determine if there exist distinct patient populations for whom GEMNAB and FOLFIRINOX are associated with survival benefit.
Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based, retrospective cohort study examined all incident cases of advanced pancreatic cancer treated with first-line chemotherapy in Ontario, Canada (2008-2018) that were identified from the Cancer Care Ontario (Ontario Health) New Drug Funding Program database. Statistical analysis was performed from October 2020 to January 2021.
Exposures: First-line chemotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer.
Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcomes were the proportion of patients treated with each chemotherapy regimen over time and overall survival for each regimen. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to compare overall survival between treatment regimens after adjustment for confounding variables, inverse probability of treatment weighting, and matching.
Results: From 2008 to 2018, 5465 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer were treated with first-line chemotherapy in Ontario, Canada. The median (range) age of patients was 66.9 (27.8-93.4) years; 2447 (45%) were female; 878 (16%) had prior pancreatic resection, and 328 (6%) had prior adjuvant gemcitabine. During the time period when only gemcitabine and FOLFIRINOX were funded (2011-2015), 49% (929 of 1887) received FOLFIRINOX. When GEMNAB was subsequently funded (2015-2018), 9% (206 of 2347) received gemcitabine, 44% (1034 of 2347) received FOLFIRINOX, and 47% (1107 of 2347) received GEMNAB. The median overall survival increased from 5.6 months (95% CI, 5.1-6.0 months) in 2008 to 2011 to 6.9 months (95% CI, 6.5-7.4 months) in 2011 to 2015 to 7.6 months (95% CI, 7.1-8.0 months) in 2015 to 2018. Patients receiving FOLFIRINOX were younger and healthier than patients receiving GEMNAB. After adjustment and weighting, FOLFIRINOX was associated with better overall survival than GEMNAB (hazard ratio [HR], 0.75 [95% CI, 0.69-0.81]). In analyses comparing patients treated with GEMNAB and gemcitabine, GEMNAB was associated with better overall survival (HR, 0.86 [95% CI, 0.78-0.94]).
Conclusions and Relevance: This cohort study of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer receiving first-line palliative chemotherapy within a universal health care system found that drug funding decisions were associated with increased uptake of new treatment options over time and improved survival. Both FOLFIRINOX and GEMNAB were associated with survival benefits in distinct patient populations.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.33388
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Nov 23. pii: e2112258118. [Epub ahead of print]118(47):

PD-L1 sustains chronic, cancer cell-intrinsic responses to type I interferon, enhancing resistance to DNA damage.

HyeonJoo Cheon, Elise G Holvey-Bates, Daniel J McGrail, George R Stark.

  Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), an immune-checkpoint protein expressed on cancer cells, also functions independently of the immune system. We found that PD-L1 inhibits the killing of cancer cells in response to DNA damage in an immune-independent manner by suppressing their acute response to type I interferon (IFN; IFN-I). In addition, PD-L1 plays a critical role in sustaining high levels of constitutive expression in cancer cells of a subset of IFN-induced genes, the IFN-related DNA damage resistance signature (IRDS) which, paradoxically, protects cancer cells. The cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-stimulator of the IFN genes (cGAS-STING) pathway is constitutively activated in a subset of cancer cells in the presence of high levels of PD-L1, thus leading to a constitutive, low level of IFN-β expression, which in turn increases IRDS expression. The constitutive low level of IFN-β expression is critical for the survival of cancer cells addicted to self-produced IFN-β. Our study reveals immune-independent functions of PD-L1 that inhibit cytotoxic acute responses to IFN-I and promote protective IRDS expression by supporting protective chronic IFN-I responses, both of which enhance the resistance of cancer cells to DNA damage.

Keywords:  DNA damage resistance; cGAS-STING pathway; programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1); type I interferon (IFN-I)

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2112258118
Autophagy. 2021 Nov 19. 1-11

AMBRA1 regulates mitophagy by interacting with ATAD3A and promoting PINK1 stability.

Martina Di Rienzo, Alessandra Romagnoli, Fabiola Ciccosanti, Giulia Refolo, Veronica Consalvi, Giuseppe Arena, Enza Maria Valente, Mauro Piacentini, Gian Maria Fimia.

  PINK1 accumulation at the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) is a key event required to signal depolarized mitochondria to the autophagy machinery. How this early step is, in turn, modulated by autophagy proteins remains less characterized. Here, we show that, upon mitochondrial depolarization, the proautophagic protein AMBRA1 is recruited to the OMM and interacts with PINK1 and ATAD3A, a transmembrane protein that mediates mitochondrial import and degradation of PINK1. Downregulation of AMBRA1 expression results in reduced levels of PINK1 due to its enhanced degradation by the mitochondrial protease LONP1, which leads to a decrease in PINK1-mediated ubiquitin phosphorylation and mitochondrial PRKN/PARKIN recruitment. Notably, ATAD3A silencing rescues defective PINK1 accumulation in AMBRA1-deficient cells upon mitochondrial damage. Overall, our findings underline an upstream contribution of AMBRA1 in the control of PINK1-PRKN mitophagy by interacting with ATAD3A and promoting PINK1 stability. This novel regulatory element may account for changes of PINK1 levels in neuropathological conditions.

Keywords:  Autophagy; LONP1; PRKN/PARKIN; TOMM complex; ubiquitin phosphorylation

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2021.1997052
Nat Metab. 2021 Nov;3(11): 1445-1465

Lipolysis: cellular mechanisms for lipid mobilization from fat stores.

Gernot F Grabner, Hao Xie, Martina Schweiger, Rudolf Zechner.

The perception that intracellular lipolysis is a straightforward process that releases fatty acids from fat stores in adipose tissue to generate energy has experienced major revisions over the last two decades. The discovery of new lipolytic enzymes and coregulators, the demonstration that lipophagy and lysosomal lipolysis contribute to the degradation of cellular lipid stores and the characterization of numerous factors and signalling pathways that regulate lipid hydrolysis on transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels have revolutionized our understanding of lipolysis. In this review, we focus on the mechanisms that facilitate intracellular fatty-acid mobilization, drawing on canonical and noncanonical enzymatic pathways. We summarize how intracellular lipolysis affects lipid-mediated signalling, metabolic regulation and energy homeostasis in multiple organs. Finally, we examine how these processes affect pathogenesis and how lipolysis may be targeted to potentially prevent or treat various diseases.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-021-00493-6
Aging Cell. 2021 Nov 14. e13514

Adiponectin alleviated Alzheimer-like pathologies via autophagy-lysosomal activation.

Kaiwu He, Lulin Nie, Tahir Ali, Shujin Wang, Xiao Chen, Zizhen Liu, Weifen Li, Kaiqin Zhang, Jia Xu, Jianjun Liu, Zhi-Jian Yu, Xifei Yang, Shupeng Li.

  Adiponectin (APN) deficiency has also been associated with Alzheimer-like pathologies. Recent studies have illuminated the importance of APN signaling in reducing Aβ accumulation, and the Aβ elimination mechanism remains rudimentary. Therefore, we aimed to elucidate the APN role in reducing Aβ accumulation and its associated abnormalities by targeting autophagy and lysosomal protein changes. To assess, we performed a combined pharmacological and genetic approach while using preclinical models and human samples. Our results demonstrated that the APN level significantly diminished in the plasma of patients with dementia and 5xFAD mice (6 months old), which positively correlated with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and negatively correlated with Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), respectively. APN deficiency accelerated cognitive impairment, Aβ deposition, and neuroinflammation in 5xFAD mice (5xFAD*APN KO), which was significantly rescued by AdipoRon (AR) treatment. Furthermore, AR treatment also markedly reduced Aβ deposition and attenuated neuroinflammation in APP/PS1 mice without altering APP expression and processing. Interestingly, AR treatment triggered autophagy by mediating AMPK-mTOR pathway signaling. Most importantly, APN deficiency dysregulated lysosomal enzymes level, which was recovered by AR administration. We further validated these changes by proteomic analysis. These findings reveal that APN is the negative regulator of Aβ deposition and its associated pathophysiologies. To eliminate Aβ both extra- and intracellular deposition, APN contributes via the autophagic/lysosomal pathway. It presents a therapeutic avenue for AD therapy by targeting autophagic and lysosomal signaling.

Keywords:  adiponectin; autophagy-lysosomal pathway; cognitive impairments; dementia; neuroinflammation

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13514
Mol Cell. 2021 Nov 12. pii: S1097-2765(21)00933-3. [Epub ahead of print]

Parp1 promotes sleep, which enhances DNA repair in neurons.

David Zada, Yaniv Sela, Noa Matosevich, Adir Monsonego, Tali Lerer-Goldshtein, Yuval Nir, Lior Appelbaum.

  The characteristics of the sleep drivers and the mechanisms through which sleep relieves the cellular homeostatic pressure are unclear. In flies, zebrafish, mice, and humans, DNA damage levels increase during wakefulness and decrease during sleep. Here, we show that 6 h of consolidated sleep is sufficient to reduce DNA damage in the zebrafish dorsal pallium. Induction of DNA damage by neuronal activity and mutagens triggered sleep and DNA repair. The activity of the DNA damage response (DDR) proteins Rad52 and Ku80 increased during sleep, and chromosome dynamics enhanced Rad52 activity. The activity of the DDR initiator poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (Parp1) increased following sleep deprivation. In both larva zebrafish and adult mice, Parp1 promoted sleep. Inhibition of Parp1 activity reduced sleep-dependent chromosome dynamics and repair. These results demonstrate that DNA damage is a homeostatic driver for sleep, and Parp1 pathways can sense this cellular pressure and facilitate sleep and repair activity.

Keywords:  DNA damage response; Ku80; NREM; Parp1; Rad52; chromosome dynamics; homeostasis; mice; sleep; zebrafish

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2021.10.026
World J Clin Cases. 2021 Oct 26. 9(30): 9134-9143

Long-term survival of a patient with pancreatic cancer and lung metastasis: A case report and review of literature.

Wen-Wei Yang, Lin Yang, Hai-Zhen Lu, Yong-Kun Sun.

   BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death, given its poor prognosis and the limited benefits of traditional therapies. As tumors become more genetically disorganized as they progress, genetic mutations might become new markers for us to predict their behavior. Nowadays, many inhibitors can selectively target gene products as a form of targeted therapy, with some showing promise as treatment for various types of cancer.
CASE SUMMARY: We describe a rare case of a PC patient with long-term survival of more than 8 yr. The patient was diagnosed with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) with BAP1 and PIK3CA gene mutations and Raf1 fusion and achieved partial response twice after treatment with apatinib in combination with chemotherapy.
CONCLUSION: BAP1, PIK3CA mutations, and Raf1 fusion are rare in PDAC. Patients with these three gene alterations of PDAC may achieve long-term survival with apatinib. Further research in other contexts is needed to determine whether apatinib has ideal efficacy for PC treatment.

Keywords:  Apatinib; BAP1 mutation; Case report; PIK3CA mutation; Pancreatic cancer; Raf1 fusion

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12998/wjcc.v9.i30.9134
Trends Cancer. 2021 Nov 11. pii: S2405-8033(21)00210-7. [Epub ahead of print]

Cancer catecholamine conundrum.

H Wackerhage, J F Christensen, M Ilmer, I von Luettichau, B W Renz, M Schönfelder.

  Exercise, psychosocial stress, and drugs such as adrenergic agonists and antagonists increase the concentrations of catecholamines and/or alter adrenergic signaling. Intriguingly, exercise studies universally suggest that catecholamines are cancer-inhibiting whereas cancer stress studies typically report the opposite, whereas β-blocker studies show variable effects. Here, we term variable effects of catecholamines in cancer the cancer catecholamine conundrum. Variable effects of catecholamines can potentially be explained by variable expression of nine adrenergic receptor isoforms and by other factors including catecholamine effects on cancer versus immune or endothelial cells. Future studies on catecholamines and cancer should seek to understand the mechanisms that explain variable effects of catecholamines in cancer to utilize beneficial or block detrimental effects of catecholamines in cancer patients.

Keywords:  adrenergic receptors; catecholamines; exercise; stress

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trecan.2021.10.005
Nat Chem Biol. 2021 Dec;17(12): 1271-1280

A proteome-wide map of 20(S)-hydroxycholesterol interactors in cell membranes.

Yu-Shiuan Cheng, Tianyi Zhang, Xiang Ma, Sarida Pratuangtham, Grace C Zhang, Alexander A Ondrus, Amirhossein Mafi, Brett Lomenick, Jeffrey J Jones, Alison E Ondrus.

Oxysterols (OHCs) are hydroxylated cholesterol metabolites that play ubiquitous roles in health and disease. Due to the non-covalent nature of their interactions and their unique partitioning in membranes, the analysis of live-cell, proteome-wide interactions of OHCs remains an unmet challenge. Here, we present a structurally precise chemoproteomics probe for the biologically active molecule 20(S)-hydroxycholesterol (20(S)-OHC) and provide a map of its proteome-wide targets in the membranes of living cells. Our target catalog consolidates diverse OHC ontologies and demonstrates that OHC-interacting proteins cluster with specific processes in immune response and cancer. Competition experiments reveal that 20(S)-OHC is a chemo-, regio- and stereoselective ligand for the protein transmembrane protein 97 (Tmem97/the σ2 receptor), enabling us to reconstruct the 20(S)-OHC-Tmem97 binding site. Our results demonstrate that multiplexed, quantitative analysis of cellular target engagement can expose new dimensions of metabolite activity and identify actionable targets for molecular therapy.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-021-00907-2
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Nov 23. pii: e2103228118. [Epub ahead of print]118(47):

Passive coupling of membrane tension and cell volume during active response of cells to osmosis.

Chloé Roffay, Guillaume Molinard, Kyoohyun Kim, Marta Urbanska, Virginia Andrade, Victoria Barbarasa, Paulina Nowak, Vincent Mercier, José García-Calvo, Stefan Matile, Robbie Loewith, Arnaud Echard, Jochen Guck, Martin Lenz, Aurélien Roux.

  During osmotic changes of their environment, cells actively regulate their volume and plasma membrane tension that can passively change through osmosis. How tension and volume are coupled during osmotic adaptation remains unknown, as their quantitative characterization is lacking. Here, we performed dynamic membrane tension and cell volume measurements during osmotic shocks. During the first few seconds following the shock, cell volume varied to equilibrate osmotic pressures inside and outside the cell, and membrane tension dynamically followed these changes. A theoretical model based on the passive, reversible unfolding of the membrane as it detaches from the actin cortex during volume increase quantitatively describes our data. After the initial response, tension and volume recovered from hypoosmotic shocks but not from hyperosmotic shocks. Using a fluorescent membrane tension probe (fluorescent lipid tension reporter [Flipper-TR]), we investigated the coupling between tension and volume during these asymmetric recoveries. Caveolae depletion and pharmacological inhibition of ion transporters and channels, mTORCs, and the cytoskeleton all affected tension and volume responses. Treatments targeting mTORC2 and specific downstream effectors caused identical changes to both tension and volume responses, their coupling remaining the same. This supports that the coupling of tension and volume responses to osmotic shocks is primarily regulated by mTORC2.

Keywords:  cell volume; flipper-TR; mechanobiology; osmotic shocks; plasma membrane tension

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2103228118