Mitochondrial Translocase TOMM22 Is Overexpressed in Pancreatic Cancer and Promotes Aggressive Growth by Modulating Mitochondrial Protein Import and Function.

Pancreatic cancer has the worst prognosis among all cancers, underscoring the need for improved management strategies. Dysregulated mitochondrial function is a common feature in several malignancies, including pancreatic cancer. Although mitochondria have their own genome, most mitochondrial proteins are nuclear-encoded and imported by a multi-subunit translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane (TOMM). TOMM22 is the central receptor of the TOMM complex and plays a role in complex assembly. Pathobiologic roles of TOMM subunits remain largely unexplored. Here we report that TOMM22 protein/mRNA is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer and inversely correlated with disease outcomes. TOMM22 silencing decreased, while its forced overexpression promoted the growth and malignant potential of the pancreatic cancer cells. Increased import of several mitochondrial proteins, including those associated with mitochondrial respiration, was observed upon TOMM22 overexpression which was associated with increased RCI activity, NAD+/NADH ratio, oxygen consumption rate, membrane potential, and ATP production. Inhibition of RCI activity decreased ATP levels and suppressed pancreatic cancer cell growth and malignant behavior confirming that increased TOMM22 expression mediated the phenotypic changes via its modulation of mitochondrial protein import and functions. Altogether, these results suggest that TOMM22 overexpression plays a significant role in pancreatic cancer pathobiology by altering mitochondrial protein import and functions. IMPLICATIONS: TOMM22 bears potential for early diagnostic/prognostic biomarker development and therapeutic targeting for better management of patients with pancreatic cancer.

MYB exhibits racially disparate expression, clinicopathologic association, and predictive potential for biochemical recurrence in prostate cancer.

MYB acts as a potentiator of aggressiveness and castration resistance in prostate cancer (PCa) through aberrant activation of androgen receptor (AR) signaling. Since Black men experience higher PCa incidence and mortality than White men, we examined if MYB was differentially expressed in prostate tumors from patients of these racial backgrounds. The data reveal that aberrant MYB expression starts early in precancerous high-grade prostate intraepithelial neoplastic lesions and increases progressively in malignant cells. PCa tissues from Black patients exhibit higher MYB expression than White patients in overall and grade-wise comparisons. MYB also exhibits a positive correlation with AR expression and both display higher expression in advanced tumor stages. Notably, we find that MYB is a better predictor of biochemical recurrence than AR, pre-treatment PSA, or Gleason's grades. These findings establish MYB as a promising molecular target in PCa that could be used for improved risk prediction and therapeutic planning.

MYB interacts with androgen receptor, sustains its ligand-independent activation and promotes castration resistance in prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Aberrant activation of androgen receptor signalling following castration therapy is a common clinical observation in prostate cancer (PCa). Earlier, we demonstrated the role of MYB overexpression in androgen-depletion resistance and PCa aggressiveness. Here, we investigated MYB-androgen receptor (AR) crosstalk and its functional significance. METHODS: Interaction and co-localization of MYB and AR were examined by co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence analyses, respectively. Protein levels were measured by immunoblot analysis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The role of MYB in ligand-independent AR transcriptional activity and combinatorial gene regulation was studied by promoter-reporter and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. The functional significance of MYB in castration resistance was determined using an orthotopic mouse model. RESULTS: MYB and AR interact and co-localize in the PCa cells. MYB-overexpressing PCa cells retain AR in the nucleus even when cultured under androgen-deprived conditions. AR transcriptional activity is also sustained in MYB-overexpressing cells in the absence of androgens. MYB binds and promotes AR occupancy to the KLK3 promoter. MYB-overexpressing PCa cells exhibit greater tumorigenicity when implanted orthotopically and quickly regain growth following castration leading to shorter mice survival, compared to those carrying low-MYB-expressing prostate tumours. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings reveal a novel MYB-AR crosstalk in PCa and establish its role in castration resistance.

Clinicopathologic significance and race-specific prognostic association of MYB overexpression in ovarian cancer.

Late diagnosis, unreliable prognostic assessment, and poorly-guided therapeutic planning result in dismal survival of ovarian cancer (OC) patients. Therefore, identifying novel functional biomarker(s) is highly desired for improved clinical management. MYB is an oncogenic transcription factor with emerging functional significance in OC. Here we examined its clinicopathologic significance by immunohistochemistry and TCGA/GTex data analyses. Aberrant MYB expression was detected in 94% of OC cases (n = 373), but not in the normal ovarian tissues (n = 23). MYB was overexpressed in all major epithelial OC histological subtypes exhibiting the highest incidence (~ 97%) and overall expression in serous and mucinous carcinomas. MYB expression correlated positively with tumor grades and stages. Moreover, MYB exhibited race-specific prognostic association. Moderate-to-high MYB levels were significantly associated with both poor overall- (p = 0.02) and progression-free (p = 0.02) survival in African American (AA), but not in the Caucasian American (CA) patients. Consistent with immunohistochemistry data, we observed significantly higher MYB transcripts in OC cases (n = 426) than normal ovary (n = 88). MYB transcripts were significantly higher in all epithelial OC subtypes, compared to normal, and its greater levels predicted poor survival in AA OC, but not CA OC, patients. Thus, MYB appears to be a useful clinical biomarker for prognostication, especially in AA patients.

Co-targeting of CXCR4 and hedgehog pathways disrupts tumor-stromal crosstalk and improves chemotherapeutic efficacy in pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) remains a therapeutic challenge because of its intrinsic and extrinsic chemoresistance mechanisms. Here, we report that C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and hedgehog pathways cooperate in PC chemoresistance via bidirectional tumor-stromal crosstalk. We show that when PC cells are co-cultured with pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) they are significantly more resistant to gemcitabine toxicity than those grown in monoculture. We also demonstrate that this co-culture-induced chemoresistance is abrogated by inhibition of the CXCR4 and hedgehog pathways. Similarly, the co-culture-induced altered expression of genes in PC cells associated with gemcitabine metabolism, antioxidant defense, and cancer stemness is also reversed upon CXCR4 and hedgehog inhibition. We have confirmed the functional impact of these genetic alterations by measuring gemcitabine metabolites, reactive oxygen species production, and sphere formation in vehicle- or gemcitabine-treated monocultures and co-cultured PC cells. Treatment of orthotopic pancreatic tumor-bearing mice with gemcitabine alone or in combination with a CXCR4 antagonist (AMD3100) or hedgehog inhibitor (GDC-0449) displays reduced tumor growth. Notably, we show that the triple combination treatment is the most effective, resulting in nearly complete suppression of tumor growth. Immunohistochemical analysis of Ki67 and cleaved caspase-3 confirm these findings from in vivo imaging and tumor measurements. Our findings provide preclinical and mechanistic evidence that a combination of gemcitabine treatment with targeted inhibition of both the CXCR4 and hedgehog pathways improves outcomes in a PC mouse model.

Looking at cancer health disparities without the colored lenses.

Cancer health disparities (CHDs), defined as the adverse differences in cancer incidence and mortality, are prevalent in certain racial and ethnic groups. Underlying causes of CHDs are multi-factorial and debatable. While low socioeconomic status, geographical location, lifestyle and behavioral factors are mostly believed to contribute to CHDs, regardless of ethnic and racial background, significant data now also exist to support a genetic basis of such disparities as well. Clearly, CHDs could best be understood by studying the interplay of multiple (genetic and non-genetic) factors and then translating the resulting knowledge into effective approaches for reducing the existing disparity gaps. This review article highlights these aspects in brief and calls the people of different expertise to work together to make an impact and tackle the challenges associated with CHDs.

Gemcitabine treatment promotes immunosuppressive microenvironment in pancreatic tumors by supporting the infiltration, growth, and polarization of macrophages.

Chemotherapy-induced immunosuppression poses an additional challenge to its limited efficacy in pancreatic cancer (PC). Here we investigated the effect of gemcitabine on macrophages, which are the first line of immune-defense mechanisms. We observed an increased presence of macrophages in orthotopic human pancreatic tumor xenografts from mice treated with gemcitabine as compared to those from vehicle only-treated mice. Conditioned media from gemcitabine-treated PC cells (Gem-CM) promoted growth, migration and invasion of RAW264.7 macrophage. In addition, Gem-CM also induced upregulation of M2-polarized macrophage markers, arginase-1 and TGF-ß1. Cytokine profiling of gemcitabine-treated PC cells identified IL-8 as the most differentially-expressed cytokine. Incubation of Gem-CM with IL-8 neutralizing antibody diminished its ability to induce growth, migration and invasion of RAW264.7 macrophages, but did not abrogate their M2 polarization. Together, our findings identify IL-8 as an important mediator in the gemcitabine-induced infiltration of macrophages within the pancreatic tumor microenvironment and suggest the requirement of additional mechanism(s) for macrophage polarization.

Glucose Metabolism Reprogrammed by Overexpression of IKKε Promotes Pancreatic Tumor Growth.

Aberrant expression of the kinase IKKε in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has been associated with poor prognosis. In this study, we define a pathobiologic function for IKKε in reprogramming glucose metabolism and driving progression in PDAC. Silencing IKKε in PDAC cells, which overexpressed it endogenously, was sufficient to reduce malignant cell growth, clonogenic potential, glucose consumption, lactate secretion, and expression of genes involved in glucose metabolism, without impacting the basal oxygen consumption rate. IKKε silencing also attenuated c-Myc in a manner associated with diminished signaling through an AKT/GSK3ß/c-MYC phosphorylation cascade that promoted MYC nuclear accumulation. In an orthotopic mouse model, IKKε-silenced PDAC exhibited a relative reduction in glucose uptake, tumorigenicity, and metastasis. Overall, our findings offer a preclinical mechanistic rationale to target IKKε to improve the therapeutic management of PDAC in patients. Cancer Res; 76(24); 7254-64. ©2016 AACR.

Mammary-type fibroepithelial neoplasms of the vulva: a case report and review of the literature.

Mammary-type fibroepithelial neoplasms of the vulva are rare lesions of uncertain histogenesis. Origin from ectopic breast tissue and from anogenital glandular tissue that shares similar histologic homology with breast tissue has been postulated. We report the case of a 45-year-old woman who presented with a vulvar mass of several years duration. Excision of the lesion and subsequent histologic examination showed a mammary-type fibroadenoma with apocrine change. No ectopic breast tissue was identified outside the lesion. The theories of histogenesis of these neoplasms and additional cases of mammary-type lesions of the vulva reported in the medical literature are reviewed.