Use of Organoids to Characterize Signaling Pathways in Cancer Initiation.

The development of intestinal organoid technology has greatly accelerated research in the field of colorectal cancer. Contrary to traditional cancer cell lines, organoids are composed of multiple cell types arranged in 3D structures highly reminiscent of their native tissues. Thus, organoids provide a near-physiological and readily accessible model to study tissue morphogenesis, adult stem cell behavior and tumorigenesis. Here, we provide protocols for establishing intestinal organoid cultures from genetically modified mouse lines and describe methods to overexpress and knockout genes of interest using lentiviral-based approaches.

Multilayered Control of Alternative Splicing Regulatory Networks by Transcription Factors.

Networks of coordinated alternative splicing (AS) events play critical roles in development and disease. However, a comprehensive knowledge of the factors that regulate these networks is lacking. We describe a high-throughput system for systematically linking trans-acting factors to endogenous RNA regulatory events. Using this system, we identify hundreds of factors associated with diverse regulatory layers that positively or negatively control AS events linked to cell fate. Remarkably, more than one-third of the regulators are transcription factors. Further analyses of the zinc finger protein Zfp871 and BTB/POZ domain transcription factor Nacc1, which regulate neural and stem cell AS programs, respectively, reveal roles in controlling the expression of specific splicing regulators. Surprisingly, these proteins also appear to regulate target AS programs via binding RNA. Our results thus uncover a large "missing cache" of splicing regulators among annotated transcription factors, some of which dually regulate AS through direct and indirect mechanisms.

KATapulting toward Pluripotency and Cancer.

Development is generally regarded as a unidirectional process that results in the acquisition of specialized cell fates. During this process, cellular identity is precisely defined by signaling cues that tailor the chromatin landscape for cell-specific gene expression programs. Once established, these pathways and cell states are typically resistant to disruption. However, loss of cell identity occurs during tumor initiation and upon injury response. Moreover, terminally differentiated cells can be experimentally provoked to become pluripotent. Chromatin reorganization is key to the establishment of new gene expression signatures and thus new cell identity. Here, we explore an emerging concept that lysine acetyltransferase (KAT) enzymes drive cellular plasticity in the context of somatic cell reprogramming and tumorigenesis.

PTEN regulates cilia through Dishevelled.

Cilia are hair-like cellular protrusions important in many aspects of eukaryotic biology. For instance, motile cilia enable fluid movement over epithelial surfaces, while primary (sensory) cilia play roles in cellular signalling. The molecular events underlying cilia dynamics, and particularly their disassembly, are not well understood. Phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) is an extensively studied tumour suppressor, thought to primarily act by antagonizing PI3-kinase signalling. Here we demonstrate that PTEN plays an important role in multicilia formation and cilia disassembly by controlling the phosphorylation of Dishevelled (DVL), another ciliogenesis regulator. DVL is a central component of WNT signalling that plays a role during convergent extension movements, which we show here are also regulated by PTEN. Our studies identify a novel protein substrate for PTEN that couples PTEN to regulation of cilia dynamics and WNT signalling, thus advancing our understanding of potential underlying molecular etiologies of PTEN-related pathologies.

Myc and SAGA rewire an alternative splicing network during early somatic cell reprogramming.

Embryonic stem cells are maintained in a self-renewing and pluripotent state by multiple regulatory pathways. Pluripotent-specific transcriptional networks are sequentially reactivated as somatic cells reprogram to achieve pluripotency. How epigenetic regulators modulate this process and contribute to somatic cell reprogramming is not clear. Here we performed a functional RNAi screen to identify the earliest epigenetic regulators required for reprogramming. We identified components of the SAGA histone acetyltransferase complex, in particular Gcn5, as critical regulators of reprogramming initiation. Furthermore, we showed in mouse pluripotent stem cells that Gcn5 strongly associates with Myc and that, upon initiation of somatic reprogramming, Gcn5 and Myc form a positive feed-forward loop that activates a distinct alternative splicing network and the early acquisition of pluripotency-associated splicing events. These studies expose a Myc-SAGA pathway that drives expression of an essential alternative splicing regulatory network during somatic cell reprogramming.

How Tets and cytoskeleton dynamics MET in reprogramming.

Two studies by Sakurai et al. (2014) and Hu et al. (2014) in this issue of Cell Stem Cell add a new level of understanding to the mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition taking place during reprogramming, showing how this morphological transformation is promoted by Tet enzymes and blocked by kinase-dependent cytoskeletal organization.

A late transition in somatic cell reprogramming requires regulators distinct from the pluripotency network.

Reprogramming of somatic cells to a pluripotent state via expression of Oct4, Klf4, Myc, and Sox2 is a multistep process involving phased changes in gene expression. Here, we focus on the later stages of reprogramming, termed maturation and stabilization. We show that the stabilization phase and the acquisition of pluripotency are dependent on the removal of transgene expression late in the maturation phase. Clonal analysis of cells undergoing reprogramming revealed subsets of stabilization-competent (SC) and stabilization-incompetent (SI) cells. SC clones acquire a competency gene-expression signature late in the maturation phase. Functional analysis of SC signature genes identified enhancers of the transition to the stabilization phase and a distinct subset of genes required for the maintenance of pluripotency. Thus, the acquisition and maintenance of pluripotency are regulated by distinct molecular networks, and a specific regulatory program not previously implicated in reprogramming is required for the transition to transgene independence.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors mediate post-transcriptional regulation of p21WAF1 through novel cis-acting elements in the 3' untranslated region.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) are promising anti-tumor agents that selectively induce cell cycle arrest, differentiation and/or apoptosis of tumor cells. Fundamentally, HDACIs are proposed to function by activating the transcription of genes, including the potent cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor p21(WAF1). However, HDACIs primarily increase p21(WAF1) expression at the post-transcriptional level in HepG2 cells, implying that these anti-tumor agents regulate genes at multiple levels. Here, two novel cis-acting elements in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of p21(WAF1) are identified that control the ability of HDACIs to induce p21(WAF1) mRNA stabilization. Collectively, these studies highlight the complexity of HDACIs in gene regulation.

Multiple faces of the SAGA complex.

The SAGA complex provides a paradigm for multisubunit histone modifying complexes. Although first characterized as a histone acetyltransferase, because of the Gcn5 subunit, SAGA is now known to contain a second activity, a histone deubiquitinase, as well as subunits important for interactions with transcriptional activators and the general transcription machinery. The functions of SAGA in transcriptional activation are well-established in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Recent studies in S. pombe, Drosophila, and mammalian systems reveal that SAGA also has important roles in transcript elongation, the regulation of protein stability, and telomere maintenance. These functions are essential for normal embryo development in flies and mice, and mutations or altered expression of SAGA subunits correlate with neurological disease and aggressive cancers in humans.

Src family kinase members have a common response to histone deacetylase inhibitors in human colon cancer cells.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDIs) induce cell cycle arrest, differentiation and/or apoptosis in numerous cancer cell types and have shown promise in clinical trials. These agents are particularly novel, given their ability to selectively influence gene expression. Previously, we demonstrated that the HDIs butyrate and trichostatin A (TSA) directly repress c-Src proto-oncogene expression in many cancer cell lines. Activation and/or overexpression of c-Src have been frequently observed in numerous malignancies, especially of the colon. Therefore, our observation was particularly interesting since butyrate is a naturally abundant component of the large intestine and has been suggested to be a cancer-preventive agent. However, c-Src is not the only Src family kinase (SFK) member to be implicated in the development of human cancers, including those of the colon. Therefore, the relative expression levels of known SFKs were examined in a panel of human colon cancer cell lines. We found a surprisingly diverse expression pattern but noted that most cell lines expressed relatively high levels of at least 2 SFKs. When the effects of butyrate and TSA were examined in representative cell lines, the expression of all SFKs was repressed in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Further, detailed examination of Lck, Yes and Lyn demonstrated that this repression had a direct effect on transcription and was independent of new protein synthesis. These results mirror our earlier data obtained with c-Src and suggest that SFKs are a major target of HDIs and likely account in part for the anticancer effects of these promising new drugs.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors regulate p21WAF1 gene expression at the post-transcriptional level in HepG2 cells.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDIs) are thought to act primarily at the level of transcription inducing cell cycle arrest, differentiation and/or apoptosis in many cancer cell types. Induction of the potent cdk/cyclin inhibitor p21WAF1 is a key feature of this HDI mediated transcriptional re-programming phenomenon. However, in the current study we report that HDIs are also capable of inducing p21WAF1 through purely post-transcriptional events, namely increased mRNA stability. These studies highlight our growing appreciation for the complexities of HDI mediated effects and challenge our preconceptions regarding the action of these promising anti-neoplastics.