Absence of ST7 mutations in tumor-derived cell lines and tumors.

The gene ST7 has been proposed as the multi-tissue tumor-suppressor gene (TSG) at chromosome 7q31.1. However, we have sought and failed to detect the truncating mutations reported to exist in this gene.

The TES gene at 7q31.1 is methylated in tumours and encodes a novel growth-suppressing LIM domain protein.

Many studies suggest that a multi-tissue tumour suppressor gene is located at human chromosome 7q31.1. We have cloned and characterized a novel gene at this locus. The TES gene lies within the minimal region of overlap of several LOH studies and appears to possess the properties of a tumour suppressor. TES is widely expressed and is predicted to encode a protein of 421 amino acids, with three C-terminal LIM domains. Mutation analysis of the coding TES exons in 21 human tumour-derived cell lines revealed the presence of a frameshift mutation in one allele in the breast cancer cell line ZR-75. Methylation of the CpG island at the 5' end of TES appears to be a remarkably frequent finding, occurring in seven out of 10 ovarian carcinomas and in each of the 30 tumour-derived cell lines tested. Moreover, forced expression of TES in HeLa or OVCAR5 cells, resulted in a profound reduction in growth potential, as determined by the colony formation assay. We believe that TES is a tumour suppressor gene that is inactivated primarily by transcriptional silencing resulting from CpG island methylation.

Analysis of the CAVEOLIN-1 gene at human chromosome 7q31.1 in primary tumours and tumour-derived cell lines.

We identified CAVEOLIN-1 as a candidate for a tumour suppressor gene mapping to human chromosome 7q31.1. A number of studies suggest that caveolin could function as a tumour suppressor. Expression of caveolin, and in turn the number of caveolae within a cell, are inversely correlated with the transforming ability of numerous oncoproteins, including H-ras, v-abl, and bcr-abl, and caveolin is a major transformation-dependent substrate of v-src. Heterologous expression of caveolin has been shown to abrogate anchorage-independent growth and induce apoptosis in transformed fibroblasts and also to suppress anchorage-independent growth in human mammary carcinoma cells. We have analysed the status and expression of the human CAVEOLIN-1 gene in primary tumours and tumour-derived cell lines. We found no evidence for mutation of CAVEOLIN-1 in human cancers. Additionally, we found that while the first two exons of CAVEOLIN-1 are associated with a CpG island, this is not methylated in either primary tumours or in tumour-derived cell lines in which Caveolin-1 expression is low or undetectable. The level of expression of Caveolin-1 does not correlate with loss of heterozygosity at the CAVEOLIN-1 locus in these same cell lines. Contrary to other published studies, we have shown that CAVEOLIN-1 is not expressed in normal breast ductal epithelial cells in vivo. CAVEOLIN-1 is however highly expressed in breast myoepithelial cells and its expression is retained in tumours derived from breast myoepithelium. Together our data refute a role for CAVEOLIN-1 as a breast tumour suppressor gene in vivo.

The transcription factor AP-1 is required for EGF-induced activation of rho-like GTPases, cytoskeletal rearrangements, motility, and in vitro invasion of A431 cells.

Human squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) frequently express elevated levels of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). EGFR overexpression in SCC-derived cell lines correlates with their ability to invade in an in vitro invasion assay in response to EGF, whereas benign epidermal cells, which express low levels of EGFR, do not invade. EGF-induced invasion of SCC-derived A431 cells is inhibited by sustained expression of the dominant negative mutant of c-Jun, TAM67, suggesting a role for the transcription factor AP-1 (activator protein-1) in regulating invasion. Significantly, we establish that sustained TAM67 expression inhibits growth factor-induced cell motility and the reorganization of the cytoskeleton and cell-shape changes essential for this process: TAM67 expression inhibits EGF-induced membrane ruffling, lamellipodia formation, cortical actin polymerization and cell rounding. Introduction of a dominant negative mutant of Rac and of the Rho inhibitor C3 transferase into A431 cells indicates that EGF-induced membrane ruffling and lamellipodia formation are regulated by Rac, whereas EGF-induced cortical actin polymerization and cell rounding are controlled by Rho. Constitutively activated mutants of Rac or Rho introduced into A431 or A431 cells expressing TAM67 (TA cells) induce equivalent actin cytoskeletal rearrangements, suggesting that the effector pathways downstream of Rac and Rho required for these responses are unimpaired by sustained TAM67 expression. However, EGF-induced translocation of Rac to the cell membrane, which is associated with its activation, is defective in TA cells. Our data establish a novel link between AP-1 activity and EGFR activation of Rac and Rho, which in turn mediate the actin cytoskeletal rearrangements required for cell motility and invasion.