PTTG and PBF Functionally Interact with p53 and Predict Overall Survival in Head and Neck Cancer.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the 6th most common cancer worldwide and poses a significant health burden due to its rising incidence. Although the proto-oncogene pituitary tumor-transforming gene 1 (PTTG) predicts poor patient outcome, its mechanisms of action are incompletely understood. We show here that the protein PBF modulates PTTG function, is overexpressed in HNSCC tumors, and correlates with significantly reduced survival. Lentiviral shRNA attenuation of PTTG or PBF expression in HNSCC cells with either wild-type or mutant p53, and with and without HPV infection, led to dysregulated expression of p53 target genes involved in DNA repair and apoptosis. Mechanistically, PTTG and PBF affected each other's interaction with p53 and cooperated to reduce p53 protein stability in HNSCC cells independently of HPV. Depletion of either PTTG or PBF significantly repressed cellular migration and invasion and impaired colony formation in HNSCC cells, implicating both proto-oncogenes in basic mechanisms of tumorigenesis. Patients with HNSCC with high tumoral PBF and PTTG had the poorest overall survival, which reflects a marked impairment of p53-dependent signaling.Significance: These findings reveal a complex and novel interrelationship between the expression and function of PTTG, PBF, and p53 in human HNSCC that significantly influences patient outcome. Cancer Res; 78(20); 5863-76. ©2018 AACR.

Angiogenic potential of endothelial progenitor cells and embryonic stem cells.

BACKGROUND: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are implicated in a range of pathological conditions, suggesting a natural therapeutic role for EPCs in angiogenesis. However, current angiogenic therapies involving EPC transplantation are inefficient due to rejection of donor EPCs. One solution is to derive an expanded population of EPCs from stem cells in vitro, to be re-introduced as a therapeutic transplant. To demonstrate the therapeutic potential of EPCs we performed in vitro transplantation of EPCs into endothelial cell (EC) tubules using a gel-based tubule formation assay. We also described the production of highly angiogenic EPC-comparable cells from pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) by direct differentiation using EC-conditioned medium (ECCM). RESULTS: The effect on tubule complexity and longevity varied with transplantation quantity: significant effects were observed when tubules were transplanted with a quantity of EPCs equivalent to 50% of the number of ECs originally seeded on to the assay gel but not with 10% EPC transplantation. Gene expression of the endothelial markers VEGFR2, VE-cadherin and CD31, determined by qPCR, also changed dynamically during transplantation. ECCM-treated ESC-derived progenitor cells exhibited angiogenic potential, demonstrated by in vitro tubule formation, and endothelial-specific gene expression equivalent to natural EPCs. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded the effect of EPCs is cumulative and beneficial, relying on upregulation of the angiogenic activity of transplanted cells combined with an increase in proliferative cell number to produce significant effects upon transplantation. Furthermore, EPCs derived from ESCs may be developed for use as a rapidly-expandable alternative for angiogenic transplantation therapy.