PRDM1 silences stem cell-related genes and inhibits proliferation of human colon tumor organoids.

PRDM1 is a tumor suppressor that plays an important role in B and T cell lymphomas. Our previous studies demonstrated that PRDM1ß is a p53-response gene in human colorectal cancer cells. However, the function of PRDM1ß in colorectal cancer cells and colon tumor organoids is not clear. Here we show that PRDM1ß is a p53-response gene in human colon organoids and that low PRDM1 expression predicts poor survival in colon cancer patients. We engineered PRDM1 knockouts and overexpression clones in RKO cells and characterized the PRDM1-dependent transcript landscapes, revealing that both the α and ß transcript isoforms repress MYC-response genes and stem cell-related genes. Finally, we show that forced expression of PRDM1 in human colon cancer organoids prevents the formation and growth of colon tumor organoids in vitro. These results suggest that p53 may exert tumor-suppressive effects in part through a PRDM1-dependent silencing of stem cell genes, depleting the size of the normal intestinal stem cell compartment in response to DNA damage.

JQ1 Induces DNA Damage and Apoptosis, and Inhibits Tumor Growth in a Patient-Derived Xenograft Model of Cholangiocarcinoma.

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a fatal disease with a 5-year survival of <30%. For a majority of patients, chemotherapy is the only therapeutic option, and virtually all patients relapse. Gemcitabine is the first-line agent for treatment of CCA. Patients treated with gemcitabine monotherapy survive ∼8 months. Combining this agent with cisplatin increases survival by ∼3 months, but neither regimen produces durable remissions. The molecular etiology of this disease is poorly understood. To facilitate molecular characterization and development of effective therapies for CCA, we established a panel of patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of CCA. We used two of these models to investigate the antitumor efficacy and mechanism of action of the bromodomain inhibitor JQ1, an agent that has not been evaluated for the treatment of CCA. The data show that JQ1 suppressed the growth of the CCA PDX model CCA2 and demonstrate that growth suppression was concomitant with inhibition of c-Myc protein expression. A second model (CCA1) was JQ1-insensitive, with tumor progression and c-Myc expression unaffected by exposure to this agent. Also selective to CCA2 tumors, JQ1 induced DNA damage and apoptosis and downregulated multiple c-Myc transcriptional targets that regulate cell-cycle progression and DNA repair. These findings suggest that c-Myc inhibition and several of its transcriptional targets may contribute to the mechanism of action of JQ1 in this tumor type. We conclude that BET inhibitors such as JQ1 warrant further investigation for the treatment of CCA. Mol Cancer Ther; 17(1); 107-18. ©2017 AACR.

Improved Postoperative Survival for Intraductal-Growth Subtype of Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma.

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is classified according to the following subtypes: massforming (MF), periductal infiltrating (PI), and intraductal growth (IG). The aim of this study is to measure the association between ICC subtypes and patient survival after surgical resection. Data were abstracted on all patients treated with definitive resections of ICC at a single institution between 2000 and 2011 with at least three years follow-up. Survival estimates were quantified using Kaplan-Meier curves and compared using the log-rank test. There were 37 patients with ICC treated with definitive partial hepatectomies with a median survival of 33.5 months. Tumor stage (P < 0.0001), satellitosis (P < 0.001), lymphovascular space invasion (P = 0.003), and macroscopic subtype (P = 0.003) were predictive of postoperative survival. Disease-free survivals for MF, PI, and IG subtypes, respectively, were 30 per cent, 0 per cent, and 57 per cent (P = 0.017). Overall survivals among ICC macroscopic subtypes were as follows: MF 37 per cent, PI 0 per cent, and IG 71 per cent (P = 0.003). Although limited by the small sample size of this rare cancer, this study demonstrates significant differences among macroscopic subtypes of ICC in both disease-free survivals and overall survivals after definitive partial hepatectomy.

Development and histopathological characterization of tumorgraft models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Pancreatic cancer is the one of the deadliest of all malignancies. The five year survival rate for patients with this disease is 3-5%. Thus, there is a compelling need for novel therapeutic strategies to improve the clinical outcome for patients with pancreatic cancer.  Several groups have demonstrated for other types of solid tumors that early passage human tumor xenograft models can be used to define some genetic and molecular characteristics of specific human tumors. Published studies also suggest that murine tumorgraft models (early passage xenografts derived from direct implantation of primary tumor specimens) may be useful in identifying compounds with efficacy against specific tumor types.  Because pancreatic cancer is a fatal disease and few well-characterized model systems are available for translational research, we developed and characterized a panel of pancreatic tumorgraft models for biological evaluation and therapeutic drug testing.  Of the 41 primary tumor specimens implanted subcutaneously into mice, 35 produced viable tumorgraft models.  We document the fidelity of histological and morphological characteristics and of KRAS mutation status among primary (F0), F1, and F2 tumors for the twenty models that have progressed to the F3 generation.  Importantly, our procedures produced a take rate of 85%, higher than any reported in the literature. Primary tumor specimens that failed to produce tumorgrafts were those that either contained <10% tumor cells or that were obtained from significantly smaller primary tumors. In view of the fidelity of characteristics of primary tumor specimens through at least the F2 generation in mice, we propose that these tumorgraft models represent a useful tool for identifying critical characteristics of pancreatic tumors and for evaluating potential therapies.