The transcription factor Ets21C drives tumor growth by cooperating with AP-1.

Tumorigenesis is driven by genetic alterations that perturb the signaling networks regulating proliferation or cell death. In order to block tumor growth, one has to precisely know how these signaling pathways function and interplay. Here, we identified the transcription factor Ets21C as a pivotal regulator of tumor growth and propose a new model of how Ets21C could affect this process. We demonstrate that a depletion of Ets21C strongly suppressed tumor growth while ectopic expression of Ets21C further increased tumor size. We confirm that Ets21C expression is regulated by the JNK pathway and show that Ets21C acts via a positive feed-forward mechanism to induce a specific set of target genes that is critical for tumor growth. These genes are known downstream targets of the JNK pathway and we demonstrate that their expression not only depends on the transcription factor AP-1, but also on Ets21C suggesting a cooperative transcriptional activation mechanism. Taken together we show that Ets21C is a crucial player in regulating the transcriptional program of the JNK pathway and enhances our understanding of the mechanisms that govern neoplastic growth.

Cell-sorting at the A/P boundary in the Drosophila wing primordium: a computational model to consolidate observed non-local effects of Hh signaling.

Non-intermingling, adjacent populations of cells define compartment boundaries; such boundaries are often essential for the positioning and the maintenance of tissue-organizers during growth. In the developing wing primordium of Drosophila melanogaster, signaling by the secreted protein Hedgehog (Hh) is required for compartment boundary maintenance. However, the precise mechanism of Hh input remains poorly understood. Here, we combine experimental observations of perturbed Hh signaling with computer simulations of cellular behavior, and connect physical properties of cells to their Hh signaling status. We find that experimental disruption of Hh signaling has observable effects on cell sorting surprisingly far from the compartment boundary, which is in contrast to a previous model that confines Hh influence to the compartment boundary itself. We have recapitulated our experimental observations by simulations of Hh diffusion and transduction coupled to mechanical tension along cell-to-cell contact surfaces. Intriguingly, the best results were obtained under the assumption that Hh signaling cannot alter the overall tension force of the cell, but will merely re-distribute it locally inside the cell, relative to the signaling status of neighboring cells. Our results suggest a scenario in which homotypic interactions of a putative Hh target molecule at the cell surface are converted into a mechanical force. Such a scenario could explain why the mechanical output of Hh signaling appears to be confined to the compartment boundary, despite the longer range of the Hh molecule itself. Our study is the first to couple a cellular vertex model describing mechanical properties of cells in a growing tissue, to an explicit model of an entire signaling pathway, including a freely diffusible component. We discuss potential applications and challenges of such an approach.

Boundaries of Dachsous Cadherin activity modulate the Hippo signaling pathway to induce cell proliferation.

The conserved Hippo tumor suppressor pathway is a key signaling pathway that controls organ size in Drosophila. To date a signal transduction cascade from the Cadherin Fat at the plasma membrane into the nucleus has been discovered. However, how the Hippo pathway is regulated by extracellular signals is poorly understood. Fat not only regulates growth but also planar cell polarity, for which it interacts with the Dachsous (Ds) Cadherin, and Four-jointed (Fj), a transmembrane kinase that modulates the interaction between Ds and Fat. Ds and Fj are expressed in gradients and manipulation of their expression causes abnormal growth. However, how Ds and Fj regulate growth and whether they act through the Hippo pathway is not known. Here, we report that Ds and Fj regulate Hippo signaling to control growth. Interestingly, we found that Ds/Fj regulate the Hippo pathway through a remarkable logic. Induction of Hippo target genes is not proportional to the amount of Ds or Fj presented to a cell, as would be expected if Ds and Fj acted as traditional ligands. Rather, Hippo target genes are up-regulated when neighboring cells express different amounts of Ds or Fj. Consistent with a model that differences in Ds/Fj levels between cells regulate the Hippo pathway, we found that artificial Ds/Fj boundaries induce extra cell proliferation, whereas flattening the endogenous Ds and Fj gradients results in growth defects. The Ds/Fj signaling system thus defines a cell-to-cell signaling mechanism that regulates the Hippo pathway, thereby contributing to the control of organ size.

The fat cadherin acts through the hippo tumor-suppressor pathway to regulate tissue size.

BACKGROUND: The Hippo tumor-suppressor pathway has emerged as a key signaling pathway that controls tissue size in Drosophila. Merlin, the Drosophila homolog of the human Neurofibromatosis type-2 (NF2) tumor-suppressor gene, and the related protein Expanded are the most upstream components of the Hippo pathway identified so far. However, components acting upstream of Expanded and Merlin, such as transmembrane receptors, have not yet been identified. RESULTS: Here, we report that the protocadherin Fat acts as an upstream component in the Hippo pathway. Fat is a known tumor-suppressor gene in Drosophila, and fat mutants have severely overgrown imaginal discs. We found that the overgrowth phenotypes of fat mutants are similar to those of mutants in Hippo pathway components: fat mutant cells continued to proliferate after wild-type cells stopped proliferating, and fat mutant cells deregulated Hippo target genes such as cyclin E and diap1. Fat acts genetically and biochemically upstream of other Hippo pathway components such as Expanded, the Hippo and Warts kinases, and the transcriptional coactivator Yorkie. Fat is required for the stability of Expanded and its localization to the plasma membrane. In contrast, Fat is not required for Merlin localization, and Fat and Merlin act in parallel in growth regulation. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our data identify a cell-surface molecule that may act as a receptor of the Hippo signaling pathway.

The tumour-suppressor genes NF2/Merlin and Expanded act through Hippo signalling to regulate cell proliferation and apoptosis.

Merlin, the protein product of the Neurofibromatosis type-2 gene, acts as a tumour suppressor in mice and humans. Merlin is an adaptor protein with a FERM domain and it is thought to transduce a growth-regulatory signal. However, the pathway through which Merlin acts as a tumour suppressor is poorly understood. Merlin, and its function as a negative regulator of growth, is conserved in Drosophila, where it functions with Expanded, a related FERM domain protein. Here, we show that Drosophila Merlin and Expanded are components of the Hippo signalling pathway, an emerging tumour-suppressor pathway. We find that Merlin and Expanded, similar to other components of the Hippo pathway, are required for proliferation arrest and apoptosis in developing imaginal discs. Our genetic and biochemical data place Merlin and Expanded upstream of Hippo and identify a pathway through which they act as tumour-suppressor genes.