Journal Reference
Oncogene. 2015 Jun 15 (Advance online publication).
Marques E1, Englund JI1, Tervonen TA1, Virkunen E1, Laakso M2, Myllynen M1, Mäkelä A1, Ahvenainen M1, Lepikhova T3, Monni O3, Hautaniemi S2, Klefström J1.
[expand title=”Show Affiliations”]- Cancer Cell Circuitry Laboratory, Research programs unit, Translational Cancer Biology and Institute of Biomedicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
- Systems Biology Laboratory, Genome-Scale Biology Program and Institute of Biomedicine, Biomedicum Helsinki, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
- Genome-Scale Biology Program and Institute of Biomedicine, Biomedicum Helsinki, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Abstract
Differentiated epithelial structure communicates with individual constituent epithelial cells to suppress their proliferation activity. However, the pathways linking epithelial structure to cessation of the cell proliferation machinery or to unscheduled proliferation in the context of tumorigenesis are not well defined. Here we demonstrate the strong impact of compromised epithelial integrity on normal and oncogenic Myc-driven proliferation in three-dimensional mammary epithelial organoid culture. Systematic silencing of 34 human homologs of Drosophila genes, with previously established functions in control of epithelial integrity, demonstrates a role for human genes of apico-basal polarity, Wnt and Hippo pathways and actin dynamics in regulation of the size, integrity and cell proliferation in organoids. Perturbation of these pathways leads to diverse functional interactions with Myc: manifested as a RhoA-dependent synthetic lethality and Par6-dependent effects on the cell cycle. Furthermore, we show a role for Par6G as a negative regulator of the phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase/phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1/Akt pathway and epithelial cell proliferation and evidence for frequent inactivation of Par6G gene in epithelial cancers. The findings demonstrate that determinants of epithelial structure regulate thecell proliferation activity via conserved and cancer-relevant regulatory circuitries, which are important for epithelial cell cycle restriction and may provide new targets for therapeutic intervention.
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