Synthetic vulnerabilities of mesenchymal subpopulations in pancreatic cancer

Giannicola Genovese, Alessandro Carugo, James Tepper, Frederick Scott Robinson, Liren Li, Maria Svelto, Luigi Nezi, Denise Corti, Rosalba Minelli, Piergiorgio Pettazzoni, Tony Gutschner, Chia Chin Wu, Sahil Seth, Kadir Caner Akdemir, Elisabetta Leo, Samirkumar Amin, Marco Dal Molin, Haoqiang Ying, Lawrence N. Kwong, Simona CollaKoichi Takahashi, Papia Ghosh, Virginia Giuliani, Florian Muller, Prasenjit Dey, Shan Jiang, Jill Garvey, Chang Gong Liu, Jianhua Zhang, Timothy P. Heffernan, Carlo Toniatti, Jason B. Fleming, Michael G. Goggins, Laura D. Wood, Alessandro Sgambato, Abbas Agaimy, Anirban Maitra, Charles W.M. Roberts, Huamin Wang, Andrea Viale, Ronald A. DePinho, Giulio F. Draetta, Lynda Chin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

56 Scopus citations

Abstract

Malignant neoplasms evolve in response to changes in oncogenic signalling. Cancer cell plasticity in response to evolutionary pressures is fundamental to tumour progression and the development of therapeutic resistance. Here we determine the molecular and cellular mechanisms of cancer cell plasticity in a conditional oncogenic Kras mouse model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a malignancy that displays considerable phenotypic diversity and morphological heterogeneity. In this model, stochastic extinction of oncogenic Kras signalling and emergence of Kras-independent escaper populations (cells that acquire oncogenic properties) are associated with de-differentiation and aggressive biological behaviour. Transcriptomic and functional analyses of Kras-independent escapers reveal the presence of Smarcb1-Myc-network-driven mesenchymal reprogramming and independence from MAPK signalling. A somatic mosaic model of PDAC, which allows time-restricted perturbation of cell fate, shows that depletion of Smarcb1 activates the Myc network, driving an anabolic switch that increases protein metabolism and adaptive activation of endoplasmic-reticulum-stress-induced survival pathways. Increased protein turnover renders mesenchymal sub-populations highly susceptible to pharmacological and genetic perturbation of the cellular proteostatic machinery and the IRE1-α-MKK4 arm of the endoplasmic-reticulum-stress-response pathway. Specifically, combination regimens that impair the unfolded protein responses block the emergence of aggressive mesenchymal subpopulations in mouse and patient-derived PDAC models. These molecular and biological insights inform a potential therapeutic strategy for targeting aggressive mesenchymal features of PDAC.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)362-366
Number of pages5
JournalNature
Volume542
Issue number7641
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 16 2017

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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