Senescence induction could be used as an effective treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, major senescence inducers (p53 and p16Ink4a) are frequently inactivated in these cancers. We tested whether transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) could serve as a potential senescence inducer in HCC. First, we screened for HCC cell lines with intact TGF-β signaling that leads to small mothers against decapentaplegic (Smad)-targeted gene activation. Five cell lines met this condition, and all of them displayed a strong senescence response to TGF-β1 (1-5 ng/mL) treatment. Upon treatment, c-myc was down-regulated, p21Cip1 and p15Ink4b were up-regulated, and cells were arrested at G1. The expression of p16Ink4a was not induced, and the senescence response was independent of p53 status. A short exposure of less than 1 minute was sufficient for a robust senescence response. Forced expression of p21Cip1 and p15Ink4b recapitulated TGF-β1 effects. Senescence response was associated with reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase 4 (Nox4) induction and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. The treatment of cells with the ROS scavenger N -acetyl-L-cysteine, or silencing of the NOX4 gene, rescued p21Cip1 and p15Ink4b accumulation as well as the growth arrest in response to TGF-β. Human HCC tumors raised in immunodeficient mice also displayed TGF-β1–induced senescence. More importantly, peritumoral injection of TGF-β1 (2 ng) at 4-day intervals reduced tumor growth by more than 75%. In contrast, the deletion of TGF-β receptor 2 abolished in vitro senescence response and greatly accelerated in vivo tumor growth. Conclusion: TGF-β induces p53-independent and p16Ink4a-independent, but Nox4-dependent, p21Cip1-dependent, p15Ink4b-dependent, and ROS-dependent senescence arrest in well-differentiated HCC cells. Moreover, TGF-β–induced senescence in vivo is associated with a strong antitumor response against HCC.

Background: β-catenin mutations that constitutively activate the canonical Wnt signaling have been observed in a subset of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). These mutations are associated with chromosomal stability, low histological grade, low tumor invasion and better patient survival. We hypothesized that canonical Wnt signaling is selectively activated in well-differentiated, but repressed in poorly differentiated HCCs. To this aim, we characterized differentiation status of HCC cell lines and compared their expression status of Wnt pathway genes, and explored their activity of canonical Wnt signaling. Results: We classified human HCC cell lines into "well-differentiated" and "poorly differentiated" subtypes, based on the expression of hepatocyte lineage, epithelial and mesenchymal markers. Poorly differentiated cell lines lost epithelial and hepatocyte lineage markers, and overexpressed mesenchymal markers. Also, they were highly motile and invasive. We compared the expression of 45 Wnt pathway genes between two subtypes. TCF1 and TCF4 factors, and LRP5 and LRP6 co-receptors were ubiquitously expressed. Likewise, six Frizzled receptors, and canonical Wnt3 ligand were expressed in both subtypes. In contrast, canonical ligand Wnt8b and noncanonical ligands Wnt4, Wnt5a, Wnt5b and Wnt7b were expressed selectively in well- and poorly differentiated cell lines, respectively. Canonical Wnt signaling activity, as tested by a TCF reporter assay was detected in 80% of well-differentiated, contrary to 14% of poorly differentiated cell lines. TCF activity generated by ectopic mutant β-catenin was weak in poorly differentiated SNU449 cell line, suggesting a repressive mechanism. We tested Wnt5a as a candidate antagonist. It strongly inhibited canonical Wnt signaling that is activated by mutant β-catenin in HCC cell lines. Conclusion: Differential expression of Wnt ligands in HCC cells is associated with selective activation of canonical Wnt signaling in well-differentiated, and its repression in poorly differentiated cell lines. One potential mechanism of repression involved Wnt5a, acting as an antagonist of canonical Wnt signaling. Our observations support the hypothesis that Wnt pathway is selectively activated or repressed depending on differentiation status of HCC cells. We propose that canonical and noncanonical Wnt pathways have complementary roles in HCC, where the canonical signaling contributes to tumor initiation, and noncanonical signaling to tumor progression.

The CRISPR/Cas9 system is a powerful tool for studying gene function. Here, we describe a method that allows temporal control of CRISPR/Cas9 activity based on conditional Cas9 destabilization. We demonstrate that fusing an FKBP12-derived destabilizing domain to Cas9 (DD-Cas9) enables conditional Cas9 expression and temporal control of gene editing in the presence of an FKBP12 synthetic ligand. This system can be easily adapted to co-express, from the same promoter, DD-Cas9 with any other gene of interest without co-modulation of the latter. In particular, when co-expressed with inducible Cre-ER^T2, our system enables parallel, independent manipulation of alleles targeted by Cas9 and traditional recombinase with single-cell specificity. We anticipate this platform will be used for the systematic characterization and identification of essential genes, as well as the investigation of the interactions between functional genes.

Although much is known about the underlying mechanisms of p53 activity and regulation, the factors that influence the diversity and duration of p53 responses are not well understood. Here we describe a unique mode of p53 regulation involving alternative splicing of the TP53 gene. We found that the use of an alternative 3′ splice site in intron 6 generates a unique p53 isoform, dubbed p53Ψ. At the molecular level, p53Ψ is unable to bind to DNA and does not transactivate canonical p53 target genes. However, like certain p53 gain-of-function mutants, p53Ψ attenuates the expression of E-cadherin, induces expression of markers of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and enhances the motility and invasive capacity of cells through a unique mechanism involving the regulation of cyclophilin D activity, a component of the mitochondrial inner pore permeability. Hence, we propose that p53Ψ encodes a separation-of-function isoform that, although lacking canonical p53 tumor suppressor/transcriptional activities, is able to induce a prometastatic program in a transcriptionally independent manner. Significance p53 is one of the most intensively studied tumor-suppressor genes. We identified a naturally occurring p53 isoform, generated by an alternative-splicing event, that, although lacking transcriptional activity and canonical tumor suppressor functions, is able to reprogram cells toward the acquisition of metastatic features via a cyclophilin D interaction in the mitochondria matrix. Interestingly, this isoform is expressed on tissue injury and in tumors characterized by increased metastatic spread. In some of these tumors, p53-like isoforms are generated by intron 6 mutations. This suggests a possible physiological origin of certain p53 mutations and indicates that mutations resulting in the generation of truncated p53Ψ-like proteins do more than create a 53-null state.

We have recently recapitulated metastasis of human PTEN/TP53–mutant prostate cancer in the mouse using the RapidCaP system. Surprisingly, we found that this metastasis is driven by MYC, and not AKT, activation. Here, we show that cell–cell communication by IL6 drives the AKT–MYC switch through activation of the AKT-suppressing phosphatase PHLPP2, when PTEN and p53 are lost together, but not separately. IL6 then communicates a downstream program of STAT3-mediated MYC activation, which drives cell proliferation. Similarly, in tissues, peak proliferation in Pten/Trp53–mutant primary and metastatic prostate cancer does not correlate with activated AKT, but with STAT3/MYC activation instead. Mechanistically, MYC strongly activates the AKT phosphatase PHLPP2 in primary cells and prostate cancer metastasis. We show genetically that Phlpp2 is essential for dictating the proliferation of MYC-mediated AKT suppression. Collectively, our data reveal competition between two proto-oncogenes, MYC and AKT, which ensnarls the Phlpp2 gene to facilitate MYC-driven prostate cancer metastasis after loss of Pten and Trp53. Significance: Our data identify IL6 detection as a potential causal biomarker for MYC-driven metastasis after loss of PTEN and p53. Second, our finding that MYC then must supersede AKT to drive cell proliferation points to MYC inhibition as a critical part of PI3K pathway therapy in lethal prostate cancer. Cancer Discov; 5(6); 636–51. ©2015 AACR. This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 565