Abstract

Notch1 transactivates Notch3 to drive terminal differentiation in stratified squamous epithelia. Notch1 and other Notch receptor paralogs cooperate to act as a tumor suppressor in squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). However, Notch1 can be stochastically activated to promote carcinogenesis in murine models of SCC. Activated form of Notch1 promotes xenograft tumor growth when expressed ectopically. Here, we demonstrate that Notch1 activation and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) are coupled to promote SCC tumor initiation in concert with transforming growth factor (TGF)-β present in the tumor microenvironment. We find that TGFβ activates the transcription factor ZEB1 to repress Notch3, thereby limiting terminal differentiation. Concurrently, TGFβ drives Notch1-mediated EMT to generate tumor initiating cells characterized by high CD44 expression. Moreover, Notch1 is activated in a small subset of SCC cells at the invasive tumor front and predicts for poor prognosis of esophageal SCC, shedding light upon the tumor promoting oncogenic aspect of Notch1 in SCC.

Details

Title
Interplay between Notch1 and Notch3 promotes EMT and tumor initiation in squamous cell carcinoma
Author
Natsuizaka, Mitsuteru 1 ; Whelan, Kelly A 2 ; Kagawa, Shingo 3 ; Tanaka, Koji 4 ; Giroux, Veronique 2 ; Chandramouleeswaran, Prasanna M 2 ; Long, Apple 2 ; Sahu, Varun 5 ; Darling, Douglas S 6 ; Que, Jianwen 7 ; Yang, Yizeng 2 ; Katz, Jonathan P 2 ; Wileyto, E Paul 8 ; Basu, Devraj 5 ; Kita, Yoshiaki 9 ; Natsugoe, Shoji 9 ; Naganuma, Seiji 10 ; Klein-Szanto, Andres J 11 ; Diehl, J Alan 12 ; Bass, Adam J 13 ; Kwok-Kin Wong 14 ; Rustgi, Anil K 15 ; Nakagawa, Hiroshi 15 

 Gastroenterology Division, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA; University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan 
 Gastroenterology Division, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA; University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA 
 Gastroenterology Division, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA; University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of General Surgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Chiba, Japan 
 Gastroenterology Division, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA; University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Surgery, Gastroenterological Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan 
 Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA; University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA 
 Department of Oral Immunology and Infectious Diseases, and Center for Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA 
 Department of Medicine, Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA 
 Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA; University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA 
 Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan 
10  Department of Pathology, Kochi Medical School, Nankoku-shi, Kochi, Japan 
11  Histopathology Facility and Cancer Biology Program, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA 
12  Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA 
13  Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 
14  Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, New York University, New York, NY, USA 
15  University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA 
Pages
1-16
Publication year
2017
Publication date
Nov 2017
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
1967846664
Copyright
© 2017. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.