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Look, A.

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    Repression of BIM mediates survival signaling by MYC and AKT in high-risk T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia
    (2014) Reynolds, Christine; Roderick, Justine E.; LaBelle, James L.; Bird, Gregory; Mathieu, Ronald; Bodaar, Kimberly; Colon, Diana; Pyati, Ujwal; Stevenson, Kristen E.; Qi, Jun; Harris, Marian; Silverman, Lewis; Sallan, Stephen; Bradner, James E; Neuberg, Donna; Look, A.; Walensky, Loren; Kelliher, Michelle A.; Gutierrez, Alejandro
    Treatment resistance in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is associated with PTEN deletions and resultant PI3K-AKT pathway activation, as well as MYC overexpression, and these pathways repress mitochondrial apoptosis in established T-lymphoblasts through poorly defined mechanisms. Normal T-cell progenitors are hypersensitive to mitochondrial apoptosis, a phenotype that is dependent on expression of proapoptotic BIM. In a conditional zebrafish model, MYC downregulation induced BIM expression in T-lymphoblasts, an effect that was blunted by expression of constitutively active AKT. In human T-ALL cell lines and treatment- resistant patient samples, treatment with MYC or PI3K-AKT pathway inhibitors each induced BIM upregulation and apoptosis, indicating that BIM is repressed downstream of MYC and PI3K-AKT in high-risk T-ALL. Restoring BIM function in human T-ALL cells using a stapled peptide mimetic of the BIM BH3 domain had therapeutic activity, indicating that BIM repression is required for T-ALL viability. In the zebrafish model, where MYC downregulation induces T- ALL regression via mitochondrial apoptosis, T-ALL persisted despite MYC downregulation in 10% of bim wild-type zebrafish, 18% of bim heterozygotes, and in 33% of bim homozygous mutants (P = 0.017). We conclude that downregulation of BIM represents a key survival signal downstream of oncogenic MYC and PI3K-AKT signaling in treatment-resistant T-ALL.
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    MYC-family protein overexpression and prominent nucleolar formation represent prognostic indicators and potential therapeutic targets for aggressive high-MKI neuroblastomas: a report from the children’s oncology group
    (Impact Journals LLC, 2018) Niemas-Teshiba, Risa; Matsuno, Ryosuke; Wang, Larry L.; Tang, Xao X.; Chiu, Bill; Zeki, Jasmine; Coburn, Jeannine; Ornell, Kimberly; Naranjo, Arlene; Van Ryn, Collin; London, Wendy; Hogarty, Michael D.; Gastier-Foster, Julie M.; Look, A.; Park, Julie R.; Maris, John M.; Cohn, Susan L.; Seeger, Robert C.; Asgharzadeh, Shahab; Ikegaki, Naohiko; Shimada, Hiroyuki
    Neuroblastomas with a high mitosis-karyorrhexis index (High-MKI) are often associated with MYCN amplification, MYCN protein overexpression and adverse clinical outcome. However, the prognostic effect of MYC-family protein expression on these neuroblastomas is less understood, especially when MYCN is not amplified. To address this, MYCN and MYC protein expression in High-MKI cases (120 MYCN amplified and 121 non-MYCN amplified) was examined by immunohistochemistry. The majority (101) of MYCN-amplified High-MKI tumors were MYCN(+), leaving one MYC(+), 2 both(+), and 16 both(−)/(+/−), whereas non-MYCN-amplified cases appeared heterogeneous, including 7 MYCN(+), 36 MYC(+), 3 both(+), and 75 both(−)/(+/−) tumors. These MYC-family proteins(+), or MYC-family driven tumors, were most likely to have prominent nucleolar (PN) formation (indicative of augmented rRNA synthesis). High-MKI neuroblastoma patients showed a poor survival irrespective of MYCN amplification. However, patients with MYC-family driven High-MKI neuroblastomas had significantly lower survival than those with non-MYC-family driven tumors. MYCN(+), MYC-family protein(+), PN(+), and clinical stage independently predicted poor survival. Specific inhibition of hyperactive rRNA synthesis and protein translation was shown to be an effective way to suppress MYC/MYCN protein expression and neuroblastoma growth. Together, MYC-family protein overexpression and PN formation should be included in new neuroblastoma risk stratification and considered for potential therapeutic targets.
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    The TAL1 complex targets the FBXW7 tumor suppressor by activating miR-223 in human T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia
    (The Rockefeller University Press, 2013) Mansour, Marc R.; Sanda, Takaomi; Lawton, Lee N.; Li, Xiaoyu; Kreslavsky, Taras; Novina, Carl; Brand, Marjorie; Gutierrez, Alejandro; Kelliher, Michelle A.; Jamieson, Catriona H.M.; von Boehmer, Harald; Young, Richard A.; Look, A.
    The oncogenic transcription factor TAL1/SCL is aberrantly expressed in 60% of cases of human T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and initiates T-ALL in mouse models. By performing global microRNA (miRNA) expression profiling after depletion of TAL1, together with genome-wide analysis of TAL1 occupancy by chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to massively parallel DNA sequencing, we identified the miRNA genes directly controlled by TAL1 and its regulatory partners HEB, E2A, LMO1/2, GATA3, and RUNX1. The most dynamically regulated miRNA was miR-223, which is bound at its promoter and up-regulated by the TAL1 complex. miR-223 expression mirrors TAL1 levels during thymic development, with high expression in early thymocytes and marked down-regulation after the double-negative-2 stage of maturation. We demonstrate that aberrant miR-223 up-regulation by TAL1 is important for optimal growth of TAL1-positive T-ALL cells and that sustained expression of miR-223 partially rescues T-ALL cells after TAL1 knockdown. Overexpression of miR-223 also leads to marked down-regulation of FBXW7 protein expression, whereas knockdown of TAL1 leads to up-regulation of FBXW7 protein levels, with a marked reduction of its substrates MYC, MYB, NOTCH1, and CYCLIN E. We conclude that TAL1-mediated up-regulation of miR-223 promotes the malignant phenotype in T-ALL through repression of the FBXW7 tumor suppressor.
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    T-Lymphoblastic Lymphoma Cells Express High Levels of BCL2, S1P1, and ICAM1, Leading to a Blockade of Tumor Cell Intravasation
    (Elsevier BV, 2010) Feng, Hui; Stachura, David L.; White, Richard; Gutierrez, Alejandro; Zhang, Lu; Sanda, Takaomi; Jette, Cicely A.; Testa, Joseph R.; Neuberg, Donna; Langenau, David; Kutok, Jeffery Lorne; Zon, Leonard; Traver, David; Fleming, Mark; Kanki, John P.; Look, A.
    The molecular events underlying the progression of T-lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL) to acute T-lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) remain elusive. In our zebrafish model, concomitant overexpression of bcl-2 with Myc accelerated T-LBL onset while inhibiting progression to T-ALL. The T-LBL cells failed to invade the vasculature and showed evidence of increased homotypic cell-cell adhesion and autophagy. Further analysis using clinical biopsy specimens revealed autophagy and increased levels of BCL2, S1P1, and ICAM1 in human T-LBL compared with T-ALL. Inhibition of S1P1 signaling in T-LBL cells led to decreased homotypic adhesion in vitro and increased tumor cell intravasation in vivo. Thus, blockade of intravasation and hematologic dissemination in T-LBL is due to elevated S1P1 signaling, increased expression of ICAM1, and augmented homotypic cell-cell adhesion.
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    Imaging tumour cell heterogeneity following cell transplantation into optically clear immune-deficient zebrafish
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Tang, Qin; Moore, John C.; Ignatius, Myron S.; Tenente, Inês M.; Hayes, Madeline; Garcia, Elaine; Torres Yordán, Nora; Bourque, Caitlin; He, Shuning; Blackburn, Jessica S.; Look, A.; Houvras, Yariv; Langenau, David
    Cancers contain a wide diversity of cell types that are defined by differentiation states, genetic mutations and altered epigenetic programmes that impart functional diversity to individual cells. Elevated tumour cell heterogeneity is linked with progression, therapy resistance and relapse. Yet, imaging of tumour cell heterogeneity and the hallmarks of cancer has been a technical and biological challenge. Here we develop optically clear immune-compromised rag2E450fs (casper) zebrafish for optimized cell transplantation and direct visualization of fluorescently labelled cancer cells at single-cell resolution. Tumour engraftment permits dynamic imaging of neovascularization, niche partitioning of tumour-propagating cells in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, emergence of clonal dominance in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and tumour evolution resulting in elevated growth and metastasis in BRAFV600E-driven melanoma. Cell transplantation approaches using optically clear immune-compromised zebrafish provide unique opportunities to uncover biology underlying cancer and to dynamically visualize cancer processes at single-cell resolution in vivo.
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    HSP90 inhibition leads to degradation of the TYK2 kinase and apoptotic cell death in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia
    (2015) Akahane, Koshi; Sanda, Takaomi; Mansour, Marc R.; Radimerski, Thomas; DeAngelo, Daniel; Weinstock, David; Look, A.
    We previously found that TYK2 tyrosine kinase signaling through its downstream effector phospho-STAT1 (p-STAT1) acts to upregulate BCL2, which in turn mediates aberrant survival of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cells. Here we show that pharmacologic inhibition of heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) with a small-molecule inhibitor, NVP-AUY922 (AUY922), leads to rapid degradation of TYK2 and apoptosis in T-ALL cells. STAT1 protein levels were not affected by AUY922 treatment, but p-STAT1 (Tyr 701) levels rapidly became undetectable, consistent with a block in signaling downstream of TYK2. BCL2 expression was downregulated after AUY922 treatment, and although this effect was necessary for AUY922-induced apoptosis, it was not sufficient because many T-ALL cell lines were resistant to ABT-199, a specific inhibitor of BCL2. Unlike ABT-199, AUY922 also upregulated the proapoptotic proteins BIM and BAD, whose increased expression was required for AUY922-induced apoptosis. Thus, the potent cytotoxicity of AUY922 involves the synergistic combination of BCL2 downregulation coupled with upregulation of the proapoptotic proteins BIM and BAD. This two-pronged assault on the mitochondrial apoptotic machinery identifies HSP90 inhibitors as promising drugs for targeting the TYK2-mediated prosurvival signaling axis in T-ALL cells.
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    Small genomic insertions form enhancers that misregulate oncogenes
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Abraham, Brian J.; Hnisz, Denes; Weintraub, Abraham S.; Kwiatkowski, Nicholas; Li, Charles H.; Li, Zhaodong; Weichert-Leahey, Nina; Rahman, Sunniyat; Liu, Yu; Etchin, Julia; Li, Benshang; Shen, Shuhong; Lee, Tong Ihn; Zhang, Jinghui; Look, A.; Mansour, Marc R.; Young, Richard A.
    The non-coding regions of tumour cell genomes harbour a considerable fraction of total DNA sequence variation, but the functional contribution of these variants to tumorigenesis is ill-defined. Among these non-coding variants, somatic insertions are among the least well characterized due to challenges with interpreting short-read DNA sequences. Here, using a combination of Chip-seq to enrich enhancer DNA and a computational approach with multiple DNA alignment procedures, we identify enhancer-associated small insertion variants. Among the 102 tumour cell genomes we analyse, small insertions are frequently observed in enhancer DNA sequences near known oncogenes. Further study of one insertion, somatically acquired in primary leukaemia tumour genomes, reveals that it nucleates formation of an active enhancer that drives expression of the LMO2 oncogene. The approach described here to identify enhancer-associated small insertion variants provides a foundation for further study of these abnormalities across human cancers.
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    Combined targeting of SET and tyrosine kinases provides an effective therapeutic approach in human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia
    (Impact Journals LLC, 2016) Richard, Nameeta P.; Pippa, Raffaella; Cleary, Megan M.; Puri, Alka; Tibbitts, Deanne; Mahmood, Shawn; Christensen, Dale J.; Jeng, Sophia; McWeeney, Shannon; Look, A.; Chang, Bill H.; Tyner, Jeffrey W.; Vitek, Michael P.; Odero, María D.; Sears, Rosalie; Agarwal, Anupriya
    Recent evidence suggests that inhibition of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) tumor suppressor activity via the SET oncoprotein contributes to the pathogenesis of various cancers. Here we demonstrate that both SET and c-MYC expression are frequently elevated in T-ALL cell lines and primary samples compared to healthy T cells. Treatment of T-ALL cells with the SET antagonist OP449 restored the activity of PP2A and reduced SET interaction with the PP2A catalytic subunit, resulting in a decrease in cell viability and c-MYC expression in a dose-dependent manner. Since a tight balance between phosphatases and kinases is required for the growth of both normal and malignant cells, we sought to identify a kinase inhibitor that would synergize with SET antagonism. We tested various T-ALL cell lines against a small-molecule inhibitor screen of 66 compounds targeting two-thirds of the tyrosine kinome and found that combined treatment of T-ALL cells with dovitinib, an orally active multi-targeted small-molecule receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, and OP449 synergistically reduced the viability of all tested T-ALL cell lines. Mechanistically, combined treatment with OP449 and dovitinib decreased total and phospho c-MYC levels and reduced ERK1/2, AKT, and p70S6 kinase activity in both NOTCH-dependent and independent T-ALL cell lines. Overall, these results suggest that combined targeting of tyrosine kinases and activation of serine/threonine phosphatases may offer novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of T-ALL.
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    Antileukemic Activity of Nuclear Export Inhibitors that Spare Normal Hematopoietic Cells
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2013) Etchin, Julia; Sun, Q; Kentsis, Alex; Farmer, A; Zhang, Z C; Sanda, Takaomi; Mansour, M R; Barcelo, C; McCauley, D; Kauffman, M; Shacham, S; Christie, A L; Kung, A L; Rodig, Scott; Chook, Y M; Look, A.
    Drugs that target the chief mediator of nuclear export, chromosome region maintenance 1 protein (CRM1) have potential as therapeutics for leukemia, but existing CRM1 inhibitors show variable potencies and a broad range of cytotoxic effects. Here, we report the structural analysis and antileukemic activity of a new generation of small-molecule inhibitors of CRM1. Designated selective inhibitors of nuclear export (SINE), these compounds were developed using molecular modeling to screen a small virtual library of compounds against the nuclear export signal (NES) groove of CRM1. The 2.2-Å crystal structure of the CRM1-Ran-RanBP1 complex bound to KPT-251, a representative molecule of this class of inhibitors, shows that the drug occupies part of the groove in CRM1 that is usually occupied by the NES, but penetrates much deeper into the groove and blocks CRM1-directed protein export. SINE inhibitors exhibit potent antileukemic activity, inducing apoptosis at nanomolar concentrations in a panel of 14 human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines representing different molecular subtypes of the disease. When administered orally to immunodeficient mice engrafted with human AML cells, KPT-251 had potent antileukemic activity with negligible toxicity to normal hematopoietic cells. Thus, KPT-SINE CRM1 antagonists represent a novel class of drugs that warrant further testing in AML patients.
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    Autocrine Activation of the MET Receptor Tyrosine Kinase in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2012) Kentsis, Alex; Reed, Casie; Rice, Kim L.; Sanda, Takaomi; Rodig, Scott; Tholouli, Eleni; Christie, Amanda; Valk, Peter J.M.; Delwel, Ruud; Ngo, Vu; Kutok, Jeffery Lorne; Dahlberg, Suzanne E.; Moreau, Lisa A.; Byers, Richard J.; Christensen, James G.; Woude, George Vande; Licht, Jonathan D.; Kung, Andrew L.; Staudt, Louis M.; Look, A.
    Although the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has improved significantly, more than half of all patients develop disease that is refractory to intensive chemotherapy. Functional genomics approaches offer a means to discover specific molecules mediating aberrant growth and survival of cancer cells. Thus, using a loss-of-function RNA interference genomic screen, we identified aberrant expression of the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) as a critical factor in AML pathogenesis. We found HGF expression leading to autocrine activation of its receptor tyrosine kinase, MET, in nearly half of the AML cell lines and clinical samples studied. Genetic depletion of HGF or MET potently inhibited the growth and survival of HGF-expressing AML cells. However, leukemic cells treated with the specific MET kinase inhibitor crizotinib developed resistance due to compensatory upregulation of HGF expression, leading to restoration of MET signaling. In cases of AML where MET is coactivated with other tyrosine kinases, such as fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1), concomitant inhibition of FGFR1 and MET blocked compensatory HGF upregulation, resulting in sustained logarithmic cell kill both in vitro and in xenograft models in vivo. Our results demonstrate widespread dependence of AML cells on autocrine activation of MET, as well as the importance of compensatory upregulation of HGF expression in maintaining leukemogenic signaling by this receptor. We anticipate that these findings will lead to the design of additional strategies to block adaptive cellular responses that drive compensatory ligand expression as an essential component of the targeted inhibition of oncogenic receptors in human cancers.