Person:
Westerling, Thomas

Profile Picture

Email Address

AA Acceptance Date

Birth Date

Research Projects

Organizational Units

Job Title

Last Name

Westerling

First Name

Thomas

Name

Westerling, Thomas
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.da7a7059-320a-4ed4-96fe-c86a6b7482fb

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Development of Bag-1L as a therapeutic target in androgen receptor-dependent prostate cancer
    (eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd, 2017) Cato, Laura; Neeb, Antje; Sharp, Adam; Buzón, Victor; Ficarro, Scott B; Yang, Linxiao; Muhle-Goll, Claudia; Kuznik, Nane C; Riisnaes, Ruth; Nava Rodrigues, Daniel; Armant, Olivier; Gourain, Victor; Adelmant, Guillaume; Ntim, Emmanuel A; Westerling, Thomas; Dolling, David; Rescigno, Pasquale; Figueiredo, Ines; Fauser, Friedrich; Wu, Jennifer; Rottenberg, Jaice T; Shatkina, Liubov; Ester, Claudia; Luy, Burkhard; Puchta, Holger; Troppmair, Jakob; Jung, Nicole; Bräse, Stefan; Strähle, Uwe; Marto, Jarrod A; Nienhaus, Gerd Ulrich; Al-Lazikani, Bissan; Salvatella, Xavier; de Bono, Johann S; Cato, Andrew CB; Brown, Myles
    Targeting the activation function-1 (AF-1) domain located in the N-terminus of the androgen receptor (AR) is an attractive therapeutic alternative to the current approaches to inhibit AR action in prostate cancer (PCa). Here we show that the AR AF-1 is bound by the cochaperone Bag-1L. Mutations in the AR interaction domain or loss of Bag-1L abrogate AR signaling and reduce PCa growth. Clinically, Bag-1L protein levels increase with progression to castration-resistant PCa (CRPC) and high levels of Bag-1L in primary PCa associate with a reduced clinical benefit from abiraterone when these tumors progress. Intriguingly, residues in Bag-1L important for its interaction with the AR AF-1 are within a potentially druggable pocket, implicating Bag-1L as a potential therapeutic target in PCa.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Merkel cell polyomavirus recruits MYCL to the EP400 complex to promote oncogenesis
    (Public Library of Science, 2017) Cheng, Jingwei; Park, Donglim; Berrios, Christian; White, Elizabeth A.; Arora, Reety; Yoon, Rosa; Branigan, Timothy; Xiao, Tengfei; Westerling, Thomas; Federation, Alexander; Zeid, Rhamy; Strober, Benjamin; Swanson, Selene K.; Florens, Laurence; Bradner, James E; Brown, Myles; Howley, Peter; Padi, Megha; Washburn, Michael P.; DeCaprio, James
    Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) frequently contains integrated copies of Merkel cell polyomavirus DNA that express a truncated form of Large T antigen (LT) and an intact Small T antigen (ST). While LT binds RB and inactivates its tumor suppressor function, it is less clear how ST contributes to MCC tumorigenesis. Here we show that ST binds specifically to the MYC homolog MYCL (L-MYC) and recruits it to the 15-component EP400 histone acetyltransferase and chromatin remodeling complex. We performed a large-scale immunoprecipitation for ST and identified co-precipitating proteins by mass spectrometry. In addition to protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) subunits, we identified MYCL and its heterodimeric partner MAX plus the EP400 complex. Immunoprecipitation for MAX and EP400 complex components confirmed their association with ST. We determined that the ST-MYCL-EP400 complex binds together to specific gene promoters and activates their expression by integrating chromatin immunoprecipitation with sequencing (ChIP-seq) and RNA-seq. MYCL and EP400 were required for maintenance of cell viability and cooperated with ST to promote gene expression in MCC cell lines. A genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screen confirmed the requirement for MYCL and EP400 in MCPyV-positive MCC cell lines. We demonstrate that ST can activate gene expression in a EP400 and MYCL dependent manner and this activity contributes to cellular transformation and generation of induced pluripotent stem cells.