Browsing by Author "Sandusky, George"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 47
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Adapting AlphaLISA high throughput screen to discover a novel small-molecule inhibitor targeting protein arginine methyltransferase 5 in pancreatic and colorectal cancers
    (Impact Journals, 2017-05-23) Prabhu, Lakshmi; Wei, Han; Chen, Lan; Demir, Özlem; Sandusky, George; Sun, Emily; Wang, John; Mo, Jessica; Zeng, Lifan; Fishel, Melissa; Safa, Ahmad; Amaro, Rommie; Korc, Murray; Zhang, Zhong-Yin; Lu, Tao; Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Medicine
    Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) are notoriously challenging for treatment. Hyperactive nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) is a common culprit in both cancers. Previously, we discovered that protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) methylated and activated NF-κB. Here, we show that PRMT5 is highly expressed in PDAC and CRC. Overexpression of PRMT5 promoted cancer progression, while shRNA knockdown showed an opposite effect. Using an innovative AlphaLISA high throughput screen, we discovered a lead compound, PR5-LL-CM01, which exhibited robust tumor inhibition effects in both cancers. An in silico structure prediction suggested that PR5-LL-CM01 inhibits PRMT5 by binding with its active pocket. Importantly, PR5-LL-CM01 showed higher anti-tumor efficacy than the commercial PRMT5 inhibitor, EPZ015666, in both PDAC and CRC. This study clearly highlights the significant potential of PRMT5 as a therapeutic target in PDAC and CRC, and establishes PR5-LL-CM01 as a promising basis for new drug development in the future.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Aging-associated skeletal muscle defects in HER2/Neu transgenic mammary tumor model
    (Wiley, 2021) Wang, Ruizhong; Kumar, Brijesh; Bhat-Nakshatri, Poornima; Prasad, Mayuri S.; Jacobsen, Max H.; Ovalle, Gabriela; Maguire, Calli; Sandusky, George; Trivedi, Trupti; Mohammad, Khalid S.; Guise, Theresa; Penthala, Narsimha R.; Crooks, Peter A.; Liu, Jianguo; Zimmers, Teresa; Nakshatri, Harikrishna; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Background: Loss of skeletal muscle volume and resulting in functional limitations are poor prognostic markers in breast cancer patients. Several molecular defects in skeletal muscle including reduced MyoD levels and increased protein turn over due to enhanced proteosomal activity have been suggested as causes of skeletal muscle loss in cancer patients. However, it is unknown whether molecular defects in skeletal muscle are dependent on tumor etiology. Methods: We characterized functional and molecular defects of skeletal muscle in MMTV-Neu (Neu+) mice (n= 6-12), an animal model that represents HER2+ human breast cancer, and compared the results with well-characterized luminal B breast cancer model MMTV-PyMT (PyMT+). Functional studies such as grip strength, rotarod performance, and ex vivo muscle contraction were performed to measure the effects of cancer on skeletal muscle. Expression of muscle-enriched genes and microRNAs as well as circulating cytokines/chemokines were measured. Since NF-κB pathway plays a significant role in skeletal muscle defects, the ability of NF-κB inhibitor dimethylaminoparthenolide (DMAPT) to reverse skeletal muscle defects was examined. Results: Neu+ mice showed skeletal muscle defects similar to accelerated aging. Compared to age and sex-matched wild type mice, Neu+ tumor-bearing mice had lower grip strength (202±6.9 vs. 179±6.8 g grip force, p=0.0069) and impaired rotarod performance (108±12.1 vs. 30±3.9 seconds, P<0.0001), which was consistent with reduced muscle contractibility (p<0.0001). Skeletal muscle of Neu+ mice (n=6) contained lower levels of CD82+ (16.2±2.9 vs 9.0±1.6) and CD54+ (3.8±0.5 vs 2.4±0.4) muscle stem and progenitor cells (p<0.05), suggesting impaired capacity of muscle regeneration, which was accompanied by decreased MyoD, p53 and miR-486 expression in muscles (p<0.05). Unlike PyMT+ mice, which showed skeletal muscle mitochondrial defects including reduced mitochondria levels and Pgc1β, Neu+ mice displayed accelerated aging-associated changes including muscle fiber shrinkage and increased extracellular matrix deposition. Circulating "aging factor" and cachexia and fibromyalgia-associated chemokine Ccl11 was elevated in Neu+ mice (1439.56±514 vs. 1950±345 pg/ml, p<0.05). Treatment of Neu+ mice with DMAPT significantly restored grip strength (205±6 g force), rotarod performance (74±8.5 seconds), reversed molecular alterations associated with skeletal muscle aging, reduced circulating Ccl11 (1083.26 ±478 pg/ml), and improved animal survival. Conclusions: These results suggest that breast cancer subtype has a specific impact on the type of molecular and structure changes in skeletal muscle, which needs to be taken into consideration while designing therapies to reduce breast cancer-induced skeletal muscle loss and functional limitations.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Assessment of folate receptor-β expression in human neoplastic tissues
    (Impact Journals, LLC, 2015-06-10) Shen, Jiayin; Putt, Karson S.; Visscher, Daniel W.; Murphy, Linda; Cohen, Cynthia; Singhal, Sunil; Sandusky, George; Feng, Yang; Dimitrov, Dimiter S.; Low, Philip S.; Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, IU School of Medicine
    Over-expression of folate receptor alpha on cancer cells has been frequently exploited for delivery of folate-targeted imaging and therapeutic agents to tumors. Because limited information exists on expression of the beta isoform of the folate receptor in human cancers (FR-β), we have evaluated the immunohistochemical staining pattern of FR-β in 992 tumor sections from 20 different human cancer types using a new anti-human FR-β monoclonal antibody. FR-β expression was shown to be more pronounced in cells within the stroma, primarily macrophages and macrophage-like cells than cancer cells in every cancer type studied. Moreover, FR-β expression in both cancer and stromal cells was found to be statistically more prominent in females than males. A significant positive correlation was also observed between FR-β expression on stromal cells and both the stage of the cancer and the presence of lymph node metastases. Based on these data we conclude FR-β may constitute a good target for specific delivery of therapeutic agents to activated macrophages and that accumulation of FR-β positive macrophages in the stroma could serve as a useful indicator of a tumor's metastatic potential.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Author Correction: Upregulation of lipid metabolism genes in the breast prior to cancer diagnosis
    (Springer Nature, 2024-06-17) Marino, Natascia; German, Rana; Rao, Xi; Simpson, Ed; Liu, Sheng; Wan, Jun; Liu, Yunlong; Sandusky, George; Jacobsen, Max; Stovall, Miranda; Cao, Sha; Storniolo, Anna Maria V.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Correction to: npj Breast Cancer 10.1038/s41523-020-00191-8, published online 06 October 2020 In this article, the author name Miranda Stovall was incorrectly written as Miranda Stoval. The original article has been corrected.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Bidirectional Regulatory Cross-Talk between Cell Context and Genomic Aberrations Shapes Breast Tumorigenesis
    (American Association for Cancer Research, 2021) Kumar, Brijesh; Bhat-Nakshatri, Poornima; Maguire, Calli; Jacobsen, Max; Temm, Constance J.; Sandusky, George; Nakshatri, Harikrishna; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Breast cancers are classified into five intrinsic subtypes and 10 integrative clusters based on gene expression patterns and genomic aberrations, respectively. Although the cell-of-origin, adaptive plasticity, and genomic aberrations shape dynamic transcriptomic landscape during cancer progression, how interplay between these three core elements governs obligatory steps for a productive cancer progression is unknown. Here, we used genetic ancestry-mapped immortalized breast epithelial cell lines generated from breast biopsies of healthy women that share gene expression profiles of luminal A, normal-like, and basal-like intrinsic subtypes of breast cancers and breast cancer relevant oncogenes to develop breast cancer progression model. Using flow cytometry, mammosphere growth, signaling pathway, DNA damage response, and in vivo tumorigenicity assays, we provide evidence that establishes cell context-dependent effects of oncogenes in conferring plasticity, self-renewal/differentiation, intratumor heterogeneity, and metastatic properties. In contrast, oncogenic aberrations, independent of cell context, shaped response to DNA damage-inducing agents. Collectively, this study reveals how the same set of genomic aberration can have distinct effects on tumor characteristics based on cell-of-origin of tumor and highlights the need to utilize multiple "normal" epithelial cell types to decipher oncogenic properties of a gene of interest. In addition, by creating multiple isogenic cell lines ranging from primary cells to metastatic variants, we provide resources to elucidate cell-intrinsic properties and cell-oncogene interactions at various stages of cancer progression. IMPLICATIONS: Our findings demonstrate that how an interplay between the normal cell type that encountered genomic aberrations and type of genomic aberration influences heterogeneity, self-renewal/differentiation, and tumor properties including propensity for metastasis.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    CD68 Macrophage Expression in Normal Breast Tissue and Cancer
    (2019-04-19) Gaines, Madelynn; Jacobsen, Max; Temm, Connie; Sandusky, George
    Breast cancer is a common disease and is the second leading cause of death in women. This type of cancer is usually hormonally driven by estrogen, progesterone, and HER2. Macrophages play a large role in the tumor microenvironment (TME). The aim of this study was to investigate the percent of macrophages in 32 normal breast tissues, 66 normal adjacent tissue (NAT), and 82 breast cancer tissues using the CD68-specific biomarker. Tissue microarrays (TMA) were created, which are composed of 2-mm cores from multiple patients mounted onto a single slide. The breast tissue samples were fixed, processed, microtomed, and stained with CD68. Unstained slides were immunostained using the Dako FLEX system. The slides were imaged using the Aperio Whole Slide Imaging platform and the tissues were evaluated using the positive pixel count algorithm (a quantitative image analysis system). The positivity of macrophages in the tissue samples were reported as a percentage, and compared across the three groups. It was found that the CD68 positivity in the normal and breast cancer tissue were even, and the NAT was lower. However, the three groups had overlapping standard deviations. Because difference between the percentages of each group was minimal and the deviations overlapped, it was concluded that there is no statistical difference between the three groups.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Correction: Integrin-linked kinase-frizzled 7 interaction maintains cancer stem cells to drive platinum resistance in ovarian cancer
    (Springer Nature, 2024-06-22) Atwani, Rula; Nagare, Rohit Pravin; Rogers, Amber; Prasad, Mayuri; Lazar, Virginie; Sandusky, George; Tong, Yan; Pin, Fabrizio; Condello, Salvatore; Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine
    Correction: J Exp Clin Cancer Res 43, 156 (2024) 10.1186/s13046-024-03083-y Following publication of the original article [1], the authors identified an error in the author name of Rohit Pravin Nagare. The incorrect author name is: Rohit Nagare The correct author name is: Rohit Pravin Nagare The author group has been updated above and the original article [1] has been corrected.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Critical role of phosphorylation of serine 165 of YBX1 on the activation of NF- B in colon cancer
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Prabhu, Lakshmi; Mundade, Rasika; Wang, Benlian; Wei, Han; Hartley, Antja-Voy; McElyea, Kyle; Temm, Constance J.; Sandusky, George; Liu, Yunlong; Lu, Tao
    Y-box binding protein 1 (YBX1) is a multifunctional protein known to facilitate many of the hallmarks of cancer. Elevated levels of YBX1 protein are highly correlated with cancer progression, making it an excellent marker in cancer. The connection between YBX1 and the important nuclear factor B (NF-B), has never been previously reported. Here, we show that overexpression of wild type YBX1 (wtYBX1) activates NF-B, suggesting that YBX1 is a potential NF-B activator. Furthermore, using mass spectrometry analysis, we identified novel phosphorylation of serine 165 (S165) on YBX1. Overexpression of the S165A-YBX1 mutant in either 293 cells or colon cancer HT29 cells showed dramatically reduced NF-B activating ability as compared to that of wtYBX1, confirming that S165 phosphorylation is critical for the activation of NF-B by YBX1. We further show that expression of the S165A-YBX1 mutant dramatically decreased the expression of NF-B-inducible genes, reduced cell growth, and compromised tumorigenic ability as compared to wtYBX1. Taken together, we provide the first evidence that YBX1 functions as a tumor promoter via NF-B activation, and phosphorylation of S165 of YBX1 is critical for this function. Therefore, our important discovery may lead to blocking S165 phosphorylation as a potential therapeutic strategy to treat colon cancer.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Critical role of phosphorylation of serine 165 of YBX1 on the activation of NF-κB in colon cancer.
    (Impact Journals, 2015-10-06) Prabhu, Lakshmi; Mundade, Rasika; Wang, Benlian; Wei, Han; Hartley, Antja-Voy; Martin, Matthew; McElyea, Kyle; Temm, Constance J.; Sandusky, George; Liu, Yunlong; Lu, Tao; Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, IU School of Medicine
    Y-box binding protein 1 [YBX1] is a multifunctional protein known to facilitate many of the hallmarks of cancer. Elevated levels of YBX1 protein are highly correlated with cancer progression, making it an excellent marker in cancer. The connection between YBX1 and the important nuclear factor κB [NF-κB] has never been reported. Here, we show that overexpression of wild type YBX1 [WT-YBX1] activates NF-κB, suggesting that YBX1 is a potential NF-κB activator. Furthermore, using mass spectrometry analysis we identified novel phosphorylation of serine 165 [S165] on YBX1. Overexpression of the S165A-YBX1 mutant in either HEK293 cells or colon cancer HT29 cells showed dramatically reduced NF-κB activating ability as compared with that of WT-YBX1, confirming that S165 phosphorylation is critical for the activation of NF-κB by YBX1. We also show that expression of the S165A-YBX1 mutant dramatically decreased the expression of
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Dependence receptor UNC5A restricts luminal to basal breast cancer plasticity and metastasis
    (BMC, 2018-05-02) Padua, Maria B.; Bhat-Nakshatri, Poornima; Anjanappa, Manjushree; Prasad, Mayuri S.; Hao, Yangyang; Rao, Xi; Liu, Sheng; Wan, Jun; Liu, Yunlong; McElyea, Kyle; Jacobsen, Max; Sandusky, George; Althouse, Sandra; Perkins, Susan; Nakshatri, Harikrishna; Surgery, School of Medicine
    BACKGROUND: The majority of estrogen receptor-positive (ERα+) breast cancers respond to endocrine therapies. However, resistance to endocrine therapies is common in 30% of cases, which may be due to altered ERα signaling and/or enhanced plasticity of cancer cells leading to breast cancer subtype conversion. The mechanisms leading to enhanced plasticity of ERα-positive cancer cells are unknown. METHODS: We used short hairpin (sh)RNA and/or the CRISPR/Cas9 system to knockdown the expression of the dependence receptor UNC5A in ERα+ MCF7 and T-47D cell lines. RNA-seq, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and Western blotting were used to measure the effect of UNC5A knockdown on basal and estradiol (E2)-regulated gene expression. Mammosphere assay, flow cytometry, and immunofluorescence were used to determine the role of UNC5A in restricting plasticity. Xenograft models were used to measure the effect of UNC5A knockdown on tumor growth and metastasis. Tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry were utilized to determine the prognostic value of UNC5A in breast cancer. Log-rank test, one-way, and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Knockdown of the E2-inducible UNC5A resulted in altered basal gene expression affecting plasma membrane integrity and ERα signaling, as evident from ligand-independent activity of ERα, altered turnover of phosphorylated ERα, unique E2-dependent expression of genes effecting histone demethylase activity, enhanced upregulation of E2-inducible genes such as BCL2, and E2-independent tumorigenesis accompanied by multiorgan metastases. UNC5A depletion led to the appearance of a luminal/basal hybrid phenotype supported by elevated expression of basal/stem cell-enriched ∆Np63, CD44, CD49f, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and the lymphatic vessel permeability factor NTN4, but lower expression of luminal/alveolar differentiation-associated ELF5 while maintaining functional ERα. In addition, UNC5A-depleted cells acquired bipotent luminal progenitor characteristics based on KRT14+/KRT19+ and CD49f+/EpCAM+ phenotype. Consistent with in vitro results, UNC5A expression negatively correlated with EGFR expression in breast tumors, and lower expression of UNC5A, particularly in ERα+/PR+/HER2- tumors, was associated with poor outcome. CONCLUSION: These studies reveal an unexpected role of the axon guidance receptor UNC5A in fine-tuning ERα and EGFR signaling and the luminal progenitor status of hormone-sensitive breast cancers. Furthermore, UNC5A knockdown cells provide an ideal model system to investigate metastasis of ERα+ breast cancers.