Many oncogenic insults deregulate RNA splicing, often leading to hypersensitivity of tumors to spliceosome-targeted therapies (STTs). However, the mechanisms by which STTs selectively kill cancers remain largely unknown. Herein, we discover that mis-spliced RNA itself is a molecular trigger for tumor killing through viral mimicry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer diagnosed in more than 200,000 women each year and is recalcitrant to targeted therapies. Although TNBCs harbor multiple hyperactive receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), RTK inhibitors have been largely ineffective in TNBC patients thus far. We developed a broadly effective therapeutic strategy for TNBC that is based on combined inhibition of receptors that share the negative regulator PTPN12.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) protein controls multiple tumour suppressive functions and is downregulated in diverse types of human cancers through incompletely characterized post-translational mechanisms. Here we identify USP11 as a PML regulator by RNAi screening. USP11 deubiquitinates and stabilizes PML, thereby counteracting the functions of PML ubiquitin ligases RNF4 and the KLHL20-Cul3 (Cullin 3)-Roc1 complex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetastasis is the major cause of poor prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC), and increasing evidence supports the contribution of miRNAs to cancer progression. Here, we found that high expression of miR-103 and miR-107 (miR-103/107) was associated with metastasis potential of CRC cell lines and poor prognosis in patients with CRC. We showed that miR-103/107 targeted the known metastasis suppressors death-associated protein kinase (DAPK) and Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) in CRC cells, resulting in increased cell motility and cell-matrix adhesion and decreased cell-cell adhesion and epithelial marker expression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTumor hypoxia is associated with disease progression and treatment failure, but the hypoxia signaling mechanism is not fully understood. Here, we show that KLHL20, a Cullin3 (Cul3) substrate adaptor induced by HIF-1, coordinates with the actions of CDK1/2 and Pin1 to mediate hypoxia-induced PML proteasomal degradation. Furthermore, this PML destruction pathway participates in a feedback mechanism to maximize HIF-1α induction, thereby potentiating multiple tumor hypoxia responses, including metabolic reprogramming, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, migration, tumor growth, angiogenesis, and chemoresistance.
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