TY - JOUR A1 - Mainz, Laura A1 - Sarhan, Mohamed A. F. E. A1 - Roth, Sabine A1 - Sauer, Ursula A1 - Maurus, Katja A1 - Hartmann, Elena M. A1 - Seibert, Helen-Desiree A1 - Rosenwald, Andreas A1 - Diefenbacher, Markus E. A1 - Rosenfeldt, Mathias T. T1 - Autophagy blockage reduces the incidence of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in the context of mutant Trp53 JF - Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology N2 - Macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy) is a homeostatic process that preserves cellular integrity. In mice, autophagy regulates pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) development in a manner dependent on the status of the tumor suppressor gene Trp53. Studies published so far have investigated the impact of autophagy blockage in tumors arising from Trp53-hemizygous or -homozygous tissue. In contrast, in human PDACs the tumor suppressor gene TP53 is mutated rather than allelically lost, and TP53 mutants retain pathobiological functions that differ from complete allelic loss. In order to better represent the patient situation, we have investigated PDAC development in a well-characterized genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM) of PDAC with mutant Trp53 (Trp53\(^{R172H}\)) and deletion of the essential autophagy gene Atg7. Autophagy blockage reduced PDAC incidence but had no impact on survival time in the subset of animals that formed a tumor. In the absence of Atg7, non-tumor-bearing mice reached a similar age as animals with malignant disease. However, the architecture of autophagy-deficient, tumor-free pancreata was effaced, normal acinar tissue was largely replaced with low-grade pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias (PanINs) and insulin expressing islet β-cells were reduced. Our data add further complexity to the interplay between Atg7 inhibition and Trp53 status in tumorigenesis. KW - pancreatic cancer KW - autophagy KW - p53 KW - metastasis KW - ATG7 Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-266005 SN - 2296-634X VL - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Otto, Christoph A1 - Kastner, Carolin A1 - Schmidt, Stefanie A1 - Uttinger, Konstantin A1 - Baluapuri, Apoorva A1 - Denk, Sarah A1 - Rosenfeldt, Mathias T. A1 - Rosenwald, Andreas A1 - Roehrig, Florian A1 - Ade, Carsten P. A1 - Schuelein-Voelk, Christina A1 - Diefenbacher, Markus E. A1 - Germer, Christoph-Thomas A1 - Wolf, Elmar A1 - Eilers, Martin A1 - Wiegering, Armin T1 - RNA polymerase I inhibition induces terminal differentiation, growth arrest, and vulnerability to senolytics in colorectal cancer cells JF - Molecular Oncology N2 - Ribosomal biogenesis and protein synthesis are deregulated in most cancers, suggesting that interfering with translation machinery may hold significant therapeutic potential. Here, we show that loss of the tumor suppressor adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), which constitutes the initiating event in the adenoma carcinoma sequence for colorectal cancer (CRC), induces the expression of RNA polymerase I (RNAPOL1) transcription machinery, and subsequently upregulates ribosomal DNA (rDNA) transcription. Targeting RNAPOL1 with a specific inhibitor, CX5461, disrupts nucleolar integrity, and induces a disbalance of ribosomal proteins. Surprisingly, CX5461-induced growth arrest is irreversible and exhibits features of senescence and terminal differentiation. Mechanistically, CX5461 promotes differentiation in an MYC-interacting zinc-finger protein 1 (MIZ1)- and retinoblastoma protein (Rb)-dependent manner. In addition, the inhibition of RNAPOL1 renders CRC cells vulnerable towards senolytic agents. We validated this therapeutic effect of CX5461 in murine- and patient-derived organoids, and in a xenograft mouse model. These results show that targeting ribosomal biogenesis together with targeting the consecutive, senescent phenotype using approved drugs is a new therapeutic approach, which can rapidly be transferred from bench to bedside. KW - CRC KW - CX5461 KW - MIZ1 KW - MYC KW - ribosome KW - RNAPOL1 Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-312806 VL - 16 IS - 15 ER -