TY  - JOUR
A1  - Löhr, Mario
A1  - Härtig, Wolfgang
A1  - Schulze, Almut
A1  - Kroiß, Matthias
A1  - Sbiera, Silviu
A1  - Lapa, Constantin
A1  - Mages, Bianca
A1  - Strobel, Sabrina
A1  - Hundt, Jennifer Elisabeth
A1  - Bohnert, Simone
A1  - Kircher, Stefan
A1  - Janaki-Raman, Sudha
A1  - Monoranu, Camelia-Maria
T1  - SOAT1: A suitable target for therapy in high-grade astrocytic glioma?
JF  - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
N2  - Targeting molecular alterations as an effective treatment for isocitrate dehydrogenase-wildtype glioblastoma (GBM) patients has not yet been established. Sterol-O-Acyl Transferase 1 (SOAT1), a key enzyme in the conversion of endoplasmic reticulum cholesterol to esters for storage in lipid droplets (LD), serves as a target for the orphan drug mitotane to treat adrenocortical carcinoma. Inhibition of SOAT1 also suppresses GBM growth. Here, we refined SOAT1-expression in GBM and IDH-mutant astrocytoma, CNS WHO grade 4 (HGA), and assessed the distribution of LD in these tumors. Twenty-seven GBM and three HGA specimens were evaluated by multiple GFAP, Iba1, IDH1 R132H, and SOAT1 immunofluorescence labeling as well as Oil Red O staining. To a small extent SOAT1 was expressed by tumor cells in both tumor entities. In contrast, strong expression was observed in glioma-associated macrophages. Triple immunofluorescence labeling revealed, for the first time, evidence for SOAT1 colocalization with Iba1 and IDH1 R132H, respectively. Furthermore, a notable difference in the amount of LD between GBM and HGA was observed. Therefore, SOAT1 suppression might be a therapeutic option to target GBM and HGA growth and invasiveness. In addition, the high expression in cells related to neuroinflammation could be beneficial for a concomitant suppression of protumoral microglia/macrophages.
KW  - SOAT1
KW  - glioblastoma
KW  - astrocytoma
KW  - IDH1/2
KW  - lipid droplets
KW  - mitotane
KW  - targeted therapy
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284178
SN  - 1422-0067
VL  - 23
IS  - 7
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hartmann, Oliver
A1  - Reissland, Michaela
A1  - Maier, Carina R.
A1  - Fischer, Thomas
A1  - Prieto-Garcia, Cristian
A1  - Baluapuri, Apoorva
A1  - Schwarz, Jessica
A1  - Schmitz, Werner
A1  - Garrido-Rodriguez, Martin
A1  - Pahor, Nikolett
A1  - Davies, Clare C.
A1  - Bassermann, Florian
A1  - Orian, Amir
A1  - Wolf, Elmar
A1  - Schulze, Almut
A1  - Calzado, Marco A.
A1  - Rosenfeldt, Mathias T.
A1  - Diefenbacher, Markus E.
T1  - Implementation of CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing to Generate Murine Lung Cancer Models That Depict the Mutational Landscape of Human Disease
JF  - Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
N2  - Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in both men and women. Despite the development of novel therapeutic interventions, the 5-year survival rate for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients remains low, demonstrating the necessity for novel treatments. One strategy to improve translational research is the development of surrogate models reflecting somatic mutations identified in lung cancer patients as these impact treatment responses. With the advent of CRISPR-mediated genome editing, gene deletion as well as site-directed integration of point mutations enabled us to model human malignancies in more detail than ever before. Here, we report that by using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeting of Trp53 and KRas, we recapitulated the classic murine NSCLC model Trp53fl/fl:lsl-KRasG12D/wt. Developing tumors were indistinguishable from Trp53fl/fl:lsl-KRasG12D/wt-derived tumors with regard to morphology, marker expression, and transcriptional profiles. We demonstrate the applicability of CRISPR for tumor modeling in vivo and ameliorating the need to use conventional genetically engineered mouse models. Furthermore, tumor onset was not only achieved in constitutive Cas9 expression but also in wild-type animals via infection of lung epithelial cells with two discrete AAVs encoding different parts of the CRISPR machinery. While conventional mouse models require extensive husbandry to integrate new genetic features allowing for gene targeting, basic molecular methods suffice to inflict the desired genetic alterations in vivo. Utilizing the CRISPR toolbox, in vivo cancer research and modeling is rapidly evolving and enables researchers to swiftly develop new, clinically relevant surrogate models for translational research.
KW  - non-small cell lung cancer
KW  - CRISPR-Cas9
KW  - mouse model
KW  - lung cancer
KW  - MYC
KW  - JUN
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230949
SN  - 2296-634X
VL  - 9
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Klein-Hessling, Stefan
A1  - Muhammad, Khalid
A1  - Klein, Matthias
A1  - Pusch, Tobias
A1  - Rudolf, Ronald
A1  - Flöter, Jessica
A1  - Qureischi, Musga
A1  - Beilhack, Andreas
A1  - Vaeth, Martin
A1  - Kummerow, Carsten
A1  - Backes, Christian
A1  - Schoppmeyer, Rouven
A1  - Hahn, Ulrike
A1  - Hoth, Markus
A1  - Bopp, Tobias
A1  - Berberich-Siebelt, Friederike
A1  - Patra, Amiya
A1  - Avots, Andris
A1  - Müller, Nora
A1  - Schulze, Almut
A1  - Serfling, Edgar
T1  - NFATc1 controls the cytotoxicity of CD8\(^{+}\) T cells
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - Cytotoxic T lymphocytes are effector CD8\(^{+}\) T cells that eradicate infected and malignant cells. Here we show that the transcription factor NFATc1 controls the cytotoxicity of mouse cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Activation of Nfatc1\(^{-/-}\) cytotoxic T lymphocytes showed a defective cytoskeleton organization and recruitment of cytosolic organelles to immunological synapses. These cells have reduced cytotoxicity against tumor cells, and mice with NFATc1-deficient T cells are defective in controlling Listeria infection. Transcriptome analysis shows diminished RNA levels of numerous genes in Nfatc1\(^{-/-}\) CD8\(^{+}\) T cells, including Tbx21, Gzmb and genes encoding cytokines and chemokines, and genes controlling glycolysis. Nfatc1\(^{-/-}\), but not Nfatc2\(^{-/-}\) CD8\(^{+}\) T cells have an impaired metabolic switch to glycolysis, which can be restored by IL-2. Genome-wide ChIP-seq shows that NFATc1 binds many genes that control cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity. Together these data indicate that NFATc1 is an important regulator of cytotoxic T lymphocyte effector functions.
KW  - cytotoxic T cells
KW  - lymphocyte activation
KW  - signal transduction
KW  - gene regulation
KW  - immune cells
KW  - NFATc1
Y1  - 2017
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170353
VL  - 8
IS  - 511
ER  -