@article{WeberLassalleHaukeRamseretal.2018, author = {Weber-Lassalle, Nana and Hauke, Jan and Ramser, Juliane and Richters, Lisa and Groß, Eva and Bl{\"u}mcke, Britta and Gehrig, Andrea and Kahlert, Anne-Karin and M{\"u}ller, Clemens R. and Hackmann, Karl and Honisch, Ellen and Weber-Lassalle, Konstantin and Niederacher, Dieter and Borde, Julika and Thiele, Holger and Ernst, Corinna and Altm{\"u}ller, Janine and Neidhardt, Guido and N{\"u}rnberg, Peter and Klaschik, Kristina and Schroeder, Christopher and Platzer, Konrad and Volk, Alexander E. and Wang-Gohrke, Shan and Just, Walter and Auber, Bernd and Kubisch, Christian and Schmidt, Gunnar and Horvath, Judit and Wappenschmidt, Barbara and Engel, Christoph and Arnold, Norbert and Dworniczak, Bernd and Rhiem, Kerstin and Meindl, Alfons and Schmutzler, Rita K. and Hahnen, Eric}, title = {BRIP1 loss-of-function mutations confer high risk for familial ovarian cancer, but not familial breast cancer}, series = {Breast Cancer Research}, volume = {20}, journal = {Breast Cancer Research}, doi = {10.1186/s13058-018-0935-9}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-233433}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Background Germline mutations in the BRIP1 gene have been described as conferring a moderate risk for ovarian cancer (OC), while the role of BRIP1 in breast cancer (BC) pathogenesis remains controversial. Methods To assess the role of deleterious BRIP1 germline mutations in BC/OC predisposition, 6341 well-characterized index patients with BC, 706 index patients with OC, and 2189 geographically matched female controls were screened for loss-of-function (LoF) mutations and potentially damaging missense variants. All index patients met the inclusion criteria of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer for germline testing and tested negative for pathogenic BRCA1/2 variants. Results BRIP1 LoF mutations confer a high OC risk in familial index patients (odds ratio (OR) = 20.97, 95\% confidence interval (CI) = 12.02-36.57, P < 0.0001) and in the subgroup of index patients with late-onset OC (OR = 29.91, 95\% CI = 14.99-59.66, P < 0.0001). No significant association of BRIP1 LoF mutations with familial BC was observed (OR = 1.81 95\% CI = 1.00-3.30, P = 0.0623). In the subgroup of familial BC index patients without a family history of OC there was also no apparent association (OR = 1.42, 95\% CI = 0.70-2.90, P = 0.3030). In 1027 familial BC index patients with a family history of OC, the BRIP1 mutation prevalence was significantly higher than that observed in controls (OR = 3.59, 95\% CI = 1.43-9.01; P = 0.0168). Based on the negative association between BRIP1 LoF mutations and familial BC in the absence of an OC family history, we conclude that the elevated mutation prevalence in the latter cohort was driven by the occurrence of OC in these families. Compared with controls, predicted damaging rare missense variants were significantly more prevalent in OC (P = 0.0014) but not in BC (P = 0.0693) patients. Conclusions To avoid ambiguous results, studies aimed at assessing the impact of candidate predisposition gene mutations on BC risk might differentiate between BC index patients with an OC family history and those without. In familial cases, we suggest that BRIP1 is a high-risk gene for late-onset OC but not a BC predisposition gene, though minor effects cannot be excluded.}, language = {en} } @article{SchmidSchmidtHazuretal.2020, author = {Schmid, Rafael and Schmidt, Sonja K. and Hazur, Jonas and Detsch, Rainer and Maurer, Evelyn and Boccaccini, Aldo R. and Hauptstein, Julia and Teßmar, J{\"o}rg and Blunk, Torsten and Schr{\"u}fer, Stefan and Schubert, Dirk W. and Horch, Raymund E. and Bosserhoff, Anja K. and Arkudas, Andreas and Kengelbach-Weigand, Annika}, title = {Comparison of hydrogels for the development of well-defined 3D cancer models of breast cancer and melanoma}, series = {Cancers}, volume = {12}, journal = {Cancers}, number = {8}, issn = {2072-6694}, doi = {10.3390/cancers12082320}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-211195}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Bioprinting offers the opportunity to fabricate precise 3D tumor models to study tumor pathophysiology and progression. However, the choice of the bioink used is important. In this study, cell behavior was studied in three mechanically and biologically different hydrogels (alginate, alginate dialdehyde crosslinked with gelatin (ADA-GEL), and thiol-modified hyaluronan (HA-SH crosslinked with PEGDA)) with cells from breast cancer (MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7) and melanoma (Mel Im and MV3), by analyzing survival, growth, and the amount of metabolically active, living cells via WST-8 labeling. Material characteristics were analyzed by dynamic mechanical analysis. Cell lines revealed significantly increased cell numbers in low-percentage alginate and HA-SH from day 1 to 14, while only Mel Im also revealed an increase in ADA-GEL. MCF-7 showed a preference for 1\% alginate. Melanoma cells tended to proliferate better in ADA-GEL and HA-SH than mammary carcinoma cells. In 1\% alginate, breast cancer cells showed equally good proliferation compared to melanoma cell lines. A smaller area was colonized in high-percentage alginate-based hydrogels. Moreover, 3\% alginate was the stiffest material, and 2.5\% ADA-GEL was the softest material. The other hydrogels were in the same range in between. Therefore, cellular responses were not only stiffness-dependent. With 1\% alginate and HA-SH, we identified matrices that enable proliferation of all tested tumor cell lines while maintaining expected tumor heterogeneity. By adapting hydrogels, differences could be accentuated. This opens up the possibility of understanding and analyzing tumor heterogeneity by biofabrication.}, language = {en} } @article{OttoSchmidtKastneretal.2019, author = {Otto, C. and Schmidt, S. and Kastner, C. and Denk, S. and Kettler, J. and M{\"u}ller, N. and Germer, C.T. and Wolf, E. and Gallant, P. and Wiegering, A.}, title = {Targeting bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) inhibits MYC expression in colorectal cancer cells}, series = {Neoplasia}, volume = {21}, journal = {Neoplasia}, number = {11}, doi = {10.1016/j.neo.2019.10.003}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-202451}, pages = {1110-1120}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The transcriptional regulator BRD4 has been shown to be important for the expression of several oncogenes including MYC. Inhibiting of BRD4 has broad antiproliferative activity in different cancer cell types. The small molecule JQ1 blocks the interaction of BRD4 with acetylated histones leading to transcriptional modulation. Depleting BRD4 via engineered bifunctional small molecules named PROTACs (proteolysis targeting chimeras) represents the next-generation approach to JQ1-mediated BRD4 inhibition. PROTACs trigger BRD4 for proteasomale degradation by recruiting E3 ligases. The aim of this study was therefore to validate the importance of BRD4 as a relevant target in colorectal cancer (CRC) cells and to compare the efficacy of BRD4 inhibition with BRD4 degradation on downregulating MYC expression. JQ1 induced a downregulation of both MYC mRNA and MYC protein associated with an antiproliferative phenotype in CRC cells. dBET1 and MZ1 induced degradation of BRD4 followed by a reduction in MYC expression and CRC cell proliferation. In SW480 cells, where dBET1 failed, we found significantly lower levels of the E3 ligase cereblon, which is essential for dBET1-induced BRD4 degradation. To gain mechanistic insight into the unresponsiveness to dBET1, we generated dBET1-resistant LS174t cells and found a strong downregulation of cereblon protein. These findings suggest that inhibition of BRD4 by JQ1 and degradation of BRD4 by dBET1 and MZ1 are powerful tools for reducing MYC expression and CRC cell proliferation. In addition, downregulation of cereblon may be an important mechanism for developing dBET1 resistance, which can be evaded by incubating dBET1-resistant cells with JQ1 or MZ1.}, language = {en} } @article{OttoKastnerSchmidtetal.2022, author = {Otto, Christoph and Kastner, Carolin and Schmidt, Stefanie and Uttinger, Konstantin and Baluapuri, Apoorva and Denk, Sarah and Rosenfeldt, Mathias T. and Rosenwald, Andreas and Roehrig, Florian and Ade, Carsten P. and Schuelein-Voelk, Christina and Diefenbacher, Markus E. and Germer, Christoph-Thomas and Wolf, Elmar and Eilers, Martin and Wiegering, Armin}, title = {RNA polymerase I inhibition induces terminal differentiation, growth arrest, and vulnerability to senolytics in colorectal cancer cells}, series = {Molecular Oncology}, volume = {16}, journal = {Molecular Oncology}, number = {15}, doi = {10.1002/1878-0261.13265}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-312806}, pages = {2788-2809}, year = {2022}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{HaukeHorvathGrossetal.2018, author = {Hauke, Jan and Horvath, Judit and Groß, Eva and Gehrig, Andrea and Honisch, Ellen and Hackmann, Karl and Schmidt, Gunnar and Arnold, Norbert and Faust, Ulrike and Sutter, Christian and Hentschel, Julia and Wang-Gohrke, Shan and Smogavec, Mateja and Weber, Bernhard H. F. and Weber-Lassalle, Nana and Weber-Lassalle, Konstantin and Borde, Julika and Ernst, Corinna and Altm{\"u}ller, Janine and Volk, Alexander E. and Thiele, Holger and H{\"u}bbel, Verena and N{\"u}rnberg, Peter and Keupp, Katharina and Versmold, Beatrix and Pohl, Esther and Kubisch, Christian and Grill, Sabine and Paul, Victoria and Herold, Natalie and Lichey, Nadine and Rhiem, Kerstin and Ditsch, Nina and Ruckert, Christian and Wappenschmidt, Barbara and Auber, Bernd and Rump, Andreas and Niederacher, Dieter and Haaf, Thomas and Ramser, Juliane and Dworniczak, Bernd and Engel, Christoph and Meindl, Alfons and Schmutzler, Rita K. and Hahnen, Eric}, title = {Gene panel testing of 5589 BRCA1/2-negative index patients with breast cancer in a routine diagnostic setting: results of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer}, series = {Cancer Medicine}, journal = {Cancer Medicine}, doi = {10.1002/cam4.1376}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-227902}, pages = {1349-1358}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The prevalence of germ line mutations in non-BRCA1/2 genes associated with hereditary breast cancer (BC) is low, and the role of some of these genes in BC predisposition and pathogenesis is conflicting. In this study, 5589 consecutive BC index patients negative for pathogenic BRCA1/2 mutations and 2189 female controls were screened for germ line mutations in eight cancer predisposition genes (ATM, CDH1, CHEK2, NBN, PALB2, RAD51C, RAD51D, and TP53). All patients met the inclusion criteria of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer for germ line testing. The highest mutation prevalence was observed in the CHEK2 gene (2.5\%), followed by ATM (1.5\%) and PALB2 (1.2\%). The mutation prevalence in each of the remaining genes was 0.3\% or lower. Using Exome Aggregation Consortium control data, we confirm significant associations of heterozygous germ line mutations with BC for ATM (OR: 3.63, 95\%CI: 2.67-4.94), CDH1 (OR: 17.04, 95\%CI: 3.54-82), CHEK2 (OR: 2.93, 95\%CI: 2.29-3.75), PALB2 (OR: 9.53, 95\%CI: 6.25-14.51), and TP53 (OR: 7.30, 95\%CI: 1.22-43.68). NBN germ line mutations were not significantly associated with BC risk (OR:1.39, 95\%CI: 0.73-2.64). Due to their low mutation prevalence, the RAD51C and RAD51D genes require further investigation. Compared with control datasets, predicted damaging rare missense variants were significantly more prevalent in CHEK2 and TP53 in BC index patients. Compared with the overall sample, only TP53 mutation carriers show a significantly younger age at first BC diagnosis. We demonstrate a significant association of deleterious variants in the CHEK2, PALB2, and TP53 genes with bilateral BC. Both, ATM and CHEK2, were negatively associated with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and estrogen receptor (ER)-negative tumor phenotypes. A particularly high CHEK2 mutation prevalence (5.2\%) was observed in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive tumors.}, language = {en} }