Abstract
The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) network study of 12 cancer types (PanCancer 12) revealed frequent mutation of TP53, and amplification and expression of related TP63 isoform ΔNp63 in squamous cancers. Further, aberrant expression of inflammatory genes and TP53/p63/p73 targets were detected in the PanCancer 12 project, reminiscent of gene programs comodulated by cREL/ΔNp63/TAp73 transcription factors we uncovered in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). However, how inflammatory gene signatures and cREL/p63/p73 targets are comodulated genome wide is unclear. Here, we examined how the inflammatory factor tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) broadly modulates redistribution of cREL with ΔNp63α/TAp73 complexes and signatures genome wide in the HNSCC model UM-SCC46 using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq). TNF-α enhanced genome-wide co-occupancy of cREL with ΔNp63α on TP53/p63 sites, while unexpectedly promoting redistribution of TAp73 from TP53 to activator protein-1 (AP-1) sites. cREL, ΔNp63α and TAp73 binding and oligomerization on NF-κB-, TP53- or AP-1-specific sequences were independently validated by ChIP-qPCR (quantitative PCR), oligonucleotide-binding assays and analytical ultracentrifugation. Function of the binding activity was confirmed using TP53-, AP-1- and NF-κB-specific REs or p21, SERPINE1 and IL-6 promoter luciferase reporter activities. Concurrently, TNF-α regulated a broad gene network with cobinding activities for cREL, ΔNp63α and TAp73 observed upon array profiling and reverse transcription–PCR. Overlapping target gene signatures were observed in squamous cancer subsets and in inflamed skin of transgenic mice overexpressing ΔNp63α. Furthermore, multiple target genes identified in this study were linked to TP63 and TP73 activity and increased gene expression in large squamous cancer samples from PanCancer 12 TCGA by CircleMap. PARADIGM inferred pathway analysis revealed the network connection of TP63 and NF-κB complexes through an AP-1 hub, further supporting our findings. Thus, inflammatory cytokine TNF-α mediates genome-wide redistribution of the cREL/p63/p73, and AP-1 interactome, to diminish TAp73 tumor suppressor function and reciprocally activate NF-κB and AP-1 gene programs implicated in malignancy.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr Fan Yang (NCI/NIH), Dr Kairong Cui (NHLBI/NIH), Dr Bingmei Zhu (NIDDK/NIH), Jeffery Burnett (NIDCD/NIH), Jamie Coupar (NIDCD/NIH), Guanmei Liang (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA, USA) and Eric Nicolson (Ithaca High School, Ithaca, New York, NY, USA) for their technical assistance and suggestions. The authors express appreciation to Drs James W Rocco and Leif W Ellisen (Harvard University) for providing ΔNp63 and TAp63 expression vectors, Dr Thomas Gilmore (Boston University) for cRel expression plasmids, Professor Gerry Melino (University of Leicester) for TAp73α expression plasmids, Dr J Silvio Gutkind (NIDCR/NIH) for IL-6 promoter reporter plasmids, Dr Gourisankar Ghosh (UCSD) for the cRel expression plasmid, and Drs Michal Karin (University of California, San Diego), Cheng-Ming Chiang (University of Texas, Southwestern) and Xuan Liu (University of California, Riverside) for critique of and helpful suggestions for the manuscript. HL, HS, XY, AM, MJ, YB, CVW and ZC are supported by intramural projects ZIA-DC-000073, ZIA-DC-000074 and RAR and SS are supported by a grant from NIH (R01AR049238). JMS acknowledges support from NCI (R01-CA180778 and U24-CA143858), Stand Up to Cancer, Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Movember Foundation.
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Si, H., Lu, H., Yang, X. et al. TNF-α modulates genome-wide redistribution of ΔNp63α/TAp73 and NF-κB cREL interactive binding on TP53 and AP-1 motifs to promote an oncogenic gene program in squamous cancer. Oncogene 35, 5781–5794 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2016.112
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2016.112
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