Abstract
Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDA) is an aggressive disease driven by oncogenic KRAS and characterized by late diagnosis and therapeutic resistance. Here we show that deletion of the ataxia-telangiectasia group D-complementing (Atdc) gene, whose human homolog is up-regulated in the majority of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, completely prevents PDA development in the context of oncogenic KRAS. ATDC is required for KRAS-driven acinar-ductal metaplasia (ADM) and its progression to pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN). As a result, mice lacking ATDC are protected from developing PDA. Mechanistically, we show ATDC promotes ADM progression to PanIN through activation of β-catenin signaling and subsequent SOX9 up-regulation. These results provide new insight into PDA initiation and reveal ATDC as a potential target for preventing early tumor-initiating events.
Keywords:
SOX9; ATDC; KRAS; PanIN lesion; TRIM29; acinar-to-ductal metaplasia; pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; β-catenin.
© 2019 Wang et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
Publication types
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Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Acinar Cells / metabolism
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Acinar Cells / pathology
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Animals
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Carcinogenesis*
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Carcinoma in Situ / pathology
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Carcinoma in Situ / physiopathology
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Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / pathology
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Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / physiopathology*
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Cell Transdifferentiation
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Cells, Cultured
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DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
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Down-Regulation
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Gene Knockdown Techniques
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Humans
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Metaplasia
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Mice
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Mice, Transgenic
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Pancreatic Ducts / metabolism
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Pancreatic Ducts / pathology
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Pancreatic Neoplasms / pathology
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Pancreatic Neoplasms / physiopathology*
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) / genetics
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) / metabolism*
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SOX9 Transcription Factor / genetics
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SOX9 Transcription Factor / metabolism
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Signal Transduction
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Transcription Factors / genetics
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Transcription Factors / metabolism
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Transcription Factors / physiology*
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beta Catenin / metabolism
Substances
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CTNNB1 protein, human
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CTNNB1 protein, mouse
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DNA-Binding Proteins
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SOX9 Transcription Factor
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SOX9 protein, human
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Sox9 protein, mouse
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TRIM29 protein, human
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TRIM29 protein, mouse
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Transcription Factors
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beta Catenin
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Hras protein, mouse
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras)