1. Academic Validation
  2. A super-enhancer controls TGF- β signaling in pancreatic cancer through downregulation of TGFBR2

A super-enhancer controls TGF- β signaling in pancreatic cancer through downregulation of TGFBR2

  • Cell Signal. 2020 Feb;66:109470. doi: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2019.109470.
Xiaolin Zhu 1 Tingting Zhang 1 Ye Zhang 2 Hao Chen 1 Jianbo Shen 1 Xinxin Jin 3 Jinhuan Wei 4 Erhao Zhang 4 Mingbing Xiao 5 Yihui Fan 6 Renfang Mao 7 Guoxiong Zhou 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong University, Jiangsu 226001, China.
  • 2 Department of Pathophysiology, School of Medicine, Nantong University, Jiangsu 226001, China.
  • 3 Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Nantong University, Jiangsu 226001, China.
  • 4 Laboratory of Medical Science, School of Medicine, Nantong University, Jiangsu 226001, China.
  • 5 Department of Gastroenterology and Research Center of Clinical Medicine, Affiliated Hospital, Nantong University, Jiangsu, 226001, China.
  • 6 Laboratory of Medical Science, School of Medicine, Nantong University, Jiangsu 226001, China; Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Nantong University, Jiangsu 226001, China.
  • 7 Department of Pathophysiology, School of Medicine, Nantong University, Jiangsu 226001, China; Laboratory of Medical Science, School of Medicine, Nantong University, Jiangsu 226001, China. Electronic address: maorenfang@ntu.edu.cn.
Abstract

Pancreatic Cancer is one of the most lethal malignant tumors due to a late diagnosis and highly invasion and metastasis. Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) signaling plays a vital role in the progression of pancreatic Cancer. The delicate activity of TGF-β signaling is particular important for the development of aggression and metastasis which must be fine-tuned. Here, we investigated the role of super-enhancers in regulating the expression of TGF-β signaling pathway in pancreatic Cancer. TGFBR2 owns the modification of H3K27Ac around the gene in pancreatic Cancer cells. Inhibition of BRD4 by JQ1 robustly blocked the expression of TGFBR2 in a dose dependent manner. We successfully mapped a super-enhancer in TGFBR2 by sgRNA. Deletion of the super-enhancer in TGFBR2 (sgTGFBR2-SEΔ) significantly reduced the expression of TGFBR2 in pancreatic Cancer cells. TGF-β-induced p-SMAD2/3 was greatly impaired in TGFBR2 super-enhancer deleted cells. Both migration and EMT induced by TGF-β in pancreatic Cancer cells were impaired after deleting the super-enhancer of TGFBR2. Our data suggest a novel molecular mechanism by which a super-enhancer regulates TGFBR2, affecting the activity of TGF-β as well as its function in pancreatic Cancer progression.

Keywords

Pancreatic cancer; Super-enhancer; TGF-β signaling; TGFBR2; Transcriptional regulation.

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