Abstract
ABSTRACTThree-dimensional (3D) organoids provide a new way to model various diseases, including cancer. We made use of recently developed kidney-organ-primordia tissue-engineering technologies to create novel renal organoids for cancer gene discovery. We then tested whether our novel assays can be used to examine kidney cancer development. First, we identified the transcriptomic profiles of quiescent embryonic mouse metanephric mesenchyme (MM) and of MM in which the nephrogenesis program had been induced ex vivo. The transcriptome profiles were then compared to the profiles of tumor biopsies from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients, and control samples from the same kidneys. Certain signature genes were identified that correlated in the developmentally induced MM and RCC, including components of the caveolar-mediated endocytosis signaling pathway. An efficient siRNA-mediated knockdown (KD) of Bnip3, Gsn, Lgals3, Pax8, Cav1, Egfr or Itgb2 gene expression was achieved in mouse RCC (Renca) cells. The live-cell imaging analysis revealed inhibition of cell migration and cell viability in the gene-KD Renca cells in comparison to Renca controls. Upon siRNA treatment, the transwell invasion capacity of Renca cells was also inhibited. Finally, we mixed E11.5 MM with yellow fluorescent protein (YFP)-expressing Renca cells to establish chimera organoids. Strikingly, we found that the Bnip3-, Cav1- and Gsn-KD Renca-YFP+ cells as a chimera with the MM in 3D organoid rescued, in part, the RCC-mediated inhibition of the nephrogenesis program during epithelial tubules formation. Altogether, our research indicates that comparing renal ontogenesis control genes to the genes involved in kidney cancer may provide new growth-associated gene screens and that 3D RCC-MM chimera organoids can serve as a novel model with which to investigate the behavioral roles of cancer cells within the context of emergent complex tissue structures.
Highlights
The ability to model diseases such as cancer by targeting candidate genes in embryonic stem cells and by making in vivo mouse models from multipotent cells revolutionized pathogenesis studies (Lim et al, 2016)
The gene expression profiles were compared with the human clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC)-generated transcriptome data
The rest of the genes demonstrated the opposite behavior: 273 genes were upregulated in the induced MMs but downregulated in the clear-cell RCC (ccRCC) samples; in the reverse case, there were 56 genes whose expression was downregulated in the MMs but upregulated in the ccRCC cohort samples (Table S2)
Summary
The ability to model diseases such as cancer by targeting candidate genes in embryonic stem cells and by making in vivo mouse models from multipotent cells revolutionized pathogenesis studies (Lim et al, 2016). It has become possible to reprogram normal and dysfunctional adult cells into stem cells and to develop organoids that form specific cell lineages These complex organ-like cell aggregates provide a way to model tumorigenesis ex vivo (Lovitt et al, 2016). An accumulation of mutational load in the normal developmental signaling pathways may eventually dysregulate and/or reactivate the pathways in adults (Ma et al, 2010; Aiello and Stanger, 2016) Such changes are considered to occur in the kidney (Potter et al, 2010; Sültmann et al, 2005; Yang et al, 2014), where the Wnt, Notch and Sonic hedgehog (SHH) growth factor (GF) pathways (Katoh, 2007; Polakis, 2000; Sjölund et al, 2011; Sun et al, 2009) regulate cell division and cell differentiation in a controlled manner but, when ectopically activated in the adult, they promote malignant growth (Dormoy et al, 2012; Ohnishi et al, 2014)
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