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Human endogenous retrovirus onco-exaptation counters cancer cell senescence through calbindin
Jan Attig, … , Charles Swanton, George Kassiotis
Jan Attig, … , Charles Swanton, George Kassiotis
Published May 16, 2023
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2023;133(14):e164397. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI164397.
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Research Article Genetics Oncology

Human endogenous retrovirus onco-exaptation counters cancer cell senescence through calbindin

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Abstract

Increased levels and diversity of human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) transcription characterize most cancer types and are linked with disease outcomes. However, the underlying processes are incompletely understood. Here, we show that elevated transcription of HERVH proviruses predicted survival of lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) and identified an isoform of CALB1, encoding calbindin, ectopically driven by an upstream HERVH provirus under the control of KLF5, as the mediator of this effect. HERVH-CALB1 expression was initiated in preinvasive lesions and associated with their progression. Calbindin loss in LUSC cell lines impaired in vitro and in vivo growth and triggered senescence, consistent with a protumor effect. However, calbindin also directly controlled the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), marked by secretion of CXCL8 and other neutrophil chemoattractants. In established carcinomas, CALB1-negative cancer cells became the dominant source of CXCL8, correlating with neutrophil infiltration and worse prognosis. Thus, HERVH-CALB1 expression in LUSC may display antagonistic pleiotropy, whereby the benefits of escaping senescence early during cancer initiation and clonal competition were offset by the prevention of SASP and protumor inflammation at later stages.

Authors

Jan Attig, Judith Pape, Laura Doglio, Anastasiya Kazachenka, Eleonora Ottina, George R. Young, Katey S.S. Enfield, Iker Valle Aramburu, Kevin W. Ng, Nikhil Faulkner, William Bolland, Venizelos Papayannopoulos, Charles Swanton, George Kassiotis

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Figure 4

Cellular heterogeneity in HERVH-CALB1 expression.

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Cellular heterogeneity in HERVH-CALB1 expression.
(A) Immunocytochemical...
(A) Immunocytochemical detection of calbindin in dissociated HARA or HARA 3D5 cell pellets (left). Scale bars: 100 μm. Insets are 10× magnified images of HARA cells. Percentage of calbindin+ cells in the same preparations (right). (B) Immunofluorescence detection of calbindin in HARA cell cultures (left). Scale bars: 20 μm. Percentage of calbindin+ cells in the same cultures (right). (C) Immunocytochemical detection of calbindin in HARA cells grown in 3D collagen matrices (left). Scale bars: 50 μm. Percentage of calbindin+ cells in the same cultures (right). In A–C, symbols are averages of independently acquired images. (D) H&E staining (left) and calbindin immunostaining (right) of sections of HARA cell tumors growing in the lungs of Rag2–/–Il2rg–/–Cd47–/– recipients. Scale bars: 200 μm. (E) HERVH-CALB1 expression in TRACERx-100 LUSC patient samples (EGAD00001004591). Symbols represent individual tumor regions from each patient. Only patients with at least 2 regions sampled are shown. (F) HERVH-CALB1 expression according to the evolutionary history of each region from representative samples from E. Circles denote the positions of the cancer cell subpopulations sampled in each region from a given patient on the constructed phylogenetic tree (gray lines) for all regions in that patient. The areas enclosed by the circles represent the proportions of each cancer cell subpopulation in the sampled region. (G). Flow cytometric example of gating of HARA.LTR7-GFP cells, according to GFP expression, used from the purification of positive and negative subpopulations (left). Time course of GFP expression in cells that were initially LTR7-GFP– and LTR7-GFP+ HARA.LTR7-GFP cells in 2 separate cultures (middle and right, respectively).

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