Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer related mortality in both men and women and is estimated to cause 28% of all cancer deaths in 2008. Molecular analysis of lung carcinomas has identified a small number of genetic lesions such as activation of oncogenes and inactivation of tumor suppressor genes that appear to be critical for their development and maintenance. Recently, somatic mutations of the LKB1 tumor suppressor gene have been added to this list. In a mouse model of lung adenocarcinoma, LKB1 deletion on a backdrop of mutant Kras activation results in a shorter tumor latency, an expanded histological spectrum, and a propensity towards metastasis. We have observed that the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) family member, HIF2, is upregulated upon LKB1 loss and that in LKB1-deficient lung cancer cell lines knock- down of HIF2 results in the induction of markers of apoptosis, suggesting that HIF2 mediates the survival of LKB1-deficient lung cancers. We hypothesize that HIF2 is a critical downstream mediator of LKB1 loss and propose: 1) To determine whether HIF2 activation correlates with LKB1 mutation in a large dataset of human lung tumors. 2) To determine whether the phenotype induced by LKB1 loss is dependent upon HIF2 in vitro. 3) To determine whether the phenotypes induced by LKB1 loss are dependent upon HIF2 in vivo.

Public Health Relevance

We will investigate the role of HIF2 in the tumorigenesis of LKB1-defective lung tumors. HIF2 has been shown to be a bona fide oncogene in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and downstream mediators of HIF2 signaling are the relevant therapeutic targets that have resulted in positive impact for RCC patients. Defining HIF2 as a critical oncogenic mediator of LKB1-defective tumors will not only define an important deregulated signaling pathway in the setting of LKB1 loss but also give strong preclinical rationale to the use of HIF inhibitors in LKB1- defective lung tumors.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA142794-05
Application #
8617813
Study Section
Cancer Genetics Study Section (CG)
Program Officer
Salnikow, Konstantin
Project Start
2010-03-01
Project End
2015-02-28
Budget Start
2014-03-01
Budget End
2015-02-28
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$266,932
Indirect Cost
$85,784
Name
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
608195277
City
Chapel Hill
State
NC
Country
United States
Zip Code
27599
Chandler, Ronald L; Damrauer, Jeffrey S; Raab, Jesse R et al. (2015) Coexistent ARID1A-PIK3CA mutations promote ovarian clear-cell tumorigenesis through pro-tumorigenic inflammatory cytokine signalling. Nat Commun 6:6118
Hayes, D Neil; Kim, William Y (2015) The next steps in next-gen sequencing of cancer genomes. J Clin Invest 125:462-8
Zhou, Bing; Damrauer, Jeffrey S; Bailey, Sean T et al. (2014) Erythropoietin promotes breast tumorigenesis through tumor-initiating cell self-renewal. J Clin Invest 124:553-63
Damrauer, Jeffrey S; Hoadley, Katherine A; Chism, David D et al. (2014) Intrinsic subtypes of high-grade bladder cancer reflect the hallmarks of breast cancer biology. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111:3110-5
Bailey, Sean T; Zhou, Bing; Damrauer, Jeffrey S et al. (2014) mTOR inhibition induces compensatory, therapeutically targetable MEK activation in renal cell carcinoma. PLoS One 9:e104413
Liu, Yan; Marks, Kevin; Cowley, Glenn S et al. (2013) Metabolic and functional genomic studies identify deoxythymidylate kinase as a target in LKB1-mutant lung cancer. Cancer Discov 3:870-9
Whang, Young E; Armstrong, Andrew J; Rathmell, W Kimryn et al. (2013) A phase II study of lapatinib, a dual EGFR and HER-2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor, in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer. Urol Oncol 31:82-6
Hanna, Sara C; Krishnan, Bhavani; Bailey, Sean T et al. (2013) HIF1? and HIF2? independently activate SRC to promote melanoma metastases. J Clin Invest 123:2078-93
Leung, Janet Y; Kim, William Y (2013) Stearoyl co-A desaturase 1 as a ccRCC therapeutic target: death by stress. Clin Cancer Res 19:3111-3
Zhang, Yuan; Kim, William Y; Huang, Leaf (2013) Systemic delivery of gemcitabine triphosphate via LCP nanoparticles for NSCLC and pancreatic cancer therapy. Biomaterials 34:3447-58

Showing the most recent 10 out of 15 publications