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NODAL/TGFβ signalling mediates the self-sustained stemness induced by PIK3CAH1047R homozygosity in pluripotent stem cells

Madsen, RR; Longden, J; Knox, RG; Robin, X; Völlmy, F; Macleod, KG; Moniz, LS; ... Semple, RK; + view all (2021) NODAL/TGFβ signalling mediates the self-sustained stemness induced by PIK3CAH1047R homozygosity in pluripotent stem cells. Disease Models & Mechanisms 10.1242/dmm.048298. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Activating PIK3CA mutations are known “drivers” of human cancer and developmental overgrowth syndromes. We recently demonstrated that the "hotspot" PIK3CAH1047R variant exerts unexpected allele dose-dependent effects on stemness in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). In the present study, we combine high-depth transcriptomics, total proteomics and reverse-phase protein arrays to reveal potentially disease-related alterations in heterozygous cells, and to assess the contribution of activated TGFβ signalling to the stemness phenotype of homozygous PIK3CAH1047R cells. We demonstrate signalling rewiring as a function of oncogenic PI3K signalling strength, and provide experimental evidence that self-sustained stemness is causally related to enhanced autocrine NODAL/TGFβ signalling. A significant transcriptomic signature of TGFβ pathway activation in heterozygous PIK3CAH1047R was observed but was modest and was not associated with the stemness phenotype seen in homozygous mutants. Notably, the stemness gene expression in homozygous PIK3CAH1047R iPSCs was reversed by pharmacological inhibition of NODAL/TGFβ signalling, but not by pharmacological PI3Kα pathway inhibition. Altogether, this provides the first in-depth analysis of PI3K signalling in human pluripotent stem cells and directly links strong PI3K activation to developmental NODAL/TGFβ signalling. This work illustrates the importance of allele dosage and expression when artificial systems are used to model human genetic disease caused by activating PIK3CA mutations.

Type: Article
Title: NODAL/TGFβ signalling mediates the self-sustained stemness induced by PIK3CAH1047R homozygosity in pluripotent stem cells
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1242/dmm.048298
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.048298
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2021. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
Keywords: PI3K, PIK3CA, Stemness, Pluripotent stem cells
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Cancer Institute
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Cancer Institute > Research Department of Oncology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10120490
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