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Journal of Virology, June 2005, p. 7889-7898, Vol. 79, No. 12
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.79.12.7889-7898.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR, UAS-GKVK Campus, Bangalore 560065, India
Received 14 September 2004/ Accepted 14 February 2005
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In this study, we have compared the expression patterns and role of two key DSL ligands, Jagged1 and Delta1, in the progression of human cervical cancer, a papillomavirus-driven neoplasia (47). We have earlier shown that expression of activated forms of Notch1 receptor (AcN1) complement HPV-16 E6 and E7 and lead to transformation in vitro (29, 33) and tumor growth in vivo (8) in an immortalized human epithelial cell line, HaCaT (36). In this study, using similar assays (8), we have compared the tumorigenic potential of Jagged1 and Delta1 in HaCaT cells expressing HPV-16 E6 and E7. On detecting differences in the tumorigenic ability of these two ligands, we analyzed their ability to confer oncogenic properties like anoikis resistance and induction of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). We extended these observations to include an analysis of two HPV-16-positive invasive cervical tumor-derived cell lines, CaSki and SiHa, that show distinct differences in the expression pattern of Jagged1 and Delta1. Finally, we have investigated the nature of the Notch effector pathway downstream of Jagged1 that mediates pro-oncogenic functions.
There is a marked increase in the expression of Jagged1 in the progression of human high-grade cervical precursor lesions to invasive squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) (41). In contrast, in a major proportion of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade III (11 of 13) and invasive SCC cases (14 of 16), no detectable Delta1 transcripts were observed (Fig. 1). Correspondingly, immunohistochemistry revealed only a mild immunostaining for Delta1 protein in SCC (one of four) and CIN III (one of five) cases.
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FIG. 1. Representative photomicrographs show expression of DSL ligands in CIN III and invasive squamous cell carcinoma of cervix (SCC) as determined by mRNA in situ hybridization (A to D) and immunohistochemistry (E to H); 11 out of 13 CIN III (A) and 14 out of 16 SCC (C) cases failed to show detectable Delta1 transcripts. (B) Detection of Delta1 transcripts in one of the CIN III cases. (D) Abundant expression of Jagged1 transcripts in SCC as reported earlier (41). Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled mRNA probes and an alkaline phosphatase-conjugated anti-FITC antibody-based detection system were employed. Antisense staining is in purple (indicated by arrows) and the sections were counter stained with fast green. The FITC-labeled antisense and sense riboprobes were in vitro transcribed using SP6 or T7 primers from the cDNA templates encoding full-length Delta1 (pcDNA3-Delta1) and Jagged1 (pcDNA3-Jag1) (41). (E and G) Representative photomicrographs that show mild immunohistochemical staining of Delta1 (1:100; sc-9102; Santa Cruz Biotech) in CIN III and SCC cases, respectively. As a control for immunohistochemical staining, CIN III and SCC sections were stained for a proliferative marker protein, PCNA (Santa Cruz Biotech) (F and H, respectively). Arrows indicate areas of positive diaminobenzidine (DAB) staining. The counterstain is hematoxylin. Photomicrographs were taken under 40x magnification.
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FIG. 2. HaCaT cells stably expressing Jagged1 and hemagglutinin (HA)-tagged Delta1 were stained using anti-Jagged1 (2.5 µg/ml, sc-6011; Santa Cruz Biotech) (B) and anti-Delta1 antibody (2.5 µg/ml, sc-9102; Santa Cruz Biotech) (D). Endogenous expression of Notch1 in HaCaT cells was detected using anti-Notch1 antibody (1:50, sc-6014; Santa Cruz Biotech) (F). A, C, and E are isotype control immunocytochemical staining. Photomicrographs were taken under 40x magnification. (G) HaCaT cells stably expressing mock vector (Neo), activated Notch1 (AcN1), Jagged1 (Jag1), or Delta1 were transiently transfected with the plasmid combinations (total of 10 µg) encoding either bicistronic HPV-16 E6 and E7 (E6/E7) {pMSIIref-E6/E7} (gift of M. Conrad-Stoppler and H. Stoppler), human Manic Fringe (MFng) (pcDNA3-MFng) or neomycin (Neo) (pcDNA3.0-Neo), and injected subcutaneously into nude mice. After 3 weeks, the mice were sacrificed, and tumor sizes were measured as described previously (8). The graph shows tumor volume after 3 weeks, and each dot represents a tumor from one mouse.
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TABLE 1. Jagged1 cooperates with HPV-16 E6 or L83V E6 and E7 in transformation of HaCaT cells in soft agar colony formation assaysa
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AcN1 has been shown to confer anoikis resistance in vitro (33) and promote growth of E6 and E7 expressing HaCaT cell explants in vivo through activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (PKB)/Akt (8). We examined phosphorylated Akt (pAkt-Ser 473) levels as a measure of PI3K activation status in DSL-driven tumor explants. Tumors generated by Jagged1 along with E6 and E7 showed intense pAkt staining. However, expression of E6 and E7 alone or along with Delta1 failed to show any detectable pAkt. A representative photograph showing the pAkt levels is shown (supplemental Fig. 1B). These results suggest that the ability of Jagged1 to generate antiapoptotic signals through PI3K may account for the increased tumorogenic potential of the cells in vivo. Concomitantly, in in vitro assays, expression of Jagged1 and not Delta1 generated resistance to anoikis and induced phosphorylated forms of PKB/Akt (supplemental Fig. 2).
Recent studies by Zavadil and colleagues (45) revealed that Jagged1 expression is upregulated upon transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß treatment in HaCaT cells and contributes to the induction of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a key event that induces tumor cell motility and invasion. Further, overexpression of intracellular forms of Notch1 induces EMT accompanied by oncogenic transformation in immortalized endothelial cells (40). Activation of PI3 kinase-PKB/Akt signaling has been shown to promote EMT and invasion in several cell lines derived from carcinomas of breast and ovarian origin (5, 39). Characteristics associated with EMT include dissociation of cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix contacts, acquisition of elongated cell morphology, rearrangement of the cytoskeleton, loss of epithelial markers (for example, E-cadherin and plakoglobin), expression of new intermediate filaments like vimentin and extracellular matrix proteins such as fibronectin that facilitate reduced intercellular adhesion and increased motility (39).
We assessed the motility of DSL-expressing HaCaT cells in an in vitro wound healing assay. In this assay, confluent monolayer of cells were "wounded" with a pipet tip, and the movement of the cells into the wounded area was monitored after 24 h (21, 26). Representative microphotographs of the wound-healing assay are shown in Fig. 3A. While HaCaT-Jagged1 exhibited 90% closure of the wounded nude area, HaCaT-Delta1 or control HaCaT-Neo covered only 20 to 30% of the nude region (Fig. 3C). Treatment with neutralizing
-Notch1 antibody targeted against the ligand-binding domain of Notch1 (11 to 12 EGF repeats), the pharmacological inhibitor of presenilin-dependent
-secretase (GI) that blocks ligand-induced proteolytic processing of Notch1 (10), and the PI3K-specific chemical inhibitor LY294002 (LY) blocked the motility of HaCaT-Jagged1 cells in this assay (Fig. 3C). In addition, stable expression of the dominant negative soluble form of extracellular Jagged1 (sol hJag1) (25) or kinase dead dominant negative Akt (DN-Akt and HA-Akt K179 M) (33) also blocked the motility of HaCaT-Jagged1 cells in this assay (Fig. 3C). In these wound-healing assays, HaCaT cells expressing E6 and/or E7 failed to exhibit motility (Fig. 3C).
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FIG. 3. (A) Representative photomicrographs (4x magnification) show the extent to which HaCaT-Neo, -Jagged1 (Jag1), and -Delta1 (Del1) cells exhibited motility in the presence of low serum (2% fetal calf serum) and covered the wounded nude area after 24 h in an in vitro wound-healing assay (26). The photomicrographs in the panel below show the extent to which CaSki and SiHa exhibit motility in a similar assay.(B) Immunoblots reveal the analysis of CaSki and SiHa cell lysates for the expression of Notch1 (1:10; bTAN20; DSHB) (WB: Notch1), Jagged1 (1:10; TS1.15SH; DSHB) (WB: Jagged1), and Delta1 (1:300; sc-9102; Santa Cruz Biotech) (WB: Delta1). As a gel-loading control, the same blots were reprobed with ß-actin antibody. M, molecular size markers. (C) Graphs represent the percent wounded nude area covered by the mentioned cell lines under different conditions. The % wound area covered was measured using a Nikon inverted microscope, and the associated Image-pro Plus software. Graph on the top and bottom show that HaCaT-Jagged1 and CaSki cells cover 90% of the wounded nude area by 24 h, respectively. Treatment with neutralizing anti-Notch1 antibody ( -Notch1 ab) (1:300; Neomarkers) or the inhibitor of presenilin-dependent -secretase (20 µM, GI; Calbiochem) or LY294002 (20 µM, LY; Calbiochem) or stable expression of plasmids encoding different cDNAs for soluble human Jagged1 (Sol hJag1 and pcDNA-sol Jag1) or dominant negative Akt (DN-Akt) resulted in significant inhibition of wound closure in both HaCaT-Jagged1 and CaSki cells (P < 0.001). Treatment with dimethyl sulfoxide (vehicle control) or mouse isotype immunoglobulin G or stable expression of mock vector were included as controls. The results shown represent the means ± standard deviation of the results from three independent experiments.
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Using immunofluorescence staining, we confirmed that HaCaT-Jagged1 underwent EMT (Fig. 4). Features of EMT included downregulation of epithelial markers like E-cadherin and plakoglobin and upregulation of mesenchymal markers like fibronectin, and these were observed in HaCaT-Jagged1 cells (Fig. 4A). These features were not detected in HaCaT-Delta1 cells (data not shown). A Western blot analysis undertaken on these lysates show downregulation of E-cadherin and plakoglobin in HaCaT-Jagged1 but not in HaCaT-Neo cell lysates prepared 20 h post wounding (supplemental Fig. 3A). As observed with HaCaT-Jagged1 cells, downregulation of E-cadherin and plakoglobin, and upregulation of vimentin were observed by 24 h at the wound edge of migrating CaSki cells.
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FIG. 4. Representative photomicrographs (40x magnification) show alterations in the expression of EMT markers in HaCaT-Jagged1 versus HaCaT-Neo cells (A) and CaSki cells (B). Immunofluorescence staining of E-cadherin (1:300; Calbiochem), plakoglobin (1:300; Sigma), and fibronectin (1:300; Sigma) is shown in HaCaT-Neo (A, i to iii) and HaCaT-Jagged1 (A, iv to vi) cells. (B) Immunofluorescence staining of E-cadherin (B, i) and plakoglobin (B, iv) in confluent monlolayer culture of CaSki cells are shown. Downregulation of E-cadherin (B, iii) and plakoglobin (B, vi), and upregulation of vimentin (B, viii) in CaSki cells at the wound healing edge are shown. B, ii, v, and vii represent bright-field images of the wound healing edge.
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The canonical Notch signaling pathway involves ligand-receptor interactions, followed by successive proteolytic cleavages of Notch1 resulting in release of the intracellular domain of the receptor. This part of the receptor translocates to nucleus, binds and converts the transcription factor CBF1;Su(H);Lag-1 (CSL) from a repressor to transcriptional activator and regulate target genes (2). Studies based on Notch mutants that lack the key CSL-interacting domains have revealed contradictory results on the necessity of this signaling pathway in Notch-mediated transformation (4, 11, 17). We assessed the requirement of CSL-dependent Notch pathway in the generation of oncogenic functions like the induction of EMT and anoikis resistance.
Expression of dominant negative CSL (DN-CSL) (pCMV-DN-CBF1; gift of J. Aster) failed to abrogate both EMT-driven motility in HaCaT-Jagged1 (Fig. 5A) and CaSki cells (Fig. 5A). Further, DN-CSL does not inhibit PI3K-mediated phosphorylation of Akt in HaCaT-Jagged1 cells (Fig. 5B, compare lanes 2 and 3). In keeping with these results, the known CSL-dependent targets like Hes1 and cyclin D1 (34, 41) were upregulated in both Jagged1 and Delta1 expressing HaCaT cells (Fig. 5C). DN-CSL also failed to block Jagged1-driven anoikis resistance in HaCaT-Jagged1 and CaSki cells (supplemental Fig. 4A). The ability of DN-CSL to block CSL-dependent Notch signaling was confirmed using a Notch/CSL-promoter reporter assay system (supplemental Fig. 4B). These data suggest that CSL-activation can be independent of the processes that sustain PI3K activation in the context of dysregulated Notch signaling.
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FIG. 5. (A) Graphs represent the percent wounded nude area covered in the presence of low serum (2% FCS) by the mentioned cell lines stably transfected with plasmids encoding different cDNAs (either mock vector or dominant negative CSL (DN-CSL and pcDNA3-DN CSL) or dominant negative Deltex1 (DN-Dtx1 and pEF-BOS-HA-hDxI-II). Graphs on the left and right show that mock vector-transfected (pcDNA3.0-Neo) HaCaT-Jagged1 and CaSki cells cover 90% of the wounded nude area by 24 h. Stable expression of DN-Dtx1 but not DN-CSL resulted in significant inhibition of wound closure in both HaCaT-Jagged1 and CaSki cells (P < 0.001). (B) Immunoblot on the top panel shows levels of phospho-PKB/Akt Ser473 (pAkt473) (1:1,000; Cell Signaling Technology) in HaCaT cells stably expressing mock vector or DN-CSL or DN-Dtx1. The same blot was reprobed to detect total Akt and is illustrated in the bottom panel. (C) Immunoblots show levels of Hes1 (1:300; sc-13844; Santa Cruz Biotech) and cyclin D1 (1:300; Santa Cruz Biotech). ß-Actin levels show comparable protein loading across lanes. (D) Graph shows the number of colonies on soft agar generated by cell lines transfected with plasmids encoding L83V E6/E7 along with either mock vector or DN-Dtx1 or treated with GI (20 µM; Calbiochem). The data were generated by microscopic counting of colonies in 20 random fields under 10x magnification as described (33). The results shown in graphs A and D represent the means ± standard deviation from three independent experiments.
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Interestingly, in wound-healing assays, expression of such a dominant negative form of Deltex1 (DN-Dtx1) blocked Jagged1-induced EMT in HaCaT-Jagged1 and CaSki cells (Fig. 5A). Concomitantly, we observed a dramatic reduction in PI3K activity, as measured by pAkt levels in HaCaT-Jagged1 cells expressing DN-Dtx1 (Fig. 5B, compare lanes 4 and 5). Further, coexpression of dominant-negative Deltex1 significantly reduced L83V E6 and E7-mediated transformation from seven- to fourfold in HaCaT-Jagged1 cells in soft agar colony formation assay (Fig. 5D). The extent of inhibition observed was comparable to that seen in cells treated with GI. In accordance with these observations, DN-Dtx1 increased the sensitivity of both HaCaT-Jagged1 and CaSki cells to anoikis (supplemental Fig. 4A). These results demonstrate a role for Deltex1 in Jagged1-driven PI3K activation and induction of pro-oncogenic features.
Jagged1 signaling has been suggested to have a transformation function in the context of adenoviral oncogenes that is dependent on the intracellular c-terminal PDZ (PSD-95/Dlg/Zo-1) ligand motif (3). We used a deletion construct of Jagged1 (pCMV-Jag1
PL) (3) that lack c-terminal PDZ motif to show that in the context of HaCaT cells, this motif does not contribute to the induction of resistance to anoikis (data not shown). Further, expression of c-terminal PDZ motif mutant Jagged1 (
Jagged1) supports both in vitro (supplemental Table 1) and in vivo tumor progression (supplemental Fig. 5A), and generates a wound-healing response analogous to the full-length Jagged1 construct (supplemental Fig. 5B).
The results presented so far led us to suggest that the expression of Jagged1 and Delta1 may correlate with different tumorigenic functions in the context of papillomavirus-mediated oncogenesis and Notch-PI3K-EMT induction can be independent of CSL-dependent Notch signaling. We examined the pattern of gene expression in HaCaT-Jagged1 and -Delta1 cells by cDNA microarray. Gene expression profiles of adherent HaCaT-Jagged1 and -Delta1 cells were scored in comparison to adherent HaCaT-Neo for the expression of 9,600 human genes that included known Notch targets like cyclin D1 and HES1.
The data analysis from experimental replicates revealed both DSL-specific and overlapping patterns of transcriptional response (Table 2). The complete data set with statistical analysis is provided (supplemental Table 2). Of the total 9,600 genes tested, 3.1% were differentially regulated in Jagged1-expressing cells and 3.6% in Delta1-expressing cells. Only 0.58% of genes were found commonly regulated in both Jagged1- and Delta1-expressing cells, which include upregulation of cyclin D1 and HES1 transcripts (Table 2). Genes encoding for cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions previously reported in the context of EMT were specifically regulated in HaCaT-Jagged1 cells (Table 2). These include upregulation of vitronectin, fibronectin, and early growth response gene 3 (Egr3), and downregulation of cadherins, catenin, keratins, and integrin subunits (19, 39). In addition, genes that are involved in regulating PI3K activity, like PI3K-regulatory subunit and intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAM), were upregulated in HaCaT-Jagged1 cells (32).
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TABLE 2. DSL-specific regulation of gene expression in HaCaT cells.
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were upregulated in HaCaT-Delta1 cells (Table 2). The microarray analysis is consistent with the results presented in Fig. 3 and reinforces the role of CSL-independent Notch signaling in the activation of PI3K. Our results suggest that Deltex1, a positive regulator of Notch1 signaling (24, 28) in some contexts, can mediate PI3K activation. Presence of a potential SH3-binding site within Deltex1 suggests that this molecule may act as an adaptor for Notch to recruit SH3 domain containing nonreceptor signaling kinases like Src or focal adhesion kinase (28). In support of this notion, recent work from Sade et al., reported the necessity of the Src kinase family member, p56lck, in the antiapoptotic signal generated by Notch via PI3K in lymphocytes (35). Taken together, these observations lead us to suggest that Deltex1 following DSL ligand-specific activation of Notch1 activates PI3K by the recruitment of signaling kinases.
The key observations that emerge from this study are that Jagged1 is preferentially upregulated in human cervical tumors and sustains tumor progression by HPV 16 oncogenes (Fig. 1). Consistent with these observations, expression of Jagged1 sustains transformation by HPV-16 E6-E7 oncogenes (Fig. 2) induces a rapid EMT response (Fig. 3), generates resistance to anoikis and leads to phosphorylation of Akt. We show that the induction of PI3K by Notch signaling can be independent of CSL and is linked to the function of Deltex1 (Fig. 5). We extend the observations linking Notch with EMT by showing that this is a PI3K-dependent phenotype.
Both SiHa and CaSki cells have been shown to have metastatic potential in vivo (7). In preliminary observations (data not shown), we find evidence of inefficient tumor formation in vivo by SiHa in comparison to CaSki at equivalent concentrations of these cells. A detailed analysis that also includes restoration of Jagged1 in SiHa cells and includes other cervical tumor-derived cell lines would offer potential insights into the possible context- and time-specific role of Jagged1 signaling in human cervical neoplasia. Talora et al. have suggested that at high levels of Notch1, there can be a tumor-suppressive mechanism that operates in cervical cancer cells (37). The work of Lathion et al. (22) addresses these issues in a comprehensive manner, and the results in this study along with other observations (8, 9, 29, 33, 41, 44) strengthen the link between the activation of Notch signaling and the progression of human cervical cancer.
This work was principally supported by core funds from NCBS, TIFR, and Department of Biotechnology, India. K.V. and S.S. are recipients of a Kanwal Rekhi Development Fellowship from TIFR endowment funds and DBT postdoctoral award, respectively.
Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jvi.asm.org. ![]()
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