Description du projet
Transcriptions télomériques dans les cellules de l’ostéosarcome présentant un allongement alternatif des télomères
La capacité de réplication des cellules cancéreuses est liée à leur capacité à renouveler les extrémités de leurs chromosomes, appelées télomères. Certains cancers utilisent une voie alternative d’allongement des télomères (AAT) pour maintenir les leurs. Les cellules AAT présentent des niveaux accrus de TERRA, un ARN non‑codant long transcrit à partir des télomères. Des études préliminaires suggèrent que TERRA est présent dans les cellules de l’ostéosarcome humain AAT, où l’inflammation est associée à un mauvais pronostic et à des métastases. Le projet CytoTERRA, financé par l’UE, testera l’hypothèse selon laquelle l’accumulation de TERRA cytoplasmique (cyTERRA) est induite par des dommages à l’ADN télomérique et est capable d’initier une réponse inflammatoire. La compréhension de la fonction de cyTERRA dans l’ostéosarcome AAT permettra de l’utiliser comme marqueur d’inflammation et d’introduire sa voie comme cible thérapeutique.
Objectif
The unlimited replication potential of cancer cells is enabled by their ability to renew their ends of chromosomes, telomeres. A minority of cancers utilizes a recombination pathway, named alternative lenghtening of telomeres (ALT), to maintain their telomeres. ALT cells exhibit increased DNA damage at telomeres and increased levels of TERRA, a lncRNA transcribed from telomeres. TERRA plays important roles in telomere biology, but it also has extranuclear functions. Short TERRA species were found in extracellular vesicles of lymphoblastoid and cancer cells, and they were found to stimulate inflammation. Notably, inflammation can have both anti-tumorigenic and pro-tumorigenic effects. Particularly, in osteosarcoma, a bone cancer with high ALT incidence, affecting predominantly children and adolescents, inflammation is connected to poor prognosis and metastasis development.
Our preliminary results suggest that TERRA is present in the cytoplasm of human ALT osteosarcoma cells. We propose that the accumulation of cytoplasmic TERRA (cyTERRA) is induced by telomeric DNA damage, and that cyTERRA, similarly to extracellular TERRA, is capable of initiating an inflammation response. Since the cytoplasmic DNA sensor pathway is defective in these cells, we propose that TERRA plays a role of a DNA damage messenger that triggers the pro-tumorigenic inflammation.
We will test our hypothesis by studying the characteristics of cyTERRA, elucidating the factors influencing its localization and studying the effect of cyTERRA depletion on inflammation signalling in these cells.
The understanding of the function of cyTERRA in ALT osteosarcoma may introduce it as a marker for inflammation, and expose its export pathway as a therapeutic target. Since the variability of therapeutic outcome in osteosarcoma patients is not completely understood, the understanding of cancer inflammation triggers may be valuable for personalized therapeutic approach in these patients.
Champ scientifique
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNA
- natural sciencesbiological sciencescell biology
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticschromosomes
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinateur
38122 Trento
Italie