Cancer stem cell-based models of colorectal cancer reveal molecular determinants of therapy resistance
Abstract Colorectal cancer (CRC) therapy mainly relies on the use of conventional chemotherapeutic drugs combined, in a subset of patients, with epidermal growth factor receptor [EGFR]-targeting agents. Although CRC is considered a prototype of a cancer stem cell (CSC)-driven tumor, the effects of both conventional and targeted therapies on the CSC compartment are largely unknown. We have optimized a protocol for colorectal CSC isolation that allowed us to obtain CSC-enriched cultures from primary tumor specimens, with high efficiency. CSC isolation was followed by in vitro and in vivo validation, genetic characterization, and drug sensitivity analysis, thus generating panels of CSC lines w…
Functional analysis of TLK2 variants and their proximal interactomes implicates impaired kinase activity and chromatin maintenance defects in their pathogenesis
IntroductionThe Tousled-like kinases 1 and 2 (TLK1 and TLK2) are involved in many fundamental processes, including DNA replication, cell cycle checkpoint recovery and chromatin remodelling. Mutations in TLK2 were recently associated with ‘Mental Retardation Autosomal Dominant 57’ (MRD57, MIM# 618050), a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by a highly variable phenotype, including mild-to-moderate intellectual disability, behavioural abnormalities, facial dysmorphisms, microcephaly, epilepsy and skeletal anomalies.MethodsWe re-evaluate whole exome sequencing and array-CGH data from a large cohort of patients affected by neurodevelopmental disorders. Using spatial proteomics (BioID) and…
SPEN haploinsufficiency causes a neurodevelopmental disorder overlapping proximal 1p36 deletion syndrome with an episignature of X chromosomes in females
Contains fulltext : 231702.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Deletion 1p36 (del1p36) syndrome is the most common human disorder resulting from a terminal autosomal deletion. This condition is molecularly and clinically heterogeneous. Deletions involving two non-overlapping regions, known as the distal (telomeric) and proximal (centromeric) critical regions, are sufficient to cause the majority of the recurrent clinical features, although with different facial features and dysmorphisms. SPEN encodes a transcriptional repressor commonly deleted in proximal del1p36 syndrome and is located centromeric to the proximal 1p36 critical region. Here, we used clinical data from 34 individuals…