BioProject

Profound changes in cancer cell identity can alter malignant potential and therapeutic response. More...

Profound changes in cancer cell identity can alter malignant potential and therapeutic response. Loss of the pulmonary lineage specifier NKX2-1 augments the growth of KRAS-driven lung adenocarcinoma and causes pulmonary to gastric transdifferentiation. Here we show that the transcription factors FoxA1 and FoxA2 are required for initiation of mucinous NKX2-1-negative lung adenocarcinomas in the mouse and for activation of their gastric differentiation program. Foxa1/2 deletion severely impairs tumor initiation and causes a proximal shift in cellular identity, yielding tumors expressing markers of the squamocolumnar junction of the gastrointestinal tract. In contrast, stochastic loss of FoxA1/2 expression in NKX2-1-negative tumors is associated with keratinizing squamous differentiation. Using sequential in vivo recombination, we find that FoxA1/2 loss in established KRAS-driven neoplasia is sufficient for direct induction of keratinizing squamous cell carcinomas in the lung. Thus, NKX2-1, FoxA1 and FoxA2 coordinately regulate the growth and identity of lung adenocarcinoma in a context-specific manner. Overall design: Murine lung tumor cells of differing genotypes were isolated by FACS and subjected to total RNA-Seq. Less...