Modelling TFE renal cell carcinoma in mice reveals a critical role of WNT signaling

• Published in: eLife Vol. 5
• Main Authors: Calcagnì, Alessia, kors, Lotte, Verschuren, Eric, De Cegli, Rossella, Zampelli, Nicolina, Nusco, Edoardo, Confalonieri, Stefano, Bertalot, Giovanni, Pece, Salvatore, Settembre, Carmine, Malouf, Gabriel G, Leemans, Jaklien C, de Heer, Emile, Salvatore, Marco, Peters, Dorien JM, Di Fiore, Pier Paolo, Ballabio, Andrea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Science Publications, Ltd 26.09.2016; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd; eLife Sciences Publication; eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
• Subjects: Basement membranes; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Cancer; Cancer Biology; Carcinoma, Renal cell; Cell fusion; Cell proliferation; Chromosome translocations; Clear cells; Genes; Health aspects; Human Biology and Medicine; Immunoglobulins; Kidney cancer; Kidneys; Life Sciences; Medicine; Metastases; Oncology; Pathology; Physiological aspects; Renal cell carcinoma; Rodents; Signal transduction; Statistical analysis; Survival analysis; TFEB; Thyroid cancer; Transcription; Transcription factors; Transgenic mice; Tumors; WNT pathway; Wnt protein; Wnt proteins; β-Catenin; human biology; WNT pathway; mouse; renal cell carcinoma; TFEB; cancer biology; medicine
• ISSN: 2050-084X; 2050-084X
• DOI: 10.7554/eLife.17047

TFE -fusion renal cell carcinomas ( TFE -fusion RCCs ) are caused by chromosomal translocations that lead to overexpression of the TFEB and TFE3 genes ( Kauffman et al., 2014 ). The mechanisms leading to kidney tumor development remain uncharacterized and effective therapies are yet to be identified. Hence, the need to model these diseases in an experimental animal system ( Kauffman et al., 2014 ). Here, we show that kidney-specific TFEB overexpression in transgenic mice, resulted in renal clear cells, multi-layered basement membranes, severe cystic pathology, and ultimately papillary carcinomas with hepatic metastases. These features closely recapitulate those observed in both TFEB- and TFE3 -mediated human kidney tumors. Analysis of kidney samples revealed transcriptional induction and enhanced signaling of the WNT β-catenin pathway. WNT signaling inhibitors normalized the proliferation rate of primary kidney cells and significantly rescued the disease phenotype in vivo. These data shed new light on the mechanisms underlying TFE- fusion RCCs and suggest a possible therapeutic strategy based on the inhibition of the WNT pathway.