Peritoneal Microenvironment Promotes Appendiceal Adenocarcinoma Growth: A Multi-omics Approach Using Patient-Derived Xenografts

Authors

Vinay K Pattalachinti
Ichiaki Ito
Saikat Chowdhury
Abdelrahman Yousef
Yue Gu
Betul Beyza Gunes
Emma R Salle
Melissa W Taggart
Keith Fournier
Natalie W Fowlkes
John Paul Shen

Publication Date

4-2-2024

Journal

Molecular Cancer Research

Abstract

Appendiceal adenocarcinoma (AA) is unique from other gastrointestinal malignancies in that it almost exclusively metastasizes to the peritoneal cavity. However, few studies have investigated the molecular interaction of the peritoneal microenvironment and AA. Here, we use a multi-omics approach with orthotopic and flank-implanted patient-derived xenografts (PDX) to study the effect of the peritoneal microenvironment on AA. AA tumors implanted in the peritoneal microenvironment tended to grow faster and displayed greater nuclear expression of Ki-67 relative to the same tumors implanted in the flank. Comparing the tumor-specific transcriptome (excluding stromal transcription), the peritoneal microenvironment relatively upregulated genes related to proliferation, including MKI67 and EXO1. Peritoneal tumors were also enriched for proliferative gene sets, including E2F and Myc Targets. Proteomic studies found a 2.5-fold increased ratio of active-to-inactive phosphoforms of the YAP oncoprotein in peritoneal tumors, indicating downregulation of Hippo signaling.

IMPLICATIONS: The peritoneal microenvironment promotes growth of appendiceal tumors and expression of proliferative pathways in PDXs.

Keywords

Humans, Appendiceal Neoplasms, Peritoneal Neoplasms, Multiomics, Heterografts, Proteomics, Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays, Adenocarcinoma, Tumor Microenvironment

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Associated Data

PMID: 38226984