Analysis of senescence in pituitary tumors from different lineages and the potential role of senolytic drugs as targeted therapies.
Pituitary tumors (PT) constitute the second most frequent intracranial tumor. A subset of PT can behave aggressively despite multimodal treatment. Hallmarks such as cellular senescence, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and stemness have been implicated in tumor progression, but their role in PT pathogenesis remains is unclear.
We performed spatial transcriptomics (ST) in dopamine agonist resistant prolactin secreting PT, as well as single nucleus RNAseq (snRNAseq) in growth hormone secreting and non-functioning of gonadotropic differentiation PT to describe the senescence, proliferative and stemness landscapes. Bioinformatic analyses included clustering, senescence scoring (SenePy), cell cycle inference (ccAFv2), differentiation potential (CytoTRACE2), and EMT signature evaluation. Primary tumor cell cultures were established to validate senescence (β-galactosidase activity) and to assess the senolytic effect of dasatinib.
All PT included in the study were transcriptomically heterogeneous, showing between three and ten transcriptional clusters. Senescence analysis reveals two main clusters regardless of PT lineage: One with a high and the other one with low senescence score. Most spots contain terminally differentiated cells at phase G1/G0 of the cell cycle. Distinct alteration in different signaling pathways were found in clusters with low senescence score: PI3K-cascade-FGFR1 and inositol phosphate metabolism among prolactin secreting tumors, phosphatidyl inositol signaling system and serine/threonine kinase activity the in GH-secreting PT, sphingolipid signaling pathway and serine/threonine kinase alterations among non-functioning of gonadotropic differentiation PT. Dasatinib treatment of primary cell cultures of pituitary tumors of different lineages showed significant dose-dependent cell death, accompanied by caspase-3/7 activation and morphological changes consistent with apoptosis.
Our data show that PT may contain senescent and terminally differentiated cells without any EMT evidence, and dasatinib could represent an alternative for therapy resistant PT.
We performed spatial transcriptomics (ST) in dopamine agonist resistant prolactin secreting PT, as well as single nucleus RNAseq (snRNAseq) in growth hormone secreting and non-functioning of gonadotropic differentiation PT to describe the senescence, proliferative and stemness landscapes. Bioinformatic analyses included clustering, senescence scoring (SenePy), cell cycle inference (ccAFv2), differentiation potential (CytoTRACE2), and EMT signature evaluation. Primary tumor cell cultures were established to validate senescence (β-galactosidase activity) and to assess the senolytic effect of dasatinib.
All PT included in the study were transcriptomically heterogeneous, showing between three and ten transcriptional clusters. Senescence analysis reveals two main clusters regardless of PT lineage: One with a high and the other one with low senescence score. Most spots contain terminally differentiated cells at phase G1/G0 of the cell cycle. Distinct alteration in different signaling pathways were found in clusters with low senescence score: PI3K-cascade-FGFR1 and inositol phosphate metabolism among prolactin secreting tumors, phosphatidyl inositol signaling system and serine/threonine kinase activity the in GH-secreting PT, sphingolipid signaling pathway and serine/threonine kinase alterations among non-functioning of gonadotropic differentiation PT. Dasatinib treatment of primary cell cultures of pituitary tumors of different lineages showed significant dose-dependent cell death, accompanied by caspase-3/7 activation and morphological changes consistent with apoptosis.
Our data show that PT may contain senescent and terminally differentiated cells without any EMT evidence, and dasatinib could represent an alternative for therapy resistant PT.
Authors
Andonegui-Elguera Andonegui-Elguera, Gonzalez-Serrano Gonzalez-Serrano, Mercado-Medrez Mercado-Medrez, Hinojosa-Alvarez Hinojosa-Alvarez, Martinez-Mendoza Martinez-Mendoza, Ramirez-Ramos Ramirez-Ramos, Reyna-Coahutle Reyna-Coahutle, Sanchez-Carbajal Sanchez-Carbajal, Hernandez-Bustos Hernandez-Bustos, Alegria-Ortega Alegria-Ortega, Gonzalez-Mejlem Gonzalez-Mejlem, Garcia-Saenz Garcia-Saenz, Gomez-Apo Gomez-Apo, Escobar-EspaƱa Escobar-EspaƱa, Gonzalez-Torres Gonzalez-Torres, Gaytan-Cervantes Gaytan-Cervantes, Palma-Guzman Palma-Guzman, Guinto Guinto, Guinto-Nishimura Guinto-Nishimura, Lopez-Felix Lopez-Felix, Zepeda-Fernandez Zepeda-Fernandez, Estrada-Estrada Estrada-Estrada, Correa-Correa Correa-Correa, Gonzalez-Zavala Gonzalez-Zavala, Asenscio-Montiel Asenscio-Montiel, Garcia-Vargas Garcia-Vargas, Cantu-Chavez Cantu-Chavez, Chavez-Herrera Chavez-Herrera, Arreola-Rosales Arreola-Rosales, Vadillo Vadillo, Chavez-Gonzalez Chavez-Gonzalez, Fajardo-OrduƱa Fajardo-OrduƱa, Montesinos Montesinos, Monroy-Garcia Monroy-Garcia, Cortes-Morales Cortes-Morales, Mendez-Rosito Mendez-Rosito, Garcia-Lopez Garcia-Lopez, Ramirez-Landeros Ramirez-Landeros, Garcia-Fuentes Garcia-Fuentes, Vergara-Lopez Vergara-Lopez, Torres-Flores Torres-Flores, Taniguchi-Ponciano Taniguchi-Ponciano, Marrero-Rodriguez Marrero-Rodriguez, Mercado Mercado
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