Evidence of renal angiomyolipoma neoplastic stem cells arising from renal epithelial cells

Nat Commun. 2017 Nov 13;8(1):1466. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01514-3.

Abstract

Renal angiomyolipomas (AML) contain an admixture of clonal tumour cells with features of several different mesenchymal lineages, implying the existence of an unidentified AML neoplastic stem cell. Biallelic inactivation of TSC2 or TSC1 is believed to represent the driving event in these tumours. Here we show that TSC2 knockdown transforms senescence-resistant cultured mouse and human renal epithelial cells into neoplastic stem cells that serially propagate renal AML-like tumours in mice. mTOR inhibitory therapy of mouse AML allografts mimics the clinical responses of human renal AMLs. Deletion of Tsc1 in mouse renal epithelia causes differentiation in vivo into cells expressing characteristic AML markers. Human renal AML and a renal AML cell line express proximal tubule markers. We describe the first mouse models of renal AML and provide evidence that these mesenchymal tumours originate from renal proximal tubule epithelial cells, uncovering an unexpected pathological differentiation plasticity of the proximal tubule.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Angiomyolipoma / pathology*
  • Animals
  • Cell Differentiation / genetics
  • Epithelial Cells / cytology*
  • Epithelial Cells / pathology
  • Humans
  • Kidney Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Kidney Tubules, Proximal / cytology*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Mice, SCID
  • Neoplasm Transplantation
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells / cytology*
  • RNA Interference
  • RNA, Small Interfering / genetics
  • Spheroids, Cellular
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Transplantation, Heterologous
  • Tuberous Sclerosis Complex 1 Protein
  • Tuberous Sclerosis Complex 2 Protein
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / genetics*
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • RNA, Small Interfering
  • TSC1 protein, human
  • TSC2 protein, human
  • Tsc1 protein, mouse
  • Tsc2 protein, mouse
  • Tuberous Sclerosis Complex 1 Protein
  • Tuberous Sclerosis Complex 2 Protein
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins
  • mTOR protein, mouse
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases