Abstract B15: Investigating the contribution of mTORC1-dependent stromal signaling to cancer onset in Li-Fraumeni syndrome
Authors: Giovino Camilla M. , Patel Nish , Paramathas Sangeetha , Malkin David , Kafri Ran 
Published: December 2020

In this study, we are investigating the role of stromal mTORC1 signaling in the development of malignancy in individuals with Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS). LFS is a cancer predisposition syndrome that is associated with germline mutations in TP53. Individuals with LFS are faced with a significant lifetime risk of developing a wide spectrum of early-onset malignancies, thus necessitating the identification of pharmacologic agents to prevent tumor onset. Inhibitors of the mTORC1 pathway, namely rapamycin and metformin, have been shown to promote lifespan extension and delay or even prevent tumor onset in LFS mouse models. These findings are unsurprising—since wild-type p53 inhibits mTORC1—yet noteworthy, since they suggest that mTORC1 signaling plays a central role in favoring tumorigenesis in LFS. mTORC1 signaling has been implicated in promoting the protumorigenic senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). The SASP constitutes the release of soluble factors, such as cytokines, growth factors, and proteases from senescent cells into the microenvironment, thus promoting oncogenesis in a paracrine manner. Interestingly, an increased incidence of senescence has been reported in LFS patients, and mutant p53 has been shown to promote the secretion of a quantitatively and qualitatively more protumorigenic SASP. As such, we believe that mTORC1 signaling in LFS stromal cells favors the production and secretion of protumorigenic factors, which may induce changes in the surrounding tissue to promote development of a precancerous niche, thus favoring tumorigenesis. Our objectives are 1) to investigate the contribution of stromal cells and stromal secreted factors in favoring tumorigenesis in LFS, and 2) to investigate the role of mTORC1 signaling in favoring these altered stromal phenotypes. To address these objectives, we co-injected patient-derived LFS fibroblasts with tumor cells of a common LFS subtype (rhabdomyosarcoma [RMS]) into immunocompromised mice and observed that tumors formed from the co-injection of RMS cells with LFS fibroblasts grew to be larger than tumors formed from co-injection with non-LFS fibroblasts. To determine whether LFS fibroblasts secrete more protumorigenic cytokines than non-LFS fibroblasts, we performed protein arrays with conditioned media (CM) from fibroblast cultures and saw that LFS fibroblasts secrete markedly higher levels of protumorigenic, SASP-related cytokines. To investigate the protumorigenic effects of fibroblast secreted factors, we treated spheroids formed from tumor cells of a common LFS subtype (osteosarcoma) with CM from LFS and non-LFS fibroblast cultures. LFS fibroblast CM had a robust proproliferative effect on spheroids, while non-LFS fibroblast CM inhibited spheroid growth. Thus far, we have observed that LFS stromal constituents favor tumor cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo, and based on the current literature, we believe that mTORC1 signaling plays a role in favoring these processes.

Citation Format: Camilla M. Giovino, Nish Patel, Sangeetha Paramathas, David Malkin, Ran Kafri. Investigating the contribution of mTORC1-dependent stromal signaling to cancer onset in Li-Fraumeni syndrome [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Targeting PI3K/mTOR Signaling; 2018 Nov 30-Dec 8; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2020;18(10_Suppl):Abstract nr B15.