An inducible ectopic expression system of EWSR1-FLI1 as a tool for understanding Ewing sarcoma oncogenesis

DJ García-Domínguez, L Hontecillas-Prieto, EA León… - PLoS …, 2020 - journals.plos.org
DJ García-Domínguez, L Hontecillas-Prieto, EA León, S Sánchez-Molina
PLoS One, 2020journals.plos.org
The presence of the chimeric EWSR1-FLI1 oncoprotein is the main and initiating event
defining Ewing sarcoma (ES). The dysregulation of epigenomic and proteomic homeostasis
induced by the oncoprotein contributes to a wide variety of events involved in oncogenesis
and tumor progression. Attempts at studying the effects of EWSR1-FLI1 in non-tumor cells to
understand the mechanisms underlying sarcomagenesis have been unsuccessful to date,
as ectopic expression of EWSR1-FLI1 blocks cell cycle progression and induces apoptosis …
The presence of the chimeric EWSR1-FLI1 oncoprotein is the main and initiating event defining Ewing sarcoma (ES). The dysregulation of epigenomic and proteomic homeostasis induced by the oncoprotein contributes to a wide variety of events involved in oncogenesis and tumor progression. Attempts at studying the effects of EWSR1-FLI1 in non-tumor cells to understand the mechanisms underlying sarcomagenesis have been unsuccessful to date, as ectopic expression of EWSR1-FLI1 blocks cell cycle progression and induces apoptosis in the tested cell lines. Therefore, it is essential to find a permissive cell type for EWSR1-FLI1 expression that allows its endogenous molecular functions to be studied. Here we have demonstrated that HeLa cell lines are permissive to EWSR1-FLI1 ectopic expression, and that our model substantially recapitulates the endogenous activity of the EWSR1-FLI1 fusion protein. This model could contribute to better understanding ES sarcomagenesis by helping to understand the molecular mechanisms induced by the EWSR1-FLI1 oncoprotein.
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