Integrated cistromic and expression analysis of amplified NKX2-1 in lung adenocarcinoma identifies LMO3 as a functional transcriptional target

H Watanabe, JM Francis, MS Woo… - Genes & …, 2013 - genesdev.cshlp.org
H Watanabe, JM Francis, MS Woo, B Etemad, W Lin, DF Fries, S Peng, EL Snyder, PR Tata
Genes & development, 2013genesdev.cshlp.org
The NKX2-1 transcription factor, a regulator of normal lung development, is the most
significantly amplified gene in human lung adenocarcinoma. To study the transcriptional
impact of NKX2-1 amplification, we generated an expression signature associated with
NKX2-1 amplification in human lung adenocarcinoma and analyzed DNA-binding sites of
NKX2-1 by genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation. Integration of these expression
and cistromic analyses identified LMO3, itself encoding a transcription regulator, as a …
The NKX2-1 transcription factor, a regulator of normal lung development, is the most significantly amplified gene in human lung adenocarcinoma. To study the transcriptional impact of NKX2-1 amplification, we generated an expression signature associated with NKX2-1 amplification in human lung adenocarcinoma and analyzed DNA-binding sites of NKX2-1 by genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation. Integration of these expression and cistromic analyses identified LMO3, itself encoding a transcription regulator, as a candidate direct transcriptional target of NKX2-1. Further cistromic and overexpression analyses indicated that NKX2-1 can cooperate with the forkhead box transcription factor FOXA1 to regulate LMO3 gene expression. RNAi analysis of NKX2-1-amplified cells compared with nonamplified cells demonstrated that LMO3 mediates cell survival downstream from NKX2-1. Our findings provide new insight into the transcriptional regulatory network of NKX2-1 and suggest that LMO3 is a transcriptional signal transducer in NKX2-1-amplified lung adenocarcinomas.
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