Biology subjects

Stanton, D. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Stanton, D. A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2021

Pioglitazone administration restores a PPARG-dependent transcriptional network and ATP levels within skeletal muscles of mice implanted with patient-derived breast tumors

BackgroundFatigue is common in patents with breast cancer (BC), and can occur in patients with early stage disease and in the absence of muscle wasting (i.e. cachexia). We have reported transcriptional and proteomic alterations in muscles from BC patients, which are associated with fatigue. Mice implanted with human BC xenografts recapitulate the muscle molecular composition changes seen in patients, coupled with a greater rate of contraction-induced fatigue. Multiple bioinformatics platforms in both human and mouse muscles have identified peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARG) as central to this phenotype, with multiple PPARG target genes downregulated in response to tumor growth. The current study tested the hypothesis that the PPARG agonist pioglitazone (pio), a commonly prescribed diabetes drug, would rescue the transcriptional alterations observed in muscles of tumor-bearing mice. MethodsSixteen female NSG mice were implanted with breast cancer patient-derived orthotopic xenografts (BC-PDOX) via transplantation of Her2/neu+ human tumor fragments. BC-PDOX mice were randomly assigned to a treatment group that received daily oral pio at 30 mg.kg-1 (n=8), or a control group that received a similar volume of vehicle (n=8). Treatment was initiated when tumors reached a volume of 600mm3, and lasted for 2-weeks. Hindlimb muscles were isolated from BC-PDOX and non-tumor bearing mice for RNA-sequencing, gene expression validation, and ATP quantification. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in muscles from BC-PDOX mice relative to non-tumor bearing controls were identified using DESeq2, and multiple bioinformatics platforms were employed to contextualize the DEGs. ResultsWe found that the administration of pio restored the muscle gene expression patterns of BC-PDOX mice to a profile resembling muscles of non-tumor bearing NSG control mice. Validation of skeletal muscle gene expression by qPCR confirmed pio increased the expression of PPARG target genes in skeletal muscles. Isolated mitochondria from muscles of BC-PDOX mice treated with pio contained greater levels of ATP. There were no differences in body weights, muscle weights, or tumor volumes in pio vs. vehicle treated BC-PDOX mice. ConclusionsThese data demonstrate that oral pio supplementation rescues the BC-associated downregulation of PPARG target genes in skeletal muscle. Additionally, muscles from BC-PDOX mice treated with pio had greater levels of ATP, which would be associated a more fatigue-resistant muscle phenotype. Therefore, we propose that the FDA-approved and generic diabetes drug, pio, be considered as a supportive therapy for the treatment of BC-associated muscle fatigue.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Breast cancer-associated skeletal muscle mitochondrial dysfunction and lipid accumulation is reversed by PPARG

The peroxisome-proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) have been previously implicated in the pathophysiology of skeletal muscle dysfunction in women with breast cancer (BC) and in animal models of BC. Here, we sought to describe the metabolic alterations induced in skeletal muscle by BC-derived factors in an in vitro conditioned media (CM) system and hypothesized that BC cells secrete a factor that represses PPAR-gamma (PPARG) expression and its transcriptional activity, leading to downregulation of PPARG target genes involved in mitochondrial function and other metabolic pathways. We found that BC-derived factors repress PPAR-mediated transcriptional activity without altering protein expression of PPARG. Further, we show that BC-derived factors induce significant alterations in skeletal muscle mitochondrial function and lipid metabolism, which are rescued with exogenous expression of PPARG. The PPARG agonist drug rosiglitazone was able to rescue BC-induced lipid accumulation, but did not rescue effects of BC-derived factors on PPAR-mediated transcription or mitochondrial function. These data suggest that BC-derived factors induce deficits in lipid metabolism and mitochondrial function via different mechanisms that are both related to PPARG signaling, with mitochondrial dysfunction likely being altered via repression of PPAR-mediated transcription, and lipid accumulation being altered via transcription-independent functions of PPARG.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Skeletal muscle reprogramming by breast cancer regardless of treatment history or tumor molecular subtype

Increased susceptibility to fatigue is a negative predictor of survival commonly experienced by women with breast cancer. Here, we sought to identify molecular changes induced in human skeletal muscle by BC regardless of treatment history or tumor molecular subtype using RNA-sequencing and proteomic analyses. Mitochondrial dysfunction was apparent across all molecular subtypes, with the greatest degree of transcriptomic changes occurring in women with HER2/neu-overexpressing tumors, though muscle from patients of all subtypes exhibited similar pathway-level dysregulation. Interestingly, we found no relationship between anti-cancer treatments and muscle gene expression, suggesting that fatigue is a product of BC per se rather than clinical history. In vitro and in vivo experimentation confirmed the ability of BC cells to alter mitochondrial function and ATP content in muscle. These data suggest that interventions supporting muscle in the presence of BC-induced mitochondrial dysfunction may alleviate fatigue and improve the lives of women with BC.

cancer biology↗