iPSC-derived Cancer Organoids Recapitulate Genomic and Phenotypic Alterations of c-met-mutated Hereditary Kidney Cancer

Abstract

Hereditary cancers with cancer-predisposing mutations represent unique models of human oncogenesis as a driving oncogenic event is present in germline, exposing the healthy member of a family to the occurrence of cancer. The study of the secondary events in a tissue-specific manner is now possible by the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology offering the possibility to generate an unlimited source of cells that can be induced to differentiate towards a tissue at risk of malignant transformation. We report here for the first time, the generation of a c-met-mutated iPSC lines from the somatic cells of a patient with type 1 papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC). We demonstrate the feasibility of kidney differentiation with iPSC-derived organoids expressing markers of kidney progenitors with presence of tight junctions and brush borders in tubular structures at transmission electron microscopy. Importantly, c-met-mutated kidney organoids expressed PRCC markers both in vitro and in vivo in NSG mice. Gene expression profiling of c-met-mutated iPSC-derived organoid structures showed striking molecular similarities with signatures found in a large cohort of PRCC patient samples and identified 11 common genes. Among these, BHLHE40 and KDM4C, well-known factors involved in PRCC pathogenesis, were expressed in c-met-mutated kidney organoids. This analysis applied to primary cancers with and without c-met mutation showed overexpression of the BHLHE40 and KDM4C only in the c-met-mutated PRCC tumors, as predicted by c-met-mutated organoid transcriptome. These data represent therefore the first proof of concept of the generation of “renal carcinoma in a dish” model using c-met-mutated iPSC-derived organoids, opening new perspectives for discovery of novel potentially predictive disease markers and novel drugs for future precision medicine strategies.