Anne Birgitte Undén

Mutations of the Human Homolog of Drosophila patched in the Nevoid Basal Cell Carcinoma Syndrome

The nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by multiple basal cell carcinomas (BCCs), pits of the palms and soles, jaw keratocysts, a variety of other tumors, and developmental abnormalities. NBCCS maps to chromosome 9q22.3. Familial and sporadic BCCs display loss of heterozygosity in this region, consistent with the gene being a tumor suppressor. A human sequence (PTC) with strong homology to the Drosophila segment polarity gene, patched, was isolated from a YAC and cosmid contig of the NBCCS region. Mutation analysis revealed alterations of PTC in NBCCS patients and in related tumors. We propose that a reduction in expression of the patched gene can lead to the developmental abnormalities observed in the syndrome and that complete loss of patched function contributes to transformation of certain cell types.

Mammalian Suppressor-of-Fused modulates nuclear–cytoplasmic shuttling of GLI-1

Sonic hedgehog, Patched and Gli are components of a mammalian signalling pathway that has been conserved during evolution and which has a central role in the control of pattern formation and cellular proliferation during development. Here we identify the human Suppressor-of-Fused (SUFUH) complementary DNA and show that the gene product interacts physically with the transcriptional effector GLI-1, can sequester GLI-1 in the cytoplasm, but can also interact with GLI-1 on DNA. Functionally, SUFUH inhibits transcriptional activation by GLI-1, as well as osteogenic differentiation in response to signalling from Sonic hedgehog. Localization of GLI-1 is influenced by the presence of a nuclear-export signal, and GLI-1 becomes constitutively nuclear when this signal is mutated or nuclear export is inhibited. These results show that SUFUH is a conserved negative regulator of GLI-1 signalling that may affect nuclear–cytoplasmic shuttling of GLI-1 or the activity of GLI-1 in the nucleus and thereby modulate cellular responses.

Deregulation of the hedgehog signalling pathway: a possible role for the PTCH and SUFU genes in human rhabdomyoma and rhabdomyosarcoma development.

The naevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS) is caused by mutations in the hedgehog receptor PTCH gene. It is characterized by developmental defects and a predisposition to the development of certain tumours, such as basal cell carcinoma, medulloblastoma and meningioma, and potentially fetal rhabdomyomas and embryonal rhabdomyosarcomas. This study aimed to analyse PTCH status in an NBCCS patient with fetal rhabdomyoma and to investigate whether deregulation of hedgehog signalling, as shown by altered expression of hedgehog pathway components and/or genetic imbalances, is a general finding in sporadic rhabdomyomas and rhabdomyosarcomas. The NBCCS patient had a novel PTCH germ‐line mutation, 1370insT, and developed a fetal rhabdomyoma that harboured a 30 bp in‐frame deletion in the second allele resulting in homozygous inactivation of PTCH. Sporadic rhabdomyomas and rhabdomyosarcomas showed overexpression of PTCH (43/43) and GLI1 (41/43) mRNA, as determined by in situ hybridization, indicating ongoing active hedgehog signalling. Immunohistochemical staining revealed a subgroup of fetal rhabdomyomas and embryonal rhabdomyosarcomas (12/34) lacking PTCH immunoreactivity. Four of nine informative fetal rhabdomyomas and embryonal rhabdomyosarcomas showed loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in the PTCH region with two of these (one fetal rhabdomyoma and one embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma) also showing LOH in the SUFU region. These findings suggest that haploinsufficiency for the two tumour suppressor genes PTCH and SUFU, which are both active in the same signalling pathway, may be important for tumour development. Based on our results we propose that the pathogenesis of rhabdomyoblastic tumours, particularly fetal rhabdomyomas and embryonal rhabdomyosarcomas, involves deregulation of the hedgehog signalling pathway. Copyright

PATCHED and p53 gene alterations in sporadic and hereditary basal cell cancer.

It is widely accepted that disruption of the hedgehog-patched pathway is a key event in development of basal cell cancer. In addition to patched gene alterations, p53 gene mutations are also frequent in basal cell cancer. We determined loss of heterozygosity in the patched and p53 loci as well as sequencing the p53 gene in tumors both from sporadic and hereditary cases. A total of 70 microdissected samples from tumor and adjacent skin were subjected to PCR followed by fragment analysis and DNA sequencing. We found allelic loss in the patched locus in 6/8 sporadic basal cell cancer and 17/19 hereditary tumors. All sporadic and 7/20 hereditary tumors showed p53 gene mutations. Loss of heterozygosity in the p53 locus was rare in both groups. The p53 mutations detected in hereditary tumors included rare single nucleotide deletions and unusual double-base substitutions compared to the typical ultraviolet light induced missense mutations found in sporadic tumors. Careful microdissection of individual tumors revealed genetically linked subclones with different p53 and/or patched genotype providing an insight on time sequence of genetic events. The high frequency and co-existence of genetic alterations in the patched and p53 genes suggest that both these genes are important in the development of basal cell cancer.

Alternative first exons of PTCH1 are differentially regulated in vivo and may confer different functions to the PTCH1 protein.

The PTCH1 gene is a human tumour suppressor gene frequently mutated in basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and several other tumour types. It encodes a receptor for soluble factors of the hedgehog family. Binding of hedgehog to the receptor relieves its inhibitory action on the transmembrane co-receptor Smoh. In this study we describe alternative first exons of the PTCH1 tumour suppressor gene and show that they are differentially regulated in normal tissues, exon 1B being expressed at very low levels and the major mRNA species containing exon 1 or 1A. Exon 1B transcripts were found to be specifically upregulated in nodular BCCs. The different PTCH1 transcripts all encode proteins that interact with Smoh in doubly transfected cells. Furthermore, functional assays demonstrated that whereas all PTCH1 isoforms can inhibit the activity of SHH, only the PTCH1B isoform is capable of fully inhibiting Smoh activity. The results indicate that in tumour cells the PTCH1B promoter is specifically activated and importantly, that the N-terminal part of PTCH1 including exon 1B is required for full inhibition of Smoh signaling but not for physical interaction with Smoh.

Mutation analysis of the human homologue of drosophila patched and the xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group A genes in squamous cell carcinomas of the skin

The human homologue of Drosophila patched (PTCH), located at chromosome 9q22.3, was recently identified as a candidate tumor suppressor gene for familial and sporadic basal cell carcinomas. Squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) of the skin display allelic loss in this chromosomal region, which, in addition to the PTCH gene, contains the DNA repair gene xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group A (XPA). Patients with xeroderma pigmentosum are predisposed to non‐melanoma skin tumors because of deficient excision repair of ultraviolet‐induced DNA damage. Mutation analysis by single‐strand conformation analysis and direct DNA sequencing of all 23 exons of the PTCH gene and all six exons of the XPA gene in 14 SCCs did not reveal structural alterations in any of these genes. Additionally, analysis of PTCH expression by in situ hybridization in SCCs revealed no evidence of upregulation of PTCH mRNA, confirming the lack of mutations in this gene. These findings suggest that another, yet to be identified gene or genes on chromosome 9q are involved in SCC tumorigenesis. Mol. Carcinog. 21:87–92, 1998.