SUMMARY Genomic sequencing has driven precision-based oncology therapy; however, genetic drivers remain unknown or non-targetable for many malignancies, demanding alternative approaches to identify therapeutic leads. Ependymomas are chemotherapy-resistant brain tumours, which, despite genomic sequencing, lack effective molecular targets. Intracranial ependymomas are segregated based on anatomical location – supratentorial region (ST) or posterior fossa (PF) – and further divided into distinct molecular subgroups that reflect differences in age of onset, gender predominance, and response to therapy1–3. The most common and aggressive subgroup, Posterior Fossa Ependymoma Group A (PF-EPN-A), occurs in young children and appears to lack recurrent somatic mutations2. Conversely, Posterior Fossa Ependymoma Group B (PF-EPN-B) tumours display frequent large-scale copy number gains and losses yet favourable clinical outcomes1,3. Greater than 70% of supratentorial ependymomas are defined by highly recurrent gene fusions in the NFκB subunit RELA (ST-EPN-RELA), and less frequently involve fusion of the gene encoding the transcriptional activator YAP1 (ST-EPN-YAP1).1,3,4 Subependymomas, a distinct histologic variant, can also be found within the ST and PF compartments accounting for the majority of tumours in the molecular subgroups ST-EPN-SE and PF-EPN-SE, respectively1. Here, we mapped active chromatin landscapes in 42 primary ependymomas in two non-overlapping primary ependymoma cohorts with the goal of identifying essential super enhancer associated genes on which tumour cells were dependent. Enhancer regions revealed putative oncogenes, molecular targets, and pathways, which when subjected to small molecule inhibitor or shRNA treatment, diminished proliferation of patient-derived neurospheres and increased survival in mouse models of ependymomas. Through profiling of transcriptional enhancers, our study provides a framework for target and drug discovery in other cancers recalcitrant to therapeutic development because of their lack of known genetic drivers.

Leukemia stem cells (LSCs) are thought to drive the genesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as well as relapse following chemotherapy. Because of their unique biology, developing effective methods to eradicate LSCs has been a significant challenge. In the present study, we demonstrate that intrinsic overexpression of the mitochondrial dynamics regulator FIS1 mediates mitophagy activity that is essential for primitive AML cells. Depletion of FIS1 attenuates mitophagy and leads to inactivation of GSK3, myeloid differentiation, cell cycle arrest, and a profound loss of LSC self-renewal potential. Further, we report that the central metabolic stress regulator AMPK is also intrinsically activated in LSC populations and is upstream of FIS1. Inhibition of AMPK signaling recapitulates the biological effect of FIS1 loss. These data suggest a model in which LSCs co-opt AMPK/FIS1-mediated mitophagy as a means to maintain stem cell properties that may be otherwise compromised by the stresses induced by oncogenic transformation.

The domestic pig has been widely used as an important large animal model. Precise and efficient genetic modification in pig provides a great promise in biomedical research. Recently, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) system has been successfully used to produce many gene-targeted animals. However, these animals have been generated by co-injection of Cas9 mRNA and single-guide RNA (sgRNA) into one-cell stage embryos, which mostly resulted in mosaicism of the modification. One or two rounds of further breeding should be performed to obtain homozygotes with identical genotype and phenotype. To address this issue, gene-targeted somatic cells can be used as donor for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) to produce gene-targeted animals with single and identical mutations. In this study, we applied Cas9/sgRNAs to effectively direct gene editing in porcine fetal fibroblasts and then mutant cell colonies were used as donor to generate homozygous gene-targeted pigs through single round of SCNT. As a result, we successfully obtained 15 tyrosinase (TYR) biallelic mutant pigs and 20 PARK2 and PINK1 double-gene knockout (KO) pigs. They were all homozygous and no off-target mutagenesis was detected by comprehensive analysis. TYR (-/-) pigs showed typical albinism and the expression of parkin and PINK1 were depleted in PARK2 (-/-)/PINK1 (-/-) pigs. The results demonstrated that single- or double-gene targeted pigs can be effectively achieved by using the CRISPR/Cas9 system combined with SCNT without mosaic mutation and detectable off-target effects. This gene-editing system provides an efficient, rapid, and less costly manner to generate genetically modified pigs or other large animals.

Glioblastoma is the most lethal primary brain tumor; however, the crosstalk between glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) and their supportive niche is not well understood. Here, we interrogated reciprocal signaling between GSCs and their differentiated glioblastoma cell (DGC) progeny. We found that DGCs accelerated GSC tumor growth. DGCs preferentially expressed brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), whereas GSCs expressed the BDNF receptor NTRK2. Forced BDNF expression in DGCs augmented GSC tumor growth. To determine molecular mediators of BDNF-NTRK2 paracrine signaling, we leveraged transcriptional and epigenetic profiles of matched GSCs and DGCs, revealing preferential VGF expression by GSCs, which patient-derived tumor models confirmed. VGF serves a dual role in the glioblastoma hierarchy by promoting GSC survival and stemness in vitro and in vivo while also supporting DGC survival and inducing DGC secretion of BDNF. Collectively, these data demonstrate that differentiated glioblastoma cells cooperate with stem-like tumor cells through BDNF-NTRK2-VGF paracrine signaling to promote tumor growth.