Neuroblastoma is composed of two super-enhancer-associated differentiation states

Nature Genetics 49, 1261 (2017). doi:10.1038/ng.3899 Authors: Tim van Groningen, Jan Koster, Linda J Valentijn, Danny A Zwijnenburg, Nurdan Akogul, Nancy E Hasselt, Marloes Broekmans, Franciska Haneveld, Natalia E Nowakowska, Johannes Bras, Carel J M van Noesel, Aldo Jongejan, Antoine H van Kampen, Linda Koster, Frank Baas, Lianne van Dijk-Kerkhoven, Margriet Huizer-Smit, Maria C Lecca, Alvin Chan, Arjan Lakeman, Piet Molenaar, Richard Volckmann, Ellen M Westerhout, Mohamed Hamdi, Peter G van Sluis, Marli E Ebus, Jan J Molenaar, Godelieve A Tytgat, Bart A Westerman, Johan van Nes & Rogier Versteeg Neuroblastoma and other pediatric tumors show a paucity of gene mutations, which has sparked an interest in their epigenetic regulation. Several tumor types include phenotypically divergent cells, resembling cells from different lineage development stages. It has been proposed that super-enhancer-associated transcription factor (TF) networks underlie lineage identity, but the role of these enhancers in intratumoral heterogeneity is unknown. Here we show that most neuroblastomas include two types of tumor cells with divergent gene expression profiles. Undifferentiated mesenchymal cells and committed adrenergic cells can interconvert and resemble cells from different lineage differentiation stages. ChIP–seq analysis of isogenic pairs of mesenchymal and adrenergic cells identified a distinct super-enhancer landscape and super-enhancer-associated TF network for each ce...
Source: Nature Genetics - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: Letter Source Type: research