Abstract B18: Strand-specific in vivo screen of cancer-associated miRNAs unveils key drivers and oncogenic targets

MiRNAs are evolutionarily conserved small non-coding RNAs that orchestrate a wide spectrum of physiological and pathological processes in stem cells (SCs) and human cancers. Intimately wired into oncogenic and tumor suppressive networks, miRs are valuable as not only diagnostic biomarkers but also therapeutic targets. Squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) are among the most life-threatening human cancers world-wide. Using skin as paradigm, we describe the first panoramic view of miRs during the development, homeostasis and malignant transformation of skin epithelium, whose SCs are the target of most common SCCs. Focusing on abundant and enriched miRs in SCC-SCs versus normal skin SCs, we devised lentiviral miR expression platform and conducted pooled in vivo functional screens for oncomiRs in mice. Deep sequencing of genomic DNA from basal progenitors of tumors or unaffected skin epithelium revealed preferential enrichment of 29/169 miRs within the tumors. We followed up with the top hits and showed candidate miRs are indeed aberrantly induced in both mouse and human SCCs. After functionally documenting their tumor-promoting roles in mouse SCCs in vivo and human xenografts, we applied CRISPR technology to ablate the miR loci in cells derived from these SCCs, and then used lentiviral delivery methods to carry out specific miR rescues of the tumorigenic phenotype. To look for candidate targets of newly identified oncomiRs, we analyzed TCGA database that are inversely correlated with our candidate miR as well as genes that are de-repressed upon miR deletion. We discovered potent tumor suppressors whose knockdown rescued the deficit in tumor formation from oncomiR-deficient cells and whose overexpression reversed miR-driven tumorigenesis. Furthermore, we demonstrated CRISPR-mediated deletion of the endogenous miRNA binding site renders the target cells no longer sensitive to miRNA regulation. Finally, we pinpointed the cellular mechanism of how miR-target regulates SCC progression. Empowered by mouse genetics and high throughput approaches, our study has unveiled a rich set of putative miRs that drive skin SCC malignancy, and discovered their oncogenic targets. These findings shed new light on increasingly important oncomiR loci and its action on a devastating cancer. Citation Format: Yejing Ge, Liang Zhang, Maria Nikolova, Boris Reva, Elaine Fuchs. Strand-specific in vivo screen of cancer-associated miRNAs unveils key drivers and oncogenic targets. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Developmental Biology and Cancer; Nov 30-Dec 3, 2015; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2016;14(4_Suppl):Abstract nr B18.