Report. Transcriptional Profiling Identifies TNS4 Function in Epithelial Tubulogenesis

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1 Current Biology 21, , January 25, 2011 ª2011 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved DOI /j.cub Transcriptional Profiling Identifies TNS4 Function in Epithelial Tubulogenesis Report Sang-Ho Kwon, 1 Pavel I. Nedvetsky, 1 and Keith E. Mostov 1, * 1 Department of Anatomy and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA , USA Summary Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) plays central roles in tubulogenesis and metastasis [1 4]. HGF treatment of Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells grown as cysts in three-dimensional culture induces tubulogenesis [5, 6], which like most tubulogenic processes proceeds through distinct intermediate phases. Identification of genes associated with these phases is central to understanding the molecular mechanisms of tubulogensis; however, because of inefficient, asynchronous tubule formation, isolating such genes has been unfeasible. Here we developed a synchronous, efficient tubulogenesis system and used time-course transcriptional profiling to identify genes temporally regulated in developmental intermediates. Knockdown (KD) of tensin 4 (TNS4), a particularly highly upregulated gene, leads to a decrease in formation of extensions and tubules, two sequential intermediates in tubulogenesis. Exogenous expression of TNS4 marks invasive cells in an epithelial sheet. A mutation in the SH2 domain of TNS4 prevents the transition from extension formation to invasive migration during tubule formation and leads to increased basal activation of STAT3. Exogenous expression of a constitutively active STAT3 mimics the defect by the mutation. Our study highlights the role of the TNS4-STAT3 axis in epithelial sheet invasion and tubulogenesis. Results and Discussion Through screening of 168 culture conditions (not shown), we modified the tubulogenesis protocol of Montesano [7]. To induce tubules from an epithelial sheet, a Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell monolayer is grown on the top of a collagen matrix together with MRC-5 fibroblasts embedded in collagen. A filter separates the two cell types. We refer to this protocol as 2.5D tubulogenesis (2.5D) because MDCK cells are grown on the top of an extracellular matrix (ECM) gel, rather than embedded as in conventional three-dimensional (3D) culture (Figure S1A available online). HGF secreted from MRC5 induces tubulogensis in 3D [8]. Indeed, when we added neutralizing HGF antibodies to 2.5D, tubulogenesis was abrogated as reported in 3D (Figure S1B). However, in contrast to 3D, HGF alone was unable to induce tubulogenesis in 2.5D (Figure S1B). Thus, HGF is necessary but insufficient for tubulogenesis in 2.5D, at least in the assay conditions used. By using time-course image analysis, we defined four morphological intermediates during 2.5D: (1) multicellular apical protrusion, (2) extension, (3) bud/tubule initiation, and (4) tubule elongation (Figure 1). (1) After coculture, clusters *Correspondence: keith.mostov@ucsf.edu of R2 MDCK cells elongate and their apical membranes protrude toward the luminal side. We term this multicellular apical protrusion (MAP) (Figures 1B and 2B). (2) Although cells remain in the monolayer, many cells form F-actin-rich extensions, projecting from their basal surface into ECM (Figure 1C). A MAP is often accompanied by extension (Figure S2A). (3) Groups of cells begin to invade the matrix as tubular structures (Figure 1D). (4) Tubules elongate further, with well-polarized cells lining a single lumen, as indicated by apical membranefacing phalloidin staining (Figure 1E; Movie S1). The leading edges of growing tubules often consist of multiple cells with long protrusions (Figure S2B). Unlike 3D, we did not detect chain migration [9]. Instead, invading cells migrate collectively and maintain a continuous lumen during migration, similar to vascular sprouting, in vitro mammary gland branching, and in vivo zebrafish kidney morphogenesis [10 12]. However, unlike the mammary gland branching model, leading cells in 2.5D have extensions (Figure S2B, asterisk). We occasionally observed cell clusters detached from tubules and scattered individual cells free in the ECM. Importantly, 2.5D displays highly synchronized developmental intermediates (Figure S3A). Extensions appear at w72 96 hr after coculture, whereas tubule initiation begins after extensions retract. These intermediates are temporally well separated. This synchronicity facilitated time-course microarrays to identify genes whose temporal regulation is associated with extensions and/or tubules. Four biological replicates were used for each stage (monolayer, extension, tubule), yielding 12 microarrays. After normalization and processing of data sets, two comparisons (monolayer versus extension and monolayer versus tubule) were made. Differentially expressed genes with p values < 0.01 and fold changes >3.5 in at least one of the comparisons were considered. The resultant 113 genes were clustered on the basis of expression profiles by using k-means algorithms (Figure S3B). Of 113 genes, 48 showed greater expression changes in extension rather than tubule (Clusters A/C, Figure S3B). Among extension stage upregulated genes, we focused on TNS4 (a.k.a. cten), a protein involved in cell migration [13] and metastasis [14, 15]. TNS4 binds to integrin b1 [13], which is required for branching morphogenesis in various systems including MDCK and developing kidney [16, 17]. However, it is unknown whether TNS4 is involved in tubulogenesis and how TNS4 contributes to invasive growth. Quantitative PCR (qrt-pcr) confirmed that TNS4 is induced at the extension stage compared to monolayer (Figure S3C). To test whether TNS4 is required for tubulogenesis, we blocked induction of TNS4 by RNAi. Five shrnas were constructed in plko.1-puro and transfected into MDCK expressing EGFP-tagged TNS4 (GFP-TNS4). Immunoblotting confirmed three effective shrnas (Figure S4A). These were nucleofected into MDCK cells, which were then selected with puromycin. Pooled cells exhibited KD of endogenous transcript of TNS4 by 78% 6 8.7%, as determined by qrt-pcr. KD of TNS4 (TNS4-KD) prominently decreased tubule number, compared to control cells expressing an irrelevant shrna (Figure S4B). We also infected MDCK cells with the effective

2 Current Biology Vol 21 No Figure 1. Stages of Tubule Development in 2.5D System Epithelial monolayers representing each intermediate in tubulogenesis were fixed and labeled with Hoechst to stain nuclei and Alexa Fluor 546 phalloidin to stain polymerized actin. A stack of a series of z-axis images was captured. The acquired data were volumized for 3D reconstruction. Constructed 3D images were then tilted to help visualize the indicated intermediates in 2.5D system. (A) Unstimulated monolayer. (B) Multicellular apical protrusion, 72 hr after coculture. (C) Extension, 96 hr after coculture. (D) Bud/tubule initiation, 144 hr after coculture. (E) Tubule elongation, 168 hr after coculture. Arrowhead indicates each tubulogenic intermediate and arrow indicates the mouth of a tubule. XZ cross sections and cartoon diagrams are also shown to convey the geometry. Note that the tubule (asterisk) is connected to the sheet on top. shrna-expressing lentiviruses individually, which produced similar tubulogenesis defects (not shown). To validate that depletion of endogenous TNS4 causes reduced tubule formation, we introduced silent mutations into TNS4 to generate an RNAi-resistant TNS4 (RNAiR-TNS4) and examined whether expression of RNAiR-TNS4 can rescue the tubule formation defect in TNS4-KD cells. Expressed RNAiR-TNS4 was immune to shrna-targeting TNS4 (Figure S4C). Exogenously expressed RNAiR-TNS4 produced a fold increase in total transcript level of TNS4, which is near the transcript level of endogenous TNS4 induced in the extension stage. Tubulogenesis in TNS4-KD cells was increased by expression of RNAiR-TNS4, but not vector alone (Figure S4D). Thus, RNAiR-TNS4 can rescue the tubulogenesis defect produced by KD of endogenous TNS4. To understand how TNS4-KD leads to decreased tubule formation, we created control cells marked with mcherry and TNS4-KD cells marked with EGFP and monitored morphological changes in a mosaic monolayer. Both cells polarized as a monolayer without discernible defect (Figure 2A). Compared to control cells, more TNS4-KD cells showed MAP, but this was not significant (Figure 2B). Next, the contribution of TNS4 to extension formation was scored by using the ratio of the number of TNS4-KD cells projecting extensions to total number of TNS4-KD cells; this value was normalized to that of the control cells. TNS4-KD showed w6.6- fold reduction in extensions, compared to control (Figure 2C). For tubules, we plated equal numbers of control and TNS4-KD cells and counted the number of tubules consisting of TNS4-KD cells only, control cells only, or a mixture of cells. In total 300 tubules, 79% 6 6.6% had a mixture of cell types, 19% 6 7% had control cells only, and 2% 6 1% had TNS4-KD cells only, indicating that TNS4-KD cells were underrepresented in tubules compared to control (Figure 2D). TNS4-KD cells were also found less frequently in the mixed tubules (not shown). These findings suggest that TNS4 is required for extension formation and invasion into the ECM. The reduced presence of KD cells in tubules prompted us to test whether forced expression of TNS4 would promote initial invasion. We nucleofected GFP-TNS4, and GFP + cells were sorted by FACS; as a result, sorted cells express GFP-TNS4 with varying degrees, which facilitates cell tracing. Immunoblotting confirmed the expected size of GFP-TNS4 (Figure 3A). We determined whether the expression level of TNS4 correlates with extension formation and tubule initiation. Extensions were highlighted with b-catenin, a basolateral marker, and phalloidin, whereas tubules were labeled with ezrin, a subapical marker, and Hoescht. En face (XY) confocal sections taken at levels representing the monolayer (rear) or the leading edge (front) of the projection from the extension stage and the tubule stage were observed. Interestingly, higher levels of GFP-TNS4 were often found in cells containing extensions (Figure 3B). Furthermore, cells expressing GFP-TNS4 were located at buds, suggesting that GFP-TNS4 expression provides an advantage in initiation of tubule invasion. TNS4 protein contains an SH2 domain. A conserved arginine in the bb5 strand of this domain is critical for binding to phosphotyrosines in interaction partners [18]; mutation of this arginine (R474A) in TNS4 abolishes binding to SH2 domain partners [19]. To disrupt the SH2 domain, we nucleofected

3 Expression Profiling of 2.5D MDCK Tubulogenesis 163 Figure 2. TNS4 Is Required for Extension Formation and Invasion into the Extracellular Matrix (A) Knockdown of TNS4. TNS4-KD cells were marked with EGFP while control KD cells were marked with mcherry to distinguish cell identity in a monolayer. A representative image of a monolayer of control and TNS4 knockdown cells. The expression level of TNS4 was measured with qrt-pcr and normalized to GAPDH. (B) A representative image of multicellular apical protrusion (MAP) of a monolayer of control and TNS4 knockdown cells. Arrowhead indicates MAP. Quantification of MAP during tubulogenesis is at right. The ratio of the indicated cells in MAP to the indicated cells in monolayer was determined and normalized to control cells. (C) A representative image of extension formation in a monolayer of control and TNS4 knockdown cells. Quantification of extension during tubulogenesis (right). The ratio of the indicated cells sending out extensions to total number of the indicated cells was determined and normalized to the control cells. (D) The pie chart indicates the number of invading tubules consisting of TNS4 knockdown cells only, control cells only, and TNS4 knockdown and control cells. A total of 300 tubules were counted from three independent experiments. Scale bars represent 20 mm. GFP-TNS4 (R474A), and GFP + cells were pooled by FACS. Cells expressing GFP-TNS4 (R474A) showed increased extension formation at w72 96 hr after coculture. Strikingly, these cells cannot invade ECM. Instead, they were arrested in the extension stage up to 168 hr during tubulogenesis and showed very limited bud initiation (Figure 3C). These results highlight that the functional SH2 domain is required for the transition from extension to tubule/bud initiation. TNS4 induction is required for EGF-driven mammary cell scattering [13]. We tested whether TNS4 is induced by HGF. MDCK monolayers on a collagen matrix were treated with 25 ng/ml HGF basolaterally for 24 hr. qrt-pcr confirmed that HGF induced a fold increase in total transcript level of TNS4, suggesting that HGF alone can induce TNS4. We therefore tested how the phenotypes observed in 2.5D are interpreted in the HGF-induced 3D tubulogenesis. To form cysts, a single-cell suspension of MDCK cells expressing either GFP-TNS4 or GFP-TNS4 (R474A) was grown in Matrigel and cysts then stimulated with HGF in 1:1 mixture of collagen and Matrigel to induce tubule formation. In response to HGF, cysts develop chains of cells, which asynchronously lead to cords and then tubules (Figure 4A, +HGF). Expression of GFP-TNS4 or GFP-TNS4 (R474A) did not disrupt polarity, though cysts expressing GFP-TNS4 (R474A) were significantly larger (Figure 4A, unstimulated). 48 hr after HGF application, both cysts expressing GFP-TNS4 and those expressing GFP-TNS4 (R474A) displayed invasive growth. However, GFP-TNS4 (R474A) strongly attenuated chain, chord, and tubule formation (Figure 4A, +HGF). GFP-TNS4 (R474A) exhibited significantly increased extension formation at 12 hr after HGF treatment, compared to wild-type TNS4 (not shown). Thus, a functional SH2 domain of TNS4 is necessary for the transition from extension to invasive epithelial migration to form tubules in 3D, similar to 2.5D. Three principal downstream signaling pathways in 3D tubulogenesis have been identified: ERK1/2 [9], STAT3 [20], and AKT [21]. We tested whether GFP-TNS4 (R474A) affects the activation of these proteins. As determined by the phosphorylation status of these proteins in lysates from cysts and tubules (Figure 4B), expression of GFP-TNS4 (R474A) gave no perturbation of ERK; phosphorylation of Akt was elevated by a borderline amount (p = 0.05). In contrast, GFP-TNS4 (R474A) showed significantly increased activation of STAT3, even without HGF treatment. Surprisingly, HGF application restored STAT3 activation to a level similar to control cells. Though it is puzzling how GFP-TNS4 (R474A) suppresses the increased basal activity of STAT3 after HGF treatment, a plausible explanation is that the correct timing of activation of STAT3 is required for tubulogenesis. To determine whether the hyperactivation of STAT3 at the wrong time contributes to the inhibition of tubule formation in 3D by GFP-TNS4 (R474A), we generated stable cell lines

4 Current Biology Vol 21 No Figure 3. Wild-Type GFP-TNS4 Expression Marks the Invasive Cells in the Tip of Tubules in an Epithelial Sheet, whereas Mutant GFP-TNS4 Expression Traps Cells in Extension Stage (A) Immunoblot of GFP-tagged proteins in total lysates from cells stably transfected with indicated constructs. Equal amounts of total proteins were run on 4% 20% SDS-PAGE gel. (B and C) Monolayers of cells expressing GFP-TNS4 wild-type (B) or GFP-TNS4 R474A (C) at extension stage and tubule stage were stained with b-catenin antibody, ezrin antibody, Alexa Fluor-conjugated phalloidin, and Hoechst Front indicates beneath the basolateral side of monolayer because tubular cells invades underneath the ECM, whereas rear indicates the middle of monolayer, which was determined by maximum signal from Hoechst dye, as in Figure 2C. Arrowhead indicates tubule initiation site. expressing a constitutively active form of STAT3 (STAT3-C) [22]. Expression of STAT3-C caused ellipsoidal and spherical cysts with multiple lumens (Figure 4C). Strikingly, these cells did not invade the ECM in response to HGF, similar to cysts expressing GFP-TNS4 (R474A). STAT3-C exerted similar defects in 2.5D (Figure 4D). This suggests that untimely hyperactivation of STAT3 prevents HGF-induced invasive migration during tubulogenesis. It has been reported that temporal regulation of ERK1/2 and STAT1 is required for tubulogenesis [9, 23]. Together with these findings, our results highlight the

5 Expression Profiling of 2.5D MDCK Tubulogenesis 165 Figure 4. Expression of GFP-TNS4 Blocks HGF-Induced 3D Tubule Formation and Leads to Increased Basal Activation of STAT3 (A) MDCK cells expressing GFP-TNS4 or GFP-TNS4 R474A overlaid on thin 100% Matrigel were grown in culture media with 2% Matrigel for 5 days. Cysts were then stimulated with 50 ng/ml of HGF in a 1:1 mixture of collagen type I and Matrigel as a supporting 3D matrix to induce tubule formation. 48 hr after HGF stimulation, cells were fixed and stained with anti-b-catenin, anti-gp135, Alexa Fluor-conjugated phalloidin, and Hoechst (B) Phosphorylated and total ERK, STAT3, and AKT were assessed in the total lysates of cysts in 2% Matrigel stimulated as in (A). The relative ratios of active proteins to total proteins were calculated as (pixel intensity of phosphorylated protein)/(pixel intensity of total protein). Results are from three independent experiments (n = 2 per experiment). (C) Cysts of cells expressing vector and constitutively active STAT3 (STAT3-C) were stimulated with 50 ng/ml HGF. 48 hr after stimulation, cells were fixed and stained with Alexa Fluor-conjugated phalloidin (red) and Hoechst (green). Arrowheads indicate ECM invasion as chain and cord. Total lysates of the indicated cells were run on 4% 20% SDS-PAGE gel and immunoblotted with STAT3 and GAPDH antibodies. Note that expression of STAT3-C mimics the defect caused by GFP-TNS4 (R474A). (D) Quantification of bud/tubule initiation during 2.5D tubulogenesis. The number of buds was counted and normalized to vector as control. importance of temporal regulation of these signalings for proper tubulognensis. Moreover, we have tested whether STAT3- C can induce TNS4 but it does not in our cell lines (not shown). Our screened gene set includes multiple genes previously known to be involved in migration and tubulogenesis such as CXCR4 [24, 25], DUSP6 [25], PLAUR [26], SNAI2 [27], CD44 [28], and TINAG [29], as well as genes that have not been studied yet. The latter are novel candidates to analyze invasive cell migration from an epithelial sheet. Previous work has shown that TNS4 may displace TNS3 from integrin b1; bound TNS4 releases stress fibers from integrin b1 because TNS4 lacks an actin-binding domain [13]. This stress fiber disconnection promotes cell migration. This may be one mechanism of how TNS4 contributes to tubulogenesis. On the other hand, our observation that a mutation in the SH2 domain locks cells in the extension stage provides an additional view of the molecular mechanism of TNS4 in tubulogenesis. TNS4 may recruit other protein(s) through the SH2 domain, which leads to invasive migration during tubulogenesis. Furthermore, GFP-TNS4 (R474A) causes increased basal activation of STAT3, suggesting that inappropriate, untimely overactivation of STAT3 may inhibit HGF-induced tubulogenesis. Indeed, expression of STAT3-C phenocopies the tubuleformation defects of GFP-TNS4 (R474A). Although it is

6 Current Biology Vol 21 No unknown how this mutation in the SH2 domain leads to increased STAT3 activation, our study suggests that this aberrant activation of STAT3 blocks HGF-induced tubule formation. Tubulogenesis occurs by different mechanisms in various developing systems [1, 30]. A central goal is to uncover common principles underlying this apparent diversity [4]. A strength of the MDCK systems is that depending on the culture configuration, MDCK cells can form tubules via several cellular mechanisms, including chain cell migration from cysts (3D) and deformation of a sheet of cells migrating into the ECM (2.5D); these have parallels in various in vivo systems [1]. We found that TNS4 is required for both systems, suggesting that TNS4 represents a common principle underlying multiple cellular mechanisms. Moreover, our results have uncovered an unexpected TNS4-STAT3 axis, which plays a central role in HGF-induced tubulogenesis. Accession Numbers The complete set of time-course microarray data has been deposited in the GEO database with accession number GSE Supplemental Information Supplemental Information includes Supplemental Experimental Procedures, four figures, and one movie and can be found with this article online at doi: /j.cub Acknowledgments We are grateful to Dr. Ross Metzger for critical reading and members of the K.M. lab for discussion. This work was supported by an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein postdoctoral fellowship (DK082115) to S.-H.K., an NIH Institutional Research Training Grant (DK07762) to S.-H.K., a German Research Society Fellowship (DFG;Ne-897/1-1) to P.I.N., and NIH grants R01DK and P01AI53194 to K.M. Received: September 24, 2010 Revised: November 22, 2010 Accepted: December 16, 2010 Published online: January 13, 2011 References 1. Hogan, B.L., and Kolodziej, P.A. (2002). Organogenesis: Molecular mechanisms of tubulogenesis. Nat. Rev. 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