CTCs with increased genomic content (CTC-IGC) are found in the bone marrow of late-stage prostate cancer patients and are correlated with worse progression free survival
Liquid biopsies from peripheral blood and bone marrow aspirate were acquired from a late-stage prostate cancer cohort (NCT01505868). Matched bone marrow and peripheral blood samples from 31 patients were analyzed for CTCs. CTCs with increased genomic content (CTC-IGC), identified as having a nuclear diameter at least double the average of the CTC cell population, were found in 9.7% of peripheral blood samples. CTC-IGC were present in 80.6% of bone marrow samples from the same patients (Fig. 1A-B, S1). Survival analysis with 44 bone marrow samples (from the 31 patients with matched blood samples and 13 patients without matched blood) showed that presence of at least one CTC-IGC detected in the bone marrow was associated with decreased progression-free survival (Fig. 1C, Table S1). Previous treatment history was available for 33 of the 44 patients and primarily included anti-androgens and other hormonal treatments (i.e., bicalutamide, nilutamide, enzalutamide). The six patients who were previously treated with docetaxel were all positive for CTCs-IGC in the bone marrow.
Clonal tumor lineage measured via copy number ratio analysis was confirmed in both typical CTCs and CTCs-IGC. No apparent differences in copy number ratios were identified between the two CTC groups (Fig. 1D-F, S2, S3). These observations show that CTC-IGC can be found in blood and bone marrow aspirate, are tumor derived, and thus may contribute towards relapse in late-stage prostate cancer. Despite the apparent WGD of CTC-IGC, these cells retain the original tumor copy number profile. To understand the importance and behavior of this phenotype, we used an in vitro model of polyploid tumor cells to investigate their relationship with therapeutic resistance.
Large polyploid cancer cells form as a response to chemotherapy in prostate and breast cancer models
PC3 and MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with sublethal doses of docetaxel or cisplatin for 72 hours. Following chemotherapy, cells were allowed to recover for 1 or 10 days in their regular growth medium, lifted from culture, plated on specialized glass slides, stained with cell and nuclear markers, then imaged through high content scanning and evaluated for nuclear size and other morphometric comparisons (Fig. 2A). While there was significant cell death as expected (Fig. S4A), surviving cells increased in both nuclear diameter and cell size as a function of time (Fig. 2B-E; Fig. S4B).
To evaluate resistance, we treated cells that survived cisplatin treatment (10 days post treatment; 10 DPT) with cisplatin or docetaxel. Compared to the control condition (initially cisplatin treated and then re-treated with DMSO) cell counts and cell viability were not significantly impacted, suggesting that these cells are not sensitive to additional rounds of chemotherapy (Fig. S4A, S4D, 2E).
To obtain progeny cells from a single chemotherapy-induced surviving polyploid cell, we isolated and single-cell seeded PC3 cells 10 days post-cisplatin release (n = 480) and 10 days post-docetaxel release (n = 960) and monitored for colony formation. From these, only 2 polyploid docetaxel-treated PC3 cells gave rise to progeny after 2 months (progeny-1) and 2.5 months (progeny-2). Progeny-2 failed to proliferate following the first passage. Over the course of the three-month experiment, approximately 50% of the polyploid cells treated with either cisplatin or docetaxel remained viable and adherent. The dividing progeny-1 cells displayed a larger nuclear and cellular diameter than the parental PC3 population from which it originated (Fig. 2F, S4). We treated progeny-1 with docetaxel or cisplatin and found that the population was sensitive to both chemotherapies. Further, following 10 days of recovery, surviving progeny-1 cells had increased nuclear and cell diameter, similar to what was observed from the original parent population (Fig. 2F, S4B).
Surviving PC3 polyploid cancer cells show no additional copy number ratio alterations compared to parental controls
To evaluate the presence of genomic alterations in the surviving polyploid cells and their progeny, we assayed copy number status and cell ploidy. Strikingly, surviving large polyploid PC3 and MDA-MB-231 cells from both docetaxel and cisplatin treatments showed no apparent copy number ratio differences compared to control cells (Fig. 3A-C, S5). This result confirms patient data in that copy number ratio status does not differ between CTCs with normal nuclei and CTCs with larger nuclei (Fig. 1D-F) and suggests that cells are undergoing complete WGD rather than displaying specific copy number breakpoints. While copy number status did display minor differences in the progeny-1 compared to parental control (e.g., an increased 3p gain) (Fig. 3A-B), no substantial alterations were observed. Conversely, progeny-2, the clone that did not survive the first passage, displayed the most aberrant copy number profile compared to the other conditions (i.e., 6 gain and 4p gain) and clustered separately from the other PC3 cell conditions (Fig. 3A).
FISH probes for the centromeres of PC3 chromosome 1 (ploidy = 3) and chromosome 10 (ploidy = 1) showed no statistically significant differences when comparing DMSO parental control cells to progeny-1 cells (Fig. 3D), suggesting that any apparent scars of ploidy reduction were not present. These results prompted investigation into the phenotype of these surviving cells.
Single cell transcriptomic profiling reveals common genes and pathways upregulated in PC3 and MDA-MB-231 polyploid cells
497 PC3 cells were isolated and sequenced in 5 separate batches (Fig. S6) and included: DMSO control (n = 129), 1-day post-cisplatin release (n = 78), 10 days post-cisplatin release (n = 68), 1-day post-docetaxel release (n = 45), 10 days post-docetaxel release (n = 118), docetaxel progeny-1 (n = 12), docetaxel progeny-2 (n = 13). Two batches of 203 MDA-MB-231 cells included: DMSO control (n = 43), 1-day post-cisplatin release (n = 22), 10 days post-cisplatin release (n = 62), 1-day post-docetaxel release (n = 24), 10 days post-docetaxel release (n = 62) (Fig. S7).
Regardless of treatment, a general spatial separation that was dependent on recovery duration was observed in PC3 and MDA-MB-231 cells (Fig. 4A, S8). To identify convergent phenotypes regardless of tumor type or therapy, we evaluated genes that were upregulated in both PC3 and MDA-MB-231 following either cisplatin or docetaxel treatment. MDA-MB-231 cells 10 days post cisplatin or docetaxel release upregulated 1591 shared genes compared to DMSO control; PC3 cells 10 days post cisplatin or docetaxel treatment upregulated 1178 shared genes compared to DMSO control (LFC > 1.5, FDR < 0.01; Fig. 4B). Intersection of the shared gene sets showed MDA-MB-231 and PC3 cells that survive either cisplatin or docetaxel exposure shared 309 upregulated genes (Fig. 4B; Table S2). The 309 shared genes were considered a survivor cell enrichment data set, which was further evaluated.
Of the 309 shared genes, 77% were protein coding and 17% were lncRNAs, while the remaining ~ 6% were pseudogenes or yet to be experimentally confirmed (TEC, not yet tested; Fig. 4C). Log-fold change values were plotted for PC3-Doc-DPT10 vs MDA-Doc-DPT10 (Fig. 4D) and PC3-Cis-DPT10 vs MDA-Cis-DPT10 (Fig. 4E). Within each treatment class, shared differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were positively correlated between MDA-MB-231 and PC3 cells, indicating the DEGs are upregulated to a similar magnitude.
Common transcription factors (TFs) and hallmark pathways upregulated in the survivors were delineated (Fig. 4F-G). Two significantly enriched TFs, ZNF697 and NPAS2, were previously reported in cells that transition out of senescence and into a proliferative state [47]. Top enriched hallmark pathways in the 309 gene survivor data set were: epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), upregulation of KRAS signaling, coagulation, TNFa signaling via NFkB, and hypoxia (Fig. 4F). Single cell gene enrichment confirmed the top upregulated hallmark pathways in the shared survivor data set (Fig. 4H, S8-9). Additional pathways identified to be significantly upregulated in the surviving cells were: PI3K-AKT-mTOR Signaling, Inflammatory Response, and Cholesterol Homeostasis (Fig. 4H, S8-9).
Identification of HOMER1, TNFRSF9, and LRP1 as putative chemotherapy RNA survival markers
Utilizing the shared cell survivor gene set data, markers were independently evaluated to understand their putative role in chemotherapy survival and polyploid state. All 309 genes were investigated via literature review and queried for terms in September 2023, including: large tumor cell, polyploid giant cancer cell, poly-aneuploid cancer cell, survival pathways, drug resistance, chemotherapy, and apoptosis. With prior knowledge that top upregulated genes (MMP-3, SAA1, and C3) functioned in the execution of apoptosis and clearance of apoptotic bodies (Fig. 4D-E), and that SAA1 and C3 were correlated with better PFS (Fig. S10), they were not considered novel survival markers. The 309 gene survivor cell enrichment data set was also intersected with genes in the top enriched pathways that modulate survival: TNFa via NFkB, PI3K-AKT, and mTOR signaling (Fig. 4G-H). We identified TNFRSF9 and LRP1 as survival biomarkers; these are known to function as cell surface receptors that enhance PI3K activity. This activity, in turn, stimulates AKT, thereby promoting cell survival (Fig. 4D-E, Fig. 5, S11A) [48–50]. Further, we identified HOMER1 as a PC3-specific survival marker (Fig. 5); HOMER1 plays a role in mTOR signaling and protection against apoptosis [51–54].
HOMER1, TNFRSF9, and LRP1 are protein markers of chemotherapy survival and are retained in docetaxel treated PC3 progeny
At the protein level, we found surviving PC3 and MDA-MB-231 cells post-chemotherapy treatment stained positive for HOMER1, TNFRSF9, and LRP1 (Fig. 5A, 5D). Image quantification revealed all PC3 conditions (except for progeny-1 cisplatin day 10 post-treatment release) were significantly upregulated compared to controls (Fig. 5A, 5C). Day 10 survivors showed the highest protein expression levels for each marker tested. Importantly, untreated PC3 progeny-1 displayed significantly higher expression in all three survival markers tested compared to parental DMSO control cells, suggesting these markers were retained following treatment (Fig. 5A, 5C). CD45 is typically utilized as a tumor cell exclusion marker that stains for white blood cells. At day 10 post-treatment release time points we noted a gain in CD45 protein expression that was retained in progeny cells in PC3 cells (Fig. 5A, S10). MDA-MB-231 cells also showed a significant upregulation of expression for most markers tested, except HOMER1 for docetaxel day 10 post-treatment release and LRP1 for cisplatin day 10 post-treatment release (Fig. 5D, 5F).
HOMER1, TNFRSF9, and LRP1 are found at the protein level patient BM samples, and their increased expression is correlated with recurrence in public datasets
A subset of bone marrow samples that displayed a high frequency of CTC-IGC from the prostate cancer patient cohort (Fig. 1) were stained with HOMER1, TNFRSF9, and LRP1 (Fig. 6A). Patient 1 and patient 3 did not participate in the clinical trial but also displayed a high frequency of CTC-IGC (Table 1; see methods). All patients profiled had CTCs that were positive for the tested markers (Fig. 6B). While there were CTC-IGC positive for the marker genes in each patient sample (Fig. 6A), the tested markers were not selective for CTC-IGC (Fig. S12). Patient-5, who displayed the highest percentage of CTCs positive for markers HOMER1 and TNFRSF9, had the shortest PFS at 1.4 months (Fig. 6B, Table 1). Additionally, these survival markers identified cells in the bone marrow that displayed increased genomic content but were negative for canonical epithelial markers (Fig. S13).
In publicly available data for previously treated patients, high expression of TNFRSF9 and LRP1 significantly correlated with a shorter progression free survival in patients with prostate cancer; HOMER1 was not statistically significant (p-value = 0.183) (Fig. 6C). High gene expression of TNFRSF9, HOMER1, and LRP1 were all significantly correlated with worse relapse free survival in breast cancer (Fig. 6D). Taken together, we can conclude the survival genes are associated with recurrence at the RNA level and are present on CTCs-IGC in the bone marrow aspirate of late-stage prostate cancer patients.