Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Nature Communications  

Fibrosis commonly occurs during adult skin wound healing, characterized by excessive extracellular matrix (ECM), leading to scarring. Mesenchymal cells, the primary ECM-producing population, are heterogeneous with varying fibrotic propensity during healing. While pro-fibrotic embryonically derived mesenchymal lineages have been identified, adult mesenchymal cells responsible for fibrosis are not yet fully characterized. In adult mice with conditional macrophage depletion during the early phase of wound healing, wounds exhibit attenuated fibrosis and a reduction in mesenchymal cell numbers. Here we show that early phase macrophage induces a distinct PDGFRα⁺ mesenchymal population expressing Fcer1g. This cell population expands rapidly after injury, shows high proliferative activity, and is largely absent when macrophages are depleted. Targeted ablation of this cell population does not delay wound closure but results in diminished scarring. Human wound datasets identified a transcriptionally conserved FCER1G-expressing mesenchymal subset, suggesting that this pro-fibrotic mesenchymal state is preserved in human wound healing.

DOI： 10.1038/s41467-026-69449-2

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Scientific Reports  

Enchondromas are a common tumor in bone that can occur as multiple lesions in enchondromatosis, which is associated with deformity of the affected bone. These lesions harbor somatic mutations in IDH and driving expression of a mutant Idh1 in Col2 expressing cells in mice causes an enchondromatosis phenotype. Here we compared growth plates from E18.5 mice expressing a mutant Idh1 with control littermates using single cell RNA sequencing. Data from Col2 expressing cells were analysed using UMAP and RNA pseudo-time analyses. A unique cluster of cells was identified in the mutant growth plates that expressed genes known to be upregulated in enchondromas. There was also a cluster of cells that was underrepresented in the mutant growth plates that expressed genes known to be important in longitudinal bone growth. Immunofluorescence showed that the genes from the unique cluster identified in the mutant growth plates were expressed in multiple growth plate anatomic zones, and pseudo-time analysis also suggested these cells could arise from multiple growth plate chondrocyte subpopulations. This data supports the notion that a subpopulation of chondrocytes become enchondromas at the expense of contributing to longitudinal growth.

DOI： 10.1038/s41598-024-76539-y

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：ESMO Open  

Background: Limited epidemiological research has focused on translocations in soft tissue sarcomas, with no studies on bone sarcomas. This study aimed to clarify the epidemiology, prognosis, and genetic information of translocation-related sarcoma (TRS) and non-TRS patients. Materials and methods: This retrospective cohort study used data from the Bone and Soft Tissue Tumor Registry in Japan (BSTTRJ) (2001-2019), the Kyushu University Hospital (KUH) repository (2001-2021), and a publicly available online dataset (MSK). The patients were categorized into TRS and non-TRS groups, and epidemiological, prognostic, and mutational diversity were compared. Results: This study included 25 383 participants, of whom 4864 (19.2%) were TRS and 20 519 (80.8%) were non-TRS patients. TRS patients had significantly younger onset ages (median: 43 years, interquartile range: 29-59 years) than non-TRS patients (median: 63 years, interquartile range: 46-73 years). In the MSK cohort, microsatellite instability and tumor mutation burden scores in non-TRS were higher than in TRS, although they were rather low compared with the pan-cancer analysis. In the BSTTRJ cohort, survival analyses with the propensity score matching revealed that patients with TRS had better overall [hazard ratio (HR): 0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63-0.81], metastasis-free (HR: 0.75, 95% CI 0.67-0.84), and recurrence-free (HR: 0.47, 95% CI 0.39-0.57) survival. Conclusions: This study highlights differences in the epidemiology and genetic rearrangements of sarcoma.

DOI： 10.1016/j.esmoop.2024.103726

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Scientific Reports  

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic negatively affected the diagnosis and treatment of several cancer types. However, this pandemic's exact impact and extent on bone and soft tissue sarcomas need to be clarified. We aimed to investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and emergency declaration by the local government on consultation behavior and clinical stage at diagnosis of bone and soft tissue sarcoma. A total of 403 patients diagnosed with bone and soft tissue sarcoma who initially visited three sarcoma treatment hospitals between January 2018 and December 2021 were included. The monthly number of newly diagnosed soft tissue sarcoma patients was reduced by 25%, and the proportion of soft tissue patients with stage IV disease at diagnosis significantly increased by 9% during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the monthly number of new primary bone and soft tissue sarcoma patients significantly decreased by 43% during the state of emergency declaration. The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on soft tissue sarcoma patients' consultation behavior and increased the proportion of advanced-stage patients at initial diagnosis. An emergency declaration by the local government also negatively affected primary bone and soft tissue sarcoma patients' consultation behavior.

DOI： 10.1038/s41598-024-71830-4

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Iscience  

Intratumoral heterogeneity is common in cancer, particularly in sarcomas like undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS), where individual cells demonstrate a high degree of cytogenic diversity. Previous studies showed that a small subset of cells within UPS, known as the metastatic clone (MC), as responsible for metastasis. Using a CRISPR-based genomic screen in-vivo, we identified the COMPASS complex member Setd1a as a key regulator maintaining the metastatic phenotype of the MC in murine UPS. Depletion of Setd1a inhibited metastasis development in the MC. Transcriptome and chromatin sequencing revealed COMPASS complex target genes in UPS, such as Cxcl10, downregulated in the MC. Deleting Cxcl10 in non-MC cells increased their metastatic potential. Treating mice with human UPS xenografts with a COMPASS complex inhibitor suppressed metastasis without affecting tumor growth in the primary tumor. Our data identified an epigenetic program in a subpopulation of sarcoma cells that maintains metastatic potential.

DOI： 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110187

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：British Journal of Cancer  

BACKGROUND: Leiomyosarcomas are among the most common histological types of soft tissue sarcoma (STS), with no effective treatment available for advanced patients. Lung metastasis, the most common site of distant metastasis, is the primary prognostic factor. We analysed the immune environment targeting lung metastasis of STS to explore new targets for immunotherapy. METHODS: We analysed the immune environment of primary and lung metastases in 38 patients with STS using immunohistochemistry. Next, we performed gene expression analyses on primary and lung metastatic tissues from six patients with leiomyosarcoma. Using human leiomyosarcoma cell lines, the effects of the identified genes on immune cells were assessed in vitro. RESULTS: Immunohistochemistry showed a significant decrease in CD8+ cells in the lung metastases of leiomyosarcoma. Among the genes upregulated in lung metastases, epithelial cellular adhesion molecule (EPCAM) showed the strongest negative correlation with the number of CD8+ cells. Transwell assay results showed that the migration of CD8+ T cells was significantly increased in the conditioned media obtained after inhibition or knock down of EPCAM. CONCLUSIONS: EPCAM was upregulated in lung metastases of leiomyosarcoma, suggesting inhibition of CD8+ T cell migration. Our findings suggest that EPCAM could serve as a potential novel therapeutic target for leiomyosarcoma.

DOI： 10.1038/s41416-024-02576-z

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Cancer Science  

Sarcomas are malignant mesenchymal tumors that are extremely rare and divergent. Fusion genes are involved in approximately 30% of sarcomas as driver oncogenes; however, their detailed functions are not fully understood. In this study, we determined the functional significance of 59 sarcoma-related fusion genes. The transforming potential and drug sensitivities of these fusion genes were evaluated using a focus formation assay (FFA) and the mixed-all-nominated-in-one (MANO) method, respectively. The transcriptome was also examined using RNA sequencing of 3T3 cells transduced with each fusion gene. Approximately half (28/59, 47%) of the fusion genes exhibited transformation in the FFA assay, which was classified into five types based on the resulting phenotype. The sensitivity to 12 drugs including multityrosine kinase inhibitors was assessed using the MANO method and pazopanib was found to be more effective against cells expressing the COL1A1-PDGFB fusion gene compared with the others. The downstream MAPK/AKT pathway was suppressed at the protein level following pazopanib treatment. The fusion genes were classified into four subgroups by cluster analysis of the gene expression data and gene set enrichment analysis. In summary, the oncogenicity and drug sensitivity of 59 fusion genes were simultaneously evaluated using a high-throughput strategy. Pazopanib was selected as a candidate drug for sarcomas harboring the COL1A1-PDGFB fusion gene. This assessment could be useful as a screening platform and provides a database to evaluate customized therapy for fusion gene-associated sarcomas.

DOI： 10.1111/cas.15915

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Scientific Reports  

Denosumab is a game-changing drug for giant cell tumor of bone (GCTB); however, its clinical biomarker regarding tumor ossification of GCTB has not been elucidated. In this study, we investigated the relationship between Wnt/β-catenin signaling and the ossification of GCTB and evaluated whether endogenous nuclear β-catenin expression predicted denosumab-induced bone formation in GCTB. Genuine patient-derived primary GCTB tumor stromal cells exhibited osteoblastic characteristics. Identified osteoblastic markers and nuclear β-catenin translocation were significantly upregulated via differentiation induction and were inhibited by treating with Wnt signaling inhibitor, GGTI-286, or selective Rac1-LEF inhibitor, NSC23766. Furthermore, we reviewed the endogenous ossification and nuclear β-catenin translocation of 86 GCTB clinical samples and elucidated that intra-tumoral ossification was significantly associated with the nuclear translocation. Three-dimensional quantitative analyses (n = 13) of tumoral CT images have revealed that the nuclear β-catenin translocation of naïve GCTB samples was significantly involved with the denosumab-induced tumor ossification. Our findings suggest a close relationship between the nuclear β-catenin translocation and the osteoblastic differentiation of GCTB. Investigations of the nuclear β-catenin in naïve GCTB samples may provide a promising biomarker for predicting the ossification of GCTB following denosumab treatment.

DOI： 10.1038/s41598-022-17728-5

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Language：English   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)