Sox2 is the determining oncogenic switch in promoting lung squamous cell carcinoma from different cells-of-origin

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of lung is a devastating malignancy with no effective treatments, due to its complex genomic profile. Therefore, pre-clinical models mimicking its salient features are urgently needed. Here we describe mouse models bearing various combinations of genetic lesions predominantly found in human SCC. We show that Sox2 but not Fgfr1 overexpression in tracheobronchial basal cells combined with Cdkn2ab and Pten loss results in SCC closely resembling the human counterpart. Interestingly, Sox2;Pten;Cdkn2ab mice develop SCC with a more peripheral location when Club or Alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells are targeted. Our model highlights the essential role of Sox2 in promoting a squamous cell fate from different cells-of-origin and represents an invaluable tool for the developing better intervention strategies. Overall design: After RNA extraction and Bioanalyzer analysis, we processed samples with high quality RNA profiles using Illumina Hiseq2500.

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Ferone G, Song JY, Sutherland KD, Bhaskaran R, Monkhorst K, Lambooij JP, Proost N, Gargiulo G, Berns A