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Mammalian Yes-associated protein (YAP) and transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ) and Drosophila Yorkie (Yki) are transcription cofactors of the highly conserved Hippo signaling pathway. It has been long assumed that the YAP/TAZ/Yki signaling drives cell proliferation during organ growth. However, its instructive role in regulating developmentally programmed organ growth, if any, remains elusive. Out-of-context gain of YAP/TAZ/Yki signaling often turns oncogenic. Paradoxically, mechanically strained, and differentiated squamous epithelia display developmentally programmed constitutive nuclear YAP/TAZ/Yki signaling. The unknown, therefore, is how a growth-promoting YAP/TAZ/Yki signaling restricts proliferation in differentiated squamous epithelia. Here, we show that reminiscent of a tumor suppressor, Yki negatively regulates the cell growth-promoting PI3K/Akt/TOR signaling in the squamous epithelia of Drosophila tubular organs. Thus, downregulation of Yki signaling in the squamous epithelium of the adult male accessory gland (MAG) up-regulates PI3K/Akt/TOR signaling, inducing cell hypertrophy, exit from their cell cycle arrest, and, finally, culminating in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Thus, blocking PI3K/Akt/TOR signaling arrests Yki loss-induced MAG-SCC. Further, MAG-SCCs, like other lethal carcinomas, secrete a cachectin, Impl2--the Drosophila homolog of mammalian IGFBP7--inducing cachexia and shortening the lifespan of adult males. Moreover, in the squamous epithelium of other tubular organs, like the dorsal trunk of larval tracheal airways or adult Malpighian tubules, downregulation of Yki signaling triggers PI3K/Akt/TOR-induced cell hypertrophy. Our results reveal that Yki signaling plays an instructive, antiproliferative role in the squamous epithelia of tubular organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human ETS Related Gene, ERG, a master transcription factor, turns oncogenic upon its out-of-context activation in diverse developmental lineages. However, the mechanism underlying its lineage-specific activation of Notch (N), Wnt, or EZH2—three well-characterized oncogenic targets of ERG—remains elusive. We reasoned that deep homology in genetic tool kits might help uncover such elusive cancer mechanisms in Drosophila. By heterologous gain of human ERG in Drosophila, here we reveal Chip, which codes for a transcriptional coactivator, LIM-domain-binding (LDB) protein, as its novel target. ERG represses Drosophila Chip via its direct binding and, indirectly, via E(z)-mediated silencing of its promoter. Downregulation of Chip disrupts LIM–HD complex formed between Chip and Tailup (Tup)—a LIM–HD transcription factor—in the developing notum. A consequent activation of N-driven Wg signaling leads to notum-to-wing transdetermination. These fallouts of ERG gain are arrested upon a simultaneous gain of Chip, sequestration of Wg ligand, and, alternatively, loss of N signaling or E(z) activity. Finally, we show that the human LDB1, a homolog of Drosophila Chip, is repressed in ERG-positive prostate cancer cells. Besides identifying an elusive target of human ERG, our study unravels an underpinning of its lineage-specific carcinogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only select cell types in an organ display neoplasia when targeted oncogenically. How developmental lineage hierarchies of these cells prefigure their neoplastic propensities is not yet well-understood. Here we show that neoplastic Drosophila epithelial cells reverse their developmental commitments and switch to primitive cell states. In a context of alleviated tissue surveillance, for example, loss of Lethal giant larvae (Lgl) tumor suppressor in the wing primordium induced epithelial neoplasia in its Homothorax (Hth)-expressing proximal domain. Transcriptional profile of proximally transformed mosaic wing epithelium and functional tests revealed tumor cooperation by multiple signaling pathways. In contrast, lgl(-) clones in the Vestigial (Vg)-expressing distal wing epithelium were eliminated by cell death. Distal lgl(-) clones, however, could transform when both tissue surveillance and cell death were compromised genetically and, alternatively, when the transcription cofactor of Hippo signaling pathway, Yorkie (Yki), was activated, or when Ras/EGFR signaling was up-regulated. Furthermore, transforming distal lgl(-) clones displayed loss of Vg, suggesting reversal of their terminal cell fate commitment. In contrast, reinforcing a distal (wing) cell fate commitment in lgl(-) clones by gaining Vg arrested their neoplasia and induced cell death. We also show that neoplasia in both distal and proximal lgl(-) clones could progress in the absence of Hth, revealing Hth-independent wing epithelial neoplasia. Likewise, neoplasia in the eye primordium resulted in loss of Elav, a retinal cell marker; these, however, switched to an Hth-dependent primitive cell state. These results suggest a general characteristic of "cells-of-origin" in epithelial cancers, namely their propensity for switch to primitive cell states.