RhoC in association with TET2/WDR5 regulates cancer stem cells by epigenetically modifying the expression of pluripotency genes
Emerging evidence illustrates that RhoC has divergent roles in cervical cancer progression where it controls epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), migration, angiogenesis, invasion, tumor growth, and radiation response. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the primary cause of recurrence and metastasis and exhibit all of the above phenotypes. It, therefore, becomes imperative to understand if RhoC regulates CSCs in cervical cancer. In this study, cell lines and clinical specimen-based findings demonstrate that RhoC regulates tumor phenotypes such as clonogenicity and anoikis resistance. Accordingly, inhibition of RhoC abrogated these phenotypes. RNA-seq analysis revealed that RhoC over-expression resulted in up-regulation of 27% of the transcriptome. Further, the Infinium MethylationEPIC array showed that RhoC over-expressing cells had a demethylated genome. Studies divulged that RhoC via TET2 signaling regulated the demethylation of the genome. Further investigations comprising ChIP-seq, reporter assays, and mass spectrometry revealed that RhoC associates with WDR5 in the nucleus and regulates the expression of pluripotency genes such as Nanog. Interestingly, clinical specimen-based investigations revealed the existence of a subset of tumor cells marked by RhoC
