Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: Coexistent PTEN and PIK3CA alterations hyperactivate mTORC1 signaling in endometrial cancers and cause their selective sensitivity to mTORC1 inhibition
doi: 10.64898/2026.02.12.705558
Figure Lengend Snippet: MFE296 (mutant PTEN R130Q, N323fs / mutant PIK3CA P539R, I20M ) cells (A) and MFE280 (WT PTEN/ mutant PIK3CA H1047Y; I391M ) (B) were treated with a combination of 1μM BYL-719 + 250 nM AZD8186 (PI3Ki) or with 500 pM RMC-6272 for 24 hours followed by 30 minutes Puromycin (1μM) treatment. (C) AN3CA (mutant PTEN R130fs / WT PIK3CA ) cells were transiently transfected with mutant PIK3CA E542K , and after 24 hours were treated with either combination of 1μM BYL-719 and 250 nM AZD8186 (PI3Ki), or with 500pM RMC-6272 for additional 24 hours, followed by 30 minutes Puromycin (1μM) treatment. Western blots probed for puromycin show its incorporation into newly synthesized proteins (upper panel). Ponceau S labeling was used as a loading control (middle panel). Puromycin band intensity was quantified and normalized to Ponceau S and to DMSO treated control cells (lower panels). Graphs represent average and standard deviation of at least three independent experiments. ***p-value <0.001, **p-value <0.01, *p-value <0.05, n.s. not significant. (D-E) MFE296 (mutant PTEN R130Q, N323fs / mutant PIK3CA P539R, I20M ) cells were treated with either a combination of 1μM BYL-719 + 250 nM AZD8186 (PI3Ki), 500pM RMC-6272, or 250 nM Torin1 for 16 hours. Heat maps, displaying TMTpro-based quantification of indicated protein’s abundance, show the phosphorylated levels of mTOR-related proteins (D) and total expression of cell cycle regulators (E) upon treatment. (F-H) Cell cycle states of the following cells were analyzed by flow cytometry after inhibitors treatment followed by 2 hours EdU (10 μM) incorporation and EdU-FxCycle Violet staining. (F) MFE296 (mutant PTEN R130Q, N323fs / mutant PIK3CA P539R, I20M ) cells after treatment with a combination of 1μM BYL-719 + 250 nM AZD8186 (PI3Ki), 1μM MK2206, 500pM RMC-6272 or 500nM AZD8055 for 24 hours. (G) AN3CA (mutant PTEN R130fs / WT PIK3CA ) cells that were transiently transfected with mutant PIK3CA E542K , and after 24 hours were treated with either combination of 1μM BYL-719 and 250 nM AZD8186 (PI3Ki), or with RMC-6272 (500pM) for additional 24 hours. (H) A summarizing table of fold change in S phase relative to DMSO observed in F-G. Numbers represent an average of three independent experiments. (I-J) MFE296 (mutant PTEN R130Q, N323fs / mutant PIK3CA P539R, I20M ) cells were treated with a combination of 1μM BYL-719 and 250 nM AZD8186 (PI3Ki), 500pM RMC-6272, or 500nM AZD8055 for the indicated time points. The expression of the indicated cell cycle regulators was analyzed by immunoblotting using specific antibodies. Lysates from the experiment shown in were used for this analysis. (J) Bands were quantified and normalized to vinculin expression. Quantification demonstrates an average and standard deviation of 3-4 independent experiments.
Article Snippet: For mutant PIK3CA E542K over-expression, we first introduced the mutation to the pLP-LNCX- PIK3CA -WT plasmid using the site-directed mutagenesis Kit (QuikChange, #200521, Agilent) using the following primers: F: ACA CGA GAT CCT CTC TCT AAA ATC ACT GAG CAG GAG AAA R: TTT CTC CTG CTC AGT GAT TTT AGA GAG AGG ATC TCG TGT pLP-LNCX- PIK3CA -WT was a gift from Todd Waldman (Addgene plasmid #25633) pLNCX2 Retroviral Vector was obtained from Takara (#631503) and served as a control for transfections.
Techniques: Mutagenesis, Transfection, Western Blot, Synthesized, Labeling, Control, Standard Deviation, Expressing, Flow Cytometry, Staining