In vivo intra-uterine delivery of TAT-fused Cre recombinase and CRISPR/Cas9 editing unveil histopathology of Pten/p53-deficient endometrial cancers.

Abstract

Pten and p53 are two of the most frequently mutated tumor suppressor genes in endometrial cancer. However, the functional consequences and histopathological manifestation of concomitant p53 and Pten loss of function alterations in the development of endometrial cancer is still controversial. Here, we demonstrate that simultaneous Pten and p53 deletion is sufficient to cause epithelial to mesenchymal transition phenotype in endometrial organoids. By a novel TAT-fused Cre intravaginal delivery method, we achieved local ablation of both p53 and Pten specifically in the uterus. These mice developed high-grade endometrial carcinomas and a high percentage of uterine carcinosarcomas resembling those found in humans. To further demonstrate that carcinosarcomas arise from epithelium, double Pten/p53 deficient epithelial cells were mixed with wild type stromal and myometrial cells and subcutaneously transplanted to Scid mice. All xenotransplants resulted in the development of uterine carcinosarcomas displaying high nuclear pleomorphism and metastatic potential. Accordingly, in vivo CRISPR/Cas9 disruption of Pten and p53 also triggered the development of metastatic carcinosarcomas. Our results unfadingly demonstrate that simultaneous deletion of p53 and Pten in endometrial epithelial cells is enough to trigger epithelial to mesenchymal transition that is consistently translated to the formation of uterine carcinosarcomas in vivo.