PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ruby E Dawson
AU  - Virginie Deswaerte
AU  - Alison C West
AU  - Ke Tang
AU  - Alice J West
AU  - Jesse J Balic
AU  - Linden J Gearing
AU  - Mohamed I Saad
AU  - Liang Yu
AU  - Yonghui Wu
AU  - Prithi S Bhathal
AU  - Beena Kumar
AU  - Jayati T Chakrabarti
AU  - Yana Zavros
AU  - Hiroko Oshima
AU  - Dennis M Klinman
AU  - Masanobu Oshima
AU  - Patrick Tan
AU  - Brendan J Jenkins
TI  - STAT3-mediated upregulation of the AIM2 DNA sensor links innate immunity with cell migration to promote epithelial tumourigenesis
AID  - 10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323916
DP  - 2022 Aug 01
TA  - Gut
PG  - 1515--1531
VI  - 71
IP  - 8
4099  - http://gut.bmj.com/content/71/8/1515.short
4100  - http://gut.bmj.com/content/71/8/1515.full
SO  - Gut2022 Aug 01; 71
AB  - Objective The absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) cytosolic pattern recognition receptor and DNA sensor promotes the pathogenesis of autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases via caspase-1-containing inflammasome complexes. However, the role of AIM2 in cancer is ill-defined.Design The expression of AIM2 and its clinical significance was assessed in human gastric cancer (GC) patient cohorts. Genetic or therapeutic manipulation of AIM2 expression and activity was performed in the genetically engineered gp130F/F spontaneous GC mouse model, as well as human GC cell line xenografts. The biological role and mechanism of action of AIM2 in gastric tumourigenesis, including its involvement in inflammasome activity and functional interaction with microtubule-associated end-binding protein 1 (EB1), was determined in vitro and in vivo.Results AIM2 expression is upregulated by interleukin-11 cytokine-mediated activation of the oncogenic latent transcription factor STAT3 in the tumour epithelium of GC mouse models and patients with GC. Genetic and therapeutic targeting of AIM2 in gp130F/F mice suppressed tumourigenesis. Conversely, AIM2 overexpression augmented the tumour load of human GC cell line xenografts. The protumourigenic function of AIM2 was independent of inflammasome activity and inflammation. Rather, in vivo and in vitro AIM2 physically interacted with EB1 to promote epithelial cell migration and tumourigenesis. Furthermore, upregulated expression of AIM2 and EB1 in the tumour epithelium of patients with GC was independently associated with poor patient survival.Conclusion AIM2 can play a driver role in epithelial carcinogenesis by linking cytokine-STAT3 signalling, innate immunity and epithelial cell migration, independent of inflammasome activation.Data are available on reasonable request. Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.