Role of Yes-Associated Protein 1 (YAP1) in rhabdomyosarcoma

Doxycycline-inducible YAP1 S127A-driven rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) tumors, control skeletal muscle and regressed tumors following YAP1 normalization by doxycycline withdrawal were compared to determine the YAP1-regulated gene expression profile relevant to RMS formation. To characterize the role of YAP1 in embryonal RMS at the molecular level and identify a gene signature for YAP1 activity readout, we compared the gene expression profiles of our YAP1-driven ERMS with control donor skeletal muscle (SKM) and doxycycline-withdrawn regressing tumors by microarray (doxycycline withdrawal for 3 or 6 days; OFF3 and OFF6, respectively). We next extracted a list of genes regulated by YAP1 in our YAP1-driven ERMS tumors (TUM) versus the 3 other conditions: skeletal muscle control (SKM), Doxycycline-withdrawn 3 days (OFF3) and 6 days (OFF6). The overlap between the 3 lists identified a subset of 633 common upregulated genes, named the YAP1-ERMS_UP signature, as well as 249 common downregulated genes, termed the YAP1-ERMS_DOWN signature. Proliferative pathways and transcriptional targets of E2F factors were highlighted in the YAP1-ERMS_UP genes, while muscle differentiation and trancriptional targets of myogenic factors Myod1 and Mef2 were highlighted in the YAP1-ERMS_DOWN genes. Tumor regression conditions (OFF3 days; OFF6 days) as well as control muscle (CTL) were compared with tumors at day 0 of doxycycline withdrawal (TUM). 3 samples for each conditions were used.