6686 Age-Associated Local GH Adversely Impacts the Microenvironmental Epithelial Landscape

Abstract Disclosure: V.M. Chesnokova: None. S. Zonis: None. T. Apaydin: None. C. Wang Valencia: None. R. Ainsworth: None. R. Barrett: None. A. Kettenbach: None. S. Melmed: None. The tissue microenvironmental homeostasis is disrupted with age-related changes. Knowledge of mechanisms enabling the age-associated tissue landscape is limited. Senescent cells increase with age, and the secretome released from senescence cells (SASP) affects neighboring cells, often creating a milieu favoring neoplasia. We previously showed that local non-pituitary epithelial growth hormone (GH) is induced and secreted from senescent cells, accumulates with age, and suppresses DNA repair, leading to abundant DNA damage. To examine SASP-derived autocrine GH actions, we analyzed normal human colon cells (hNCC) infected with lentivirus expressing hGH (lentiGH) or vector (lentiV). Mass spectrometry revealed significant changes in the Rho signaling pathway reflecting cell cytoskeletal rearrangements. To examine paracrine GH action, we co-cultured intact human 3D intestinal organoids with organoids infected with lentiGH for 5 weeks. Using whole-exome sequencing we found that local paracrine GH emanating from lentiGH organoids increases neighboring intact organoid cell chromosomal instability, inducing somatic mutations, including deletions, breakends, duplications, and insertions. Mechanisms for observed chromosomal instability include sequelae of GH-mediated suppressed DNA damage repair proteins including pATM, pATR, and pBRCA2, leading to DNA damage accumulation and favoring cell transformation over the long term. Furthermore, enriched gene ontology and KEGG pathway analysis of intact organoids exposed to paracrine GH identified distorted extracellular matrix (ECM) gene expression and focal adhesion pathways. We confirmed these genomic changes with Western blotting showing altered proteins associated with ECM and those responsible for cell structural rearrangements. Moreover, phospho-omics of GH-exposed cells revealed significant phosphorylation changes in proteins associated with cell skeletal rearrangement and cell migration pathways. We found that GH triggers these changes by EMT activation as shown by suppressing E-cadherin and inducing Twist2 and Snai1 transcription factors. Together, all these changes are consistent with observed increased migration, invasion, and anchorage-independent growth of hNCC infected with lentiGH or co-cultured with GH-secreting hNCC or with GH-secreting normal colon fibroblasts. As paracrine GH also facilitates metastases after intra-splenic injection of senescent cells in nude mice carrying xenografts secreting GH, our results indicate that accumulated and locally secreted GH in aging tissue enables a microenvironmental landscape favoring epithelial cell transformation. Presentation: 6/1/2024