Lef1 restricts ectopic crypt formation and tumor cell growth in intestinal adenomas

Somatic mutations in APC or CTNNB1 genes lead to aberrant Wnt signaling and colorectal cancer (CRC) initiation and progression via-catenin-T cell factor/lymphoid enhancer binding factor TCF/LEF transcription factors. We found that Lef1 was expressed exclusively in Apc-mutant, Wnt ligand-independent tumors, but not in ligand-dependent, serrated tumors. To analyze Lef1 function in tumor development, we conditionally deleted Lef1 in intestinal stem cells of Apc(fl/fl) mice or broadly from the entire intestinal epithelium of Apc(fl/fl) or Apc(Min/+) mice. Loss of Lef1 markedly increased tumor initiation and tumor cell proliferation, reduced the expression of several Wnt antagonists, and increased Myc proto-oncogene expression and formation of ectopic crypts in Apc-mutant adenomas. Our results uncover a previously unknown negative feedback mechanism in CRC, in which ectopic Lef1 expression suppresses intestinal tumorigenesis by restricting adenoma cell dedifferentiation to a crypt-progenitor phenotype and by reducing the formation of cancer stem cell niches.