Empty spiracles homeobox genes EMX1 and EMX2 regulate WNT pathway activation in sarcomagenesis

BACKGROUND: Sarcomas are a very heterogeneous group of tumors with intrinsic developmental programs derived from the cell of origin. This implies a functional hierarchy inside tumors governed by sarcoma stem cells. Therefore, genetic and/or epigenetic changes profoundly affect the biology of sarcoma tumor stem cells. EMX genes are proposed to be transcription factors that are involved in the sarcomagenesis process, regardless of the neural or mesodermal embryological sarcoma origin. It has been shown that EMX1 or EMX2 overexpression reduces tumorigenic properties, while reducing the levels of these genes enhances these properties. Furthermore, it has been shown that EMX genes decrease the expression of stem cell regulatory genes and the stem cell phenotype. Taken together, these results indicate that the EMX1 and EMX2 genes negatively regulate these tumor-remodeling populations or sarcoma stem cells, acting as tumor suppressors in sarcoma. METHODS: Bioinformatic analysis, quantitative mRNA and protein expression analysis, cell models of sarcoma by ectopic expression of EMX genes. By cell biology methods we measured tumorigenesis and populations enriched on stem cell phenotypes, either in vitro or in vivo. RESULTS: In this work, we showed that the canonical Wnt pathway is one of the mechanisms that explains the relationships of EMX1/EMX2 and stem cell genes in sarcoma. The Wnt-EMX1/EMX2 relationship was validated in silico with sarcoma patient datasets, in vitro in primary derived sarcoma cell lines, and in vivo. EMX expression was found to negatively regulate the Wnt pathway. In addition, the constitutive activation of the Wnt pathway revers to a more aggressive phenotype with stem cell properties, and stemness gene transcription increased even in the presence of EMX1 and/or EMX2 overexpression, establishing the relationship among the Wnt pathway, stem cell genes and the EMX transcription factors. CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that Empty Spiracles Homeobox Genes EMX1 and EMX2 represses WNT signalling and activation of WNT pathway bypass EMX-dependent stemness repression and induces sarcomagenesis. These results also suggest the relevance of the Wnt/b-catenin/stemness axis as a therapeutic target in sarcoma. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13046-021-02048-9.