Identifying genes underlying parallel evolution of stromal resistance to placental and cancer invasion

Stromal regulation of cancer dissemination is well recognized, however causal genes remain unidentified. We previously demonstrated that epitheliochorial species have acquired stromal resistance to placental invasion, correlating with reduced rate of cancer malignancies, identifying stromal genes correlating with depth of placental invasion called ELI (Evolved Levels of Invasibility) genes. Similarly, decidualization of human endometrial fibroblasts confers resistance to placental invasion. We hypothesized that both trajectories may convergently use similar pathways, providing an opportunity to identify stromal genes regulating epithelial invasion. We created a gene-set ELI-D1 (ELI-Decidual 1), putatively underlying stromal vulnerability to invasion. ELI-D1 were negatively enriched in T1-T2 stage transition in many human cancers, typically preceding dissemination. We also identified candidate transcriptional regulators underlying variation in ELI-D1 genes across eutherians, functionally showing Nr2f6, and JDP2 can regulate stromal resistance to invasion in human fibroblasts. Our comparative approach provides us with a gene-set linked to stromal vulnerability in human cancers.