PRIMA-1 targets the vulnerability of multiple myeloma of deregulated protein homeostasis through the perturbation of ER stress via p73 demethylation.

Despite therapeutic advancement, multiple myeloma (MM) remains incurable with drug resistance being one of the main challenges in the clinic. Myeloma cells possess high protein secretory load, leading to increased intracellular endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Hence, they are vulnerable to further perturbation to its protein homeostasis. In studying the therapeutic mechanism of PRIMA-1 (mutant-p53-reactivating-agent), we uncovered its novel p53-independent-mechanism that can be exploited for myeloma. Despite its inability in restoring the wild type-p53 protein conformation and transcriptional function in the mutant-p53-human-myeloma-cells, PRIMA-1 was efficacious against myeloma cells with differential p53 genotypes. Strikingly, cells without p53 expression demonstrated highest drug sensitivity. Genome-wide gene-expression analysis revealed the involvement of ER stress/UPR-pathway in inducing PRIMA-1-toxicity. UPR markers, HSP70, CHOP and GADD34, were significantly up-regulated, concomitantly with the induction of apoptosis. Furthermore, there was a global attenuation of protein synthesis, correlated with phospho-eIF2a up-regulation. Mechanistically, we identified that PRIMA-1 could cause the demethylation of TP73, through DNMT1 depletion, to subsequently enhance UPR. Of clinical significance, we observed that PRIMA-1 had additive therapeutic effects with another UPR-inducing-agent, bortezomib. Importantly, it can partially re-sensitize bortezomib-resistant cells to bortezomib. Given that MM is already stressed at the baseline in the ER, our results implicated that PRIMA-1 is a potential therapeutic option in MM by targeting its Achilles heel.

Impaired opsonization with C3b and phagocytosis of Streptococcus pneumoniae in sera from subjects with defects in the classical complement pathway.

Results from studies using mice deficient in specific complement factors and clinical data on patients with an inherited deficiency of the classical complement pathway component C2 suggest that the classical pathway is vital for immunity to Streptococcus pneumoniae. However, the consequences of defects in classical pathway activity for opsonization with C3b and the phagocytosis of different S. pneumoniae serotypes in human serum are not known, and there has not been a systematic analysis of the abilities of sera from subjects with a C2 deficiency to opsonize S. pneumoniae. Hence, to investigate the role of the classical pathway in immunity to S. pneumoniae in more detail, flow cytometry assays of opsonization with C3b and the phagocytosis of three capsular serotypes of S. pneumoniae were performed using human sera depleted of the complement factor C1q or B or sera obtained from C2-deficient subjects. The results demonstrate that, in human serum, the classical pathway is vital for C3b-iC3b deposition onto cells of all three serotypes of S. pneumoniae and seems to be more important than the alternative pathway for phagocytosis. Compared to the results for sera from normal subjects, C3b-iC3b deposition and total anti-S. pneumoniae antibody activity levels in sera obtained from C2(-/-) subjects were reduced and the efficiency of phagocytosis of all three S. pneumoniae strains was impaired. Anticapsular antibody levels did not correlate with phagocytosis or C3b-iC3b deposition. These data confirm that the classical pathway is vital for complement-mediated phagocytosis of S. pneumoniae and demonstrate why subjects with a C2 deficiency have a marked increase in susceptibility to S. pneumoniae infections.

Genetic alterations in the tyrosine kinase transcriptome of human cancer cell lines.

Protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) play a critical role in the manifestation of cancer cell properties, and respective signaling mechanisms have been studied extensively on immortalized tumor cells. To characterize and analyze commonly used cancer cell lines with regard to variations in the primary structure of all expressed PTKs, we conducted a cDNA-based sequence analysis of the entire tyrosine kinase transcriptome of 254 established tumor cell lines. The profiles of cell line intrinsic PTK transcript alterations and the evaluation of 155 identified polymorphisms and 234 somatic mutations are made available in a database designated "Tykiva" (tyrosine kinome variant). Tissue distribution analysis and/or the localization within defined protein domains indicate functional relevance of several genetic alterations. The cysteine replacement of the highly conserved Y367 residue in fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 or the Q26X nonsense mutation in the tumor-suppressor kinase CSK are examples, and may contribute to cell line-specific signaling characteristics and tumor progression. Moreover, known variants, such as epidermal growth factor receptor G719S, that were shown to mediate anticancer drug sensitivity could be detected in other than the previously reported tumor types. Our data therefore provide extensive system information for the design and interpretation of cell line-based cancer research, and may stimulate further investigations into broader clinical applications of current cancer therapeutics.