E2F1 promotes angiogenesis through the VEGF-C/VEGFR-3 axis in a feedback loop for cooperative induction of PDGF-B.

Angiogenesis is essential for primary tumor growth and metastatic dissemination. E2F1, frequently upregulated in advanced cancers, was recently shown to drive malignant progression. In an attempt to decipher the molecular events underlying this behavior, we demonstrate that the tumor cell-associated vascular endothelial growth factor-C/receptor-3 (VEGF-C/VEGFR-3) axis is controlled by E2F1. Activation or forced expression of E2F1 in cancer cells leads to the upregulation of VEGFR-3 and its ligand VEGF-C, whereas E2F1 depletion prevents their expression. E2F1-dependent receptor induction is crucial for tumor cells to enhance formation of capillary tubes and neovascularization in mice. We further provide evidence for a positive feedback loop between E2F1 and VEGFR-3 signaling to stimulate pro-angiogenic platelet-derived growth factor B (PDGF-B). E2F1 or VEGFR-3 knockdown results in reduced PDGF-B levels, while the coexpression synergistically upregulates promoter activity and endogenous protein expression of PDGF-B. Our findings delineate an as yet unrecognized function of E2F1 as enhancer of angiogenesis via regulation of VEGF-C/VEGFR-3 signaling in tumors to cooperatively activate PDGF-B expression. Targeting this pathway might be reasonable to complement standard anti-angiogenic treatment of cancers with deregulated E2F1.

Dissection of cell context-dependent interactions between HBx and p53 family members in regulation of apoptosis: a role for HBV-induced HCC.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the major risk for hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). HBV X protein (HBx) and p53 tumor suppressor family interactions may be crucial for HCC induction. We compared p53 and p73 interactions with HBx in normal and HCC tumor cell lines differing in their p53 status. In the latter, HBx was pro-apoptotic but exhibited opposite effects in non-tumor cells. In these normal cells, p53 and p73 were retained in the cytoplasm. In hepatoma cells, however, HBx led to nuclear translocation of p53 and p73, followed by enhanced transactivation of p53-dependent promoters. The nuclear transfer of p53, but not of p73, was abrogated by protein kinase C inhibitor Gö6976. HBx overexpression in HCC cells led to strong p53 phosphorylation at Ser15, but not in non-tumor cells. Our results define ATM kinase as mediator for HBx-induced p53 phosphorylation. While HBx promotes cell death in p53/p73-positive hepatoma cells also in presence of increased levels of the oncogenic ΔTAp73 isoform, it significantly potentiates ΔTAp73-mediated proliferation and malignant transformation of fibroblasts. Our data suggest that prevention of apoptosis in normal cells by HBx through inhibition of pro-apoptotic p53 family members via direct interaction and coaction with anti-apoptotic ΔTAp73 seems to be the key element in the decision in favor of cell survival. The complex cell context-dependent interactions between p53 family members and HBx in the regulation of apoptosis may be essential in HBV-induced HCC and anticancer therapy.

Targeting of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of adult rats by custom-made Ad vectors.

Adult hippocampal neural stem cells (NSC) are an intriguing source for cell replacement or could serve as delivery vehicles for therapeutic genes. We recently reported selective transduction of adult mouse NSC in the DG by in vivo injection of GFP encoding adenoviral (Ad) vectors engineered to bind NSC-specific peptides. Here, we investigated the specificity of these peptide-tagged vectors in the adult rat DG, and whether they can be used to follow differentiation of infected cells over time. The virus-containing solution was injected into the DG by stereotaxic surgery. Specific transduction of NSC was demonstrated by the radial glia-like morphology of GFP-expressing type-1 cells and co-labeling with nestin or glial fibrillary acidic protein. Three days post-injection more than 82% of GFP-containing cells were nestin-immunoreactive, as revealed by unbiased stereology and no GFP-expressing neurons were observed. However, 30 days after injection, the amount of GFP and nestin-containing cells declined (56%), whereas now neurons that contained NeuN or possessed the typical granular nerve cell morphology expressed GFP, indicating that they were derived from initially transduced NSC. Importantly, still more than 20% of nestin-immunoreactive NSC was found to be GFP-positive 90 days after infection, but unfortunately at this time point no GFP-containing neurons were detectable. Our results demonstrate that Ad vectors tagged with NSC-specific ligands can be used to target type-1 NSC, the low-proliferating cell population, in the rat hippocampus. They are a valuable tool to monitor the differentiation of their descendants, at least over short time periods.

Functional interplay between E2F1 and chemotherapeutic drugs defines immediate E2F1 target genes crucial for cancer cell death.

The E2F1 transcription factor enhances apoptosis by DNA damage in tumors lacking p53. To elucidate the mechanism of a potential cooperation between E2F1 and chemotherapy, whole-genome microarrays of chemoresistant tumor cell lines were performed focusing on the identification of cooperation response genes (CRG). This gene class is defined by a synergistic expression response upon endogenous E2F1 activation and drug treatment. Cluster analysis revealed an expression pattern of CRGs similar to E2F1 mono-therapy, suggesting that chemotherapeutics enhance E2F1-dependent gene expression at the transcriptional level. Using this approach as a tool to explore E2F1-driven gene expression in response to anticancer drugs, we identified novel apoptosis genes such as the tumor suppressor TIEG1/KLF10 as direct E2F1 targets. We show that TIEG1/KLF10 is transcriptionally activated by E2F1 and crucial for E2F1-mediated chemosensitization of cancer cells. Our results provide a broader picture of E2F1-regulated genes in conjunction with cytotoxic treatment that allows the design of more rational therapeutics.

Purification and partial characterization of canine neutrophil elastase and the development of an immunoassay for the measurement of canine neutrophil elastase in serum obtained from dogs.

OBJECTIVE: To purify neutrophil elastase (NE) from dog blood and develop and validate an ELISA for the measurement of canine NE (cNE) in canine serum as a marker for gastrointestinal tract inflammation. SAMPLE POPULATION: Neutrophils from 6 dogs immediately after they were euthanatized and serum from 54 healthy dogs. PROCEDURES: cNE was purified from blood by use of dextran sedimentation, repeated cycles of freezing-thawing and sonication, cation-exchange chromatography, and continuous elution electrophoresis. Antibodies against cNE were generated in rabbits, and an ELISA was developed and validated by determination of sensitivity, dilutional parallelism, spiking recovery, intra-assay variability, and interassay variability. A reference range was established by assaying serum samples from the 54 healthy dogs and by use of the lower 97.5th percentile. RESULTS: cNE was successfully purified from blood, and antibodies were successfully generated in rabbits. An ELISA was developed with a sensitivity of 1,100 mug/L. The reference range was established as < 2,239 mug/L. Ratios of observed-to-expected results for dilutional parallelism for 4 serum samples ranged from 85.4% to 123.1%. Accuracy, as determined by spiking recovery, ranged from 27.1% to 114.0%. Coefficient of variation for 4 serum samples was 14.2%, 16.0%, 16.8%, and 13.4%, respectively, for intra-assay variability and 15.4%, 15.0%, 10.5%, and 14.6%, respectively, for interassay variability. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The purification protocol used here resulted in rapid and reproducible purification of cNE with a high yield. The novel ELISA yielded linear results and was accurate and precise. Additional studies are needed to evaluate the clinical usefulness of this assay.

C-terminal p73 isoforms repress transcriptional activity of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) promoter.

Activation of telomerase is linked to tumorigenesis and has been observed in a variety of human tumors. Previous reports demonstrated that p53 represses human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), a key component for telomerase activity. The p73 protein displays a tumor suppressor activity similar to p53. In the present study, we examined the effect of transactivation competent p73 isoforms on hTERT expression in p53-negative human H1299 cells. Overexpression of C-terminal p73 isoforms (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) resulted in a clear down-regulation of hTERT promoter activity. The strongest inhibitory effect, comparable with p53, was observed for p73beta. Moreover, suppression of hTERT expression was also mediated by endogenous p73 after activation of E2F1 in H1299ER-E2F1 cells. Mutations in the Sp1 transcription factor-binding sites of the proximal core promoter region significantly abolished p73-induced repression, suggesting that the effect is mediated by Sp1. Finally, we demonstrate that p73 directly interacts with Sp1, suggesting that formation of a p73-Sp1 complex is the underlying mechanism for p73-triggered inhibition of hTERT expression. Our findings provide additional evidence that p73 mimics p53 in many aspects in cells lacking functional p53, thereby contributing to tumor surveillance.