Molecular mechanisms of KDM5A in cellular functions: Facets during development and disease.

Gene expression is influenced at many layers by a fine-tuned crosstalk between multiple extrinsic signalling pathways and intrinsic regulatory molecules that respond to environmental stimuli. Epigenetic modifiers like DNA methyltransferases, histone modifying enzymes and chromatin remodellers are reported to act as triggering factors in many scenarios by exhibiting their control over most of the cellular processes. These epigenetic players can either directly regulate gene expression or interact with some effector molecules that harmonize the expression of downstream genes. One such epigenetic regulator which exhibits multifaceted regulation over gene expression is KDM5A. It is classically a transcriptional repressor acting as H3K4me3 demethylase, but also is reported to act as an activator in many contexts either by loss of activity due to inhibition manifested by other interacting proteins or by downregulating the negative players of a given physiological process thereby escalating the framework. Through this review, we draw attention to the remarkable modes of functioning laid by KDM5A on transcriptional and translational processes, affecting gene expression during differentiation and development and finally summing up on role in disease causation (Fig. 1). We also shed light on different orthologs of KDM5A and their organism specific roles, along with comparison of the sequence similarity to extrapolate some unanswered questions about this protein.

Extended Recognition of the Histone H3 Tail by Histone Demethylase KDM5A.

Human lysine demethylase KDM5A is a chromatin-modifying enzyme associated with transcriptional regulation, because of its ability to catalyze removal of methyl groups from methylated lysine 4 of histone H3 (H3K4me3). Amplification of KDM5A is observed in many cancers, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, lung cancer, and gastric cancer. In this study, we employed alanine scanning mutagenesis to investigate substrate recognition of KDM5A and identify the H3 tail residues necessary for KDM5A-catalyzed demethylation. Our data show that the H3Q5 residue is critical for substrate recognition by KDM5A. Our data also reveal that the protein-protein interactions between KDM5A and the histone H3 tail extend beyond the amino acids proximal to the substrate mark. Specifically, demethylation activity assays show that deletion or mutation of residues at positions 14-18 on the H3 tail results in an 8-fold increase in the KMapp, compared to wild-type 18mer peptide, suggesting that this distal epitope is important in histone engagement. Finally, we demonstrate that post-translational modifications on this distal epitope can modulate KDM5A-dependent demethylation. Our findings provide insights into H3K4-specific recognition by KDM5A, as well as how chromatin context can regulate KDM5A activity and H3K4 methylation status.

Characterization of a Linked Jumonji Domain of the KDM5/JARID1 Family of Histone H3 Lysine 4 Demethylases.

The KDM5/JARID1 family of Fe(II)- and α-ketoglutarate-dependent demethylases remove methyl groups from tri- and dimethylated lysine 4 of histone H3. Accumulating evidence from primary tumors and model systems supports a role for KDM5A (JARID1A/RBP2) and KDM5B (JARID1B/PLU1) as oncogenic drivers. The KDM5 family is unique among the Jumonji domain-containing histone demethylases in that there is an atypical insertion of a DNA-binding ARID domain and a histone-binding PHD domain into the Jumonji domain, which separates the catalytic domain into two fragments (JmjN and JmjC). Here we demonstrate that internal deletion of the ARID and PHD1 domains has a negligible effect on in vitro enzymatic kinetics of the KDM5 family of enzymes. We present a crystal structure of the linked JmjN-JmjC domain from KDM5A, which reveals that the linked domain fully reconstitutes the cofactor (metal ion and α-ketoglutarate) binding characteristics of other structurally characterized Jumonji domain demethylases. Docking studies with GSK-J1, a selective inhibitor of the KDM6/KDM5 subfamilies, identify critical residues for binding of the inhibitor to the reconstituted KDM5 Jumonji domain. Further, we found that GSK-J1 inhibited the demethylase activity of KDM5C with 8.5-fold increased potency compared with that of KDM5B at 1 mm α-ketoglutarate. In contrast, JIB-04 (a pan-inhibitor of the Jumonji demethylase superfamily) had the opposite effect and was ~8-fold more potent against KDM5B than against KDM5C. Interestingly, the relative selectivity of JIB-04 toward KDM5B over KDM5C in vitro translates to a ~10-50-fold greater growth-inhibitory activity against breast cancer cell lines. These data define the minimal requirements for enzymatic activity of the KDM5 family to be the linked JmjN-JmjC domain coupled with the immediate C-terminal helical zinc-binding domain and provide structural characterization of the linked JmjN-JmjC domain for the KDM5 family, which should prove useful in the design of KDM5 demethylase inhibitors with improved potency and selectivity.

Pharmacological inhibition of KDM5A for cancer treatment.

Lysine-specific demethylase 5A (KDM5A, also named RBP2 or JARID1A) is a demethylase that can remove methyl groups from histones H3K4me1/2/3. It is aberrantly expressed in many cancers, where it impedes differentiation and contributes to cancer cell proliferation, cell metastasis and invasiveness, drug resistance, and is associated with poor prognosis. Pharmacological inhibition of KDM5A has been reported to significantly attenuate tumor progression in vitro and in vivo in a range of solid tumors and acute myeloid leukemia. This review will present the structural aspects of KDM5A, its role in carcinogenesis, a comparison of currently available approaches for screening KDM5A inhibitors, a classification of KDM5A inhibitors, and its potential as a drug target in cancer therapy.

Structural Insight into Chromatin Recognition by Multiple Domains of the Tumor Suppressor RBBP1.

Retinoblastoma-binding protein 1 (RBBP1) is involved in gene regulation, epigenetic regulation, and disease processes. RBBP1 contains five domains with DNA-binding or histone-binding activities, but how RBBP1 specifically recognizes chromatin is still unknown. An AT-rich interaction domain (ARID) in RBBP1 was proposed to be the key region for DNA-binding and gene suppression. Here, we first determined the solution structure of a tandem PWWP-ARID domain mutant of RBBP1 after deletion of a long flexible acidic loop L12 in the ARID domain. NMR titration results indicated that the ARID domain interacts with DNA with no GC- or AT-rich preference. Surprisingly, we found that the loop L12 binds to the DNA-binding region of the ARID domain as a DNA mimic and inhibits DNA binding. The loop L12 can also bind weakly to the Tudor and chromobarrel domains of RBBP1, but binds more strongly to the DNA-binding region of the histone H2A-H2B heterodimer. Furthermore, both the loop L12 and DNA can enhance the binding of the chromobarrel domain to H3K4me3 and H4K20me3. Based on these results, we propose a model of chromatin recognition by RBBP1, which highlights the unexpected multiple key roles of the disordered acidic loop L12 in the specific binding of RBBP1 to chromatin.

Hypoxia induces rapid changes to histone methylation and reprograms chromatin.

Oxygen is essential for the life of most multicellular organisms. Cells possess enzymes called molecular dioxygenases that depend on oxygen for activity. A subclass of molecular dioxygenases is the histone demethylase enzymes, which are characterized by the presence of a Jumanji-C (JmjC) domain. Hypoxia can alter chromatin, but whether this is a direct effect on JmjC-histone demethylases or due to other mechanisms is unknown. Here, we report that hypoxia induces a rapid and hypoxia-inducible factor-independent induction of histone methylation in a range of human cultured cells. Genomic locations of histone-3 lysine-4 trimethylation (H3K4me3) and H3K36me3 after a brief exposure of cultured cells to hypoxia predict the cell's transcriptional response several hours later. We show that inactivation of one of the JmjC-containing enzymes, lysine demethylase 5A (KDM5A), mimics hypoxia-induced cellular responses. These results demonstrate that oxygen sensing by chromatin occurs via JmjC-histone demethylase inhibition.

Structure-Based Engineering of Irreversible Inhibitors against Histone Lysine Demethylase KDM5A.

The active sites of hundreds of human α-ketoglutarate (αKG) and Fe(II)-dependent dioxygenases are exceedingly well preserved, which challenges the design of selective inhibitors. We identified a noncatalytic cysteine (Cys481 in KDM5A) near the active sites of KDM5 histone H3 lysine 4 demethylases, which is absent in other histone demethylase families, that could be explored for interaction with the cysteine-reactive electrophile acrylamide. We synthesized analogs of a thienopyridine-based inhibitor chemotype, namely, 2-((3-aminophenyl)(2-(piperidin-1-yl)ethoxy)methyl)thieno[3,2- b]pyridine-7-carboxylic acid (N70) and a derivative containing a (dimethylamino)but-2-enamido)phenyl moiety (N71) designed to form a covalent interaction with Cys481. We characterized the inhibitory and binding activities against KDM5A and determined the cocrystal structures of the catalytic domain of KDM5A in complex with N70 and N71. Whereas the noncovalent inhibitor N70 displayed αKG-competitive inhibition that could be reversed after dialysis, inhibition by N71 was dependent on enzyme concentration and persisted even after dialysis, consistent with covalent modification.

PI3K/AKT Signaling Regulates H3K4 Methylation in Breast Cancer.

Post-translational histone H3 modifications regulate transcriptional competence. The mechanisms by which the epigenome is regulated in response to oncogenic signaling remain unclear. Here we show that H3K4me3 is increased in breast tumors driven by an activated PIK3CA allele and that inhibition of PI3K/AKT signaling reduces promoter-associated H3K4me3 in human breast cancer cells. We show that the H3K4 demethylase KDM5A is an AKT target and that phosphorylation of KDM5A regulates its nuclear localization and promoter occupancy. Supporting a role for KDM5A in mediating PI3K/AKT transcriptional effects, the decreased expression in response to AKT inhibition of a subset of cell-cycle genes associated with poor clinical outcome is blunted by KDM5A silencing. Our data identify a mechanism by which PI3K/AKT signaling modulates the cancer epigenome through controlling H3K4 methylation and suggest that KDM5A subcellular localization and genome occupancy may be pharmacodynamic markers of the activity of PI3K/AKT inhibitors currently in clinical development.

Chemical basis for the recognition of trimethyllysine by epigenetic reader proteins.

A large number of structurally diverse epigenetic reader proteins specifically recognize methylated lysine residues on histone proteins. Here we describe comparative thermodynamic, structural and computational studies on recognition of the positively charged natural trimethyllysine and its neutral analogues by reader proteins. This work provides experimental and theoretical evidence that reader proteins predominantly recognize trimethyllysine via a combination of favourable cation-π interactions and the release of the high-energy water molecules that occupy the aromatic cage of reader proteins on the association with the trimethyllysine side chain. These results have implications in rational drug design by specifically targeting the aromatic cage of readers of trimethyllysine.

Crosstalk between VEGF and novel angiogenic protein regulates tumor angiogenesis and contributes to aggressiveness of breast carcinoma.

We have identified and characterized a novel proangiogenic glycoprotein (NAP) with molecular weight of 67 kDa from synovial fluid of rheumatoid arthritis patients. Proteomic analysis of the protein revealed 29% sequence coverage with maximum identity for human retinoblastoma binding protein 2. N-terminal amino acid sequence showed no identity to recently discovered protein sequences. NAP was also identified in both normal and tumor cell lines by Western blotting. NAP is a permeability factor as verified by miles permeability assay. The proangiogenic potential of NAP was identified using shell less CAM, rat cornea and tumor on CAM assays. NAP induces expression of VEGF and Flt-1 gene as verified by promoter reporter gene analysis. Further NAP induces proliferation of endothelial cells and formation of tube like structures. NAP is also involved in migration and invasion of tumor cells. Clinical data revealed the presence of NAP in breast cancer biopsies. We have developed monoclonal antibody (mAb), and specific ELISA, which confirmed the presence of NAP in the cytosol of tumor cells. The mAb effect was evaluated with established angiogenic assays. Further, we investigated the detailed mechanism by which NAP induces angiogenesis. NAP is phosphorylated by VEGF induced activation of MAPK and JNK pathways through VEGFR2 phosphorylation. NAP involves JNK pathway predominantly with further activation of NFκB in downstream processing of VEGF activation. Together these findings establish that NAP displays angiogenic properties and promotes efficient neovascularization both in vitro and in vivo models. These observations suggest that anti-NAP-mAb can be targeted for antiangiogenic therapy of cancer.