In vivo gene expression in granulosa cells during pig terminal follicular development.

Ovarian antral follicular development is clearly dependent on pituitary gonadotrophins FSH and LH. Although the endocrine mechanism that controls ovarian folliculogenesis leading to ovulation is quite well understood, the detailed mechanisms and molecular determinants in the different follicular compartments remain to be clarified. The aim of this study was to identify the genes differentially expressed in pig granulosa cells along the terminal ovarian follicle growth, to gain a comprehensive view of these molecular mechanisms. First, we developed a specific micro-array using cDNAs from suppression subtractive hybridization libraries (345 contigs) obtained by comparison of three follicle size classes: small, medium and large antral healthy follicles. In a second step, a transcriptomic analysis using cDNA probes from these three follicle classes identified 79 differentially expressed transcripts along the terminal follicular growth and 26 predictive genes of size classes. The differential expression of 18 genes has been controlled using real-time PCR experiments validating the micro-array analysis. Finally, the integration of the data using Ingenuity Pathways Analysis identified five gene networks providing descriptive elements of the terminal follicular development. Specifically, we observed: (1) the down-expression of ribosomal protein genes, (2) the genes involved in lipid metabolism and (3) the down-expression of cell morphology and ion-binding genes. In conclusion, this study gives new insight into the gene expression during pig terminal follicular growth in vivo and suggested, in particular, a morphological change in pig granulosa cells accompanying terminal follicular growth.

Restricting direct interaction of CDC37 with HSP90 does not compromise chaperoning of client proteins.

The HSP90 molecular chaperone plays a key role in the maturation, stability and activation of its clients, including many oncogenic proteins. Kinases are a substantial and important subset of clients requiring the key cochaperone CDC37. We sought an improved understanding of protein kinase chaperoning by CDC37 in cancer cells. CDC37 overexpression in human colon cancer cells increased CDK4 protein levels, which was negated upon CDC37 knockdown. Overexpressing CDC37 increased CDK4 protein half-life and enhanced binding of HSP90 to CDK4, consistent with CDC37 promoting kinase loading onto chaperone complexes. Against expectation, expression of C-terminus-truncated CDC37 (ΔC-CDC37) that lacks HSP90 binding capacity did not affect kinase client expression or activity; moreover, as with wild-type CDC37 overexpression, it augmented CDK4-HSP90 complex formation. However, although truncation blocked binding to HSP90 in cells, ΔC-CDC37 also showed diminished client protein binding and was relatively unstable. CDC37 mutants with single and double point mutations at residues M164 and L205 showed greatly reduced binding to HSP90, but retained association with client kinases. Surprisingly, these mutants phenocopied wild-type CDC37 overexpression by increasing CDK4-HSP90 association and CDK4 protein levels in cells. Furthermore, expression of the mutants was sufficient to protect kinase clients CDK4, CDK6, CRAF and ERBB2 from depletion induced by silencing endogenous CDC37, indicating that CDC37's client stabilising function cannot be inactivated by substantially reducing its direct interaction with HSP90. However, CDC37 could not compensate for loss of HSP90 function, showing that CDC37 and HSP90 have their own distinct and non-redundant roles in maintaining kinase clients. Our data substantiate the important function of CDC37 in chaperoning protein kinases. Furthermore, we demonstrate that CDC37 can stabilise kinase clients by a mechanism that is not dependent on a substantial direct interaction between CDC37 and HSP90, but nevertheless requires HSP90 activity. These results have significant implications for therapeutic targeting of CDC37.

Silencing the cochaperone CDC37 destabilizes kinase clients and sensitizes cancer cells to HSP90 inhibitors.

The cochaperone CDC37 promotes the association of HSP90 with the protein kinase subset of client proteins to maintain their stability and signalling functions. HSP90 inhibitors induce depletion of clients, which include several oncogenic kinases. We hypothesized that the targeting of CDC37 using siRNAs would compromise the maturation of these clients and increase the sensitivity of cancer cells to HSP90 inhibitors. Here, we show that silencing of CDC37 in human colon cancer cells diminished the association of kinase clients with HSP90 and reduced levels of the clients ERBB2, CRAF, CDK4 and CDK6, as well as phosphorylated AKT. CDC37 silencing promoted the proteasome-mediated degradation of kinase clients, suggesting a degradation pathway independent from HSP90 binding. Decreased cell signalling through kinase clients was also demonstrated by reduced phosphorylation of downstream substrates and colon cancer cell proliferation was subsequently reduced by the inhibition of the G1/S-phase transition. Furthermore, combining CDC37 silencing with the HSP90 inhibitor 17-AAG induced more extensive and sustained depletion of kinase clients and potentiated cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. These results support an essential role for CDC37 in concert with HSP90 in maintaining oncogenic protein kinase clients and endorse the therapeutic potential of targeting CDC37 in cancer.