RESUMEN
High attrition rates of novel anti-cancer drugs highlight the need for improved models to predict toxicity. Although polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) inhibitors are attractive candidates for drug development, the role of Plk1 in primary cells remains widely unexplored. Therefore, we evaluated the utility of an RNA interference-based model to assess responses to an inducible knockdown (iKD) of Plk1 in adult mice. Here we show that Plk1 silencing can be achieved in several organs, although adverse events are rare. We compared responses in Plk1-iKD mice with those in primary cells kept under controlled culture conditions. In contrast to the addiction of many cancer cell lines to the non-oncogene Plk1, the primary cells' proliferation, spindle assembly and apoptosis exhibit only a low dependency on Plk1. Responses to Plk1-depletion, both in cultured primary cells and in our iKD-mouse model, correspond well and thus provide the basis for using validated iKD mice in predicting responses to therapeutic interventions.
Asunto(s)
Antineoplásicos/toxicidad , Proteínas de Ciclo Celular/antagonistas & inhibidores , Neoplasias/tratamiento farmacológico , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinasas/antagonistas & inhibidores , Proteínas Proto-Oncogénicas/antagonistas & inhibidores , Interferencia de ARN/efectos de los fármacos , Pruebas de Toxicidad/métodos , Animales , Apoptosis/genética , Northern Blotting , Proteínas de Ciclo Celular/genética , Proteínas de Ciclo Celular/metabolismo , Células Cultivadas , Cartilla de ADN/genética , Evaluación Preclínica de Medicamentos , Citometría de Flujo , Técnica del Anticuerpo Fluorescente , Dosificación de Gen/genética , Técnicas de Silenciamiento del Gen , Ingeniería Genética/métodos , Humanos , Ratones , Ratones Transgénicos , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinasas/genética , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinasas/metabolismo , Proteínas Proto-Oncogénicas/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogénicas/metabolismo , Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa de Transcriptasa Inversa , Transfección , Quinasa Tipo Polo 1RESUMEN
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have regulatory functions during vertebrate embryogenesis. They are short approximately 21bp long endogenously expressed single-stranded RNAs, which preferentially bind to complementary sequences in the 3' untranslated regions (UTR) of mRNAs and typically down-regulate the respective target mRNAs by translational repression or enhanced mRNA degradation. The Notch ligand Delta-like 1 (Dll1) is expressed in a highly dynamic pattern and has pleiotropic functions during embryogenesis and in adult tissues. Here, we report an interspecies in silico analysis to identify 16 miRNAs, which potentially bind to the mouse, human and chicken Dll1 3'UTRs. To analyze whether these miRNAs could regulate Dll1 gene expression during somitogenesis and neurogenesis, we performed a systematic whole mount in situ hybridisation screen, followed by radioactive in situ hybridisation on sections, using LNA modified DNA probes in mouse embryos. We find that 7 miRNAs (miR-34a, miR-103, miR-107, miR-130a, miR-130b, miR-449a and miR-449c) are expressed in developing somites, limbs, restricted regions of the brain and neural tube between 9.5 dpc and 12.5 dpc. This suggests that these miRNAs could possibly target the Dll1 3'UTR in these regions. The other miRNAs are not expressed or below the detection limit and thus are unlikely to regulate Dll1 at the analyzed embryonic stages.