The JAK3-selective inhibitor PF-956980 reverses the resistance to cytotoxic agents induced by interleukin-4 treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells: potential for reversal of cytoprotection by the microenvironment.

Extensive evidence suggests that the malignant cells of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients are in close contact with activated T lymphocytes, which secrete a range of cytoprotective cytokines including interleukin-4 (IL-4). IL-4 induced the rapid phosphorylation and activation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 transcription factor in CLL cells in vitro. Longer incubation with IL-4 resulted in up-regulation of the antiapoptotic proteins, Mcl-1 and Bcl-X(L). All of these events were blocked by the JAK3-selective inhibitor, PF-956980. A dye reduction cytotoxicity assay showed that IL-4 induced resistance to the cytotoxic drugs fludarabine and chlorambucil and to the novel p53-elevating agent nutlin 3. IL-4-induced drug resistance was reversed by PF-956980. These conclusions were confirmed by independent assays for apoptosis induction (annexin V binding, cleavage of poly[ADP-ribose] polymerase, and morphologic analysis). Coculture with bone marrow stromal cells in the presence of supernatants derived from activated T-lymphocyte cultures also protected CLL cells from apoptosis induction by chlorambucil. Protection by these combined signals was reversed by PF-956980. The data here provide a preclinical rationale for the possible therapeutic use of PF-956980 in conjunction with conventional cytotoxic drugs to achieve more extensive killing of CLL cells by overcoming antiapoptotic signaling by the microenvironment.

2-Phenylacetylenesulfonamide (PAS) induces p53-independent apoptotic killing of B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells.

We studied the actions of 2-phenylacetylenesulfonamide (PAS) on B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells. PAS (5-20 microM) initiated apoptosis within 24 hours, with maximal death at 48 hours asassessed by morphology, cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), caspase 3 activation, and annexin V staining. PAS treatment induced Bax proapoptotic conformational change, Bax movement from the cytosol to the mitochondria, and cytochrome c release, indicating that PAS induced apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway. PAS induced approximately 3-fold up-regulation of proapoptotic Noxa protein and mRNA levels. In addition, Noxa was found unexpectedly to be bound to Bcl-2 in PAS-treated cells. PAS treatment of CLL cells failed to up-regulate p53, suggesting that PAS induced apoptosis independently of p53. Furthermore, PAS induced apoptosis in CLL isolates with p53 gene deletion in more than 97% of cells. Normal B lymphocytes were as sensitive to PAS-induced Noxa up-regulation and apoptosis as were CLL cells. However, both T lymphocytes and bone marrow hematopoietic progenitor cells were relatively resistant to PAS. Our data suggest that PAS may represent a novel class of drug that induces apoptosis in CLL cells independently of p53 status by a mechanism involving Noxa up-regulation.

p53-mediated apoptosis of CLL cells: evidence for a transcription-independent mechanism.

The p53 protein plays a key role in securing the apoptotic response of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells to genotoxic agents. Transcriptional induction of proapoptotic proteins including Puma are thought to mediate p53-dependent apoptosis. In contrast, recent studies have identified a novel nontranscriptional mechanism, involving direct binding of p53 to antiapoptotic proteins including Bcl-2 at the mitochondrial surface. Here we show that the major fraction of p53 induced in CLL cells by chlorambucil, fludarabine, or nutlin 3a was stably associated with mitochondria, where it binds to Bcl-2. The Puma protein, which was constitutively expressed in a p53-independent manner, was modestly up-regulated following p53 induction. Pifithrin alpha, an inhibitor of p53-mediated transcription, blocked the up-regulation of Puma and also of p21(CIP1). Surprisingly, pifithrin alpha dramatically augmented apoptosis induction by p53-elevating agents and also accelerated the proapoptotic conformation change of the Bax protein. These data suggest that direct interaction of p53 with mitochondrial antiapoptotic proteins including Bcl-2 is the major route for apoptosis induction in CLL cells and that p53's transcriptional targets include proteins that impede this nontranscriptional pathway. Therefore, strategies that block up-regulation of p53-mediated transcription may be of value in enhancing apoptosis induction of CLL cells by p53-elevating drugs.

T:G mismatch-specific thymine-DNA glycosylase (TDG) as a coregulator of transcription interacts with SRC1 family members through a novel tyrosine repeat motif.

Gene activation involves protein complexes with diverse enzymatic activities, some of which are involved in chromatin modification. We have shown previously that the base excision repair enzyme thymine DNA glycosylase (TDG) acts as a potent coactivator for estrogen receptor-alpha. To further understand how TDG acts in this context, we studied its interaction with known coactivators of nuclear receptors. We find that TDG interacts in vitro and in vivo with the p160 coactivator SRC1, with the interaction being mediated by a previously undescribed motif encoding four equally spaced tyrosine residues in TDG, each tyrosine being separated by three amino acids. This is found to interact with two motifs in SRC1 also containing tyrosine residues separated by three amino acids. Site-directed mutagenesis shows that the tyrosines encoded in these motifs are critical for the interaction. The related p160 protein TIF2 does not interact with TDG and has the altered sequence, F-X-X-X-Y, at the equivalent positions relative to SRC1. Substitution of the phenylalanines to tyrosines is sufficient to bring about interaction of TIF2 with TDG. These findings highlight a new protein-protein interaction motif based on Y-X-X-X-Y and provide new insight into the interaction of diverse proteins in coactivator complexes.

Bcr-Abl signaling through the PI-3/S6 kinase pathway inhibits nuclear translocation of the transcription factor Bach2, which represses the antiapoptotic factor heme oxygenase-1.

The malignant phenotype of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is due to the abnormal tyrosine kinase activity of the Bcr-Abl oncoprotein. We have previously reported that expression of the Bach2 transcription factor, which induces apoptosis in response to oxidative stress, is greatly reduced in CML cells. Because these cells are resistant to apoptosis, we tested whether Bach2 could also be regulated through posttranslational mechanisms that promote inhibition of the apoptotic response to mutagenic stimuli in CML. We found that Bach2 is phosphorylated on S521 via the phosphatidylinositol-3/S6 kinase pathway, and substitution of this site to alanine leads to nuclear accumulation of the protein, indicating that this phosphorylation is important for its subcellular localization. Ectopic expression of the S521 mutant imparts greater impairment to CML cell growth than the wild-type factor. Furthermore, we showed that Bach2 transcriptionally represses heme oxygenase-1, an antiapoptotic factor up-regulated in CML. Because CML cells are known to produce high levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species, overexpression of heme oxygenase-1 resulting from inhibition of Bach2 activity may contribute to their genomic instability and leukemic phenotype.

ICI182,780 induces p21Waf1 gene transcription through releasing histone deacetylase 1 and estrogen receptor alpha from Sp1 sites to induce cell cycle arrest in MCF-7 breast cancer cell line.

We used the estrogen-responsive MCF-7 breast cancer cell line as a relevant model to study the anti-proliferative effects of ICI182,780 and identified the negative cell cycle regulator p21Waf1 as a specific target of ICI182,780. Furthermore, silencing of the p21Waf1 expression by small interfering RNA overcame the G0/G1 cell cycle arrest induced by ICI182,780, suggesting that the induction of p21Waf1 expression has a direct role in mediating the ICI182,780-induced G0/G1 arrest. We further demonstrated that the induction of p21Waf1 by ICI182,780 is mediated at transcriptional and gene promoter levels through the proximal Sp1 sites located near the transcription start site. Co-immunoprecipitation, DNA "pull-down," and chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments together showed that in cycling cells, estrogen receptor alpha and histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) are recruited to the proximal Sp1 sites of the promoter to repress p21Waf1 expression. In the presence of ICI182,780, estrogen receptor alpha and HDACs are dissociated from Sp1, resulting in increased histone acetylation and de-repression of the p21Waf1 promoter and induction of p21Waf1 expression. The fact that p21Waf1 expression is normally repressed by HDAC activity in cycling cells is further demonstrated by the finding that p21Waf1 transcription can be induced by the silencing of HDACs with small interfering RNA or treatment with HDAC inhibitors.

Modulation of nuclear receptor dependent transcription.

Nuclear receptors comprise a family of transcription factors that regulate gene expression in a ligand dependent manner. They can activate or repress target genes by binding directly to DNA response elements as homo- or hetero-dimers or by binding to other classes of DNA-bound transcription factors. These activities have been linked to the formation of complexes with molecules that appear to serve as coactivators or corepressors, causing local modification of chromatin structure in order to regulate expression of their target genes. Several members of nuclear receptor family are directly associated with human malignancies including breast cancer, prostate cancer and leukaemia. The pathogenesis of each of these diseases is underpinned by the activities of a member of the superfamily; estrogen receptor-alpha (ER alpha) in breast cancer, androgen receptor (AR) in prostate cancer, and retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR alpha) in acute promyelocytic leukaemia.

Core binding factor genes and human leukemia.

BACKGROUND: The core binding factor (CBF) transcription complex, consisting of the interacting proteins RUNX1 and CBFb, is essential for normal hematopoiesis. Recent studies have shown that mutations and gene rearrangements involving this complex are frequently implicated in leukemogenesis. Understanding the molecular events leading to the disruption of CBF has provided important insights into our understanding of the normal regulatory pathways that control hematopoiesis and has begun to reveal how alterations in these pathways induce leukemia. INFORMATION SOURCES: Both authors are involved in the identification and characterization of chromosomal abnormalities associated with hematologic malignancy. This has led to contributions to multicenter clinical and laboratory investigations as well as publications in peer-reviewed journals. All of the references cited in this review are published in journals covered by Medline. State of the Art. The core binding factor (CBF) is a heterodimeric transcription factor composed of the RUNX1 and CBFb subunits. RUNX1 is the DNA binding element of the complex and its affinity is greatly increased in the presence of CBFb. Knock-out studies in mice have demonstrated that both RUNX1 and CBFb are necessary for definitive hematopoiesis. Furthermore, reciprocal chromosomal translocations involving both partners have been directly implicated in leukemogenesis. Evidence is now emerging that at least some of the resulting fusion proteins, namely ETV6-RUNX1, RUNX1-MTG8 and CBFb-MYH11 dominantly inhibit the function of native CBF by recruiting transcriptional co-repressor complexes. However, knock-in studies have shown that whilst expression of these fusion genes may disrupt normal hematopoiesis, this, by itself, is not sufficient for the subsequent development of leukemia. Mutations of RUNX1 have been identified in familial platelet disorder (FDP), in which there is a congenital predisposition to the development of AML and heterozygous point mutations have been identified in the RUNX1 gene in some leukemias. Moreover, a small number of cases have been reported in which amplification of RUNX1 has been detected in childhood ALL suggesting mechanisms other than loss of function, such as gene dosage may also play a role. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the role CBF plays in normal hematopoiesis and hematologic malignancies has provided critical reagents for the accurate identification of the broad group of leukemias harboring alterations of CBF. The application of these molecular approaches has already shown an impact on the clinical management of these patients and as more information becomes available, the ability to tailor therapy to improve each patient's chance of a cure becomes feasible.

T:G mismatch-specific thymine-DNA glycosylase potentiates transcription of estrogen-regulated genes through direct interaction with estrogen receptor alpha.

Nuclear receptors (NR) classically regulate gene expression by stimulating transcription upon binding to their cognate ligands. It is now well established that NR-mediated transcriptional activation requires the recruitment of coregulator complexes, which facilitate recruitment of the basal transcription machinery through direct interactions with the basal transcription machinery and/or through chromatin remodeling. However, a number of recently described NR coactivators have been implicated in cross-talk with other nuclear processes including RNA splicing and DNA repair. T:G mismatch-specific thymine DNA glycosylase (TDG) is required for base excision repair of deaminated methylcytosine. Here we show that TDG is a coactivator for estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha). We demonstrate that TDG interacts with ERalpha in vitro and in vivo and suggest a separate role for TDG to its established role in DNA repair. We show that this involves helix 12 of ERalpha. The region of interaction in TDG is mapped to a putative alpha-helical motif containing a motif distinct from but similar to the LXXLL motif that mediates interaction with NR. Together with recent reports linking TFIIH in regulating NR function, our findings provide new data to further support an important link between DNA repair proteins and nuclear receptor function.

Modulation of nuclear receptor dependent transcription

Nuclear receptors comprise a family of transcription factors that regulate gene expression in a ligand dependent manner. They can activate or repress target genes by binding directly to DNA response elements as homo- or hetero-dimers or by binding to other classes of DNA-bound transcription factors. These activities have been linked to the formation of complexes with molecules that appear to serve as coactivators or corepressors, causing local modification of chromatin structure in order to regulate expression of their target genes. Several members of nuclear receptor family are directly associated with human malignancies including breast cancer, prostate cancer and leukaemia. The pathogenesis of each of these diseases is underpinned by the activities of a member of the superfamily; estrogen receptor-alpha (ER alpha) in breast cancer, androgen receptor (AR) in prostate cancer, and retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR alpha) in acute promyelocytic leukaemia