MTM1-mediated production of phosphatidylinositol 5-phosphate fuels the formation of podosome-like protrusions regulating myoblast fusion.

Myogenesis is a multistep process that requires a spatiotemporal regulation of cell events resulting finally in myoblast fusion into multinucleated myotubes. Most major insights into the mechanisms underlying fusion seem to be conserved from insects to mammals and include the formation of podosome-like protrusions (PLPs) that exert a driving force toward the founder cell. However, the machinery that governs this process remains poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrate that MTM1 is the main enzyme responsible for the production of phosphatidylinositol 5-phosphate, which in turn fuels PI5P 4-kinase α to produce a minor and functional pool of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate that concentrates in PLPs containing the scaffolding protein Tks5, Dynamin-2, and the fusogenic protein Myomaker. Collectively, our data reveal a functional crosstalk between a PI-phosphatase and a PI-kinase in the regulation of PLP formation.

Epstein-Barr virus-encoded EBNA1 and ZEBRA: targets for therapeutic strategies against EBV-carrying cancers.

The EBV-encoded EBNA1 was first discovered 40 years ago, approximately 10 years after the presence of EBV had been demonstrated in Burkitt's lymphoma cells. It took another 10 years before the functions of EBNA1 in maintaining the viral genome were revealed, and it has since been shown to be an essential viral factor expressed in all EBV-carrying cells. Apart from serving to maintain the viral episome and to control viral replication and gene expression, EBNA1 also harbours a cis-acting mechanism that allows virus-carrying host cells to evade the immune system. This relates to a particular glycine-alanine repeat (GAr) within EBNA1 that has the capacity to suppress antigen presentation to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I pathway. We discuss the role of the GAr sequence at the level of mRNA translation initiation, rather than at the protein level, as at least part of the mechanism to avoid MHC presentation. Interfering with this mechanism has become the focus of the development of immune-based therapies against EBV-carrying cancers, and some lead compounds that affect translation of GAr-carrying mRNAs have been identified. In addition, we describe the EBV-encoded ZEBRA factor and the switch from the latent to the lytic cycle as an alternative virus-specific target for treating EBV-carrying cancers. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of how EBNA1 and ZEBRA interfere with cellular pathways not only opens new therapeutic approaches but continues to reveal new cell-biological insights on the interplay between host and virus. This review is a tale of discoveries relating to how EBNA1 and ZEBRA have emerged as targets for specific cancer therapies against EBV-carrying diseases, and serves as an illustration of how mRNA translation can play roles in future immune-based strategies to target viral disease.

Designing focused chemical libraries enriched in protein-protein interaction inhibitors using machine-learning methods.

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) may represent one of the next major classes of therapeutic targets. So far, only a minute fraction of the estimated 650,000 PPIs that comprise the human interactome are known with a tiny number of complexes being drugged. Such intricate biological systems cannot be cost-efficiently tackled using conventional high-throughput screening methods. Rather, time has come for designing new strategies that will maximize the chance for hit identification through a rationalization of the PPI inhibitor chemical space and the design of PPI-focused compound libraries (global or target-specific). Here, we train machine-learning-based models, mainly decision trees, using a dataset of known PPI inhibitors and of regular drugs in order to determine a global physico-chemical profile for putative PPI inhibitors. This statistical analysis unravels two important molecular descriptors for PPI inhibitors characterizing specific molecular shapes and the presence of a privileged number of aromatic bonds. The best model has been transposed into a computer program, PPI-HitProfiler, that can output from any drug-like compound collection a focused chemical library enriched in putative PPI inhibitors. Our PPI inhibitor profiler is challenged on the experimental screening results of 11 different PPIs among which the p53/MDM2 interaction screened within our own CDithem platform, that in addition to the validation of our concept led to the identification of 4 novel p53/MDM2 inhibitors. Collectively, our tool shows a robust behavior on the 11 experimental datasets by correctly profiling 70% of the experimentally identified hits while removing 52% of the inactive compounds from the initial compound collections. We strongly believe that this new tool can be used as a global PPI inhibitor profiler prior to screening assays to reduce the size of the compound collections to be experimentally screened while keeping most of the true PPI inhibitors. PPI-HitProfiler is freely available on request from our CDithem platform website, www.CDithem.com.

Interaction between hormone-sensitive lipase and ChREBP in fat cells controls insulin sensitivity.

Impaired adipose tissue insulin signalling is a critical feature of insulin resistance. Here we identify a pathway linking the lipolytic enzyme hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) to insulin action via the glucose-responsive transcription factor ChREBP and its target, the fatty acid elongase ELOVL6. Genetic inhibition of HSL in human adipocytes and mouse adipose tissue results in enhanced insulin sensitivity and induction of ELOVL6. ELOVL6 promotes an increase in phospholipid oleic acid, which modifies plasma membrane fluidity and enhances insulin signalling. HSL deficiency-mediated effects are suppressed by gene silencing of ChREBP and ELOVL6. Mechanistically, physical interaction between HSL, independent of lipase activity, and the isoform activated by glucose metabolism ChREBPα impairs ChREBPα translocation into the nucleus and induction of ChREBPß, the isoform with high transcriptional activity that is strongly associated with whole-body insulin sensitivity. Targeting the HSL-ChREBP interaction may allow therapeutic strategies for the restoration of insulin sensitivity.

A yeast-based assay identifies drugs that interfere with immune evasion of the Epstein-Barr virus.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is tightly associated with certain human cancers, but there is as yet no specific treatment against EBV-related diseases. The EBV-encoded EBNA1 protein is essential to maintain viral episomes and for viral persistence. As such, EBNA1 is expressed in all EBV-infected cells, and is highly antigenic. All infected individuals, including individuals with cancer, have CD8(+) T cells directed towards EBNA1 epitopes, yet the immune system fails to detect and destroy cells harboring the virus. EBV immune evasion depends on the capacity of the Gly-Ala repeat (GAr) domain of EBNA1 to inhibit the translation of its own mRNA in cis, thereby limiting the production of EBNA1-derived antigenic peptides presented by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I pathway. Here we establish a yeast-based assay for monitoring GAr-dependent inhibition of translation. Using this assay we identify doxorubicin (DXR) as a compound that specifically interferes with the GAr effect on translation in yeast. DXR targets the topoisomerase-II-DNA complexes and thereby causes genomic damage. We show, however, that the genotoxic effect of DXR and various analogs thereof is uncoupled from the effect on GAr-mediated translation control. This is further supported by the observation that etoposide and teniposide, representing another class of topoisomerase-II-DNA targeting drugs, have no effect on GAr-mediated translation control. DXR and active analogs stimulate, in a GAr-dependent manner, EBNA1 expression in mammalian cells and overcome GAr-dependent restriction of MHC class I antigen presentation. These results validate our approach as an effective high-throughput screening assay to identify drugs that interfere with EBV immune evasion and, thus, constitute candidates for treating EBV-related diseases, in particular EBV-associated cancers.

The p53 mRNA-Mdm2 interaction controls Mdm2 nuclear trafficking and is required for p53 activation following DNA damage.

The ATM kinase and p53 are key tumor suppressor factors that control the genotoxic stress response pathway. The ATM substrate Mdm2 controls p53 activity by either targeting p53 for degradation or promoting its synthesis by binding the p53 mRNA. The physiological role and regulation of Mdm2's dual function toward p53 is not known. Here we show that ATM-dependent phosphorylation of Mdm2 at Ser395 is required for the p53 mRNA-Mdm2 interaction. This event also promotes SUMO-conjugation of Mdm2 and its nucleoli accumulation. Interfering with the p53 mRNA-Mdm2 interaction prevents p53 stabilization and activation following DNA damage. These results demonstrate how ATM activity switches Mdm2 from a negative to a positive regulator of p53 via the p53 mRNA.

Using BRET to study chemical compound-induced disruptions of the p53-HDM2 interactions in live cells.

Modification of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) holds promise for novel rational drug design. Disrupting or modifying protein interactions offers new challenges in terms of chemical compound libraries and techniques for compound validation. As proteins interact with several partners in different allosteric conformation in a pathological and tissue-specific fashion, it is difficult to predict the in vivo effect of PPI acting compounds identified by in vitro screening assays. It is therefore desirable to develop techniques that rapidly allow cell-based validation of protein interacting compounds. The binding of the p53 tumor suppressor to the HDM2 E3 ubiquitin ligase is important for controlling p53 activity, and several compounds, such as Nutlin-3, have been designed to bind a hydrophobic pocket in the N-terminus of HDM2 to prevent the interaction with p53 to stabilize and activate downstream p53 pathways. We have used the p53-HDM2 interaction as a model system to explore the bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) technique for validating compounds that disrupt PPIs in living cells.

Upregulation of the CDC25A phosphatase down-stream of the NPM/ALK oncogene participates to anaplastic large cell lymphoma enhanced proliferation.

Here, we demonstrate that the expression of the dual specificity phosphatase CDC25A, a key regulator of cell cycle progression, is deregulated in Ba/F3 cells expressing the oncogenic protein NPM/ALK and in human cell lines derived from NPM/ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphomas (ALCL). Both transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms account for the constitutive expression of the protein, and the PI3K/Akt pathway is essential for this process. Importantly, pharmacological inhibition of CDC25 dramatically inhibits the proliferation of NPM/ALK-expressing cells, while moderately affecting the proliferation of control Ba/F3 cells. RNA interference-mediated downregulation of CDC25A confirmed that NPM/ALK-expressing cells are highly dependent on this protein for their proliferation. Moreover, similar PI3K/AKt-mediated constitutive expression of CDC25A takes place down-stream of other hematological oncogenes, including BCR/ABL in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and FLT3-ITD in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Altogether, our data point to the functional link between hematopoietic oncogenic tyrosine kinases and the G(1) cell cycle regulator CDC25A, and we propose that this protein may be a potential therapeutic target in ALCL and other hematological malignancies.

CDC25A: a rebel within the CDC25 phosphatases family?

CDC25 dual specificity phosphatases activate the cyclin-dependent kinase complexes, allowing timely ordered progression through out the different phases of the eukaryotic cell cycle. In humans, there are three genes coding for the CDC25A, B and C proteins with both different and redundant specificities and regulations. The CDC25A member of this family acts during the G1 phase and at the G1/S transition by activating the CDK2/cyclin E and CDK2/cyclin A complexes, a function apparently not shared by the other members. In consequence, CDC25A is submitted to extra-cellular signals-dependent regulations involving in particular mitogenic signal transducers, and leading to modifications of its stability, its localization or its activity. In addition, CDC25A is up-regulated in various cancers, and the molecular mechanisms leading to this up-regulation are far from being understood. In this review, we will synthesize the current knowledge about CDC25A molecular regulations, and try to integrate these data in the cell proliferation and apoptotic functions described for the protein.

[The Bcl-2 family of proteins as drug targets]. / Antagonistes de Bcl-2, thérapies anticancéreuses alternatives.

Programmed cell death or apoptosis is a crucial process for normal embryonic development and homeostasis. Apoptosis is known to be coupled to multiple signalling pathways. Identification of critical points in the regulation of apoptosis is of major interest both for the understanding of control of cell fate and for the discovery of new pharmacological targets, particularly in oncology. Indeed, defects in the execution of apoptosis are known to participate in tumour initiation and progression as well as in chemoresistance. The Bcl-2 family members constitute essential intracellular players in the apoptotic machinery. Those proteins are either pro or anti-apoptotic, they interact with each other to regulate apoptosis. Inhibiting the heterodimerisation between pro- and anti-apoptotic members is sufficient to promote apoptosis in mammalian cells. Small molecules, antagonists or peptidomimetics inhibiting this heterodimerisation, represent a therapeutic prototype targeting the apoptotic cascade. They induce cell death by activating directly the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. Considerable evidence indicate that such Bcl-2 antagonists could be useful drugs to induce apoptosis preferentially in neoplastic cells.