Flow cytometry-assisted quantification of cell cycle arrest in cancer cells treated with CDK4/6 inhibitors.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) and CDK6 inhibitors (i.e., palbociclib, abemaciclib, and ribociclib) are well known for their capacity to mediate cytostatic effects by promoting cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase, thus inhibiting cancer cell proliferation. Cytostatic effects induced by CDK4/6 inhibitors can be transient or lead to a permanent state of cell cycle arrest, commonly defined as cellular senescence. Induction of senescence is often associated to metabolic modifications and to the acquisition of a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) by cancer cells, which in turn can promote or limit antitumor immunity (and thus the efficacy of CDK4/6 inhibitors) depending on SASP components. Thus, although accumulating evidence suggests that anti-cancer effects of CDK4/6 inhibitors also depend on the promotion of antitumor immune responses, assessing cell cycle arrest and progression in cells treated with palbociclib remains a key approach for investigating the efficacy of CDK4/6 inhibitors. Here, we describe a method to assess cell cycle distribution simultaneously with active DNA replication by flow cytometry in cultured hormone receptor-positive breast cancer MCF7 cells.

Effect of CDK4/6 Inhibitors on Tumor Immune Microenvironment.

Cancer is an abnormal proliferation of cells that is stimulated by cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and defective cell cycle regulation. The essential agent that drive the cell cycle, CDK4/6, would be activated by proliferative signals. Activated CDK4/6 results in the phosphorylation of the neuroblastoma protein (RB) and the release of the transcription factor E2F, which promotes the cell cycle progression. CDK4/6 inhibitor (CDK4/6i) has been currently a research focus, which inhibits the CDK4/6-RB-E2F axis, thereby reducing the cell cycle transition from G1 to S phase and mediating the cell cycle arrest. This action helps achieve an anti-tumor effect. Recent research has demonstrated that CDK4/6i, in addition to contributing to cell cycle arrest, is also essential for the interaction between the tumor cells and the host immune system, i.e., activating the immune system, strengthening the tumor antigen presentation, and reducing the number of regulatory T cells (Treg). Additionally, CDK4/6i would elevate the level of PD-L1, an immunosuppressive factor, in tumor cells, and CDK4/6i in combination with anti-PD-L1 therapy would more effectively reduce the tumor growth. Our results showed that CDK4/6i caused autophagy and senescence in tumor cells. Herein, the impact of CDK4/6i on the immune microenvironment of malignant tumors was mainly focused, as well as their interaction with immune checkpoint inhibitors in affecting anti-tumor immunity.

CDK4/6 inhibition in hormone receptor-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer: Biological and clinical aspects.

A dysregulated cell division, one of the key hallmarks of cancer, results in uncontrolled cellular proliferation. This aberrant process, mediated by a dysregulated cell-cycle machinery and overactivation of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4 and 6, can potentially promote tumorigenesis. The clinical application of CDK 4/6 inhibitors, developed to inhibit cell-cycle progression, in the treatment regimens of breast cancer (BC) patients is expanding. Currently, three agents, ribociclib, palbociclib, and abemaciclib, are approved for treating patients with hormone receptor-positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative metastatic BC. In addition, abemaciclib is FDA and EMA-approved for patients with hormone receptor-positive HER2-negative, node-positive, early BC at high risk of recurrence. Emerging data suggest potential anti-tumor effects beyond cell cycle arrest, providing novel insights into the agent's mechanisms of action. As a result, a broader application of the CDK4/6 inhibitors in patients with cancer is achieved, contributing to enhanced optimized treatment in the adjuvant and neoadjuvant settings. Herein, the immunomodulatory activities of CDK4/6 inhibitors, their impact on the cell's metabolic state, and the effect on the decision of the cell to undergo quiescence or senescence are discussed. Moreover, this review provides an update on clinical trial outcomes and the differences in the underlying mechanisms between the distinct CDK4/6 inhibitors.

Kaempferol regulates the thermogenic function of adipocytes in high-fat-diet-induced obesity via the CDK6/RUNX1/UCP1 signaling pathway.

Activation of adipose tissue thermogenesis is a promising strategy in the treatment of obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorders. Kaempferol (KPF) is a predominant dietary flavonoid with multiple pharmacological properties, such as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. In this study, we sought to characterize the role of KPF in adipocyte thermogenesis. We demonstrated that KPF-treated mice were protected from diet-induced obesity, glucose tolerance, and insulin resistance, accompanied by markedly increased energy expenditure, ex vivo oxygen consumption of white fat, and increased expression of proteins related to adaptive thermogenesis. KPF-promoted beige cell formation is a cell-autonomous effect, since the overexpression of cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) in preadipocytes partially reversed browning phenotypes observed in KPF-treated cells. Overall, these data implicate that KPF is involved in promoting beige cell formation by suppressing CDK6 protein expression. This study provides evidence that KPF is a promising natural product for obesity treatment by boosting energy expenditure.

Acteoside improves adipocyte browning by CDK6-mediated mTORC1-TFEB pathway.

Adipocyte browning increases energy expenditure by thermogenesis, which has been considered a potential strategy against obesity and its related metabolic diseases. Phytochemicals derived from natural products with the ability to improve adipocyte thermogenesis have aroused extensive attention. Acteoside (Act), a phenylethanoid glycoside, exists in various medicinal or edible plants and has been shown to regulate metabolic disorders. Here, the browning effect of Act was evaluated by stimulating beige cell differentiation from the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) in the inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT) and 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, and by converting the iWAT-SVF derived mature white adipocytes. Act improves adipocyte browning by differentiation of the stem/progenitors into beige cells and by direct conversion of mature white adipocytes into beige cells. Mechanistically, Act inhibited CDK6 and mTOR, and consequently relieved phosphorylation of the transcription factor EB (TFEB) and increased its nuclear retention, leading to induction of PGC-1α, a driver of mitochondrial biogenesis, and UCP1-dependent browning. These data thus unveil a CDK6-mTORC1-TFEB pathway that regulates Act-induced adipocyte browning.

Mathematically Modeling the Effect of Endocrine and Cdk4/6 Inhibitor Therapies on Breast Cancer Cells.

Mathematical modeling of cancer systems is beginning to be used to design better treatment regimens, especially in chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The effectiveness of mathematical modeling to inform treatment decisions and identify therapy protocols, some of which are highly nonintuitive, is because it enables the exploration of a huge number of therapeutic possibilities. Considering the immense cost of laboratory research and clinical trials, these nonintuitive therapy protocols would likely never be found by experimental approaches. While much of the work to date in this area has involved high-level models, which look simply at overall tumor growth or the interaction of resistant and sensitive cell types, mechanistic models that integrate molecular biology and pharmacology can contribute greatly to the discovery of better cancer treatment regimens. These mechanistic models are better able to account for the effect of drug interactions and the dynamics of therapy. The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate the use of ordinary differential equation-based mechanistic models to describe the dynamic interactions between the molecular signaling of breast cancer cells and two key clinical drugs. In particular, we illustrate the procedure for building a model of the response of MCF-7 cells to standard therapies used in the clinic. Such mathematical models can be used to explore the vast number of potential protocols to suggest better treatment approaches.

Isoginkgetin, a potential CDK6 inhibitor, suppresses SLC2A1/GLUT1 enhancer activity to induce AMPK-ULK1-mediated cytotoxic autophagy in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Isoginkgetin (ISO), a natural biflavonoid, exhibited cytotoxic activity against several types of cancer cells. However, its effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and mechanism remain unclear. Here, we revealed that ISO effectively inhibited HCC cell proliferation and migration in vitro. LC3-II expression and autophagosomes were increased under ISO treatment. In addition, ISO-induced cell death was attenuated by treatment with chloroquine or knockdown of autophagy-related genes (ATG5 or ULK1). ISO significantly suppressed SLC2A1/GLUT1 (solute carrier family 2 member 1) expression and glucose uptake, leading to activation of the AMPK-ULK1 axis in HepG2 cells. Overexpression of SLC2A1/GLUT1 abrogated ISO-induced autophagy. Combining molecular docking with thermal shift analysis, we confirmed that ISO directly bound to the N terminus of CDK6 (cyclin-dependent kinase 6) and promoted its degradation. Overexpression of CDK6 abrogated ISO-induced inhibition of SLC2A1/GLUT1 transcription and induction of autophagy. Furthermore, ISO treatment significantly decreased the H3K27ac, H4K8ac and H3K4me1 levels on the SLC2A1/GLUT1 enhancer in HepG2 cells. Finally, ISO suppressed the hepatocarcinogenesis in the HepG2 xenograft mice and the diethylnitrosamine+carbon tetrachloride (DEN+CCl4)-induced primary HCC mice and we confirmed SLC2A1/GLUT1 and CDK6 as promising oncogenes in HCC by analysis of TCGA data and human HCC tissues. Our results provide a new molecular mechanism by which ISO treatment or CDK6 deletion promotes autophagy; that is, ISO targeting the N terminus of CDK6 for degradation inhibits the expression of SLC2A1/GLUT1 by decreasing the enhancer activity of SLC2A1/GLUT1, resulting in decreased glucose levels and inducing the AMPK-ULK1 pathway.

The Circular RNA circSKA3 Facilitates the Malignant Biological Behaviors of Medulloblastoma via miR-520 h/CDK6 Pathway.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are reported to participate in the development of diverse human malignancies. This work investigated the mechanism of circSKA3 in modulating medulloblastoma progression. A total of 15 cases of medulloblastoma were collected in this work. Daoy cells were used to construct cell models. The expression level of circSKA3, microRNA-520 h (miR-520 h), and cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) mRNA in tissues or cells was examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Western blot was employed to detect CDK6 protein expression. CCK-8 experiment, Transwell assay, and flow cytometry were applied to detect the regulatory effects of circSKA3 on cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and cell cycle. Dual-luciferase reporter gene experiment was executed to determine the relationship between circSKA3 and miR-520 h, and between miR-520 h and CDK6. circSKA3 was remarkably up-modulated in medulloblastoma tissues. CircSKA3 depletion markedly suppressed Daoy cell viability, migration, invasion, and cell cycle progression. CircSKA3 overexpression induced the opposite effects. circSKA3 could decoyed miR-520 h, which targeted the 3' UTR of CDK6. circSKA3 expression in medulloblastoma tissues was negatively correlated with miR-520 h expression and positively correlated with CDK6 expression. "Rescue" experiments revealed that miR-520 h down-modulation or CDK6 overexpression remarkably counteracted the inhibitory effect of circSKA3 knockdown on Daoy cells. circSKA3 facilitates medulloblastoma progression through miR-520 h/CDK6.

Targeting cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 as a therapeutic approach for mucosal melanoma.

Mucosal melanoma is a rare but devastating subtype of melanoma which typically has a worse prognosis than other melanoma subtypes. Large-scale next-generation sequencing studies, including our recent research, have also proved that the molecular landscape and potential oncogenic drivers of mucosal melanoma remain distinct from that of cutaneous melanoma. Recently, a number of selective cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4)/6 inhibitors have been approved for clinical application in breast cancer or entered phase III clinical trial in other solid tumors. Additionally, we have revealed that the dysregulation of cell cycle progression, caused by CDK4 amplification, is a key genetic feature in half of mucosal melanoma and targeting of CDK4 in selected mucosal melanoma patients is a potentially promising direction for precision cancer treatment by using molecular-characterized mucosal melanoma patient-derived-xenograft models. This review summarizes the current literature regarding CDK4/6 dysregulation in mucosal melanoma, preclinical and clinical studies of CDK4/6 inhibitors and potential combinational strategies in treating mucosal melanoma.

CDK6 coordinates JAK2 V617F mutant MPN via NF-κB and apoptotic networks.

Over 80% of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) harbor the acquired somatic JAK2 V617F mutation. JAK inhibition is not curative and fails to induce a persistent response in most patients, illustrating the need for the development of novel therapeutic approaches. We describe a critical role for CDK6 in MPN evolution. The absence of Cdk6 ameliorates clinical symptoms and prolongs survival. The CDK6 protein interferes with 3 hallmarks of disease: besides regulating malignant stem cell quiescence, it promotes nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling and contributes to cytokine production while inhibiting apoptosis. The effects are not mirrored by palbociclib, showing that the functions of CDK6 in MPN pathogenesis are largely kinase independent. Our findings thus provide a rationale for targeting CDK6 in MPN.

Emerging data and future directions for CDK4/6 inhibitor treatment of patients with hormone receptor positive HER2-non-amplified metastatic breast cancer.

Cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK4/6) inhibitors in combination with endocrine therapy are currently the optimal first line treatment for hormone receptor (HR) positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) non-amplified metastatic breast cancer (MBC). However, not all patients benefit from this treatment and all patients will inevitably progress. Identifying therapeutic strategies in this setting is therefore of immediate clinical importance. We present an overview of the mechanisms of resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors and review potential biomarkers that may guide therapy selection. We also discuss the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors in the context of non-HR-positive/HER2-non-amplified breast cancer and in combination with therapies other than endocrine therapy.