ABSTRACT
Protein kinases catalyze the transfer of a phosphate group thereby activating proteins and initiating signaling cascades. Their cousins, the pseudokinases, are enzymatically nonactive counterparts of protein kinases that can be considered zombie enzymes. Interestingly, pseudokinases, which constitute about 10% of the human kinome, have been implicated in many cancers, despite their sequences predicting a lack of catalytic activity. Owing to recent research, it has been demonstrated that dysregulation of many pseudokinases triggers changes in cell signaling, proliferation, and drug resistance. This review is aimed at describing methods that can be used for detection of Tribbles family of pseudokinases, specifically TRIB2. We describe intracellular staining by flow cytometry and Western blotting techniques for the detection of endogenous TRIB2 protein.
Subject(s)
Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases , Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins , Blotting, Western , Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases/metabolism , Flow Cytometry , Humans , Protein Serine-Threonine KinasesSubject(s)
Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/genetics , Mutation , Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/genetics , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
p53 mRNA has been shown to be translated into two isoforms, full-length p53 (FL-p53) and a truncated isoform ΔN-p53, which modulates the functions of FL-p53 and also has independent functions. Previously, we have shown that translation of p53 and ΔN-p53 can be initiated at Internal Ribosome Entry Sites (IRES). These two IRESs were shown to regulate the translation of p53 and ΔN-p53 in a distinct cell-cycle phase-dependent manner. Earlier observations from our laboratory also suggest that the structural integrity of the p53 RNA is critical for IRES function and is compromised by mutations that affect the structure as well as RNA protein interactions. In the current study, using RNA affinity approach we have identified Annexin A2 and PTB associated Splicing Factor (PSF/SFPQ) as novel ITAFs for p53 IRESs. We have showed that the purified Annexin A2 and PSF proteins specifically bind to p53 IRES elements. Interestingly, in the presence of calcium ions Annexin A2 showed increased binding with p53 IRES. Immunopulldown experiments suggest that these two proteins associate with p53 mRNA ex vivo as well. Partial knockdown of Annexin A2 and PSF showed decrease in p53 IRES activity and reduced levels of both the p53 isoforms. More importantly the interplay between Annexin A2, PSF and PTB proteins for binding to p53mRNA appears to play a crucial role in IRES function. Taken together, our observations suggest pivotal role of two new trans-acting factors in regulating the p53-IRES function, which in turn influences the synthesis of p53 isoforms.
