Expression, purification, characterization and homology modeling of active Akt/PKB, a key enzyme involved in cell survival signaling.

Akt is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a critical role in cell survival signaling and its activation has been linked to tumorigenesis. Up-regulation of Akt as well as its upstream regulator phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) has been found in many tumors and the negative regulator of this pathway PTEN/MMAC is a tumor suppressor. As a target for drug discovery, we have expressed and purified an active Akt1 enzyme from a recombinant baculovirus-infected Sf9 cell culture. Coexpression of Akt1 with the catalytic subunit of PI3K or treatment with okadaic acid during expression was found to generate an active enzyme in the insect cell culture system. We have optimized the kinase activity and developed a simple quantitative kinase assay using biotinylated peptide substrates. Using the purified active enzyme, we have characterized its physical, catalytic and kinetic properties. Since Akt is closely related to protein kinase C (PKC) and protein kinase A, the issue of obtaining selective inhibitors of this enzyme was addressed by comparison of the structures of catalytic domains of Akt and PKC, derived by homology modeling methods. A number of amino acid differences in the ATP binding regions of these kinases were identified, suggesting that selective inhibitors of Akt can be discovered. However, the ATP binding regions are highly conserved in the three isoforms of Akt implying that the discovery of isoform-selective inhibitors would be very challenging.

Inhibition of angiogenesis and tumor growth by SCH221153, a dual alpha(v)beta3 and alpha(v)beta5 integrin receptor antagonist.

New blood vessel formation is essential for tumor growth and metastatic spread. Integrins alpha(v)beta3 and alpha(v)beta5 are arginine-glycine-aspartic acid-dependent adhesion receptors that play a critical role in angiogenesis. Hence, selective dual alpha(v)beta3 and alpha(v)beta5 antagonists may represent a novel class of angiogenesis and tumor-growth inhibitors. Here, an arginine-glycine-aspartic acid-based peptidomimetic library was screened to identify alpha(v)beta3 antagonists. Selected compounds were then modified to generate potent and selective dual inhibitors of alpha(v)beta3 and alpha(v)beta5 receptors. One of these compounds, SCH 221153, inhibited the binding of echistatin to alpha(v)beta3 (IC50 = 3.2 nM) and alpha(v)beta5 (IC50 = 1.7 nM) with similar potency. Its IC50 values for related alpha(IIb)beta3 and alpha5beta1 receptors were 1294 nM and 421 nM, respectively, indicating that SCH 221153 is highly selective for alpha(v)beta3 and alpha(v)beta5 receptors. In cell-based assays, SCH 221153 inhibited the binding of echistatin to alpha(v)beta3- and alpha(v)beta5-expressing 293 cells and blocked the adhesion of endothelial cells to immobilized vitronectin and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2). SCH 221153, but not the inactive analogue SCH 216687, was effective in inhibiting FGF2 and vascular endothelial growth factor-induced endothelial cell proliferation in vitro with an IC50 equal to 3-10 microM. Angiogenesis induced by FGF2 in the chick chorioallantoic membrane assay was also inhibited by SCH 221153. Finally, SCH 221153 exerted a significant inhibition on tumor growth induced by intradermal or s.c. injection of human melanoma LOX cells in severe combined immunodeficient mice.

Drugs targeted against protein kinases.

Current treatments for cancer (surgery, radiation and chemotherapy) are successful for early stage localised disease but have severe side effects. New treatments are needed to increase the cure rate and life expectancy of patients. With the discovery of oncogenes, tumour suppressor genes and an understanding of their role in the development of the malignant disease, a new era of therapy has begun. Cancer is a manifestation of deregulated signalling pathways that mediate cell growth and programmed cell death. Protein kinases are essential elements in these signalling pathways. In the US, Novartis launched Gleevec (imantinib, STI-571) in May 2001 as the first anticancer drug whose mechanism of action is kinase inhibition. In Phase I trials, 23/24 patients with chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) had complete remissions and the drug is relatively non-toxic. Herceptin (trastuzumab) is a monoclonal antibody (mAb) against a member of the growth factor receptor family (HER-2/neu) that was launched in 1998 by Genentech for the treatment of breast cancer. Trastuzumab has an excellent antitumour profile, particularly when used in combination with doxorubicin and paclitaxol. These drugs are pioneering the treatment of cancer based on the molecular understanding of the disease. Numerous drugs that target growth factor receptors and their signalling pathways are in advanced clinical trials. Herein, antibodies against receptors and small molecule inhibitors of kinases in signalling pathways will be summarised. Inter-disciplinary preclinical studies have identified chemicals that target specific kinases. We believe that clinical studies of these agents will yield new anticancer agents that target specific diseases and that are less toxic than current agents.

Integrin alpha(v)beta(3)-mediated activation of apoptosis.

The alpha(v)beta(3) integrin mediates endothelial cell binding to the extracellular matrix and transduces an intracellular signal promoting survival of endothelial cells and various tumor cells. While the alpha(v)beta(3) integrin-mediated survival signal has been shown to be adhesion dependent, a thorough analysis has not been performed comparing the biochemical effects of antagonist binding to alpha(v)beta(3) integrin with the effects induced by the growth of cells in suspension. In this study we demonstrate that expression of alpha(v)beta(3) integrin in human embryonic kidney 293 cells transfers the alpha(v)beta(3) integrin survival pathway to an epithelial cell line. Furthermore, we show that alpha(v)beta(3) integrin-expressing cells respond differently to alpha(v)beta(3) integrin-specific antagonist treatment and growth in suspension conditions. Treatment with the alpha(v)beta(3) antagonist echistatin resulted in an apoptotic response occurring prior to cell detachment and was not observed in either suspended cells or antagonist-treated suspended cells. These data suggest that the death induced by antagonist binding to alpha(v)beta(3) integrin results in an apoptotic signal with different kinetics than the apoptotic signal induced by matrix detachment (anoikis). Since aberrant alpha(v)beta(3) integrin expression in tumor models is thought to play a role in tumor cell survival, these data have implications for the use of alpha(v)beta(3) antagonists as anti-tumor agents.

SCH 51344, an inhibitor of RAS/RAC-mediated cell morphology pathway.

RAS interacts with multiple targets in the cell and controls at least two signaling pathways, one regulating extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation and the other controlling membrane ruffling formation. These two pathways appear to act synergistically to cause transformation. Human smooth muscle alpha-actin promoter is repressed in RAS-transformed cells and derepressed in revertant cell lines, suggesting that it is a sensitive marker to follow phenotypic changes in fibroblast cells. SCH 51344 is a pyrazoloquinoline derivative identified on the basis of its ability to derepress alpha-actin promoter in RAS-transformed cells. Previous studies have shown that SCH 51344 is a potent inhibitor of RAS transformation. However, SCH 51344 had very little effect on the activities of proteins in the ERK pathway, suggesting that it inhibits RAS transformation by a novel mechanism. Recently, we have demonstrated that SCH 51344 specifically blocks membrane ruffling induced by activated forms of H-RAS, K-RAS, N-RAS, and RAC. Treatment of fibroblast cells with this compound had very little effect on RAS-mediated activation of ERK and JUN kinase activities. SCH 51344 was effective in inhibiting the anchorage-independent growth of Rat-2 fibroblast cells transformed by the three forms of oncogenic RAS and RAC V12. These results indicate that SCH 51344 inhibits a critical component of the membrane ruffling pathway downstream from RAC and suggest that targeting this pathway may be an effective approach to inhibiting transformation by RAS and other oncogenes.

Signaling by integrin receptors.

Adhesive interactions are critical for the proliferation, survival and function of all cells. Integrin receptors as the major family of adhesion receptors have been the focus of study for more than a decade. These studies have tremendously enhanced our understanding of the integrin-mediated adhesive interactions and have unraveled novel integrin functions in cell survival mechanisms and in the activation of divergent signaling pathways. The signals from integrin receptors are integrated from those originating from growth factor receptors in order to organize the cytoskeleton, stimulate cell proliferation and rescue cells from matrix detachment-induced programmed cell death. These functions are critical in the regulation of multiple processes such as tissue development, inflammation, angiogenesis, tumor cell growth and metastasis and programmed cell death.

Chloramine T-induced structural and biochemical changes in echistatin.

Echistatin is a member of the disintegrin family of peptides and a potent inhibitor of platelet aggregation and cell adhesion. Echistatin binds to integrin alpha(v)beta3 and alpha(IIb)beta3 receptors with high affinity. Binding is mediated by an RGD-containing loop maintained in an appropriate conformation by disulfide bridges. In this study, we have compared the binding characteristics of echistatin iodinated by either lactoperoxidase or chloramine T method. We show that echistatin labeled by lactoperoxidase method binds to integrin alpha(v)beta3 receptor with high affinity and in a non-dissociable manner very similar to native echistatin. In contrast, chloramine T-labeled echistatin can rapidly dissociate from the receptor. We demonstrate that chloramine T reaction results in the addition of an extra oxygen to the methionine residue adjacent to the RGD motif in echistatin. Modeling studies and molecular dynamic simulation studies show that the extra oxygen atom on the methionine residue can form hydrogen bonds with the glycine and aspartic acid residues of the RGD motif. These structural changes in echistatin help explain the changes in the binding characteristics of the molecule following chloramine T reaction.

Role of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate in Ras/Rac-induced disruption of the cortactin-actomyosin II complex and malignant transformation.

Oncogenic Ras mutants such as v-Ha-Ras cause a rapid rearrangement of actin cytoskeleton during malignant transformation of fibroblasts or epithelial cells. Both PI-3 kinase and Rac are required for Ras-induced malignant transformation and membrane ruffling. However, the signal transduction pathway(s) downstream of Rac that leads to membrane ruffling and other cytoskeletal change(s) as well as the exact biochemical nature of the cytoskeletal change remain unknown. Cortactin/EMS1 is the first identified molecule that is dissociated in a Rac-phosphatidylinositol 4,5-biphosphate (PIP2)-dependent manner from the actin-myosin II complex during Ras-induced malignant transformation; either the PIP2 binder HS1 or the Rac blocker SCH51344 restores the ability of EMS1 to bind the complex and suppresses the oncogenicity of Ras. Furthermore, while PIP2 inhibits the actin-EMS1 interaction, HS1 reverses the PIP2 effect. Thus, we propose that PIP2, an end-product of the oncogenic Ras/PI-3 kinase/Rac pathway, serves as a second messenger in the Ras/Rac-induced disruption of the actin cytoskeleton and discuss the anticancer drug potential of PIP2-binding molecules.

Human smooth muscle alpha-actin gene is a transcriptional target of the p53 tumor suppressor protein.

Smooth muscle (sm) alpha-actin is expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells and fibroblast cells. Its expression is regulated by cell proliferation and repressed during oncogenic transformation. In this study, we demonstrate that p53 activation is associated with a dramatic increase in organized microfilament bundles and an increase in sm alpha-actin mRNA level. Wild-type p53, but not mutant p53, strongly stimulated human sm alpha-actin promoter activity in p53 null cell lines. The sequences homologous to the p53 consensus sequence and to the p53 binding sequence from the muscle creatine kinase, were found within a specific region of the sm alpha-actin promoter. This sequence was sufficient to confer p53-dependent activation to a heterologous promoter and p53 was capable of binding to this sequence as assessed by gel shift analysis. Ionizing irradiation of colorectal tumor cells caused an increase in alpha-actin mRNA level in a p53-dependent manner. Taken together, these results demonstrate that human sm alpha-actin gene is a transcriptional target for p53 tumor suppressor protein and represents the first example of a cytoskeletal gene with a functionally defined p53 response element.

SCH 51344-induced reversal of RAS-transformation is accompanied by the specific inhibition of the RAS and RAC-dependent cell morphology pathway.

RAS interacts with multiple targets in the cell and controls at least two signaling pathways, one regulating extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation and the other controlling membrane ruffling formation. These two pathways appear to act synergistically to cause transformation. SCH 51344 is a pyrazolo-quinoline derivative identified based on its ability to derepress transformation sensitive alpha-actin promoter in RAS-transformed cells. Previous studies have shown that SCH 51344 is a potent inhibitor of RAS-transformation. However, SCH 51344 had very little effect on the activities of proteins in the ERK pathway, suggesting that it inhibits RAS-transformation by a novel mechanism. In this study, we show that SCH 51344 specifically blocks membrane ruffling induced by activated forms of H-RAS, K-RAS, N-RAS and RAC. Treatment of fibroblast cells with this compound had very little effect on RAS-mediated activation of ERK and JUN kinase activities. SCH 51344 was effective in inhibiting the anchorage-independent growth of Rat-2 fibroblast cells transformed by the three forms of oncogenic RAS and RAC V12. These results indicate that SCH 51344 inhibits a critical component of the membrane ruffling pathway downstream from RAC and suggest that targeting this pathway may be an effective approach to inhibit transformation by RAS and other oncogenes.

Biochemical characterization of the binding of echistatin to integrin alphavbeta3 receptor.

Echistatin is a 49-amino-acid peptide belonging to the family of disintegrins that are derived from snake venoms and are potent inhibitors of platelet aggregation and cell adhesion. Integrin alphavbeta3 receptor plays a critical role in several physiological processes such as tumor-induced angiogenesis, tumor cell metastasis, osteoporosis and wound repair. In this study, we have characterized the binding of echistatin to purified integrin alphavbeta3 receptor and the form expressed on human embryonic kidney 293 cells. We show that both purified and membrane-bound integrin alphavbeta3 binds to echistatin with a high affinity, which can be competed efficiently by linear and cyclic peptides containing the RGD sequence. Previous studies have shown that alphavbeta3 binds to vitronectin in a nondissociable manner, whereas an RGD-containing peptide derived from vitronectin binds in a dissociable manner with a Kd of 9.4 x 10(-7) M. Our studies indicate that radiolabeled echistatin binds to alphavbeta3 in a nondissociable manner, similar to native echistatin. However, echistatin does not support the adhesion of 293 cells expressing alphavbeta3 receptor because of poor binding to plastic dishes and is a potent antagonist of the adhesion of these cells to vitronectin. These studies demonstrate that echistatin binding to alphavbeta3 is of high affinity and irreversible similar to vitronectin and provides an alternate ligand for high-throughput screening for alphavbeta3 antagonists.

[Inhibition of RAS-transformation by SCH51344].

RAS controls at least two signaling pathways, one regulating extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation and the other controlling membrane ruffling formation. Activating RAS mutations are commonly found in human tumors, making RAS and its downstream signaling pathways important targets for tumor therapeutics. We have developed a reporter-gene based assay system, utilizing transformation sensitive alpha-actin promoter, to identify compounds that inhibit the transforming activity of RAS either directly or indirectly. SCH51344 is a pyrazolo-quinoline derivative, identified based on its ability to depreprses alpha-actin promoter in RAS-transformed cells and shown to be a potent inhibitor of RAS-transformation. However, this compound had very little effect on the activities of the proteins in the ERK pathway, suggesting that it inhibits RAS-transformation by a novel mechanism and acts on a signaling pathway distinct from ERK pathway. Recently, in collaboration with Dr. Dafna Bar-Sagi's group, we have shown that SCH51344 inhibits membrane ruffling induced by activated forms of H-RAS, K-RAS, N-RAS and RAC. Treatment of fibroblast cells with this compound had very little effect on RAS-mediated activation of ERK and Jun kinase activities. Our results indicate that SCH51344 inhibits a critical component of the membrane ruffling pathway downstream from RAC and suggest that targeting the membrane ruffling pathway may be an effective approach to inhibit transformation by RAS.

Essential role of Rac GTPase in hydrogen peroxide-induced activation of c-fos serum response element.

In the present study, we investigated whether hydrogen peroxide activates c-fos serum response element (SRE) in Rat-2 fibroblast cells. By transient transfection analysis, exogenous H2O2 stimulated SRE-dependent reporter gene activity in a dose and time-dependent manner. Also, we examined the role of Rac GTPase and phospholipase A2 (PLA2) in the H2O2-induced SRE activation. Either transfection of a dominant negative Rac mutant, RacN17, plasmid or pretreatment of mepacrine, a potent inhibitor of PLA2, blocked H2O2-induced SRE activation dramatically. Together, these findings suggest a critical role of 'Rac and subsequent activation of phospholipase A2' in the signaling pathway of H2O2 to SRE.

Activation of smooth muscle alpha-actin promoter in ras-transformed cells by treatments with antimitotic agents: correlation with stimulation of SRF:SRE mediated gene transcription.

Smooth muscle alpha-actin promoter is repressed in ras-transformed fibroblast cells and derepressed in revertant cells. We have recently shown that serum response factor (SRF) which can bind to the serum response elements (SREs) present in the alpha-actin promoter, can activate alpha-actin promoter activity in ras-transformed cells and suppress transformation by ras. Agents that stimulate SRF expression and alpha-actin promoter activity in ras-transformed cells are expected to be potential candidates as antitumor agents. In this study, we show that treatment of ras-transformed cells with antitumor agents such as taxol, vincristine, vinblastine, colchicine, and nocodazole leads to 5- to 7-fold activation of alpha-actin promoter driven CAT activity, whereas there was very little effect on thymidine kinase promoter driven CAT activity. This activation occurred at subcytotoxic concentrations of these agents and correlated with inhibition of cell cycle progression. Furthermore, these agents stimulated SRF expression in ras-transformed cells, as measured by its SRE binding activity. The increase in alpha-actin expression is accompanied by the restoration of actin filaments into organized bundles. These results suggest a novel mechanism by which antimitotic agents suppress the ras-transformed phenotype.

SCH 51344 inhibits ras transformation by a novel mechanism.

A pyrazolo-quinoline compound, 6-methoxy-4-[2-[(2-hydroxyethoxyl)-ethyl]amino]-3-methyl-1M-pyrazo lo [3,4-b]quinoline (SCH 51344), was identified based on its ability to derepress human smooth muscle alpha-actin promoter activity in ras-transformed cells. In this study, we show that SCH 51344 reverts several key aspects of ras transformation, such as morphological changes, actin filament organization, and anchorage-independent growth, and also inhibits Val-12 Ras-induced maturation of Xenopus oocytes. SCH 51344 is also a potent inhibitor of the anchorage-independent growth of human tumor lines known to contain multiple genetic alterations in addition to activated ras genes. We have sought to determine whether SCH 51344 disrupts the signaling pathway that activates mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase or extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in normal and ras-transformed fibroblast cells. NIH 3T3 cells transformed by different oncogenes, which have products that participate at different steps of the Ras signaling pathway, were tested in a soft-agar colony formation assay to determine which step of the pathway is inhibited by SCH 51344. Our results indicate that SCH 51344 inhibits the ability of v-abl, v-mos, H-ras, v-raf, and mutant active MAP kinase kinase-transformed NIH 3T3 cells to grow in soft agar. Only v-fos-transformed cells were found to be resistant to the treatment of SCH 51344. SCH 51344 treatment had very little effect, if any, on the activation of MAP kinase kinase, MAP kinase, and p90RSK activity in response to growth factor stimulation. Treatment of ras-transformed cells with SCH 51344 led to stimulation of serum response factor DNA binding activity and activation of serum response element-dependent gene transcription, accounting for its ability to activate alpha-actin promoter activity in ras-transformed cells. Our results indicate that SCH 51344 inhibits ras transformation by a novel mechanism and acts at a point either downstream or parallel to extracellular signal-regulated kinase-dependent Ras signaling pathway.

Two proximal CArG elements regulate SM alpha-actin promoter, a genetic marker of activated phenotype of mesangial cells.

Mesangial cells express smooth muscle alpha-actin (SM alpha-actin) in response to glomerular injury in vivo, and SM alpha-actin gene expression serves as a genetic marker characterizing the activated phenotype of mesangial cells. We used a molecular genetic approach to analyze the SM alpha-actin promoter and evaluate transcriptional mechanisms that might direct the genetic switch of mesangial cells to the activated phenotype. The sequence spanning -894 to +1 of the SM alpha-actin promoter directed high levels of transcription that were attenuated in serum-restricted cells and upregulated upon treatment with serum or endothelin-1. Deletional analysis revealed a core promoter fragment, from positions -122 to +1, that was necessary and sufficient for transcription. This core activity was modulated by upstream sequences between -670 and -122. The 122-bp core promoter contains two highly conserved CArG box motifs (designated CB1 and CB2), and introduction of deletion mutations of either CB1 or CB2 reduced transcription in mesangial cells to near basal levels. Further analysis revealed that CB1 and CB2 acted synergistically when subcloned upstream of a heterologous, minimal thymidine kinase promoter. CB2 alone was sufficient to confer serum inducibility to a heterologous promoter, but both CB2 and CB1 were required for maximal levels of serum-induced transcription. Collectively, these results demonstrate that CB1 and CB2 cooperate to mediate serum-induced activation of the SM alpha-actin promoter in mesangial cells.

Two serum response elements mediate transcriptional repression of human smooth muscle alpha-actin promoter in ras-transformed cells.

The mechanism by which activated ras oncogene expression leads to repression of genes encoding specific actin filament proteins is not understood. However, these changes associated with loss of organized actin filaments, are necessary to maintain the transformed phenotype. The human smooth muscle (sm) alpha-actin promoter is repressed in ras-transformed fibroblast cells and derepressed in revertant cell lines. In this study, we demonstrate that two serum response elements (SREs) present in the alpha-actin promoter are required for transcriptional repression in ras-transformed cells and the two SREs act synergistically to repress heterologous promoters in a ras-transformation dependent manner. Serum response factor (SRF), which can bind to the sm alpha-actin SREs, restores alpha-actin promoter activity in ras-transformed cells. c-Fos, c-Jun and YY1 also repress alpha-actin promoter through SREs, suggesting that these transcription factors may play a role in repressing alpha-actin promoter in ras-transformed cells.

Suppression of Ras transformation by serum response factor.

Serum response factor (SRF) is a nuclear transcription factor that binds to the serum response element (SRE) found in the promoter regions of a number of growth factor-inducible genes, as well as muscle-specific genes. The smooth muscle alpha-actin promoter contains two SRE sequences that can bind to SRF. Its expression is repressed in Ras-transformed fibroblast cells and derepressed in revertant cells. In this study, we demonstrate that SRF can activate alpha-actin expression in Ras-transformed cells and that overexpression of SRF in Ras-transformed cells can revert their transformed phenotype. The ability of SRF to bind to the SRE was required for this effect, since mutations that inhibit DNA binding abolish SRF's ability to activate alpha-actin expression and suppress transformation by the ras oncogene. These results show that SRF, thought to be involved in stimulation of cell growth through activation of growth factor-inducible genes, can actually have the opposite effect and suggest a novel mechanism for suppression of transformation by Ras.