Depletion of Jab1 inhibits proliferation of pancreatic cancer cell lines.

Jab1 overexpression is observed in many human cancers, but its physiological significance remains to be investigated. We reduced the level of Jab1 expression in pancreatic cancer cell lines, MIA PaCa-2 and PANC-1 by the RNA interference and found that Jab1-knockdown resulted in impaired cell proliferation and enhanced apoptosis regardless of the genotype of the tumor suppressor p53. This growth inhibition was rescued by the introduction of siRNA-resistant mouse Jab1 cDNA. Jab1-knocked-down cells expressed a higher level of c-myc, and additional depletion of c-myc rescued cells from Jab1-knockdown-mediated growth suppression. Thus, Jab1 overexpression contributes to pancreatic cancer cell proliferation and survival. Jab1 could be a novel target in cancer therapy.

Preparation and characterization of monoclonal antibodies against mouse Jab1/CSN5 protein.

Jab1, also known as the fifth component of the COP9 signalosome complex (CSN5), directly interacts with and regulates the activity and stability of multiple intracellular regulatory molecules, such as c-Jun, p27, p53, Cullin, Smad4, and HIF1alpha. In addition, a high level of Jab1 is observed in a variety of human cancers and is sometimes correlated with a poor prognosis, suggesting that Jab1 contributes to cancer cell proliferation and survival and could be a novel target of cancer therapy. In this report, we generated five mouse monoclonal antibodies to a bacterially produced recombinant mouse Jab1 protein and examined their capabilities and limitations in commonly used assays, including enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Western blotting with denatured and native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), immunoprecipitation, and immunofluorescence microscopy, finding the most suitable antibody for each application. Because these antibodies proved useful for immunohistochemical staining for Jab1 in fixed sections of human cancer samples, they should be useful in determining the expression and subcellular distribution of Jab1 in human tumors.

Small Jab1-containing subcomplex is regulated in an anchorage- and cell cycle-dependent manner, which is abrogated by ras transformation.

Jab1 interacts with a variety of cell cycle and signal transduction regulators to control cell proliferation, differentiation, and tumorigenesis. In this study, we employed a non-denaturing gel electrophoresis method to separate different Jab1-containing complexes, the COP9 signalosome complex and the small Jab1-containing subcomplex. The formation of the small Jab1 complex was dependent on a low cell density and anchorage to a solid support, and enhanced during the early G1 phase of the cell cycle, which was abrogated in ras-transformed cells. The small Jab1-containing subcomplex may be a novel mediator of anchorage and cell-cell contact-dependent signal transduction.

Multiple functions of Jab1 are required for early embryonic development and growth potential in mice.

Jab1 interacts with a variety of signaling molecules and regulates their stability in mammalian cells. As the fifth component of the COP9 signalosome (CSN) complex, Jab1 (CSN5) plays a central role in the deneddylation of the cullin subunit of the Skp1-Cullin-F box protein ubiquitin ligase complex. In addition, a CSN-independent function of Jab1 is suggested but is less well characterized. To elucidate the function of Jab1, we targeted the Jab1 locus by homologous recombination in mouse embryonic stem cells. Jab1-null embryos died soon after implantation. Jab1-/- embryonic cells, which lacked other CSN components, expressed higher levels of p27, p53, and cyclin E, resulting in impaired proliferation and accelerated apoptosis. Jab1 heterozygous mice were healthy and fertile but smaller than their wild-type littermates. Jab1+/- mouse embryonic fibroblast cells, in which the amount of Jab1-containing small subcomplex, but not that of CSN, was selectively reduced, proliferated poorly, showed an inefficient down-regulation of p27 during G1, and was delayed in the progression from G0 to S phase by 3 h compared with the wild-type cells. Most interestingly, in Jab1+/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts, the levels of cyclin E and deneddylated Cul1 were unchanged, and p53 was not induced. Thus, Jab1 controls cell cycle progression and cell survival by regulating multiple cell cycle signaling pathways.

Prognostic significance of localized p27Kip1 and potential role of Jab1/CSN5 in pancreatic cancer.

p27Kip1 belongs to the family of small polypeptides collectively termed cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, which negatively regulate the cell cycle progression. In various human cancers, the reduced p27Kip1 expression correlates well with poor prognosis. Recently, Jab1/CSN5, the fifth component of the COP9 signalosome complex, was found to specifically translocate p27Kip1 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, and reduce the protein level of p27Kip1 by accelerating its degradation. In this study, we investigated the expression of p27Kip1 and Jab1 in 61 cases with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The p27Kip1 expression was positive in 41% (25/61) of the tumors. Of the 25 positive tumors, 12 cases had p27Kip1 positive expression mainly in the nucleus of the tumor cells, while 13 cases had p27Kip1 in the cytoplasm as well as in the nucleus. Among a variety of clinicopathological factors, only tumor status was inversely correlated with p27Kip1 expression (p=0.019). The Jab1 expression was detected both in the nucleus and the cytoplasm in almost all pancreatic cancer cells. The intensity of Jab1 expression in tumor cells, especially in the cytoplasm, was much stronger than in normal pancreatic ductal epithelial cells. The patients with positive p27Kip1 expression had significantly better prognosis than ones with negative p27Kip1 expression (p=0.008). Furthermore, 12 patients with exclusively nuclear p27Kip1 expression, but not 13 patients with both nuclear and cytoplasmic p27Kip1 expression, had significantly better prognosis than 36 patients with negative p27Kip1 expression (p=0.009). In multivariate survival analysis, localized p27Kip1 expression was an independent prognostic factor (p=0.016). The results of our study suggested that the mislocalization as well as the downregulation of p27Kip1 had significant prognostic value in pancreatic cancer and that Jab1 might play an important role in carcinogenesis of pancreatic cancer. Cell cycle control targeting p27Kip1 might be a promising future therapeutic modality against pancreatic cancer.

Prognostic significance of HIF-1 alpha overexpression in human pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND: Hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) has been correlated with unfavorable prognosis in several cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of HIF-1 alpha expression on clinicopathological factors and to clarify whether or not HIF-1 alpha is correlated with angiogenesis and mutation of p53 in pancreatic cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using immunohistochemical methods, we examined the expression of HIF-1 alpha, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), p53 and intratumoral microvessel density (IMD) in 55 cases of primary pancreatic cancer. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical studies showed that 40.0% cases were positive and the status of HIF-1 alpha was significantly correlated with metastatic status (p = 0.048), VEGF expression (p = 0.026) and IMD (p = 0.0061). HIF-1 alpha is significantly related to prognosis in pancreatic cancer. CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrate that pancreatic cancer widely expresses HIF-1 alpha, which contributes to angiogenesis and progression. Therefore, assessment of HIF-1 alpha expression might be useful for predicting the prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients.