Pan-RAF:MEK Molecular Glues Take Center Stage.

In this issue, Ryan and colleagues describe the preclinical development of a pan-RAF:MEK molecular glue with superior efficacy, brain penetrance, and tolerability in xenograft models of Ras/Raf/MAPK pathway-driven tumors. See related article by Ryan et al., p. 1190 (1).

High-Complexity shRNA Libraries and PI3 Kinase Inhibition in Cancer: High-Fidelity Synthetic Lethality Predictions.

Deregulated signal transduction is a cancer hallmark, and its complexity and interconnectivity imply that combination therapy should be considered, but large data volumes that cover the complexity are required in user-friendly ways. Here, we present a searchable database resource of synthetic lethality with a PI3 kinase signal transduction inhibitor by performing a saturation screen with an ultra-complex shRNA library containing 30 independent shRNAs per gene target. We focus on Ras-PI3 kinase signaling with T cell leukemia as a screening platform for multiple clinical and experimental reasons. Our resource predicts multiple combination-based therapies with high fidelity, ten of which we confirmed with small molecule inhibitors. Included are biochemical assays, as well as the IPI145 (duvelisib) inhibitor. We uncover the mechanism of synergy between the PI3 kinase inhibitor GDC0941 (pictilisib) and the tubulin inhibitor vincristine and demonstrate broad synergy in 28 cell lines of 5 cancer types and efficacy in preclinical leukemia mouse trials.

Drug-tolerant persister cancer cells are vulnerable to GPX4 inhibition.

Acquired drug resistance prevents cancer therapies from achieving stable and complete responses. Emerging evidence implicates a key role for non-mutational drug resistance mechanisms underlying the survival of residual cancer 'persister' cells. The persister cell pool constitutes a reservoir from which drug-resistant tumours may emerge. Targeting persister cells therefore presents a therapeutic opportunity to impede tumour relapse. We previously found that cancer cells in a high mesenchymal therapy-resistant cell state are dependent on the lipid hydroperoxidase GPX4 for survival. Here we show that a similar therapy-resistant cell state underlies the behaviour of persister cells derived from a wide range of cancers and drug treatments. Consequently, we demonstrate that persister cells acquire a dependency on GPX4. Loss of GPX4 function results in selective persister cell ferroptotic death in vitro and prevents tumour relapse in mice. These findings suggest that targeting of GPX4 may represent a therapeutic strategy to prevent acquired drug resistance.

Drug Resistance to EGFR Inhibitors in Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND: The discovery of mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has dramatically changed the treatment of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. EGFR-targeted therapies show considerable promise, but drug resistance has become a substantial issue. METHODS: We reviewed the literature to provide an overview of the drug resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in NSCLC. RESULTS: The mechanisms causing primary, acquired and persistent drug resistance to TKIs vary. Researchers and clinicians, who have used study findings to develop more effective therapeutic approaches, have found that the sequential use of single agents presents a formidable challenge, suggesting that multidrug combinations must be considered. CONCLUSIONS: In the era of precision medicine, oncologists should promptly obtain an accurate diagnosis of drug resistance in each patient to be able to design the most relevant combination therapy to overcome patient-specific drug resistance.

AKT inactivation causes persistent drug tolerance to EGFR inhibitors.

Drug resistance is a major obstacle to the success of EGFR-targeted therapy. We recently studied the mechanism by which a small subset of EGFR mutant lung cancer cells remains viable after EGFR inhibition. We found that this drug-tolerant subpopulation develops because EGFR inhibition prevents AKT activity and thus inactivates Ets-1 function. In this article, we discuss how changes in intrinsic cell signaling after EGFR inhibition open a new avenue to drug resistance in NSCLCs, and comment on combined TKI and MEK inhibitor treatment to reduce the probability of emergent resistance to EGFR TKIs.

Epigenetic and transcriptional determinants of the human breast.

While significant effort has been dedicated to the characterization of epigenetic changes associated with prenatal differentiation, relatively little is known about the epigenetic changes that accompany post-natal differentiation where fully functional differentiated cell types with limited lifespans arise. Here we sought to address this gap by generating epigenomic and transcriptional profiles from primary human breast cell types isolated from disease-free human subjects. From these data we define a comprehensive human breast transcriptional network, including a set of myoepithelial- and luminal epithelial-specific intronic retention events. Intersection of epigenetic states with RNA expression from distinct breast epithelium lineages demonstrates that mCpG provides a stable record of exonic and intronic usage, whereas H3K36me3 is dynamic. We find a striking asymmetry in epigenomic reprogramming between luminal and myoepithelial cell types, with the genomes of luminal cells harbouring more than twice the number of hypomethylated enhancer elements compared with myoepithelial cells.

Discovering the complexity of the metazoan transcriptome.

Recent studies harnessing deep RNA sequencing coupled with other complementary data have revealed the complex nature of metazoan transcriptomes.

A chemical glycoproteomics platform reveals O-GlcNAcylation of mitochondrial voltage-dependent anion channel 2.

Protein modification by O-linked ß-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is a critical cell signaling modality, but identifying signal-specific O-GlcNAcylation events remains a significant experimental challenge. Here, we describe a method for visualizing and analyzing organelle- and stimulus-specific O-GlcNAcylated proteins and use it to identify the mitochondrial voltage-dependent anion channel 2 (VDAC2) as an O-GlcNAc substrate. VDAC2(-/-) cells resist the mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis caused by global O-GlcNAc perturbation, demonstrating a functional connection between O-GlcNAc signaling and mitochondrial physiology through VDAC2. More broadly, our method will enable the discovery of signal-specific O-GlcNAcylation events in a wide array of experimental contexts.

Pervasive transcription of the human genome produces thousands of previously unidentified long intergenic noncoding RNAs.

Known protein coding gene exons compose less than 3% of the human genome. The remaining 97% is largely uncharted territory, with only a small fraction characterized. The recent observation of transcription in this intergenic territory has stimulated debate about the extent of intergenic transcription and whether these intergenic RNAs are functional. Here we directly observed with a large set of RNA-seq data covering a wide array of human tissue types that the majority of the genome is indeed transcribed, corroborating recent observations by the ENCODE project. Furthermore, using de novo transcriptome assembly of this RNA-seq data, we found that intergenic regions encode far more long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) than previously described, helping to resolve the discrepancy between the vast amount of observed intergenic transcription and the limited number of previously known lincRNAs. In total, we identified tens of thousands of putative lincRNAs expressed at a minimum of one copy per cell, significantly expanding upon prior lincRNA annotation sets. These lincRNAs are specifically regulated and conserved rather than being the product of transcriptional noise. In addition, lincRNAs are strongly enriched for trait-associated SNPs suggesting a new mechanism by which intergenic trait-associated regions may function. These findings will enable the discovery and interrogation of novel intergenic functional elements.

Fluorogenic azidofluoresceins for biological imaging.

Fluorogenic probes activated by bioorthogonal chemical reactions can enable biomolecule imaging in situations where it is not possible to wash away unbound probe. One challenge for the development of such probes is the a priori identification of structures that will undergo a dramatic fluorescence enhancement by virtue of the chemical transformation. With the aid of density functional theory calculations reported previously by Nagano and co-workers, we identified azidofluorescein derivatives that were predicted to undergo an increase in fluorescence quantum yield upon Cu-catalyzed or Cu-free cycloaddition with linear or cyclic alkynes, respectively. Four derivatives were experimentally verified in model reactions, and one, a 4-azidonaphthylfluorescein analogue, was further shown to label alkyne-functionalized proteins in vitro and glycoproteins on cells with excellent selectivity. The azidofluorescein derivative also enabled cell imaging under no-wash conditions with good signal above background. This work establishes a platform for the rational design of fluorogenic azide probes with spectral properties tailored for biological imaging.

Research resource: RNA-Seq reveals unique features of the pancreatic ß-cell transcriptome.

The pancreatic ß-cell is critical for the maintenance of glycemic control. Knowing the compendium of genes expressed in ß-cells will further our understanding of this critical cell type and may allow the identification of future antidiabetes drug targets. Here, we report the use of next-generation sequencing to obtain nearly 1 billion reads from the polyadenylated RNA of islets and purified ß-cells from mice. These data reveal novel examples of ß-cell-specific splicing events, promoter usage, and over 1000 long intergenic noncoding RNA expressed in mouse ß-cells. Many of these long intergenic noncoding RNA are ß-cell specific, and we hypothesize that this large set of novel RNA may play important roles in ß-cell function. Our data demonstrate unique features of the ß-cell transcriptome.

Metabolic cross-talk allows labeling of O-linked beta-N-acetylglucosamine-modified proteins via the N-acetylgalactosamine salvage pathway.

Hundreds of mammalian nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins are reversibly glycosylated by O-linked ß-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) to regulate their function, localization, and stability. Despite its broad functional significance, the dynamic and posttranslational nature of O-GlcNAc signaling makes it challenging to study using traditional molecular and cell biological techniques alone. Here, we report that metabolic cross-talk between the N-acetylgalactosamine salvage and O-GlcNAcylation pathways can be exploited for the tagging and identification of O-GlcNAcylated proteins. We found that N-azidoacetylgalactosamine (GalNAz) is converted by endogenous mammalian biosynthetic enzymes to UDP-GalNAz and then epimerized to UDP-N-azidoacetylglucosamine (GlcNAz). O-GlcNAc transferase accepts UDP-GlcNAz as a nucleotide-sugar donor, appending an azidosugar onto its native substrates, which can then be detected by covalent labeling using azide-reactive chemical probes. In a proof-of-principle proteomics experiment, we used metabolic GalNAz labeling of human cells and a bioorthogonal chemical probe to affinity-purify and identify numerous O-GlcNAcylated proteins. Our work provides a blueprint for a wide variety of future chemical approaches to identify, visualize, and characterize dynamic O-GlcNAc signaling.

Uridine-based inhibitors as new leads for antibiotics targeting Escherichia coli LpxC.

The UDP-3-O-(R-3-hydroxyacyl)-N-acetylglucosamine deacetylase LpxC catalyzes the committed reaction of lipid A (endotoxin) biosynthesis in Gram-negative bacteria and is a validated antibiotic target. Although several previously described compounds bind to the unique acyl chain binding passage of LpxC with high affinity, strategies to target the enzyme's UDP-binding site have not been reported. Here the identification of a series of uridine-based LpxC inhibitors is presented. The most potent examined, 1-68A, is a pH-dependent, two-step, covalent inhibitor of Escherichia coli LpxC that competes with UDP to bind the enzyme in the first step of inhibition. Compound 1-68A exhibits a K(I) of 54 muM and a maximal rate of inactivation (k(inact)) of 1.7 min(-1) at pH 7.4. Dithiothreitol, glutathione and the C207A mutant of E. coli LpxC prevent the formation of a covalent complex by 1-68A, suggesting a role for Cys-207 in inhibition. The inhibitory activity of 1-68A and a panel of synthetic analogues identified moieties necessary for inhibition. 1-68A and a 2-dehydroxy analogue, 1-68Aa, inhibit several purified LpxC orthologues. These compounds may provide new scaffolds for extension of existing LpxC-inhibiting antibiotics to target the UDP binding pocket.

Identification of palmitoylated mitochondrial proteins using a bio-orthogonal azido-palmitate analogue.

Increased levels of circulating saturated free fatty acids, such as palmitate, have been implicated in the etiology of type II diabetes and cancer. In addition to being a constituent of glycerolipids and a source of energy, palmitate also covalently attaches to numerous cellular proteins via a process named palmitoylation. Recognized for its roles in membrane tethering, cellular signaling, and protein trafficking, palmitoylation is also emerging as a potential regulator of metabolism. Indeed, we showed previously that the acylation of two mitochondrial proteins at their active site cysteine residues result in their inhibition. Herein, we sought to identify other palmitoylated proteins in mitochondria using a nonradioactive bio-orthogonal azido-palmitate analog that can be selectively derivatized with various tagged triarylphosphines. Our results show that, like palmitate, incorporation of azido-palmitate occurred on mitochondrial proteins via thioester bonds at sites that could be competed out by palmitoyl-CoA. Using this method, we identified 21 putative palmitoylated proteins in the rat liver mitochondrial matrix, a compartment not recognized for its content in palmitoylated proteins, and confirmed the palmitoylation of newly identified mitochondrial 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase. We postulate that covalent modification and perhaps inhibition of various mitochondrial enzymes by palmitoyl-CoA could lead to the metabolic impairments found in obesity-related diseases.

Metabolic labeling of glycans with azido sugars for visualization and glycoproteomics.

The staggering complexity of glycans renders their analysis extraordinarily difficult, particularly in living systems. A recently developed technology, termed metabolic oligosaccharide engineering, enables glycan labeling with probes for visualization in cells and living animals, and enrichment of specific glycoconjugate types for proteomic analysis. This technology involves metabolic labeling of glycans with a specifically reactive, abiotic functional group, the azide. Azido sugars are fed to cells and integrated by the glycan biosynthetic machinery into various glycoconjugates. The azido sugars are then covalently tagged, either ex vivo or in vivo, using one of two azide-specific chemistries: the Staudinger ligation, or the strain-promoted [3+2] cycloaddition. These reactions can be used to tag glycans with imaging probes or epitope tags, thus enabling the visualization or enrichment of glycoconjugates. Applications to noninvasive imaging and glycoproteomic analyses are discussed.

Nonacid cleavable detergents applied to MALDI mass spectrometry profiling of whole cells.

Although cleavable detergents were first synthesized a number of years ago, they have only recently been successfully applied to problems involving biological molecules. Recent reports have demonstrated that these compounds are useful for applications involving both 2D PAGE and mass spectrometry. However, most cleavable surfactants have utilized acid-labile functional groups to affect cleavage. In applications where extreme pH is required, acid cleavable detergents have limited usefulness. We report the synthesis of fluoride cleavable silane compounds and photolabile cinnamate esters as cleavable detergents having alternative cleavage chemistries than previously reported cleavable detergents. These compounds were applied to whole cell analysis using MALDI mass spectrometry, and it was demonstrated that their use results in an increase in the number of proteins analyzed by increasing protein solubility.