Advances in Research on the Effects and Mechanisms of Chemokines and Their Receptors in Cancer.

Cancer is a common and intractable disease that seriously affects quality of life of patients and imposes heavy economic burden on families and the entire society. Current medications and intervention strategies for cancer have respective shortcomings. In recent years, it has been increasingly spotlighted that chemokines and their receptors play vital roles in the pathophysiology of cancer. Chemokines are a class of structurally similar short-chain secreted proteins that initiate intracellular signaling pathways through the activation of corresponding G protein-coupled receptors and participate in physiological and pathological processes such as cell migration and proliferation. Studies have shown that chemokines and their receptors have close relationships with cancer epigenetic regulation, growth, progression, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Chemokines and their receptors may also serve as potential targets for cancer treatment. We herein summarize recent research progresses on anti-tumor effects and mechanisms of chemokines and their receptors, suggesting avenues for future studies. Perspectives for upcoming explorations, such as development of multi-targeted chemokine-based anti-tumor drugs, are also discussed in the present review.

Inability of HOXB4 to enhance self-renewal of malignant B cells: favorable profile for the expansion of autologous hematopoietic stem cells.

Leukemic stem cells share self-renewal properties and slow proliferation with hematopoietic stem cells. Based on expression signatures, it has been suggested that these cells use the same molecular pathways for these processes. However, it is not clear whether leukemic stem cells also respond to factors known to enhance the self-renewal activity of hematopoietic stem cells. The transcription factor homeobox B4 (HOXB4) is known to induce expansion of mouse hematopoietic stem cells. The recombinant TAT-HOXB4 protein also expands human CD34+ cells. In this study we investigated whether overexpression of HOXB4 could increase leukemic initiating cell numbers, an issue that is crucial to its clinical usage. A transgenic mouse model for E2A-PBX1 induced pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia was used in combination with HOXB4 transgenic mice to test oncogenic interactions between HOXB4 and E2A-PBX1. The frequency of leukemic initiating cells retrovirally overexpressing HOXB4 was measured by transplantation at limiting dilution and evaluation of leukemia development in recipient mice. Moreover, human B cell lines were evaluated for their colony forming cell potential upon exposure to TAT-HOXB4 protein. Our data with the mouse models show that HOXB4 neither accelerates the generation of E2A-PBX1 B cell leukemia nor expands the number of leukemia initiating cells. Additionally, the growth or colony forming cell proportions of human B cell lines was not changed by HOXB4, suggesting that human B leukemic initiating cells are not affected by HOXB4.

Hoxa9 collaborates with E2A-PBX1 in mouse B cell leukemia in association with Flt3 activation and decrease of B cell gene expression.

BACKGROUND: The fusion protein E2A-PBX1 induces pediatric B cell leukemia in human. Previously, we reported oncogenic interactions between homeobox (Hox) genes and E2A-PBX1 in murine T cell leukemia. A proviral insertional mutagenesis screen with our E2A-PBX1 B cell leukemia mouse model identified Hoxa genes as potential collaborators to E2A-PBX1. Here we studied whether Hoxa9 could enhance E2A-PBX1 leukemogenesis. RESULTS: We show that Hoxa9 confers a proliferative advantage to E2A-PBX1 B cells. Transplantation experiments with E2A-PBX1 transgenic B cells overexpressing Hoxa9 isolated from bone marrow chimeras showed that Hoxa9 accelerates the generation of E2A-PBX1 B cell leukemia, but Hoxa9 is unable to transform B cells alone. Quantitative-reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis demonstrated a strong repression of B cell specific genes in these E2A-PBX1/Hoxa9 leukemias in addition to Flt3 activation, indicating inhibition of B cell differentiation in combination with enhanced proliferation. Overexpression of Hoxa9 in established E2A-PBX1 mouse leukemic B cells resulted in a growth advantage in vitro, which was also characterized by an enhanced expression of Flt3. CONCLUSIONS: we show for the first time that Hoxa9 collaborates with E2A-PBX1 in the oncogenic transformation of B cells in a mouse model that involves Flt3 signaling, which is potentially relevant to human disease.

Ubiquitin-regulated recruitment of IkappaB kinase epsilon to the MAVS interferon signaling adapter.

Induction of the antiviral interferon response is initiated upon recognition of viral RNA structures by the RIG-I or Mda-5 DEX(D/H) helicases. A complex signaling cascade then converges at the mitochondrial adapter MAVS, culminating in the activation of the IRF and NF-kappaB transcription factors and the induction of interferon gene expression. We have previously shown that MAVS recruits IkappaB kinase epsilon (IKKepsilon) but not TBK-1 to the mitochondria following viral infection. Here we map the interaction of MAVS and IKKepsilon to the C-terminal region of MAVS and demonstrate that this interaction is ubiquitin dependent. MAVS is ubiquitinated following Sendai virus infection, and K63-linked ubiquitination of lysine 500 (K500) of MAVS mediates recruitment of IKKepsilon to the mitochondria. Real-time PCR analysis reveals that a K500R mutant of MAVS increases the mRNA level of several interferon-stimulated genes and correlates with increased NF-kappaB activation. Thus, recruitment of IKKepsilon to the mitochondria upon MAVS K500 ubiquitination plays a modulatory role in the cascade leading to NF-kappaB activation and expression of inflammatory and antiviral genes. These results provide further support for the differential role of IKKepsilon and TBK-1 in the RIG-I/Mda5 pathway.

Transcription factor YY1 associates with pericentromeric gamma-satellite DNA in cycling but not in quiescent (G0) cells.

Pericentromeric gamma-satellite DNA is organized in constitutive heterochromatin structures. It comprises a 234 bp sequence repeated several thousands times surrounding the centromeric sequence of all murine chromosomes. Potential binding sites for transcription factor Yin Yang 1 (YY1), a repressor or activator of several cellular and viral genes, are present in pericentromeric gamma-satellite DNA. Using gel retardation and chromatin immunoprecipitation, we demonstrate in this work that YY1 specifically interacts in vitro and in vivo with gamma-satellite DNA. Using immunoFISH and confocal microscopy we show that YY1 specifically co-localizes with pericentromeric gamma-satellite DNA clusters organized in constitutive heterochromatin in murine L929 and 3T3 fibroblasts cell lines. Immunoelectron microscopy experiments further confirmed YY1 localization in heterochromatic areas. Overall, our results demonstrate for the first time that a fraction of YY1 is directly associated with constitutive heterochromatin structures. This association appears physiologically relevant since the association of YY1 with pericentromeric gamma-satellite DNA observed in cycling 3T3 fibroblasts strongly diminished in quiescent (G0) 3T3 fibroblasts. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of heterochromatin formation as well as with regard to the YY1-induced repression of euchromatic genes.