PDCD2 functions in cancer cell proliferation and predicts relapsed leukemia.

PDCD2 is an evolutionarily conserved eukaryotic protein with unknown function. The Drosophlia PDCD2 ortholog Zfrp8 has an essential function in fly hematopoiesis. Zfrp8 mutants exhibit marked lymph gland hyperplasia that results from increased proliferation of partially differentiated hemocytes, suggesting Zfrp8 may participate in cell growth. Based on the above observations we have focused on the role of PDCD2 in human cancer cell proliferation and hypothesized that aberrant PDCD2 expression may be characteristic of human malignancies. We report that PDCD2 is highly expressed in human acute leukemia cells as well as in normal hematopoietic progenitors. PDCD2 knockdown in cancer cells impairs their proliferation, but not viability relative to parental cells, supporting the notion that PDCD2 overexpression facilitates cancer cell growth. Prospective analysis of PDCD2 in acute leukemia patients indicates PDCD2 RNA expression correlates with disease status and is a significant predictor of clinical relapse. PDCD2's role in cell proliferation and its high expression in human malignancies make it an attractive, novel potential molecular target for new anti-cancer therapies.

Plitidepsin (Aplidin) is a potent inhibitor of diffuse large cell and Burkitt lymphoma and is synergistic with rituximab.

Plitidepsin (Aplidin), an antitumor agent of marine origin, presently is undergoing phase II/III clinical trials, and has shown promise for the treatment of lymphoma. Here, we describe the antitumor effects of plitidepsin alone and in combination with rituximab and investigated the effects of each drug and the combination on the cell cycle and mechanism of cell death. Several Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma (DLCL) lines and Burkitt cell lines were tested for sensitivity to plitidepsin and rituximab. All DLCL and Burkitt lymphoma cell lines were inhibited by plitidepsin in nanomolar concentrations, while rituximab sensitivity varied among different cell lines. Ramos and the RL cell lines proved sensitive to rituximab and were used to test the effects of each of the two drugs. The two agents exhibited synergism at all tested concentrations. For in vivo studies, irradiated athymic nude mice were engrafted with the Ramos lymphoma. Treatment was initiated when the tumors were ~0.5 cm in diameter, and toxic and therapeutic effects were monitored. In the in vivo study, additive effects of the combined two drugs, was demonstrated without an increase in host toxicity. The in vitro synergy and the in vivo additive antitumor effects without an increase in host toxicity with two relatively non-marrow suppressive agents encourages further development of this combination for treatment of aggressive B-cell lymphomas.

Requirements for Cdk7 in the assembly of Cdk1/cyclin B and activation of Cdk2 revealed by chemical genetics in human cells.

Cell division is controlled by cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). In metazoans, S phase onset coincides with activation of Cdk2, whereas Cdk1 triggers mitosis. Both Cdk1 and -2 require cyclin binding and T loop phosphorylation for full activity. The only known CDK-activating kinase (CAK) in metazoans is Cdk7, which is also part of the transcription machinery. To test the requirements for Cdk7 in vivo, we replaced wild-type Cdk7 with a version sensitive to bulky ATP analogs in human cancer cells. Selective inhibition of Cdk7 in G1 prevents activation (but not formation) of Cdk2/cyclin complexes and delays S phase. Inhibiting Cdk7 in G2 blocks entry to mitosis and disrupts Cdk1/cyclin B complex assembly, indicating that the two steps of Cdk1 activation-cyclin binding and T loop phosphorylation-are mutually dependent. Therefore, by combining chemical genetics and homologous gene replacement in somatic cells, we reveal different modes of CDK activation by Cdk7 at two distinct execution points in the cell cycle.

Dichotomous but stringent substrate selection by the dual-function Cdk7 complex revealed by chemical genetics.

Cdk7 performs two essential but distinct functions as a CDK-activating kinase (CAK) required for cell-cycle progression and as the RNA polymerase II (Pol II) CTD kinase of general transcription factor IIH. To investigate the substrate specificity underlying this dual function, we created an analog-sensitive (AS) Cdk7 able to use bulky ATP derivatives. Cdk7-AS-cyclin H-Mat1 phosphorylates approximately 10-15 endogenous polypeptides in nuclear extracts. We identify seven of these as known and previously unknown Cdk7 substrates that define two classes: proteins such as Pol II and transcription elongation factor Spt5, recognized efficiently only by the fully activated Cdk7 complex, through sequences surrounding the site of phosphorylation; and CDKs, targeted equivalently by all active forms of Cdk7, dependent on substrate motifs remote from the phosphoacceptor residue. Thus, Cdk7 accomplishes dual functions in cell-cycle control and transcription not through promiscuity but through distinct, stringent modes of substrate recognition.