Inhibition of Protein Disulfide Isomerase (PDIA1) Leads to Proteasome-Mediated Degradation of Ubiquitin-like PHD and RING Finger Domain-Containing Protein 1 (UHRF1) and Increased Sensitivity of Glioblastoma Cells to Topoisomerase II Inhibitors.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive brain tumor, and the prognosis remains poor with current available treatments. PDIA1 is considered a promising therapeutic target in GBM. In this study, we demonstrate that targeting PDIA1 results in increased GBM cell death by topoisomerase II (Top-II) inhibitors resulting in proteasome-mediated degradation of the oncogenic protein UHRF1. Combination of the PDIA1 inhibitor, bepristat-2a, produces strong synergy with doxorubicin, etoposide, and mitoxantrone in GBM and other cancer cell lines. Our bioinformatics analysis of multiple datasets revealed downregulation of UHRF1, upon PDIA1 inhibition. In addition, PDIA1 inhibition results in proteasome-mediated degradation of UHRF1 protein. Interestingly, treatment of GBM cells with bepristat-2a results in increased apoptosis and resistance to ferroptosis. Our findings emphasize the importance of PDIA1 as a therapeutic target in GBM and present a promising new therapeutic approach using Top-II inhibitors for GBM treatment.

Selective repression of the Drosophila cyclin B promoter by retinoblastoma and E2F proteins.

The Cyclin B1 gene encodes a G2/M cyclin that is deregulated in various human cancers, however, the transcriptional regulation of this gene is incompletely understood. The E2F and retinoblastoma family of proteins are involved in this gene's regulation, but there is disagreement on which of the E2F and retinoblastoma proteins interact with the promoter to regulate this gene. Here, we dissect the promoter region of the Drosophila CycB gene, and study the role of Rbf and E2F factors in its regulation. This gene exhibits remarkable features that distinguish it from G1/S regulated promoters, such as PCNA. The promoter is comprised of modular elements with dedicated repressor and activator functions, including a segment spanning the first intron that interferes with a 5' activator element. A highly active minimal promoter (-464, +100) is repressed by the Rbf1 retinoblastoma protein, but much more potently repressed by the Rbf2 protein, which has been linked in other studies to control of cell growth genes. Unlike many other cell-cycle genes, which are activated by E2F1 and repressed by E2F2, CycB is potently activated by E2F2, and repressed by E2F1. Although the bulk of Rbf binding is associated with a region 5' of the core promoter, E2F and retinoblastoma proteins functionally interact with the basal promoter region, in part through a conserved E2F site at -80 bp. The specific regulatory requirements of this late cell cycle promoter appear to be linked to the unique activities of E2F and retinoblastoma family members acting on a complex cis-regulatory circuit.

Diversification of Retinoblastoma Protein Function Associated with Cis and Trans Adaptations.

Retinoblastoma proteins are eukaryotic transcriptional corepressors that play central roles in cell cycle control, among other functions. Although most metazoan genomes encode a single retinoblastoma protein, gene duplications have occurred at least twice: in the vertebrate lineage, leading to Rb, p107, and p130, and in Drosophila, an ancestral Rbf1 gene and a derived Rbf2 gene. Structurally, Rbf1 resembles p107 and p130, and mutation of the gene is lethal. Rbf2 is more divergent and mutation does not lead to lethality. However, the retention of Rbf2 >60 My in Drosophila points to essential functions, which prior cell-based assays have been unable to elucidate. Here, using genomic approaches, we provide new insights on the function of Rbf2. Strikingly, we show that Rbf2 regulates a set of cell growth-related genes and can antagonize Rbf1 on specific genes. These unique properties have important implications for the fly; Rbf2 mutants show reduced egg laying, and lifespan is reduced in females and males. Structural alterations in conserved regions of Rbf2 gene suggest that it was sub- or neofunctionalized to develop specific regulatory specificity and activity. We define cis-regulatory features of Rbf2 target genes that allow preferential repression by this protein, indicating that it is not a weaker version of Rbf1 as previously thought. The specialization of retinoblastoma function in Drosophila may reflect a parallel evolution found in vertebrates, and raises the possibility that cell growth control is equally important to cell cycle function for this conserved family of transcriptional corepressors.

Genome-Wide Analysis of Drosophila RBf2 Protein Highlights the Diversity of RB Family Targets and Possible Role in Regulation of Ribosome Biosynthesis.

RBf2 is a recently evolved retinoblastoma family member in Drosophila that differs from RBf1, especially in the C-terminus. To investigate whether the unique features of RBf2 contribute to diverse roles in gene regulation, we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing for both RBf2 and RBf1 in embryos. A previous model for RB-E2F interactions suggested that RBf1 binds dE2F1 or dE2F2, whereas RBf2 is restricted to binding to dE2F2; however, we found that RBf2 targets approximately twice as many genes as RBf1. Highly enriched among the RBf2 targets were ribosomal protein genes. We tested the functional significance of this finding by assessing RBf activity on ribosomal protein promoters and the endogenous genes. RBf1 and RBf2 significantly repressed expression of some ribosomal protein genes, although not all bound genes showed transcriptional effects. Interestingly, many ribosomal protein genes are similarly targeted in human cells, indicating that these interactions may be relevant for control of ribosome biosynthesis and growth. We carried out bioinformatic analysis to investigate the basis for differential targeting by these two proteins and found that RBf2-specific promoters have distinct sequence motifs, suggesting unique targeting mechanisms. Association of RBf2 with these promoters appears to be independent of dE2F2/dDP, although promoters bound by both RBf1 and RBf2 require dE2F2/dDP. The presence of unique RBf2 targets suggest that evolutionary appearance of this corepressor represents the acquisition of potentially novel roles in gene regulation for the RB family.

Role of Drosophila retinoblastoma protein instability element in cell growth and proliferation.

The RB tumor suppressor, a regulator of the cell cycle, apoptosis, senescence, and differentiation, is frequently mutated in human cancers. We recently described an evolutionarily conserved C-terminal "instability element" (IE) of the Drosophila Rbf1 retinoblastoma protein that regulates its turnover. Misexpression of wild-type or non-phosphorylatable forms of the Rbf1 protein leads to repression of cell cycle genes. In contrast, overexpression of a defective form of Rbf1 lacking the IE (ΔIE), a stabilized but transcriptionally less active form of the protein, induced ectopic S phase in cell culture. To determine how mutations in the Rbf1 IE may induce dominant effects in a developmental context, we assessed the impact of in vivo expression of mutant Rbf1 proteins on wing development. ΔIE expression resulted in overgrowth of larval wing imaginal discs and larger adult wings containing larger cells. In contrast, a point mutation in a conserved lysine of the IE (K774A) generated severely disrupted, reduced wings. These contrasting effects appear to correlate with control of apoptosis; expression of the pro-apoptotic reaper gene and DNA fragmentation measured by acridine orange stain increased in flies expressing the K774A isoform and was suppressed by expression of Rbf1ΔIE. Intriguingly, cancer associated mutations affecting RB homologs p130 and p107 may similarly induce dominant phenotypes.

Atrial natriuretic peptide-C receptor-induced attenuation of adenylyl cyclase signaling activates phosphatidylinositol turnover in A10 vascular smooth muscle cells.

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP)-C receptor activation has been shown to inhibit adenylyl cyclase (AC) activity as well as to stimulate phospholipase C (PLC) signaling pathways. The present studies were undertaken to investigate whether ANP-C receptor-mediated decreased cAMP levels contribute to the activation of PLC signaling. C-ANP(4-23) [des(Gln(18),Ser(19), Glu(20),Leu(21),Gly(22))ANP(4-23)-NH(2)], a ring-deleted peptide of ANP that interacts specifically with ANP-C receptor, stimulated inositol 1,4,5-tris-phosphate (IP(3)) production (PLC activity) in A10 vascular smooth muscle cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. The maximal stimulation observed was about 75% at 2 h of treatment, with an apparent EC(50) of about 20 to 30 nM. Pertussis toxin treatment of the cells completely abolished the C-ANP(4-23)-mediated stimulation of IP(3) production. Forskolin (FSK), a stimulator of adenylyl cyclase, dibutyryl cAMP (db cAMP), and isoproterenol (ISO), a beta-adrenergic agonist that stimulates adenylyl cyclase activity and cAMP levels, inhibited IP(3) production by about 35, 30, and 50%, respectively, whereas dideoxyadenosine (DDA), an inhibitor of adenylyl cyclase activity, and oxotremorine stimulated IP(3) production by about 90 and 80%, respectively, in these cells, suggesting a functional interaction between these two signaling pathways. Treatment of the cells with antisense oligonucleotide of ANP-C receptor that attenuated ANP-C receptor-mediated inhibition of adenylyl cyclase resulted in a complete attenuation of C-ANP(4-23)-induced stimulation of IP(3) formation, whereas FSK, db cAMP, and ISO-mediated decrease and oxotremorine and endothelin-1 (ET-1)-induced increase in IP(3) production was not affected by this treatment. Furthermore, C-ANP(4-23)-induced increase in IP(3) formation was significantly potentiated by DDA and inhibited by FSK and db cAMP, whereas ET-1-induced increase in IP(3) production was not affected by FSK. In addition, N-[2-(4-bromocinnamylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinoline (H-89), an inhibitor of protein kinase A, completely abolished C-ANP(4-23) and not ET-1-induced stimulation of IP(3) production. These results indicate that ANP-C receptor activation by C-ANP(4-23) and resulting decrease in cAMP levels may be responsible for the activation of phosphatidylinositol (PI) turnover signaling, suggesting a cross-talk between ANP-C receptor-mediated adenylyl cyclase and PLC signaling pathways.