Unveiling the noncanonical activation mechanism of CDKs: insights from recent structural studies.

The Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) play crucial roles in a range of essential cellular processes. While the classical two-step activation mechanism is generally applicable to cell cycle-related CDKs, both CDK7 and CDK8, involved in transcriptional regulation, adopt distinct mechanisms for kinase activation. In both cases, binding to their respective cyclin partners results in only partial activity, while their full activation requires the presence of an additional subunit. Recent structural studies of these two noncanonical kinases have provided unprecedented insights into their activation mechanisms, enabling us to understand how the third subunit coordinates the T-loop stabilization and enhances kinase activity. In this review, we summarize the structure and function of CDK7 and CDK8 within their respective functional complexes, while also describing their noncanonical activation mechanisms. These insights open new avenues for targeted drug discovery and potential therapeutic interventions in various diseases related to CDK7 and CDK8.

Functional and Clinical Significance of Dysregulated microRNAs in Liver Cancer.

Liver cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the world. This mainly reflects the lack of early diagnosis tools and effective treatment methods. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-transcribed RNAs, some of which play important regulatory roles in liver cancer. Here, we discuss microRNAs with key impacts on liver cancer, such as miR-122, miR-21, miR-214, and miR-199. These microRNAs participate in various physiological regulatory pathways of liver cancer cells, and their modulation can have non-negligible effects in the treatment of liver cancer. We discuss whether these microRNAs can be used for better clinical diagnosis and/or drug development. With the advent of novel technologies, fast, inexpensive, and non-invasive RNA-based biomarker research has become a new mainstream approach. However, the clinical application of microRNA-based markers has been limited by the high sequence similarity among them and the potential for off-target problems. Therefore, researchers particularly value microRNAs that are specific to or have special functions in liver cancer. These include miR-122, which is specifically expressed in the liver, and miR-34, which is necessary for the replication of the hepatitis C virus in liver cancer. Clinical treatment drugs have been developed based on miR-34 and miR-122 (MRX34 and Miravirsen, respectively), but their side effects have not yet been overcome. Future research is needed to address these weaknesses and establish a feasible microRNA-based treatment strategy for liver cancer.

USP7 facilitates SMAD3 autoregulation to repress cancer progression in p53-deficient lung cancer.

USP7, one of the most abundant ubiquitin-specific proteases (USP), plays multifaceted roles in many cellular events, including oncogenic pathways. Accumulated studies have suggested that USP7, through modulating the MDM2/MDMX-p53 pathway, is a promising target for cancer treatment; however, little is known about the function of USP7 in p53-deficient tumors. Here we report that USP7 regulates the autoregulation of SMAD3, a key regulator of transforming growth factor ß (TGFß) signaling, that represses the cell progression of p53-deficient lung cancer. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated inactivation of USP7 in p53-deficient lung cancer H1299 line resulted in advanced cell proliferation in vitro and in xenograft tumor in vivo. Genome-wide analyses (ChIP-seq and RNA-seq) of USP7 KO H1299 cells reveal a dramatic reduction of SMAD3 autoregulation, including decreased gene expression and blunted function of associated super-enhancer (SE). Furthermore, biochemical assays show that SMAD3 is conjugated by mono-ubiquitin, which negatively regulates the DNA-binding function of SMAD3, in USP7 KO cells. In addition, cell-free and cell-based analyses further demonstrate that the deubiquitinase activity of USP7 mediates the removal of mono-ubiquitin from SMAD3 and facilitates the DNA-binding of SMAD3-SMAD4 dimer at SMAD3 locus, and thus enhance the autoregulation of SMAD3. Collectively, our study identified a novel mechanism by which USP7, through catalyzing the SMAD3 de-monoubiquitination, facilitates the positive autoregulation of SMAD3, and represses the cancer progression of p53-deficient lung cancer.

6-Thioguanine is a noncompetitive and slow binding inhibitor of human deubiquitinating protease USP2.

Ubiquitin-specific protease 2 (USP2) belongs to the family of deubiquitinases that can rescue protein targets from proteasomal degradation by reversing their ubiquitination. In various cancers, including prostate cancer and ovarian carcinoma, upregulation of USP2 leads to an increase in the levels of deubiquitinated substrates such as fatty acid synthase, MDM2, cyclin D1 and Aurora-A. USP2 thus plays a critical role in tumor cells' survival and therefore represents a therapeutic target. Here a leukemia drug, 6-thioguanine, was found to be a potent inhibitor of USP2. Enzyme-kinetic and X-ray crystallographic data suggest that 6-thioguanine displays a noncompetitive and slow-binding inhibitory mechanism against USP2. Our study provides a clear rationale for the clinical evaluation of 6-thioguanine for USP2-upregulated cancers.