The marine lipopeptide somocystinamide A triggers apoptosis via caspase 8.

Screening for novel anticancer drugs in chemical libraries isolated from marine organisms, we identified the lipopeptide somocystinamide A (ScA) as a pluripotent inhibitor of angiogenesis and tumor cell proliferation. The antiproliferative activity was largely attributable to induction of programmed cell death. Sensitivity to ScA was significantly increased among cells expressing caspase 8, whereas siRNA knockdown of caspase 8 increased survival after exposure to ScA. ScA rapidly and efficiently partitioned into liposomes while retaining full antiproliferative activity. Consistent with the induction of apoptosis via the lipid compartment, we noted accumulation and aggregation of ceramide in treated cells and subsequent colocalization with caspase 8. Angiogenic endothelial cells were extremely sensitive to ScA. Picomolar concentrations of ScA disrupted proliferation and endothelial tubule formation in vitro. Systemic treatment of zebrafish or local treatment of the chick chorioallantoic membrane with ScA resulted in dose-dependent inhibition of angiogenesis, whereas topical treatment blocked tumor growth among caspase-8-expressing tumors. Together, the results reveal an unexpected mechanism of action for this unique lipopeptide and suggest future development of this and similar agents as antiangiogenesis and anticancer drugs.

Sensitive electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunoassays for detecting lipoarabinomannan (LAM) and ESAT-6 in urine and serum from tuberculosis patients.

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) infection was responsible for an estimated 1.3 million deaths in 2017. Better diagnostic tools are urgently needed. We sought to determine whether accurate TB antigen detection in blood or urine has the potential to meet the WHO target product profiles for detection of active TB. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunoassays for Lipoarabinomannan (LAM) and ESAT-6 detection with detection limits in the pg/ml range and used them to compare the concentrations of the two antigens in the urine and serum of 81 HIV-negative and -positive individuals with presumptive TB enrolled across diverse geographic sites. RESULTS: LAM and ESAT-6 overall sensitivities in urine were 93% and 65% respectively. LAM and ESAT-6 overall sensitivities in serum were 55% and 46% respectively. Overall specificity was ≥97% in all assays. Sensitivities were higher in HIV-positive compared to HIV-negative patients for both antigens and both sample types, with signals roughly 10-fold higher on average in urine than in serum. The two antigens showed similar concentration ranges within the same sample type and correlated. CONCLUSIONS: LAM and ESAT-6 can be detected in the urine and serum of TB patients, regardless of the HIV status and further gains in clinical sensitivity may be achievable through assay and reagent optimization. Accuracy in urine was higher with current methods and has the potential to meet the WHO accuracy target if the findings can be transferred to a point-of-care TB test.

Expression of CXC chemokine receptors 1-5 and their ligands in human glioma tissues: role of CXCR4 and SDF1 in glioma cell proliferation and migration.

Chemokines have been involved in cellular processes associated to malignant transformation such as proliferation, migration and angiogenesis. The expression of five CXC chemokine receptors and their main ligands was analysed by RT-PCR in 31 human astrocytic neoplasms. The mRNAs for all the receptors analysed were identified in a high percentage of tumours, while their ligands showed lower expression. CXCR4 and SDF1 were the most frequently mRNA identified (29/31 and 13/31 of the gliomas studied, respectively). Thus, we further analysed the cell localization of CXCR4 and SDF1 in immunohistochemistry experiments. We show a marked co-localization of CXCR4 and SDF1 in tumour cells, mainly evident in psudolpalisade and microcystic degeneration areas and in the vascular endothelium. In addition, hSDF1alpha induced a significant increase of DNA synthesis in primary human glioblastoma cell cultures and chemotaxis in a glioblastoma cell line. These results provide evidence of the expression of multiple CXC chemokines and their receptors in brain tumours and that in particular CXCR4 and SDF1 sustain proliferation and migration of glioma cells to promote malignant progression.

Stromal cell-derived factor 1alpha stimulates human glioblastoma cell growth through the activation of both extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 and Akt.

In this paper, we describe the role of chemokine receptor CXCR4 activation by its natural ligand, the chemokine stromal cell-derived factor (SDF-1) (CXCL12), in glioblastoma cell growth in vitro. We show that both CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and SDF-1 mRNA are expressed in several human glioblastoma multiforme tumor tissues and in two human glioblastoma cell lines, U87-MG and DBTRG-05MG. These cells are able to secrete SDF-1 under basal conditions, and the rate of secretion is highly increased after lipopolysaccharide or 1% fetal bovine serum treatment. Exogenous SDF-1alpha induces proliferation in a dose-dependent manner in both cell lines. Moreover, we observed that SDF-1alpha-dependent proliferation is correlated with phosphorylation and activation of both extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 and Akt and that these kinases are independently involved in glioblastoma cell proliferation. The role of CXCR4 stimulation in glioblastoma cell growth is further demonstrated by the ability of human monoclonal CXCR4 antibody (clone 12G5) to inhibit the SDF-1alpha-induced proliferation as well as the proliferation induced by SDF-1-releasing treatments (lipopolysaccharide and 1% fetal bovine serum). These data support a role for SDF-1alpha in the regulation of glioblastoma growth in vitro, likely through an autocrine/paracrine mechanism.

Pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate induces apoptosis in cerebellar granule cells: involvement of AP-1 and MAP kinases.

Pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC) is a compound displaying antioxidant, pro-oxidant and metal chelator properties in different cell types. It has been described that PDTC may exert either anti-apoptotic or apoptotic activity. Moreover it is known that this agent regulates the activity of redox-sensitive transcription factors, such as AP-1 and NF-kappaB. Using cerebellar granule cells (CGCs), a well-described model of neuronal primary cultures, we investigated the effects of different concentrations of this compound on cell viability and the intracellular mechanisms involved. PDTC used at concentrations, as low as 1 microM, exerts cytotoxic effects on CGC through the activation of the apoptotic machinery with a maximal efficacy for concentration of 10 microM. The PDTC-dependent apoptosis is correlated to a biphasic and long-lasting increase of AP-1 binding to the DNA, apparently without affecting the NF-kappaB whose activity was reduced only at much higher concentrations (100 microM). PDTC treatment enhanced ERK phosphorylation (maximal effect 1h) and p38 phosphorylation (maximal effect 7h) that was accompanied by an increase of both mRNA and protein of c-Jun. In conclusion the results presented show that PDTC exerts apoptotic effects on CGC, that are correlated to the activation of stress-pathways, involving mainly AP-1 and MAPKs.

CXCR4 activation induces epidermal growth factor receptor transactivation in an ovarian cancer cell line.

Chemokines are a family of proteins that have pleiotropic biological effects. They are well known to regulate the recruitment and trafficking of leukocytes to sites of inflammation. Chemokines are grouped into four classes based on the positions of key cysteine residues: C, CC, CXC, and CX3C. Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), the ligand of the CXCR4 receptor, is a CXC chemokine and is a highly conserved gene. Ovarian cancer typically disseminates widely in the abdomen, a characteristic that limits curative therapy. The mechanisms that promote ovarian cancer proliferation are incompletely understood. We studied a human ovarian adenocarcinoma cell line (OC 314) and investigated the role of CXCR4 activation by SDF-1 in human ovarian cancer. We demonstrate that CXCR4 and SDF-1 mRNA are expressed in OC 314. We show that SDF-1alpha induces proliferation in ovarian cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, we demonstrate that the SDF-1-dependent proliferation correlates to the phosphorylation and activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK)1/2, which in turn are correlated to epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor transactivation. In fact, AG1478, a specific inhibitor of the EGF receptor kinase, blocked both SDF-1alpha-dependent proliferation and ERK1/2 activation.

Proteasome inhibitors induce cerebellar granule cell death: inhibition of nuclear factor-kB activation.

Many activities of neuronal cells, such as synaptic transmission, inflammation, neuroprotection, and neurotoxicity, are regulated by the activity of the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB). In resting cells, NF-kappaB activity is present both in the cytoplasm, as an inducible-inactive complex, and in the nucleus as a constitutive form. The activation of its inducible form is related to processing of IkappaB(s), which occurs through the proteasome. To understand whether NF-kappaB is involved in the survival of cerebellar granule cells (CGCs) maintained under conditions of mild depolarization (25 mM KCl), these cells were treated with different proteasome inhibitors. The results presented show that these pharmacological tools reduce CGC survival with changes in nuclear morphology and induction of apoptosis. Furthermore, we demonstrate that PSI-induced apoptosis is reverted by inhibitors of transcription and translation, as well as by specific caspase inhibitors. These issues are also associated with a redistribution of NF-kappaB, in that a reduced amount of nuclear NF-kappaB and an increased p65 cytoplasmic level have been observed. Finally, we propose that, at least in part, p65 metabolism could also be regulated by the ubiquitin-proteasome complex. Altogether, the results presented define an important role for NF-kappaB in maintainig CGC survival.

Expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 and its ligand stromal cell-derived factor 1 in human brain tumors and their involvement in glial proliferation in vitro.

Chemokines are a family of proteins that chemoattract and activate cells by interacting with specific receptors on the surface of their targets. They are grouped into four classes based on the position of key cysteine residues: C, CC, CXC, and CX3C. Stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF1), the ligand of the CXCR4 receptor, is a CXC chemokine involved in chemotaxis and brain development that also acts as coreceptor for HIV-1 infection. It has been proposed that CXCR4 is overexpressed and required for proliferation in human brain tumor cells. We previously demonstrated that CXCR4 and SDF1 are expressed in culture of cortical type I rat astrocytes, cortical neurons, and cerebellar granule cells. In this study, we analyzed the expression of CXCR4 and SDF1 in four human brain tumor tissues, showing that CXCR4 is expressed in all tumors analyzed, whereas SDF1 is expressed only in two tumor tissues. We also investigated the possible functions of CXCR4 expressed in rat type I cortical astrocytes, demonstrating that SDF1alpha stimulates the proliferation of these cells in vitro. Moreover, we studied by western blot the intracellular pathway involved in cell proliferation, demonstrating that SDF1alpha induces the ERK1/2 phosphorylation that is reduced by the PD98059 compound, an MEK inhibitor.

Chemokines and their receptors in the CNS: expression of CXCL12/SDF-1 and CXCR4 and their role in astrocyte proliferation.

The study of chemokine role in the CNS indubitably represents an important step to understanding many aspects of brain pathology, physiology and development. Here we discuss our recent research on the expression of chemokines and chemokine receptors in brain tissues and in cultured CNS cells, with particular regard to the CXCL12/SDF-1-CXCR4 system. We showed their expression in both glial and neuronal cells in basal conditions and their modulation upon stimulation. We demonstrated that CXCL12/SDF-1 in vitro act as a growth factor for astrocytes by stimulating their proliferation, a phenomenon that could represent the basis of pathological conditions such as gliosis and malignant transformation. We investigated the signal transduction pathways, identifying in the sequential activation of G-protein-PI-3Kinase-ERK1/2 the main signaling cascade linked to the CXCL12/SDF-1-induced proliferation in astrocytes.

Src-inducible association of CrkL with procaspase-8 promotes cell migration.

Procaspase-8, the zymogen form of the apoptosis-initiator caspase-8, undergoes phosphorylation following integrin-mediated cell attachment to an extracellular matrix substrate. Concordant with cell attachment to fibronectin, a population of procaspase-8 becomes associated with a peripheral insoluble compartment that includes focal complexes and lamellar microfilaments. Phosphorylation of procaspase-8 both impairs its maturation to the proapoptotic form and can promote cell migration. Here we show that the cytoskeletal adaptor protein CrkL promotes caspase-8 recruitment to the peripheral spreading edge of cells, and that the catalytic domain of caspase-8 directly interacts with the SH2 domain of CrkL. We show that the interaction is abolished by shRNA-mediated silencing of Src, in Src-deficient MEFs, and by pharmacologic inhibitors of the kinase. The results provide insight into how tyrosine kinases may act to coordinate the suppression caspase-8 mediated apoptosis, while promoting cell invasion.

Rab5 mediates caspase-8-promoted cell motility and metastasis.

Caspase-8 is a key apical sensory protein that governs cell responses to environmental cues, alternatively promoting apoptosis, proliferation, and cell migration. The proteins responsible for integration of these pathways, however, have remained elusive. Here, we reveal that Rab5 regulates caspase-8-dependent signaling from integrins. Integrin ligation leads to Rab5 activation, association with integrins, and activation of Rac, in a caspase-8-dependent manner. Rab5 activation promotes colocalization and coprecipitation of integrins with caspase-8, concomitant with Rab5 recruitment to integrin-rich regions such as focal adhesions and membrane ruffles. Moreover, caspase-8 expression promotes Rab5-mediated internalization and the recycling of beta1 integrins, increasing cell migration independently of caspase catalytic activity. Conversely, Rab5 knockdown prevented caspase-8-mediated integrin signaling for Rac activation, cell migration, and apoptotic signaling, respectively. Similarly, Rab5 was critical for caspase-8-driven cell migration in vivo, because knockdown of Rab5 compromised the ability of caspase-8 to promote metastasis under nonapoptotic conditions. These studies identify Rab5 as a key integrator of caspase-8-mediated signal transduction downstream of integrins, regulating cell survival and migration in vivo and in vitro.

The death effector domains of caspase-8 induce terminal differentiation.

The differentiation and senescence programs of metazoans play key roles in regulating normal development and preventing aberrant cell proliferation, such as cancer. These programs are intimately associated with both the mitotic and apoptotic pathways. Caspase-8 is an apical apoptotic initiator that has recently been appreciated to coordinate non-apoptotic roles in the cell. Most of these functions are attributed to the catalytic domain, however, the amino-terminal death effector domains (DED)s, which belong to the death domain superfamily of proteins, can also play key roles during development. Here we describe a novel role for caspase-8 DEDs in regulating cell differentiation and senescence. Caspase-8 DEDs accumulate during terminal differentiation and senescence of epithelial, endothelial and myeloid cells; genetic deletion or shRNA suppression of caspase-8 disrupts cell differentiation, while re-expression of DEDs rescues this phenotype. Among caspase-8 deficient neuroblastoma cells, DED expression attenuated tumor growth in vivo and proliferation in vitro via disruption of mitosis and cytokinesis, resulting in upregulation of p53 and induction of differentiation markers. These events occur independent of caspase-8 catalytic activity, but require a critical lysine (K156) in a microtubule-binding motif in the second DED domain. The results demonstrate a new function for the DEDs of caspase-8, and describe an unexpected mechanism that contributes to cell differentiation and senescence.

Caspase-8 association with the focal adhesion complex promotes tumor cell migration and metastasis.

Caspase-8 is a proapoptotic protease that suppresses neuroblastoma metastasis by inducing programmed cell death. Paradoxically, caspase-8 can also promote cell migration among nonapoptotic cells; here, we show that caspase-8 can promote metastasis when apoptosis is compromised. Migration is enhanced by caspase-8 recruitment to the cellular migration machinery following integrin ligation. Caspase-8 catalytic activity is not required for caspase-8-enhanced cell migration; rather, caspase-8 interacts with a multiprotein complex that can include focal adhesion kinase and calpain 2 (CPN2), enhancing cleavage of focal adhesion substrates and cell migration. Caspase-8 association with CPN2/calpastatin disrupts calpastatin-mediated inhibition of CPN2. In vivo, knockdown of either caspase-8 or CPN2 disrupts metastasis among apoptosis-resistant tumors. This unexpected molecular collaboration provides an explanation for the continued or elevated expression of caspase-8 observed in many tumors.

Identification of a critical tyrosine residue in caspase 8 that promotes cell migration.

Caspase 8 is a critical upstream initiator of programmed cell death but, paradoxically, has also been shown to promote cell migration. Here, we show that tyrosine 380 in the linker loop of human caspase 8 is a critical switch determining caspase 8 function. Our studies show that, in addition to its cytosolic distribution, caspase 8 is recruited to lamella of migrating cells. Although the catalytic domain of caspase 8 is sufficient for recruitment and promotion of cell migration, catalytic activity per se is not required. Instead, we find that integrin-mediated adhesion promotes caspase 8 phosphorylation on tyrosine 380. Accordingly, mutation of this site compromises localization to the periphery and the potentiation of cell migration. Mechanistically, this linker region of caspase 8 acts as a Src homology 2 binding site. In particular, tyrosine 380 is critical for interaction with Src homology 2 domains. The results identify a novel mechanism by which caspase 8 is recruited to the lamella of a migrating cell, promoting cell migration independent of its protease activity.

Tyrosine phosphorylation of VE-cadherin prevents binding of p120- and beta-catenin and maintains the cellular mesenchymal state.

In several pathological conditions, epithelial cells demonstrate a breakdown of barrier function and acquire an invasive phenotype. Endothelial cells in particular are maintained in a mesenchymal state during the cell invasion phase of angiogenesis. We show here that tyrosine phosphorylation of the adherens junction protein VE-cadherin at two critical tyrosines, Tyr-658 and Tyr-731, via tyrosine kinase activation or phosphatase inactivation was sufficient to prevent the binding of p120- and beta-catenin, respectively, to the cytoplasmic tail of VE-cadherin. In fact, phosphorylation at either site led to the inhibition of cell barrier function. Cells expressing wild-type VE-cadherin showed decreased cell migration compared with cells lacking VE-cadherin, whereas expression of VE-cadherin with a simple phosphomimetic tyrosine-to-glutamic acid mutation of Y658E or Y731E was sufficient to restore the migratory response. These findings demonstrate that a single phosphorylation event within the VE-cadherin cytoplasmic tail is sufficient to maintain cells in a mesenchymal state.

Stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha/CXCL12) stimulates ovarian cancer cell growth through the EGF receptor transactivation.

Ovarian cancer (OC) is the leading cause of death in gynecologic diseases in which there is evidence for a complex chemokine network. Chemokines are a family of proteins that play an important role in tumor progression influencing cell proliferation, angiogenic/angiostatic processes, cell migration and metastasis, and, finally, regulating the immune cells recruitment into the tumor mass. We previously demonstrated that astrocytes and glioblastoma cells express both the chemokine receptor CXCR4 and its ligand stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), and that SDF-1alpha treatment induced cell proliferation, supporting the hypothesis that chemokines may play an important role in tumor cells' growth in vitro. In the present study, we report that CXCR4 and SDF-1 are expressed in OC cell lines. We demonstrate that SDF-1alpha induces a dose-dependent proliferation in OC cells, by the specific interaction with CXCR4 and a biphasic activation of ERK1/2 and Akt kinases. Our results further indicate that CXCR4 activation induces EGF receptor (EGFR) phosphorylation that in turn was linked to the downstream intracellular kinases activation, ERK1/2 and Akt. In addition, we provide evidence for cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase (c-Src) involvement in the SDF-1/CXCR4-EGFR transactivation. These results suggest a possible important "cross-talk" between SDF-1/CXCR4 and EGFR intracellular pathways that may link signals of cell proliferation in ovarian cancer.

Characterization of chemokines and their receptors in the central nervous system: physiopathological implications.

Chemokines represent key factors in the outburst of the immune response, by activating and directing the leukocyte traffic, both in lymphopoiesis and in immune surveillance. Neurobiologists took little interest in chemokines for many years, until their link to acquired immune deficiency syndrome-associated dementia became established, and thus their importance in this field has been neglected. Nevertheless, the body of data on their expression and role in the CNS has grown in the past few years, along with a new vision of brain as an immunologically competent and active organ. A large number of chemokines and chemokine receptors are expressed in neurons, astrocytes, microglia and oligodendrocytes, either constitutively or induced by inflammatory mediators. They are involved in many neuropathological processes in which an inflammatory state persists, as well as in brain tumor progression and metastasis. Moreover, there is evidence for a crucial role of CNS chemokines under physiological conditions, similar to well known functions in the immune system, such as proliferation and developmental patterning, but also peculiar to the CNS, such as regulation of neural transmission, plasticity and survival.