Supervillin-mediated Suppression of p53 Protein Enhances Cell Survival

Integrin-based adhesions promote cell survival as well as cell motility and invasion. We show here that the adhesion regulatory protein supervillin increases cell survival by decreasing levels of the tumor suppressor protein p53 and downstream target genes. RNAi-mediated knockdown of a new splice form of supervillin (isoform 4) or both isoforms 1 and 4 increases the amount of p53 and cell death, whereas p53 levels decrease after overexpression of either supervillin isoform. Cellular responses to DNA damage induced by etoposide or doxorubicin include down-regulation of endogenous supervillin coincident with increases in p53. In DNA-damaged supervillin knockdown cells, p53 knockdown or inhibition partially rescues the loss of cell metabolic activity, a measure of cell proliferation. Knockdown of the p53 deubiquitinating enzyme USP7/HAUSP also reverses the supervillin phenotype, blocking the increase in p53 levels seen after supervillin knockdown and accentuating the decrease in p53 levels triggered by supervillin overexpression. Conversely, supervillin overexpression decreases the association of USP7 and p53 and attenuates USP7-mediated p53 deubiquitination. USP7 binds directly to the supervillin N terminus and can deubiquitinate and stabilize supervillin. Supervillin also is stabilized by derivatization with the ubiquitin-like protein SUMO1. These results show that supervillin regulates cell survival through control of p53 levels and suggest that supervillin and its interaction partners at sites of cell-substrate adhesion constitute a locus for cross-talk between survival signaling and cell motility pathways.     

硫化砷对Jurkat细胞增殖的抑制作用及其机制

目的：研究硫化砷（As4S4）作用于人类急性T细胞白血病细胞株Jurkat细胞后对其增殖的影响及机制。方法：用不同浓度硫化砷（0,2．5,5,10,20txM）作用于Jurkat细胞不同时间（24,48,72小时）,通过四甲基偶氮唑蓝（MTT）法观察对其增殖的抑制作用。倒置显微镜下观察不同浓度硫化砷（0,5,10,20txM）作用Jurkat细胞24小时后细胞数目和形态变化。利用Westemblot方法检测硫化砷（0,5,10uM）作用Jurkat细胞24小时后胞内CleavedNotchl蛋白和C．myc蛋白变化情况。结果：@MTT结果提示硫化砷在一定浓度范围内对Jurkat细胞有明显的抑制作用（P〈0．05）,并呈浓度和时间依赖性。②显微镜下观察到硫化砷处理Jurkat细胞24小时后,细胞数目随药物浓度增加而减少,而其细胞碎片随着药物浓度增加而增加。@Westernblot结果显示硫化砷处理24小时后,胞内CleavedNotchl蛋白、C-myc蛋白下调,并随浓度增加下降的更为明显。结论：硫化砷对Jurkat细胞生长具有抑制作用．其机制可能通过影响Notch信号通路起作用。     

Myocilin Regulates Cell Proliferation and Survival

Myocilin, a causative gene for open angle glaucoma, encodes a secreted glycoprotein with poorly understood functions. To gain insight into its functions, we produced a stably transfected HEK293 cell line expressing myocilin under an inducible promoter and compared gene expression profiles between myocilin-expressing and vector control cell lines by a microarray analysis. A significant fraction of differentially expressed genes in myocilin-expressing cells was associated with cell growth and cell death, suggesting that myocilin may have a role in the regulation of cell growth and survival. Increased proliferation of myocilin-expressing cells was demonstrated by the WST-1 proliferation assay, direct cell counting, and immunostaining with antibodies against Ki-67, a cellular proliferation marker. Myocilin-containing conditioned medium also increased proliferation of unmodified HEK293 cells. Myocilin-expressing cells were more resistant to serum starvation-induced apoptosis than control cells. TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells were dramatically decreased, and two apoptotic marker proteins, cleaved caspase 7 and cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, were significantly reduced in myocilin-expressing cells as compared with control cells under apoptotic conditions. In addition, myocilin-deficient mesenchymal stem cells exhibited reduced proliferation and enhanced susceptibility to serum starvation-induced apoptosis as compared with wild-type mesenchymal stem cells. Phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and its upstream kinases, c-Raf and MEK, was increased in myocilin-expressing cells compared with control cells. Elevated phosphorylation of ERK1/2 was also observed in the trabecular meshwork of transgenic mice expressing 6-fold higher levels of myocilin when compared with their wild-type littermates. These results suggest that myocilin promotes cell proliferation and resistance to apoptosis via the ERK1/2 MAPK signaling pathway.     

Disruption of Intrinsic Motions as a Mechanism for Enzyme Inhibition

Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is one of the most common and most severe hospital-acquired infections; its consequences range from lengthened hospital stay to outright lethality. C. diff causes cellular damage through the action of two large toxins TcdA and TcdB. Recently, there has been increased effort toward developing antitoxin therapies, rather than antibacterial treatments, in hopes of mitigating the acquisition of drug resistance. To date, no analysis of the recognition mechanism of TcdA or TcdB has been attempted. Here, we use small molecule flexible docking followed by unbiased molecular dynamics to obtain a more detailed perspective on how inhibitory peptides, exemplified by two species HQSPWHH and EGWHAHT function. Using principal component analysis and generalized masked Delaunay analysis, an examination of the conformational space of TcdB in its apo form as well as forms bound to the peptides and UDP-Glucose was performed. Although both species inhibit by binding in the active site, they do so in two very different ways. The simulations show that the conformational space occupied by TcdB bound to the two peptides are quite different and provide valuable insight for the future design of toxin inhibitors and other enzymes that interact with their substrates through conformational capture mechanisms and thus work by the disruption of the protein’s intrinsic motions.     

RhoGAPs Attenuate Cell Proliferation by Direct Interaction with p53 Tetramerization Domain

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MiR-371-5p Facilitates Pancreatic Cancer Cell Proliferation and Decreases Patient Survival

Background

microRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in tumorigenesis, either as a tumor suppressor or as an oncogenic miRNA, depending on different tumor types. To date, scientists have obtained a substantial amount of knowledge with regard to miRNAs in pancreatic cancer. However, the expression and function of miR-371-5p in pancreatic cancer has not been clearly elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the roles of miR-371-5p in pancreatic cancer and its association with the survival of patients with pancreatic cancer.

Methods

The expression of miR-371-5p was examined in pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and their adjacent normal pancreatic tissues (ANPT) or in pancreatic cancer cell lines by qRT-PCR. The association of miR-371-5p expression with overall survival was determined. The proliferation and apoptosis of SW-1990 and Panc-1 cells, transfected with miR-371-5p mimics or inhibitor, were assessed using MTT assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The tumorigenicity was evaluated via mice xenograft experiments. miR-371-5p promoter interactions were analyzed by chromatin immunoprecipitation assays (ChIP). Protein expression was analyzed by Western blot.

Results

The expression level of miR-371-5p was dramatically upregulated in clinical PDAC tissues compared with ANPT. Patients with high miR-371-5p expression had a significantly shorter survival than those with low miR-371-5p expression. The in vitro and in vivo assays showed that overexpression of miR-371-5p resulted in cell proliferation and increased tumor growth, which was associated with inhibitor of growth 1 (ING1) downregulation. Interestingly, we also found that ING1, in turn, inhibited expression of miR-371-5p in the promoter region.

Conclusions

our study demonstrates a novel ING1-miR-371-5p regulatory feedback loop, which may have a critical role in PDAC. Thus miR-371-5p can prove to be a novel prognostic factor and therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer treatment.     

p53与细胞死亡

p53是一种重要的肿瘤抑制因子,是迄今发现与人类肿瘤相关性最高的分子之一。超过50%的人类肿瘤含有p53基因突变。因此,p53是肿瘤治疗中的重要分子靶点。p53依赖的细胞凋亡是其抑制肿瘤的重要机制之一。然而,最近研究发现,p53不仅参与细胞凋亡,还与程序性细胞坏死、细胞自噬以及铁诱导的细胞死亡等细胞死亡途径相关。促使肿瘤细胞死亡是肿瘤治疗的重要目标。因此,进一步了解p53与细胞死亡之间的关系,将有助于探索以p53为靶点的肿瘤治疗和p53相关肿瘤细胞耐药机制。     

Oscillations of the p53-Akt Network: Implications on Cell Survival and Death

Intracellular protein levels of p53 and MDM2 have been shown to oscillate in response to ionizing radiation (IR), but the physiological significance of these oscillations remains unclear. The p53-MDM2 negative feedback loop – the putative cause of the oscillations – is embedded in a network involving a mutual antagonism (or positive feedback loop) between p53 and AKT. We have shown earlier that this p53-AKT network predicts an all-or-none switching behavior between a pro-survival cellular state (low p53 and high AKT levels) and a pro-apoptotic state (high p53 and low AKT levels). Here, we show that upon exposure to IR, the p53-AKT network can also reproduce the experimentally observed p53 and MDM2 oscillations. The present work is based on the hypothesis that the physiological significance of the experimentally observed oscillations could be found in their role in regulating the switching behavior of the p53-AKT network between pro-survival and pro-apoptotic states. It is shown here that these oscillations are associated with a significant decrease in the threshold level of IR at which switching from a pro-survival to a pro-apoptotic state occurs. Moreover, oscillations in p53 protein levels induce higher levels of expression of p53-target genes compared to non-oscillatory p53, and thus influence cell-fate decisions between cell cycle arrest/DNA damage repair versus apoptosis.     

MicroRNA-133b抑制人横纹肌肉瘤细胞增殖与迁移的研究

该研究首先通过Real-time RT-PCR检测发现,microRNA-133b在人横纹肌肉瘤细胞RD和A204中的表达量比正常肌肉组织中的表达量明显降低,再通过阳离子脂质体介导的方法将microRNA-133b转染入横纹肌肉瘤细胞RD和A204细胞中,并应用MTS法、Transwell法研究发现,microRNA-133b可明显抑制RD和A204细胞的增殖与迁移;采用Western blot法检测转染后细胞内与增殖、迁移及细胞周期相关的蛋白表达,发现microRNA-133b能下调RD和A204细胞中的LIMand SH3 protein 1（LASP1）、c-MET、p-MET、p-AKT、p-ERK1/2、p-Rb的表达水平,并降低RD和A204细胞中细胞周期蛋白CDK4和CDK6表达量。该研究表明,microRNA-133b是通过下调LASP1、c-MET和p-MET的表达水平,影响c-MET下游信号分子p-AKT、p-ERK1/2的表达水平,同时还下调细胞周期相关蛋白如CDK4、CDK6、p-Rb等的表达,从而影响RD和A204细胞的增殖与迁移。     

MicroRNA-34a抑制葡萄膜黑色素瘤细胞增殖的研究

该文采用阳离子脂质体Lipofectamine介导的方法将microRNA-34a转染入体外培养的人葡萄膜黑色素瘤细胞M23和SP6.5。应用BrdU法、细胞平板克隆形成实验检测转染microRNA-34a后对细胞增殖的影响,发现M23和SP6.5细胞增殖明显被抑制(P<0.01);并利用流式细胞技术检测转染microRNA-34a后细胞周期的变化,发现细胞停滞于G_1期;同时检测转染microRNA-34a后细胞caspase-3/7酶的活性,发现无明显改变。另外,Real-time PCR检测表明阿霉素处理后M23、SP6.5细胞中microRNA-34a的表达量上调(P<0.01)。用阿霉素处理转染microRNA-34a的M23、SP6.5细胞,检测caspase-3/7酶活性的改变,发现caspase-3/7酶活性显著增加(P<0.01)。本研究表明microRNA-34a通过抑制细胞周期来抑制体外培养的人葡萄膜黑色素瘤细胞的增殖,能够增加细胞对阿霉素的敏感性,但不直接诱导细胞凋亡。     

Inhibition of p53 protein aggregation as a cancer treatment strategy

The p53 protein plays a critical role in the prevention of genome mutations in the body, however, this protein is frequently mutated in cancer and almost all cancers exhibit malfunction along the p53 pathway. In addition to a loss of activity, mutant p53 protein is prone to unfolding and aggregation, eventually forming amyloid aggregates. There continues to be a considerable effort to develop strategies to restore normal p53 expression and activity and this review details recent advances in small-molecule stabilization of mutant p53 protein and the design of p53 aggregation inhibitors.     

苦荞凝集素靶向抑制结肠癌细胞HCT116增殖的机制

苦荞凝集素（tartary buckwheat lectin,TBL）是一类兼具核糖体失活蛋白N-糖苷酶活性和芦丁水解酶活性的糖蛋白,具有显著的抑制结肠癌细胞增殖的功能。先前研究表明,TBL可以下调结肠癌细胞HCT116中包括miR-135a 和miR-135b在内的一些oncomiRs的表达,并且可以抑制结肠癌细胞HCT116的增殖。因此,我们推测TBL可能通过调控oncomiRs从而抑制HCT116细胞的增殖。本研究中,我们构建了包含miR-135a 和miR-35b结合位点的腺瘤性结肠息肉病基因（adenomatous polyposis coli,APC）的3′-UTR区。双荧光素酶报告系统表明,经过TBL处理后,实验组的荧光素酶活性较对照组高,而且用miR-135a&b的反义核酸anti-miR-135a&b处理后和实验组有相似的结果。Western 印迹分析表明,TBL处理HCT116细胞24 h后,细胞中APC和p-β-catenin的表达上调,总β-catenin的表达下调,且存在剂量依赖效应,而对GSK-3β的表达无明显影响。进一步探究了TBL进入细胞的方式,我们发现,加入TBL作用2 h后,其主要存在于HCT116细胞的表面,部分进入细胞内部,在细胞表面可以同半乳糖凝集素galectin-3竞争结合细胞膜表面受体,并且存在剂量和时间依赖性。这些结果表明：TBL以HCT116细胞表面的galectin-3受体为靶点,通过内吞作用进入细胞,进而调控HCT116细胞中miR-135a&b的表达,影响Wnt信号通路而抑制结肠癌细胞的增殖。     

Intrinsic noise and Hill dynamics in the p53 system

The p53 feedback loop can induce cellular senescence, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in response to various stresses, including DNA damage, hypoxia and nutrient deprivation. Using a stochastic model of the negative feedback circuit involving p53 and its inhibitor Mdm2, we present the different oscillatory dynamics at the single-cell and population-cell levels as described in the experiments, and the resonant nature of the oscillations is captured. The stationary distributions of protein populations are characterized by non-Gaussian nature which is due to the interplay between time delay and nonlinearity of reactions.     

Exosomes Transfer p53 between Cells and Can Suppress Growth and Proliferation of p53-Negative Cells

Exosomes are nanosized vesicles that are secreted by many types of cells. We have found that exosomes secreted by HEK293 and HT-1080 can suppress growth and proliferation of p53-deficient cells. Upon overexpression of exogenous p53-GFP in HEK293 cells, we observed p53 protein in exosomes that were secreted by these cells. We also found endogenous p53 in exosomes that were secreted by HT-1080 cells with a higher level of p53 expression. We were able to detect endogenous p53 protein in exosomes that originated from human plasma and were transferred to p53-deficient cells. Our findings indicate that p53 protein can be transferred between cells and may play an important physiological role.