Myogenic differentiation requires signalling through both phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and p38 MAP kinase

Activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) or of Akt induces myoblast differentiation. Activation of p38 MAP kinase also triggers myogenic differentiation. The current paper shows that PI 3-kinase and p38 MAP kinase signalling are activated by two separate pathways during myogenic differentiation; both are required for muscle differentiation. p38-induced myogenic differentiation can be inhibited by the PI 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 without affecting p38 activity. Similarly, a constitutively active form of Akt, myristylated c-Akt (Myr-Akt), induces myogenic differentiation that is inhibited by the p38 inhibitor SB203580. An analysis of the two forms of p38, p38 and p38beta, shows that the activity of both is required for myogenic differentiation. These data suggest that PI 3-kinase and p38 signalling are essential and parallel pathways for myogenic differentiation. They may either affect different downstream targets required for myogenesis or they may converge on shared targets that require input from both signalling pathways.     

Inhibition of insulin signaling in endothelial cells by protein kinase C-induced phosphorylation of p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)

The regulation of endothelial function by insulin is consistently abnormal in insulin-resistant states and diabetes. Protein kinase C (PKC) activation has been reported to inhibit insulin signaling selectively in endothelial cells via the insulin receptor substrate/PI3K/Akt pathway to reduce the activation of endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (eNOS). In this study, it was observed that PKC activation differentially inhibited insulin receptor substrate 1/2 (IRS1/2) signaling of insulin's activation of PI3K/eNOS by decreasing only tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS2. In addition, PKC activation, by general activator and specifically by angiotensin II, increased the phosphorylation of p85/PI3K, which decreases its association with IRS1 and activation. Thr-86 of p85/PI3K was identified to be phosphorylated by PKC activation and confirmed to affect IRS1-mediated activation of Akt/eNOS by insulin and VEGF using a deletion mutant of the Thr-86 region of p85/PI3K. Thus, PKC and angiotensin-induced phosphorylation of Thr-86 of p85/PI3K may partially inhibit the activation of PI3K/eNOS by multiple cytokines and contribute to endothelial dysfunction in metabolic disorders.     

4-(1,3-Thiazol-2-yl)morpholine derivatives as inhibitors of phosphoinositide 3-kinase

4-(1,3-Thiazol-2-yl)morpholine derivatives have been identified as potent and selective inhibitors of phosphoinositide 3-kinase. The SAR data of selected examples are presented and the in vivo profiling of compound 18 is shown to demonstrate the utility of this class of compounds in xenograft models of tumor growth.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of solubilized sulfonamide analogues of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor ZSTK474

Replacing one of the morpholine groups of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor ZSTK474 with a variety of sulfonamide-linked solubilizing substituents produced a new class of active and potent PI3Kα inhibitors, with several derivatives demonstrating high PI3Kα enzyme potency and good cellular potency in two human derived cell lines. The overall results suggest a preference for linear and somewhat flexible solubilizing functions. From this series, compound 16, also known as SN32976, was selected for advanced preclinical evaluation.     

BMP2 accelerates the motility and invasiveness of gastric cancer cells via activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway

Up-regulation of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and their receptors by tumor is an important hallmark in cancer progression, as it contributes through autocrine and paracrine mechanisms to tumor development, invasion, and metastasis. Generally, increased motility and invasion are positively correlated with the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The purpose of the present study was to determine whether BMP-2 signaling to induce gastric cancer cells to undergo EMT-mediated invasion might pass through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway. Herein we showed that gastric cancer cell lines express all the components of BMP-2 signaling, albeit to different extents. Moreover, an increased concentration of BMP-2 strongly enhanced motility and invasiveness in gastric cancer cells, whereas no increase was observed in cells treated with either Noggin (a BMP-2 inhibitor) or BMP-2 blocking antibodies. The stimulation of BMP-2 in gastric cancer cells induces a full EMT characterized by Snail induction, E-cadherin delocalization and down-regulation, and up-regulation of mesenchymal and invasiveness markers. Furthermore, blockade of BMP-2 signaling by Noggin or BMP-2 blocking antibodies also restored these changes in EMT markers. In addition, phosphorylation of Akt was also enhanced by treatment with BMP-2, but not Noggin or BMP-2 blocking antibodies. Pretreatment of gastric cancer cells with PI-3 kinase/Akt kinase inhibitor (kinase-dead Akt [DN-Akt], Akt siRNA, or LY294002) significantly inhibited BMP-2-induced EMT and invasiveness. Overall, our studies suggest that BMP-2 promotes motility and invasion of gastric cancer cells by activating PI-3 kinase/Akt and that targeting of this signaling pathway may provide therapeutic opportunities in preventing metastasis mediated by BMP-2.     

Assessing the subcellular distribution of oncogenic phosphoinositide 3-kinase using microinjection into live cells

Oncogenic mutations in PIK3CA lead to an increase in intrinsic phosphoinositide kinase activity, but it is thought that increased access of PI3Kα (phosphoinositide 3-kinase α) to its PM (plasma membrane) localized substrate is also required for increased levels of downstream PIP₃/Akt [phosphoinositide-3,4,5-trisphosphate/also called PKB (protein kinase B)] signalling. We have studied the subcellular localization of wild-type and the two most common oncogenic mutants of PI3Kα in cells maintained in growth media, and starved or stimulated cells using a novel method in which PI3Kα is pre-formed as a 1:1 p110α:p85α complex in vitro then introduced into live cells by microinjection. Oncogenic E545K and H1047R mutants did not constitutively interact with membrane lipids in vitro or in cells maintained in 10% (v/v) FBS. Following stimulation of RTKs (receptor tyrosine kinases), microinjected PI3Kα was recruited to the PM, but oncogenic forms of PI3Kα were not recruited to the PM to a greater extent and did not reside at the PM longer than the wild-type PI3Kα. Instead, the E545K mutant specifically bound activated Cdc42 in vitro and microinjection of E545K was associated with the formation of cellular protrusions, providing some preliminary evidence that changes in protein–protein interactions may play a role in the oncogenicity of the E545K mutant in addition to the well-known changes in lipid kinase activity.     

Structural basis and energy landscape of apigenin-induced cancer cell apoptosis mechanism in PI3K/Akt pathway

This study attempted to elucidate how apigenin (AGI) interferes with the PI3K/Akt pathway to fulfill its anti-tumour activity by anchoring on the ATP-binding pocket of PI3K and PDK1. The structural basis and energetic property of AGI and ATP binding to human PDK1 and PI3K isoforms α, β, γ and δ were investigated in detail with homology modelling and molecular docking. Free binding energy calculations and molecular dynamics simulations revealed that AGI can cause less conformational entropy loss than ATP upon the binding and possess the same level of binding stability with that of ATP. Combining ADMET prediction, AGI was evaluated as a strong ATP-competitive inhibitor with good pharmacokinetics profile.     

Class I phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 activates autophagy and induces apoptosis through p53 pathway in gastric cancer cell line SGC7901

We aimed to study the effects of LY294002, an inhibitor of class I phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), on proliferation, apoptosis, and autophagy in gastric cancer cell line SGC7901. In this study, we showed that LY294002 inhibited the viability of gastric cancer SGC7901 cells. We also showed that LY294002 increased the expression of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3), and increased monodansylcadaverine (MDC)-labeled vesicles. LY294002 activated autophagy by activating p53 and caspase-3, and induced apoptosis by up-regulatingp53 and p53-up-regulated modulator of apoptosis ( PUMA ). Therefore, LY294002 might induce cytotoxicity in SGC7901 cells through activation of p53 and the downstream point PUMA . These findings suggest that inhibition of the class I PI3K signaling pathway is a potential strategy for managing gastric cancers.     

PI3K和Akt蛋白在异丙肾上腺素所致大鼠心肌肥厚中的表达

目的研究异丙肾上腺素(ISO)致大鼠心肌肥厚中PI3K和Akt在心肌组织中的表达,为探讨心肌肥厚的信号转导机制和逆转心肌肥厚提供形态学资料.方法健康成年SD大鼠20只,随机分为实验组、对照组,每组10只.实验组给予异丙肾上腺素处理.1周后处死大鼠,取心肌组织,常规石蜡切片,HE染色,观察心肌组织的病理变化,测量心肌肥厚指标;免疫组织化学染色和免疫荧光染色,检测p-PI3K和p-Akt的表达及分布.结果实验组大鼠心肌肥厚指标与对照组相比均明显升高;免疫组织化学检测显示,实验组心肌组织p-PI3K和p-Akt蛋白表达面积和平均光密度较对照组高.免疫荧光检测实验组心肌组织p-PI3K和p-Akt蛋白表达较对照组高.结论小剂量持续给予 ISO 能建立大鼠心肌肥厚模型;p-PI3K和p-Akt蛋白表达均与心肌肥厚的发生和发展过程相关,PI3K/Akt信号通路激活,可能是导致心肌肥厚的机制之一.     

Enhancement of ischemia-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of Kv1.2 by vascular endothelial growth factor via activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase

Our studies observed that, consistent with the literature, ischemic/hypoxic insults increased the expression of voltage-gated potassium channel (Kv) 1.2 potassium channel as well as elevating the endogenous level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in neurons of adult rat brain following middle cerebral artery occlusion and in SH-SY5Y cells after hypoxia and glucose deprivation. Concomitantly, we also observed that ischemic injury increased the tyrosine phosphorylation of Kv 1.2 in in vivo and in vitro; the introduction of exogenous VEGF could attenuate cell death in in vitro models. Furthermore, we found that the protective effect of VEGF is mediated through its up-regulative actions on the tyrosine phosphorylation of Kv 1.2, which in turn has a direct influence on cell viability after ischemic insult. In substantiation of this result, we used anti-sense methodology to suppress the expression of endogenous VEGF, which significantly inhibited the tyrosine phosphorylation of Kv 1.2 and increased cell death elicited by ischemic/hypoxic injury. Finally, the enhancement of the tyrosine phosphorylation of the channel by VEGF in neuronal cells was significantly attenuated in the presence of wortmannin, an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K), or genestin, an inhibitor of tyrosine kinase, thus suggesting that the phosphorylation of Kv 1.2 induced by VEGF is mechanistically linked to the PI3-K pathway.     

The inhibition of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase induces neurite retraction and activates GSK3

It has been extensively described that neuronal differentiation involves the signalling through neurotrophin receptors to a Ras-dependent mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade. However, signalling pathways from other neuritogenic factors have not been well established. It has been reported that cAMP may activate protein kinase (PKA), and it has been shown that PKA-mediated stimulation of MAPK pathway regulates not only neuritogenesis but also survival. However, extracellular regulated kinases (ERKs) mediated pathways are not sufficient to explain all the processes which occur in neuronal differentiation. Our present data show that: in cAMP-mediated neuritogenesis, using the SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cell line, there exists a link between the activation of PKA and stimulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). Both kinase activities are essential to the initial elongation steps. Surprisingly, this neuritogenic process appears to be independent of ERKs. While the activity of PI3K is essential for elongation and maintenance of neurites, its inhibition causes retraction. In this neurite retraction process, GSK3 is activated. Using both a pharmacological approach and gene transfer of a dominant negative form of GSK3, we conclude that this induced retraction is a GSK3-dependent process which in turn appears to be a common target for transduction pathways involved in lysophosphatidic acid-mediated and PI3K-mediated neurite retraction.     

Discovery and biological activity of a novel class I PI3K inhibitor, CH5132799

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) is a lipid kinase and a promising therapeutic target for cancer. Using structure-based drug design (SBDD), we have identified novel PI3K inhibitors with a dihydropyrrolopyrimidine skeleton. Metabolic stability of the first lead series was drastically improved by replacing phenol with aminopyrimidine moiety. CH5132799, a novel class I PI3K inhibitor, exhibited a strong inhibitory activity especially against PI3Kα (IC₅₀ = 0.014 μM). In human tumor cell lines with PI3K pathway activation, CH5132799 showed potent antiproliferative activity. CH5132799 is orally available and showed significant antitumor activity in PI3K pathway-activated human cancer xenograft models in mice.     

Quinazolines with intra-molecular hydrogen bonding scaffold (iMHBS) as PI3K/mTOR dual inhibitors

Intra-molecular hydrogen bonding was introduced to the quinazoline motif to form a pseudo ring (intra-molecular H-bond scaffold, iMHBS) to mimic our previous published core structures, pyrido[2.3-D]pyrimidin-7-one and pteridinone, as PI3K/mTOR dual inhibitors. This design results in potent PI3K/mTOR dual inhibitors and the purposed intra-molecular hydrogen bonding structure is well supported by co-crystal structure in PI3Kγ enzyme. In addition, a novel synthetic route was developed for these analogs.     

Statin induces inhibition of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells via PI3K pathway

Primary TNBCs are treated as if they were a single disease entity, yet it is clear they do not behave as a single entity in response to current therapies. Recently, we reported that statins might have a potential benefit for TNBCs associated with ets-1 overexpression. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of PTEN loss in the effects of statin on TNBC cells. In addition, we analyze the relationship between AKT downstream pathways and the effects of statin on TNBC cells. We investigated the effect of a statin on TNBC cells and analyzed the association of PI3K pathways using various TNBC cells in terms of PTEN loss and AKT pathways. Simvastatin treatments resulted in decreased cell viabilities in various TNBC cell lines. Compared with PTEN wild-type TNBC cells, PTEN mutant-type TNBC cells showed a decreased response to simvastatin. Expressions of phosphorylated Akt and total Akt showed an inverse relationship with PTEN expression. The TNBC cell lines, which showed increased expression of p-Akt, appeared to attenuate the expression of p-Akt by PTEN loss in simvastatin-treated TNBC cells. The Akt inhibitor, LY294002, augmented the effect of simvastatin on PTEN wild-type TNBC cells. Simvastatin induces inhibition of TNBC cells via PI3K pathway activation.     

Vitamin E protected cultured cortical neurons from oxidative stress-induced cell death through the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase

The role of vitamin E in the CNS has not been fully elucidated. In the present study, we found that pre-treatment with vitamin E analogs including alphaT (alpha-tocopherol), alphaT3 (alpha -tocotrienol), gammaT, and gammaT3 for 24 h prevented the cultured cortical neurons from cell death in oxidative stress stimulated by H2O2, while Trolox, a cell-permeable analog of alphaT, did not. The preventive effect of alphaT was dependent on de novo protein synthesis. Furthermore, we found that alphaT exposure induced the activation of both the MAP kinase (MAPK) and PI3 kinase (PI3K) pathways and that the alphaT-dependent survival effect was blocked by the inhibitors, U0126 (an MAPK pathway inhibitor) or LY294002 (a PI3K pathway inhibitor). Interestingly, the up-regulation of Bcl-2 (survival promoting molecule) was induced by alphaT application. The up-regulation of Bcl-2 did not occur in the presence of U0126 or LY294002, suggesting that alphaT-up-regulated Bcl-2 is mediated by these kinase pathways. These observations suggest that vitamin E analogs play an essential role in neuronal maintenance and survival in the CNS.