Anders H. Lund

Programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) is an important functional target of the microRNA miR-21 in breast cancer cells.

MicroRNAs are emerging as important regulators of cancer-related processes. The miR-21 microRNA is overexpressed in a wide variety of cancers and has been causally linked to cellular proliferation, apoptosis, and migration. Inhibition of mir-21 in MCF-7 breast cancer cells causes reduced cell growth. Using array expression analysis of MCF-7 cells depleted of miR-21, we have identified mRNA targets of mir-21 and have shown a link between miR-21 and the p53 tumor suppressor protein. We furthermore found that the tumor suppressor protein Programmed Cell Death 4 (PDCD4) is regulated by miR-21 and demonstrated that PDCD4 is a functionally important target for miR-21 in breast cancer cells.

MicroRNA and cancer

With the advent of next generation sequencing techniques a previously unknown world of non‐coding RNA molecules have been discovered. Non‐coding RNA transcripts likely outnumber the group of protein coding sequences and hold promise of many new discoveries and mechanistic explanations for essential biological phenomena and pathologies. The best characterized non‐coding RNA family consists in humans of about 1400 microRNAs for which abundant evidence have demonstrated fundamental importance in normal development, differentiation, growth control and in human diseases such as cancer. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge and concepts concerning the involvement of microRNAs in cancer, which have emerged from the study of cell culture and animal model systems, including the regulation of key cancer‐related pathways, such as cell cycle control and the DNA damage response. Importantly, microRNA molecules are already entering the clinic as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for patient stratification and also as therapeutic targets and agents.

p53-independent upregulation of miR-34a during oncogene-induced senescence represses MYC

Aberrant oncogene activation induces cellular senescence, an irreversible growth arrest that acts as a barrier against tumorigenesis. To identify microRNAs (miRNAs) involved in oncogene-induced senescence, we examined the expression of miRNAs in primary human TIG3 fibroblasts after constitutive activation of B-RAF. Among the regulated miRNAs, both miR-34a and miR-146a were strongly induced during senescence. Although members of the miR-34 family are known to be transcriptionally regulated by p53, we find that miR-34a is regulated independently of p53 during oncogene-induced senescence. Instead, upregulation of miR-34a is mediated by the ETS family transcription factor, ELK1. During senescence, miR-34a targets the important proto-oncogene MYC and our data suggest that miR-34a thereby coordinately controls a set of cell cycle regulators. Hence, in addition to its integration in the p53 pathway, we show that alternative cancer-related pathways regulate miR-34a, emphasising its significance as a tumour suppressor.

microRNA-101 is a potent inhibitor of autophagy

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism of cellular self‐digestion in which proteins and organelles are degraded through delivery to lysosomes. Defects in this process are implicated in numerous human diseases including cancer. To further elucidate regulatory mechanisms of autophagy, we performed a functional screen in search of microRNAs (miRNAs), which regulate the autophagic flux in breast cancer cells. In this study, we identified the tumour suppressive miRNA, miR‐101, as a potent inhibitor of basal, etoposide‐ and rapamycin‐induced autophagy. Through transcriptome profiling, we identified three novel miR‐101 targets, STMN1, RAB5A and ATG4D. siRNA‐mediated depletion of these genes phenocopied the effect of miR‐101 overexpression, demonstrating their importance in autophagy regulation. Importantly, overexpression of STMN1 could partially rescue cells from miR‐101‐mediated inhibition of autophagy, indicating a functional importance for this target. Finally, we show that miR‐101‐mediated inhibition of autophagy can sensitize breast cancer cells to 4‐hydroxytamoxifen (4‐OHT)‐mediated cell death. Collectively, these data establish a novel link between two highly important and rapidly growing research fields and present a new role for miR‐101 as a key regulator of autophagy.

Genome-wide retroviral insertional tagging of genes involved in cancer in Cdkn2a-deficient mice

We have used large-scale insertional mutagenesis to identify functional landmarks relevant to cancer in the recently completed mouse genome sequence. We infected Cdkn2a−/− mice with Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMuLV) to screen for loci that can participate in tumorigenesis in collaboration with loss of the Cdkn2a-encoded tumor suppressors p16INK4a and p19ARF. Insertional mutagenesis by the latent retrovirus was synergistic with loss of Cdkn2a expression, as indicated by a marked acceleration in the development of both myeloid and lymphoid tumors. We isolated 747 unique sequences flanking retroviral integration sites and mapped them against the mouse genome sequence databases from Celera and Ensembl. In addition to 17 insertions targeting gene loci known to be cancer-related, we identified a total of 37 new common insertion sites (CISs), of which 8 encode components of signaling pathways that are involved in cancer. The effectiveness of large-scale insertional mutagenesis in a sensitized genetic background is demonstrated by the preference for activation of MAP kinase signaling, collaborating with Cdkn2a loss in generating the lymphoid and myeloid tumors. Collectively, our results show that large-scale retroviral insertional mutagenesis in genetically predisposed mice is useful both as a system for identifying genes underlying cancer and as a genetic framework for the assignment of such genes to specific oncogenic pathways.

Molecular characterization of a novel human hybrid-type receptor that binds the alpha2-macroglobulin receptor-associated protein

The 39-40-kDa receptor-associated protein (RAP) binds to the members of the low density lipoprotein receptor gene family and functions as a specialized endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi chaperone. Using RAP affinity chromatography, we have purified a novel ∼250-kDa brain protein and isolated the corresponding cDNA. The gene, designated SORL1, maps to chromosome 11q 23/24 and encodes a 2214-residue type 1 receptor containing a furin cleavage site immediately preceding the N terminus determined in the purified protein. The receptor, designated sorLA-1, has a short cytoplasmic tail containing a tyrosine-based internalization signal and a large external part containing (from the N-terminal): 1) a segment homologous to domains in the yeast vacuolar protein sorting 10 protein, Vps10p, that binds carboxypeptidase Y, 2) five tandemly arranged YWTD repeats and a cluster of 11 class A repeats characteristic of the low density lipoprotein receptor gene family receptors, and 3) six tandemly arranged fibronectin type III repeats also found in certain neural adhesion proteins. sorLA-1 may therefore be classified as a hybrid receptor. Northern blotting revealed specific mRNA transcripts in brain, spinal cord, and testis but not in several major organs. Both RAP and an antibody against a synthetic peptide derived from a sequence determined in the mature protein detected sorLA-1 in crude human brain extracts. The domain structure suggests that sorLA-1 is an endocytic receptor possibly implicated in the uptake of lipoproteins and of proteases.

A Dual Program for Translation Regulation in Cellular Proliferation and Differentiation

A dichotomous choice for metazoan cells is between proliferation and differentiation. Measuring tRNA pools in various cell types, we found two distinct subsets, one that is induced in proliferating cells, and repressed otherwise, and another with the opposite signature. Correspondingly, we found that genes serving cell-autonomous functions and genes involved in multicellularity obey distinct codon usage. Proliferation-induced and differentiation-induced tRNAs often carry anticodons that correspond to the codons enriched among the cell-autonomous and the multicellularity genes, respectively. Because mRNAs of cell-autonomous genes are induced in proliferation and cancer in particular, the concomitant induction of their codon-enriched tRNAs suggests coordination between transcription and translation. Histone modifications indeed change similarly in the vicinity of cell-autonomous genes and their corresponding tRNAs, and in multicellularity genes and their tRNAs, suggesting the existence of transcriptional programs coordinating tRNA supply and demand. Hence, we describe the existence of two distinct translation programs that operate during proliferation and differentiation.

miR-449 inhibits cell proliferation and is down-regulated in gastric cancer

BackgroundGastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the world and the second most prevalent cause of cancer related death. The development of gastric cancer is mainly associated with H. Pylori infection leading to a focus in pathology studies on bacterial and environmental factors, and to a lesser extent on the mechanistic development of the tumour. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules involved in post-transcriptional gene regulation. They are found to regulate genes involved in diverse biological functions and alterations in microRNA expression have been linked to the pathogenesis of many malignancies. The current study is focused on identifying microRNAs involved in gastric carcinogenesis and to explore their mechanistic relevance by characterizing their targets.ResultsInvitrogen NCode miRNA microarrays identified miR-449 to be decreased in 1-year-old Gastrin KO mice and in H. Pylori infected gastric tissues compared to tissues from wild type animals. Growth rate of gastric cell lines over-expressing miR-449 was inhibited by 60% compared to controls. FACS cell cycle analysis of miR-449 over-expressing cells showed a significant increase in the sub-G1 fraction indicative of apoptosis. ß-Gal assays indicated a senescent phenotype of gastric cell lines over-expressing miR-449. Affymetrix 133v2 arrays identified GMNN, MET, CCNE2, SIRT1 and CDK6 as miR-449 targets. Luciferase assays were used to confirm GMNN, MET, CCNE2 and SIRT1 as direct targets. We also show that miR-449 over-expression activated p53 and its downstream target p21 as well as the apoptosis markers cleaved CASP3 and PARP. Importantly, qPCR analyses showed a loss of miR-449 expression in human clinical gastric tumours compared to normal tissues.ConclusionsIn this study, we document a diminished expression of miR-449 in Gastrin KO mice and further confirmed its loss in human gastric tumours. We investigated the function of miR-449 by identifying its direct targets. Furthermore we show that miR-449 induces senescence and apoptosis by activating the p53 pathway.

MicroRNA regulation of autophagy.

Macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy) is a tightly regulated intracellular catabolic pathway involving the lysosomal degradation of cytoplasmic organelles and proteins. Central to this process is the formation of the autophagosome, a double membrane-bound vesicle, which is responsible for the delivery of cytoplasmic cargo to the lysosomes. Autophagy levels are constantly changing, allowing adaptation to both immediate and long-term needs of the cell, underlining why tight control of this process is essential in order to prevent the development of pathological disorders. Substantial progress has recently contributed to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the autophagy machinery, yet several gaps remain in our knowledge of this process. The discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) established a new paradigm of post-transcriptional gene regulation and during the past decade these small non-coding RNAs have been closely linked to virtually all known fundamental biological pathways. Deregulation of miRNAs can contribute to the development of human diseases, including cancer, where they can function as bona fide oncogenes or tumor suppressors. In this review, we highlight recent advances linking miRNAs to regulation of the autophagy pathway. This regulation occurs both through specific core pathway components as well as through less well-defined mechanisms. Although this field is still in its infancy, we are beginning to understand the potential implications of these initial findings, both from a pathological perspective, but also from a therapeutic view, where miRNAs can be harnessed experimentally to alter autophagy levels in human tumors, affecting parameters such as tumor survival and treatment sensitivity.

MicroRNA-145 Targets YES and STAT1 in Colon Cancer Cells

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as important gene regulators and are recognized as key players in tumorigenesis. miR-145 is reported to be down-regulated in several cancers, but knowledge of its targets in colon cancer remains limited. Methodology/Principal Findings To investigate the role of miR-145 in colon cancer, we have employed a microarray based approach to identify miR-145 targets. Based on seed site enrichment analyses and unbiased word analyses, we found a significant enrichment of miRNA binding sites in the 3′-untranslated regions (UTRs) of transcripts down-regulated upon miRNA overexpression. Gene Ontology analysis showed an overrepresentation of genes involved in cell death, cellular growth and proliferation, cell cycle, gene expression and cancer. A number of the identified miRNA targets have previously been implicated in cancer, including YES, FSCN1, ADAM17, BIRC2, VANGL1 as well as the transcription factor STAT1. Both YES and STAT1 were verified as direct miR-145 targets. Conclusions/Significance The study identifies and validates new cancer-relevant direct targets of miR-145 in colon cancer cells and hereby adds important mechanistic understanding of the tumor-suppressive functions of miR-145.