Bum-Joon Park

Direct Inhibition of GSK3β by the Phosphorylated Cytoplasmic Domain of LRP6 in Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling

Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays a central role in development and is also involved in a diverse array of diseases. Binding of Wnts to the coreceptors Frizzled and LRP6/5 leads to phosphorylation of PPPSPxS motifs in the LRP6/5 intracellular region and the inhibition of GSK3β bound to the scaffold protein Axin. However, it remains unknown how GSK3β is specifically inhibited upon Wnt stimulation. Here, we show that overexpression of the intracellular region of LRP6 containing a Ser/Thr rich cluster and a PPPSPxS motif impairs the activity of GSK3β in cells. Synthetic peptides containing the PPPSPxS motif strongly inhibit GSK3β in vitro only when they are phosphorylated. Microinjection of these peptides into Xenopus embryos confirms that the phosphorylated PPPSPxS motif potentiates Wnt-induced second body axis formation. In addition, we show that the Ser/Thr rich cluster of LRP6 plays an important role in LRP6 binding to GSK3β. These observations demonstrate that phosphorylated LRP6/5 both recruits and directly inhibits GSK3β using two distinct portions of its cytoplasmic sequence, and suggest a novel mechanism of activation in this signaling pathway.

Molecular Control of Phenoloxidase-induced Melanin Synthesis in an Insect

The melanization reaction induced by activated phenoloxidase in arthropods must be tightly controlled because of excessive formation of quinones and excessive systemic melanization damage to the hosts. However, the molecular mechanism by which phenoloxidase-induced melanin synthesis is regulated in vivo is largely unknown. It is known that the Spätzle-processing enzyme is a key enzyme in the production of cleaved Spätzle from pro-Spätzle in the Drosophila Toll pathway. Here, we provide biochemical evidence that the Tenebrio molitor Spätzle-processing enzyme converts both the 79-kDa Tenebrio prophenoloxidase and Tenebrio clip-domain SPH1 zymogen to an active melanization complex. This complex, consisting of the 76-kDa Tenebrio phenoloxidase and an active form of Tenebrio clip-domain SPH1, efficiently produces melanin on the surface of bacteria, and this activity has a strong bactericidal effect. Interestingly, we found the phenoloxidase-induced melanization reaction to be tightly regulated by Tenebrio prophenoloxidase, which functions as a competitive inhibitor of melanization complex formation. These results demonstrate that the Tenebrio Toll pathway and the melanization reaction share a common serine protease for the regulation of these two major innate immune responses.

CK1ε targets Cdc25A for ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis under normal conditions and in response to checkpoint activation.

Cdc25A phosphatase, which is essential in cell cycle progression, is degraded by the proteasome throughout interphase and in response to genotoxic stress. Phosphorylation of Cdc25A on Ser82 in the DSG motif is important in the recognition by β-TrCP, resulting in targeting of Cdc25A for ubiquitination. Chk1 is known to phosphorylate Cdc25A on Ser76, and NEK11 or CK1α relays phosphorylation of Cdc25A to Ser82 in a hierarchical manner. In this study, we found that CK1ε has unique enzymatic activity on the serine residue in the DSG motif using a β-catenin N-terminal region as a substrate. We then examined whether CK1ε has activity on the DSG motif of Cdc25A. We found CK1ε directly phosphorylated Ser82 without any prior phosphorylation of Cdc25A, and depletion of CK1ε stabilized the cellular Cdc25A in 293 cells. Moreover, we found that CK1ε also has activity as a relaying kinase like NEK11 or CK1α when the cell is exposed to DNA damage. Taken together, our results indicate that CK1ε regulates the cellular levels of Cdc25A in parallel with Chk1-dependent Cdc25A degradation, contributing to the precise control of cell division.

Hepatitis C virus Core protein overcomes all-trans retinoic acid-induced cell growth arrest by inhibiting retinoic acid receptor-β2 expression via DNA methylation

Aberrant promoter methylation of tumor suppressor genes including retinoic acid receptor-β2 (RAR-β2) is frequently detected in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma; however, the mechanism and its significance are relatively unknown. Here, we showed that HCV Core induced promoter hypermethylation of RAR-β2 to inhibit its expression via up-regulation of DNA methyltransferases 1 and 3b. Under the condition, all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) failed to activate p16 expression and thus could not inactivate the Rb-E2F pathway. Accordingly, Core-expressing cells exhibited resistance to ATRA-induced growth inhibition. Taken together, HCV Core antagonizes ATRA, a natural anti-cancer compound, to stimulate cell growth via epigenetic down-regulation of RAR-β2.

Hepatitis C virus core protein induces epithelial–mesenchymal transition in human hepatocytes by upregulating E12/E47 levels

Downregulation of E-cadherin is a hallmark of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), an essential component of cancer progression to more aggressive phenotypes characterized by tumor dedifferentiation, infiltration, and metastasis. However, the underlying mechanism for E-cadherin downregulation in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unclear. In this study, we found that ectopic expression of HCV core protein or infection with HCV in human hepatocytes upregulated the levels of the transcriptional repressors, E12 and E47, resulting in inactivation of the E-cadherin promoter, containing E-box motifs, and subsequent repression of its expression. E12/E47 knock-down almost completely abolished the potential of HCV core protein to repress E-cadherin expression. HCV core protein inhibited ubiquitin-dependent proteasomal degradation of E12/E47 without affecting their expression at the transcriptional level. E12/E47 upregulation ultimately led to EMT in human hepatocytes, as demonstrated by morphological changes, altered expression levels of EMT markers, including E-cadherin, plakoglobin, and fibronectin, and increased capacity for cell detachment and migration. In conclusion, HCV core protein represses E-cadherin expression by upregulating E12/E47 levels to induce EMT in HCV-associated HCC.

p53 Activation by Blocking Snail : A Novel Pharmacological Strategy for Cancer

Since p53 is the strongest tumor suppressor gene, which can regulate apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and senescence, re-activation of p53 and its pathway seem to be very plausible target for cancer therapy. However, in 50% of human cancers, p53 itself is mutated. In addition, in remaining half of cancers, it is inactivated by distortion of signaling pathways. Moreover, differentially from typical tumor suppressor genes such as Rb, p53 mutations in its DNA binding domain show the dominant negative effect on p53 function. Here, we describe the novel p53 inactivation mechanism by oncogenic K-Ras-Snail axis and smart strategy to reactivation of p53 suppressed by oncogenic K-Ras-Snail through small chemicals (GN25, 29). Since K-Ras mutation is frequently occurred in human pancreatic, colon, and lung cancer, we discuss the clinical implication of new small Snail-p53 inhibitor on these cancers. In addition, we suggest possibility of reactivation of wild type p53, governed by mutant p53, is suggested using our chemicals. Through this, we will provide the new strategy to handling the K-Ras mutated human cancers including pancreatic, lung and colon cancers.

Slug, mammalian homologue gene of Drosophila escargot, promotes neuronal-differentiation through suppression of HEB/daughterless

At the neuron developmental stage, neuron-precursor cells can be differentiated into neuron or glia cells. However, precise molecular mechanism to determine the cell fate has not been clearly demonstrated. In this study, we reveal that Drosophila esgarcot and its mammalian homologue genes, Snail and Slug, play a key role in neuronal differentiation. In Drosophila model system, overexpression of Esg, like as Wingless, suppresses the bristle formation. In contrast, elimination of Esg though RNAi promotes double bristle phenotype. We can also observe the similar phenotype in Snail-overexpression system. In mammalian system, overexpression of Slug or Snail can induce neuronal differentiation. Esg and its mammalian homologue gene Slug directly interact with Daughtherless and its mammalian homologue HEB and eliminate them through siah-1 mediated protein degradation. Thus, overexpression of siah-1 can promote neuron cell differentiation, whereas si-siah-1 blocks the Slug-induced HEB suppression. In fact, Drosophila SINA, Siah-1 homologue, has been also known to be involved in bristle formation and Neuronal differentiation. In addition, it has been revealed that CK1 is involved in Esg or Snail stability and Neuronal differentiation. However, Snail is regulated only by CK1 but not by Siah. Considering the fact that Slug mutations have been found in human genetic disease, waardenberg syndrome, major symptoms of which is loss of hearing neuron and odd eye, our result implies that Slug/Snail system is required for proper neuronal differentiation, like as Esg in Drosophila.

Estrogen prevents senescence through induction of WRN, Werner syndrome protein.

Werner syndrome is a well-known human progeria. It has been revealed that loss of human WRN is a causal factor of this disease. Since pathological features of Werner syndrome resemble those of menopausal women and become apparent during puberty, we examined the effect of estrogen on WRN gene expression. Here, we reveal that WRN is induced by estrogen but not testosterone. Treatment with estrogen can induce WRN expression at the transcription and translation level in a human breast cell line. Forced expression of the estrogen receptor can restore the responsiveness of WRN to estrogen in a non-responsive cell line. Treatment with estrogen can block DNA damage-induced senescence. Moreover, WRN is suppressed by ATR that is activated by DNA damage, whereas WRN can be induced by ATR elimination. Our results suggest that WRN is essential for prevention of senescence. In addition, our results imply that the reduction of WRN in menopause could be an important factor for menopausal syndrome.

Chemical carcinogen, N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, is a specific activator of oncogenic Ras.

N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) is a well-known chemical carcinogen that is widely used for animal carcinogenesis model. Treatment of MNNG, through drinking-water, can evoke multiple tumors in gastro-intestinal tract. In addition, MNNG shows the synergic effect with infection such as H. pylori on gastric cancer formation. Although tumorigenic ability of MNNG is known to be related with DNA alkylation, however, recent reports suggested that MNNG-induced tumors do not show the difference in DNA methylation, and genetic mutation profile is quite different from similar DNA alkylating agent, MNU-inducing cancer. Otherwise, genetic mutation of Ras is frequently detected in MNNG-induced tumors. Considering them, tumorigenic property of MNNG would be related with Ras. So we checked the effect of MNNG on Ras pathway. In this study, we demonstrated that MNNG could activate Ras-MAPK pathway as oncogenic Ras dependent manner. Activation of Erk by MNNG could not suppressed by cycloheximide and ALLN. In addition, Inhibition of PI3K, p38/HOG1, Raf, and CDK could not block the MNNG-induced p-Erk activation, whereas U0126 and PD98059 abolished it. Moreover, MNNG could reduce the expression of E-cadherin and promote dissociation of β-catenin from E-cadherin through oncogenic-Ras-MAPK pathway. These results strongly suggested that oncogenic Ras would be direct target of MNNG and provided new insight that carcinogen also possesses it specific target.

Anti-cancer effect of novel PAK1 inhibitor via induction of PUMA-mediated cell death and p21-mediated cell cycle arrest

Hyper-activation of PAK1 (p21-activated kinase 1) is frequently observed in human cancer and speculated as a target of novel anti-tumor drug. In previous, we also showed that PAK1 is highly activated in the Smad4-deficient condition and suppresses PUMA (p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis) through direct binding and phosphorylation. On the basis of this result, we have tried to find novel PAK1-PUMA binding inhibitors. Through ELISA-based blind chemical library screening, we isolated single compound, IPP-14 (IPP; Inhibitor of PAK1-PUMA), which selectively blocks the PAK1-PUMA binding and also suppresses cell proliferation via PUMA-dependent manner. Indeed, in PUMA-deficient cells, this chemical did not show anti-proliferating effect. This chemical possessed very strong PAK1 inhibition activity that it suppressed BAD (Bcl-2-asoociated death promoter) phosphorylation and meta-phase arrest via Aurora kinase inactivation in lower concentration than that of previous PAK1 kinase, FRAX486 and AG879. Moreover, our chemical obviously induced p21/WAF1/CIP1 (Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A) expression by releasing from Bcl-2 (B-cell lymphoma-2) and by inhibition of AKT-mediated p21 suppression. Considering our result, IPP-14 and its derivatives would be possible candidates for PAK1 and p21 induction targeted anti-cancer drug.