Darren Cross

Selective small molecule inhibitors of glycogen synthase kinase-3 modulate glycogen metabolism and gene transcription

BACKGROUND Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is a serine/threonine protein kinase, the activity of which is inhibited by a variety of extracellular stimuli including insulin, growth factors, cell specification factors and cell adhesion. Consequently, inhibition of GSK-3 activity has been proposed to play a role in the regulation of numerous signalling pathways that elicit pleiotropic cellular responses. This report describes the identification and characterisation of potent and selective small molecule inhibitors of GSK-3. RESULTS SB-216763 and SB-415286 are structurally distinct maleimides that inhibit GSK-3alpha in vitro, with K(i)s of 9 nM and 31 nM respectively, in an ATP competitive manner. These compounds inhibited GSK-3beta with similar potency. However, neither compound significantly inhibited any member of a panel of 24 other protein kinases. Furthermore, treatment of cells with either compound stimulated responses characteristic of extracellular stimuli that are known to inhibit GSK-3 activity. Thus, SB-216763 and SB-415286 stimulated glycogen synthesis in human liver cells and induced expression of a beta-catenin-LEF/TCF regulated reporter gene in HEK293 cells. In both cases, compound treatment was demonstrated to inhibit cellular GSK-3 activity as assessed by activation of glycogen synthase, which is a direct target of this kinase. CONCLUSIONS SB-216763 and SB-415286 are novel, potent and selective cell permeable inhibitors of GSK-3. Therefore, these compounds represent valuable pharmacological tools with which the role of GSK-3 in cellular signalling can be further elucidated. Furthermore, development of similar compounds may be of use therapeutically in disease states associated with elevated GSK-3 activity such as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and neurodegenerative disease.

Selective small‐molecule inhibitors of glycogen synthase kinase‐3 activity protect primary neurones from death

The phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI 3‐kinase)/protein kinase B (PKB; also known as Akt) signalling pathway is recognized as playing a central role in the survival of diverse cell types. Glycogen synthase kinase‐3 (GSK‐3) is a ubiquitously expressed serine/threonine protein kinase that is one of several known substrates of PKB. PKB phosphorylates GSK‐3 in response to insulin and growth factors, which inhibits GSK‐3 activity and leads to the modulation of multiple GSK‐3 regulated cellular processes. We show that the novel potent and selective small‐molecule inhibitors of GSK‐3; SB‐415286 and SB‐216763, protect both central and peripheral nervous system neurones in culture from death induced by reduced PI 3‐kinase pathway activity. The inhibition of neuronal death mediated by these compounds correlated with inhibition of GSK‐3 activity and modulation of GSK‐3 substrates tau and β‐catenin. Thus, in addition to the previously assigned roles of GSK‐3, our data provide clear pharmacological and biochemical evidence that selective inhibition of the endogenous pool of GSK‐3 activity in primary neurones is sufficient to prevent death, implicating GSK‐3 as a physiologically relevant principal regulatory target of the PI 3‐kinase/PKB neuronal survival pathway.

GSK-3 inhibition by adenoviral FRAT1 overexpression is neuroprotective and induces Tau dephosphorylation and β-catenin stabilisation without elevation of glycogen synthase activity

Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK‐3) has previously been shown to play an important role in the regulation of apoptosis. However, the nature of GSK‐3 effector pathways that are relevant to neuroprotection remains poorly defined. Here, we have compared neuroprotection resulting from modulation of GSK‐3 activity in PC12 cells using either selective small molecule ATP‐competitive GSK‐3 inhibitors (SB‐216763 and SB‐415286), or adenovirus overexpressing requently earranged in dvanced ‐cell lymphomas 1 (FRAT1), a protein proposed as a negative regulator of GSK‐3 activity towards Axin and β‐catenin. Our data demonstrate that cellular overexpression of FRAT1 is sufficient to confer neuroprotection and correlates with inhibition of GSK‐3 activity towards Tau and β‐catenin, but not modulation of glycogen synthase (GS) activity. By comparison, treatment with SB‐216763 and SB‐415286 proved more potent in terms of neuroprotection, and correlated with inhibition of GSK‐3 activity towards GS in addition to Tau and β‐catenin.

FRAT1, a Substrate-specific Regulator of Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 Activity, Is a Cellular Substrate of Protein Kinase A

FRAT1, like its Xenopus homolog glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3)-binding protein, is known to inhibit GSK-3-mediated phosphorylation of β-catenin. It is currently unknown how FRAT-GSK-3-binding protein activity toward GSK-3 is regulated. FRAT1 has recently been shown to be a phosphoprotein in vivo; however, the responsible kinase(s) have not been determined. In this study, we identified Ser188 as a phosphorylated residue in FRAT1. The identity of the kinase that catalyzes Ser188 phosphorylation and the significance of this phosphorylation to FRAT1 function were investigated. Protein kinase A (PKA) was found to phosphorylate Ser188 in vitro as well as in intact cells. Importantly, activation of endogenous cAMP-coupled β-adrenergic receptors with norepinephrine stimulated the phosphorylation of FRAT1 at Ser188. GSK-3 was also able to phosphorylate FRAT1 at Ser188 and other residues in vitro or when overexpressed in intact cells. In contrast, endogenous GSK-3 did not lead to significant FRAT1 phosphorylation in cells, suggesting that GSK-3 is not a major FRAT1 kinase in vivo. Phosphorylation of Ser188 by PKA inhibited the ability of FRAT1 to activate β-catenin-dependent transcription. In conclusion, PKA phosphorylates FRAT1 in vitro as well as in intact cells and may play a role in regulating the inhibitory activity of FRAT1 toward GSK-3.