Felix S. Oppermann

Kinase-Selective Enrichment Enables Quantitative Phosphoproteomics of the Kinome across the Cell Cycle

Protein kinases are pivotal regulators of cell signaling that modulate each others functions and activities through site-specific phosphorylation events. These key regulatory modifications have not been studied comprehensively, because low cellular abundance of kinases has resulted in their underrepresentation in previous phosphoproteome studies. Here, we combine kinase-selective affinity purification with quantitative mass spectrometry to analyze the cell-cycle regulation of protein kinases. This proteomics approach enabled us to quantify 219 protein kinases from S and M phase-arrested human cancer cells. We identified more than 1000 phosphorylation sites on protein kinases. Intriguingly, half of all kinase phosphopeptides were upregulated in mitosis. Our data reveal numerous unknown M phase-induced phosphorylation sites on kinases with established mitotic functions. We also find potential phosphorylation networks involving many protein kinases not previously implicated in mitotic progression. These results provide a vastly extended knowledge base for functional studies on kinases and their regulation through site-specific phosphorylation.

Large-scale Proteomics Analysis of the Human Kinome

Members of the human protein kinase superfamily are the major regulatory enzymes involved in the activity control of eukaryotic signal transduction pathways. As protein kinases reside at the nodes of phosphorylation-based signal transmission, comprehensive analysis of their cellular expression and site-specific phosphorylation can provide important insights into the architecture and functionality of signaling networks. However, in global proteome studies, low cellular abundance of protein kinases often results in rather minor peptide species that are occluded by a vast excess of peptides from other cellular proteins. These analytical limitations create a rationale for kinome-wide enrichment of protein kinases prior to mass spectrometry analysis. Here, we employed stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) to compare the binding characteristics of three kinase-selective affinity resins by quantitative mass spectrometry. The evaluated pre-fractionation tools possessed pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine-based kinase inhibitors as immobilized capture ligands and retained considerable subsets of the human kinome. Based on these results, an affinity resin displaying the broadly selective kinase ligand VI16832 was employed to quantify the relative expression of more than 170 protein kinases across three different, SILAC-encoded cancer cell lines. These experiments demonstrated the feasibility of comparative kinome profiling in a compact experimental format. Interestingly, we found high levels of cytoplasmic and low levels of receptor tyrosine kinases in MV4–11 leukemia cells compared with the adherent cancer lines HCT116 and MDA-MB-435S. The VI16832 resin was further exploited to pre-fractionate kinases for targeted phosphoproteomics analysis, which revealed about 1200 distinct phosphorylation sites on more than 200 protein kinases. This hitherto largest survey of site-specific phosphorylation across the kinome significantly expands the basis for functional follow-up studies on protein kinase regulation. In conclusion, the straightforward experimental procedures described here enable different implementations of kinase-selective proteomics with considerable potential for future signal transduction and kinase drug target analysis.

Combination of Chemical Genetics and Phosphoproteomics for Kinase Signaling Analysis Enables Confident Identification of Cellular Downstream Targets

Delineation of phosphorylation-based signaling networks requires reliable data about the underlying cellular kinase-substrate interactions. We report a chemical genetics and quantitative phosphoproteomics approach that encompasses cellular kinase activation in combination with comparative replicate mass spectrometry analyses of cells expressing either inhibitor-sensitive or resistant kinase variant. We applied this workflow to Plk1 (Polo-like kinase 1) in mitotic cells and induced cellular Plk1 activity by wash-out of the bulky kinase inhibitor 3-MB-PP1, which targets a mutant kinase version with an enlarged catalytic pocket while not interfering with wild-type Plk1. We quantified more than 20,000 distinct phosphorylation sites by SILAC, approximately half of which were measured in at least two independent experiments in cells expressing mutant and wild-type Plk1. Based on replicate phosphorylation site quantifications in both mutant and wild-type Plk1 cells, our chemical genetic proteomics concept enabled stringent comparative statistics by significance analysis of microarrays, which unveiled more than 350 cellular downstream targets of Plk1 validated by full concordance of both statistical and experimental data. Our data point to hitherto poorly characterized aspects in Plk1-controlled mitotic progression and provide a largely extended resource for functional studies. We anticipate the described strategies to be of general utility for systematic and confident identification of cellular protein kinase substrates.

Phosphosignature Predicts Dasatinib Response in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Targeted drugs are less toxic than traditional chemotherapeutic therapies; however, the proportion of patients that benefit from these drugs is often smaller. A marker that confidently predicts patient response to a specific therapy would allow an individual therapy selection most likely to benefit the patient. Here, we used quantitative mass spectrometry to globally profile the basal phosphoproteome of a panel of non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. The effect of the kinase inhibitor dasatinib on cellular growth was tested against the same panel. From the phosphoproteome profiles, we identified 58 phosphorylation sites, which consistently differ between sensitive and resistant cell lines. Many of the corresponding proteins are involved in cell adhesion and cytoskeleton organization. We showed that a signature of only 12 phosphorylation sites is sufficient to accurately predict dasatinib sensitivity. Four of the phosphorylation sites belong to integrin β4, a protein that mediates cell-matrix or cell-cell adhesion. The signature was validated in cross-validation and label switch experiments and in six independently profiled breast cancer cell lines. The study supports that the phosphorylation of integrin β4, as well as eight further proteins comprising the signature, are candidate biomarkers for predicting response to dasatinib in solid tumors. Furthermore, our results show that identifying predictive phosphorylation signatures from global, quantitative phosphoproteomic data is possible and can open a new path to discovering molecular markers for response prediction.

Proteomics analysis of cellular imatinib targets and their candidate downstream effectors.

Inhibition of deregulated protein kinases by small molecule drugs has evolved into a major therapeutic strategy for the treatment of human malignancies. Knowledge about direct cellular targets of kinase-selective drugs and the identification of druggable downstream mediators of oncogenic signaling are relevant for both initial therapy selection and the nomination of alternative targets in case molecular resistance emerges. To address these issues, we performed a proof-of-concept proteomics study designed to monitor drug effects on the pharmacologically tractable subproteome isolated by affinity purification with immobilized, nonselective kinase inhibitors. We applied this strategy to chronic myeloid leukemia cells that express the transforming Bcr-Abl fusion kinase. We used SILAC to measure how cellular treatment with the Bcr-Abl inhibitor imatinib affects protein binding to a generic kinase inhibitor resin and further quantified site-specific phosphorylations on resin-retained proteins. Our integrated approach indicated additional imatinib target candidates, such as flavine adenine dinucleotide synthetase, as well as repressed phosphorylation events on downstream effectors not yet implicated in imatinib-regulated signaling. These included activity-regulating phosphorylations on the kinases Btk, Fer, and focal adhesion kinase, which may qualify them as alternative target candidates in Bcr-Abl-driven oncogenesis. Our approach is rather generic and may have various applications in kinase drug discovery.

Comparison of SILAC and mTRAQ quantification for phosphoproteomics on a quadrupole orbitrap mass spectrometer.

Advances in mass spectrometric methodology and instrumentation have promoted a continuous increase in analytical performance in the field of phosphoproteomics. Here, we employed the recently introduced quadrupole Orbitrap (Q Exactive) mass spectrometer for quantitative signaling analysis to a depth of more than 15 000 phosphorylation sites. In parallel to the commonly used SILAC approach, we evaluated the nonisobaric chemical labeling reagent mTRAQ as an alternative quantification technique. Both enabled high phosphoproteome coverage in H3122 lung cancer cells. Replicate quantifications by mTRAQ identified almost as many significant phosphorylation changes upon treatment with ALK kinase inhibitor crizotinib as found by SILAC quantification. Overall, mTRAQ was slightly less precise than SILAC as evident from a somewhat higher variance of replicate phosphosite ratios. Direct comparison of SILAC- and mTRAQ-quantified phosphosites revealed that the majority of changes were detected by either quantification techniques, but also highlighted the aspect of false negative identifications in quantitative proteomics applications. Further inspection of crizotinib-regulated phosphorylation changes unveiled interference with multiple antioncogenic mechanisms downstream of ALK fusion kinase in H3122 cells. In conclusion, our results demonstrate a strong analytical performance of the Q Exactive in global phosphoproteomics, and establish mTRAQ quantification as a useful alternative to metabolic isotope labeling.

Quantitative Analysis of Kinase-Proximal Signaling in Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Innate Immune Response

The innate immune system senses invariant microbial components via toll-like receptors (TLRs) to elicit a host defense program against invading pathogens. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a constituent of Gram-negative bacteria, is recognized by TLR4 and triggers protein kinase signaling to orchestrate immune responses such as inflammatory cytokine production. To analyze kinase-proximal signaling in murine macrophages, we performed prefractionation experiments with immobilized kinase inhibitors to enrich for protein kinases and their interaction partners. In conjunction with SILAC-based quantitative mass spectrometry and phosphopeptide enrichment, we recorded five time point profiles for more than 850 distinct phosphorylation events on protein kinases and copurifying factors. More than 15% exhibited significant changes and many of those mapped to LPS-regulated kinase networks. We identified many unreported TLR signaling events including LPS-triggered phosphorylations of Akt substrates, which point to previously unknown molecular mechanisms in innate immune response. We further detected extensive phosphoregulation of TANK-binding kinase 1, inhibitor of nuclear factor-kappaB kinase epsilon and their associating scaffolding factors, and none of these events were known despite the key roles of these proteins in LPS signaling. Thus, our data expands previous knowledge for functional analyses of innate immune response.

Global phosphoproteome analysis of human bone marrow reveals predictive phosphorylation markers for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia with quizartinib

Global phosphoproteome analysis of human bone marrow reveals predictive phosphorylation markers for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia with quizartinib

Phosphoregulation of the human SMN complex.

The survival motor neuron (SMN) complex is a macromolecular machine comprising 9 core proteins: SMN, Gemins2-8 and unrip in vertebrates. It performs tasks in RNA metabolism including the cytoplasmic assembly of spliceosomal small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs). The SMN complex also localizes to the nucleus, where it accumulates in Cajal Bodies (CB) and may function in transcription and/or pre-mRNA splicing. The SMN complex is subject to extensive phosphorylation. Detailed understanding of SMN complex regulation necessitates a comprehensive analysis of these post-translational modifications. Here, we report on the first comprehensive phosphoproteome analysis of the intact human SMN complex, which identify 48 serine/threonine phosphosites in the complex. We find that 7 out of 9 SMN components of the intact complex are phosphoproteins and confidently place 29 phosphorylation sites, 12 of them in SMN itself. By the generation of multi non-phosphorylatable or phosphomimetic variants of SMN, respectively, we address to which extent phosphorylation regulates SMN complex function and localization. Both phosphomimetic and non-phosphorylatable variants assemble into intact SMN complexes and can compensate the loss of endogenous SMN in snRNP assembly at least to some extent. However, they partially or completely fail to target to nuclear Cajal bodies. Moreover, using a mutant of SMN, which cannot be phosphorylated on previously reported tyrosine residues, we provide first evidence that this PTM regulates SMN localization and nuclear accumulation. Our data suggest complex regulatory cues mediated by phosphorylation of serine/threonine and tyrosine residues, which control the subcellular localization of the SMN complex and its accumulation in nuclear CB.

Abstract LB-325: Global analysis of the phosphoproteome of human blasts reveals predictive phosphorylation markers for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia with quizartinib

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) results from a combination of oncogenic events that can involve multiple signal transduction pathways including mutation-induced activation of tyrosine kinases. Kinase inhibitors are increasingly studied as promising targeted approaches either alone or in combination with other agents. However, only subsets of patients respond to respective targeted therapies. Internal tandem duplication (ITD) of FLT3 is one of the most common mutations in AML. It causes constitutive activation of FLT3. Quizartinib (AC220) is an example of a potent FLT3 inhibitor that was studied in a recent phase II open-label study in patients with relapsed/refractory AML. However, the presence of activating mutations within FLT3 can predict response to a certain extent only. Here, we investigated whether large-scale analyses of phosphorylation-based signalling events allows identification of more accurate markers based on the hypothesis that the read-out is closer to the mode of action of FLT3 inhibitors. Therefore, we applied quantitative mass-spectrometry to globally profile the phosphoproteome of 12 pre-treatment bone marrow aspirates obtained from AML patients treated with the quizartinib. A signature derived from this analysis consists of five phospho-sites within the proteins EEPD1, BCL11A, RANBP3, RP3, and LMN1 and it accurately predicted response to treatment with AC220 as revealed by validation in additional independent nine AML patients. Although the combined signature of five phospho-sites showed the highest prediction accuracy, we could demonstrate that in particular phosphorylation of S640 on BCL11A and S333 on RANBP3 lead to almost equally good predictions if used as individual markers. Furthermore, we could show that in case of BCL11A, EEPD1, and LMN1 the expression of the total protein correlates with its phosphorylation and thus with response. The phosphorylation markers were identified and validated in bone marrow aspirates. Although, it is clinical standard procedure to use bone marrow aspirates for diagnosis of AML patients, a predictive test that can be applied to peripheral blood samples would have many advantages. Indeed, we could show that the phosphorylation of the marker proteins strongly correlate between bone marrow and peripheral blood samples from the same patients, suggesting that the phosphorylation or protein markers can be measured and are predictive in both, bone marrow and peripheral blood samples. Citation Format: Christoph Schaab, Felix Oppermann, Martin Klammer, Heike Pfeifer, Andreas Tebbe, Thomas Oellerich, Juergen Krauter, Mark Levis, Alexander Perl, Henrik Daub, Bjoern Steffen, Klaus Godl, Hubert Serve. Global analysis of the phosphoproteome of human blasts reveals predictive phosphorylation markers for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia with quizartinib. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-325. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-LB-325