Zizheng Dong

Role of eIF3 p170 in controlling synthesis of ribonucleotide reductase M2 and cell growth.

Translation initiation in eukaryotes is a rate-limiting step in protein synthesis. It is a complicated process that involves many eukaryotic initiation factors (eIFs). Altering the expression level or the function of eIFs may influence the synthesis of some proteins and consequently cause abnormal cell growth and malignant transformation. P170, the largest putative subunit of eIF3, has been found elevated in human breast, cervical, esophageal, and lung cancers, suggesting that p170 may have a potential role in malignant transformation and/or cell growth control. Our recent studies suggested that p170 is likely a translational regulator and it may mediate the effect of mimosine on the translation of a subset mRNAs. Mimosine, a plant nonprotein amino acid, inhibits mammalian DNA synthesis, an essential event of cell growth. The rate-limiting step in DNA synthesis is the conversion of the ribonucleotides to their corresponding deoxyribonucleotides catalysed by ribonucleotide reductase of which the activity is regulated by the level of its M2 subunit. It has been reported that inhibiting the activity of M2 also inhibits cell growth. To understand the relationship between protein and DNA synthesis and between p170 and cell growth control, we investigated in this study whether p170 regulates the synthesis of M2 and, thus, cell growth. We found that altering the expression level of p170 changes the synthesis rate of both M2 and DNA. Decreasing p170 expression in human lung cancer cell line H1299 and breast cancer cell line MCF7 significantly reversed their malignant growth phenotype. However, the overall [35S]methionine incorporation following dramatic decrease in p170 expression was only ∼25% less than the control cells. These observations, together with our previous findings, suggest that p170 may regulate the translation of a subset mRNAs and its elevated expression level may be important for cancer cell growth and for maintaining their malignant phenotype.

Oligomerization Domain of the Multidrug Resistance–Associated Transporter ABCG2 and Its Dominant Inhibitory Activity

Overexpression of human ATP-binding cassette transporter ABCG2 in cancer cells causes multidrug resistance by effluxing anticancer drugs. ABCG2 is considered as a half transporter and is thought to function as a homodimer. However, recent evidence suggests that it may exist as a higher form of oligomer consisting of 12 subunits. In this study, we mapped the oligomerization domain of human ABCG2 to its transmembrane domain consisting of TM5-loop-TM6. This oligomerization domain, when expressed alone in HEK293 cells, also forms a homododecamer. Furthermore, this domain has activity that inhibits drug efflux and resistance function of the full-length ABCG2 likely by disrupting the formation of the homo-oligomeric full-length ABCG2. These findings suggest that human ABCG2 may exist and work as a homo-oligomer by interactions located in TM5-loop-TM6, and that ABCG2 oligomerization may be used as a target for therapeutic development to circumvent ABCG2-mediated drug resistance in cancer treatment.

Regulation of constitutive expression of mouse PTEN by the 5'-untranslated region.

PTEN tumor suppressor serves as a major negative regulator of survival signaling mediated by PI3 kinase/AKT/protein kinase B pathway, and is inactivated in various human tumors. Elucidation of mechanisms responsible for PTEN expression is important for providing insight into strategies to control the loss of PTEN expression in human cancers. Although recent studies suggested that p53 and Egr-1 can modulate induced PTEN expression, the mechanism responsible for ubiquitous constitutive expression of PTEN remains elusive. PTEN mRNA contains a highly conserved and GC-rich 5′-untranslated region (5′-UTR). Recently, it has been shown that the long 5′-UTR sequences of several growth-regulated mRNAs contain promoters that can generate mRNAs with shorter 5′-UTRs. In this paper, we tested whether the 5′-UTR sequence of mouse PTEN contains a promoter that is responsible for constitutive expression of PTEN. We found that the long 5′-UTR sequence of mouse PTEN severely inhibits translation of PTEN and a heterologous gene firefly luciferase. Deletion of the most 5′-UTR sequence would enhance translation efficiency 100-fold. We also showed that the 5′-UTR sequence of mouse PTEN does not have an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) that can mediate cap-independent initiation of translation. Instead, we found that the 5′-UTR sequence of mouse PTEN contains a strong promoter that drives the production of a transcript with shorter 5′-UTRs, which can be translated with higher efficiency. This promoter was mapped to the region between −551 and −220 bases upstream of the translation start codon. Cotransfection analysis using Drosophila SL2 cells showed that Sp1 is one of the major transcription factors that can constitutively activate this promoter. Two endogenous PTEN transcripts with 5′-UTRs of 193 and 109 bases were found in DU145 and H226 cell lines. Based on these observations, we conclude that the PTEN expression may be regulated at both transcriptional and translational levels, and that the 5′-UTR sequence of PTEN contains a promoter that is responsible for constitutive PTEN expression.

Role of eIF3a in regulating cell cycle progression

Translational control is an essential process in regulation of gene expression, which occurs at the initiation step performed by a number of translation initiation factor complexes. eIF3a (eIF3 p170) is the largest subunit of the eIF3 complex. eIF3a has been suggested to play roles in regulating translation of a subset of mRNAs and in regulating cell cycle progression and cell proliferation. In this study, we examined the expression profile of eIF3a in cell cycle and its role in cell cycle progression. We found that eIF3a expression oscillated with cell cycle and peaked in S phase. Reducing eIF3a expression also reduced cell proliferation rate by elongating cell cycle but did not change the cell cycle distribution. However, eIF3a appears to play an important role in cellular responses to external cell cycle modulators likely by affecting synthesis of target proteins of these modulators.

Regulation of expression by promoters versus internal ribosome entry site in the 5′-untranslated sequence of the human cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27kip1

p27kip1 regulates cell proliferation by binding to and inhibiting the activity of cyclin-dependent kinases and its expression oscillates with cell cycle. Recently, it has been suggested from studies using the traditional dicistronic DNA assay that the expression of p27kip1 is regulated by internal ribosome entry site (IRES)-mediated translation initiation, and several RNA-binding protein factors were thought to play some role in this regulation. Considering the inevitable drawbacks of the dicistronic DNA assay, which could mislead a promoter activity or alternative splicing to IRES as previously demonstrated, we decided to reanalyze the 5′-untranslated region (5′-UTR) sequence of p27kip1 and test whether it contains an IRES element or a promoter using more stringent methods, such as dicistronic RNA and promoterless dicistronic and monocistronic DNA assays. We found that the 5′-UTR sequence of human p27kip1 does not have any significant IRES activity. The previously observed IRES activities are likely generated from the promoter activities present in the 5′-UTR sequences of p27kip1. The findings in this study indicate that transcriptional regulation likely plays an important role in p27kip1 expression, and the mechanism of regulation of p27 expression by RNA-binding factors needs to be re-examined. The findings in this study also further enforce the importance that more stringent studies, such as promoterless dicistronic and monocistronic DNA and dicistronic RNA tests, are required to safeguard any future claims of cellular IRES.

A small molecule compound targeting STAT3 DNA-binding domain inhibits cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) plays important roles in multiple aspects of cancer aggressiveness including migration, invasion, survival, self-renewal, angiogenesis, and tumor cell immune evasion by regulating the expression of multiple downstream target genes. STAT3 is constitutively activated in many malignant tumors and its activation is associated with high histological grade and advanced cancer stages. Thus, inhibiting STAT3 promises an attracting strategy for treatment of advanced and metastatic cancers. Herein, we identified a STAT3 inhibitor, inS3-54, by targeting the DNA-binding domain of STAT3 using an improved virtual screening strategy. InS3-54 preferentially suppresses proliferation of cancer over non-cancer cells and inhibits migration and invasion of malignant cells. Biochemical analyses show that inS3-54 selectively inhibits STAT3 binding to DNA without affecting the activation and dimerization of STAT3. Furthermore, inS3-54 inhibits expression of STAT3 downstream target genes and STAT3 binding to chromatin in situ. Thus, inS3-54 represents a novel probe for development of specific inhibitors targeting the DNA-binding domain of STAT3 and a potential therapeutic for cancer treatments.

Role of eIF3a in regulating cisplatin sensitivity and in translational control of nucleotide excision repair of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Translational control at the initiation step has been recognized as a major and important regulatory mechanism of gene expression. Eukaryotic initiation factor-3a (eIF3a), a putative subunit of the eIF3 complex, has recently been shown to have an important role in regulating the translation of a subset of mRNAs and is found to correlate with the prognosis of cancers. In this study, using nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells as a model system, we tested the hypothesis that eIF3a negatively regulates the synthesis of nucleotide excision repair (NER) proteins, and, in turn, cellular response to treatments with DNA-damaging agents such as cisplatin (cis-dichlorodiammine platinum(II) (CDDP)). We found that a CDDP-sensitive sub-clone S16 isolated through limited dilution from an NPC cell line CNE-2 has increased eIF3a expression. Knocking down its expression in S16 cells increased cellular resistance to CDDP, NER activity and synthesis of the NER proteins XPA, XPC, RAD23B and RPA32. Altering eIF3a expression also changed the cellular response to CDDP and UV treatment in other NPC cell lines. Taken together, we conclude that eIF3a has an important role in the CDDP response and in NER activity of NPCs by suppressing the synthesis of NER proteins.

Modulation of Differentiation-related Gene 1 Expression by Cell Cycle Blocker Mimosine, Revealed by Proteomic Analysis

l-Mimosine, a plant amino acid, can reversibly block mammalian cells at late G1 phase and has been found to affect translation of mRNAs of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27, eIF3a (eIF3 p170), and ribonucleotide reductase M2. The effect of mimosine on the expression of these genes may be essential for the G1 phase arrest. To determine additional genes that may be early respondents to the mimosine treatment, we performed two-dimensional gel electrophoretic analysis of [35S]methionine-labeled cell lysates followed by identification of the altered protein spots by LC-tandem mass spectrometry. In this study, the synthesis of two protein spots (MIP42 and MIP17) was found to be enhanced by mimosine, whereas the formation of another protein spot (MSP17) was severely blocked following mimosine treatment. These protein spots, MIP42, MIP17, and MSP17, were identified to be differentiation-related gene 1 (Drg-1; also called RTP, cap43, rit42, Ndrg-1, and PROXY-1), deoxyhypusine-containing eIF5A intermediate, and mature hypusine-containing eIF5A, respectively. The effect of mimosine on eIF5A maturation was due to inhibition of deoxyhypusine hydroxylase, the enzyme catalyzing the final step of hypusine biosynthesis in eIF5A. The mimosine-induced expression of Drg-1 was mainly attributable to increased transcription likely by the c-Jun/AP-1 transcription factor. Because induction of Drg-1 is an early event after mimosine treatment and is observed before a notable reduction in the steady-state level of mature eIF5A, eIF5A does not appear to be involved in the modulation of Drg-1 expression.

Regulation of Function by Dimerization through the Amino-terminal Membrane-spanning Domain of Human ABCC1/MRP1

Overexpression of some ATP-binding cassette (ABC) membrane transporters such as ABCB1/P-glycoprotein/MDR1 and ABCC1/MRP1 causes multidrug resistance in cancer chemotherapy. It has been thought that half-ABC transporters with one nucleotide-binding domain and one membrane-spanning domain (MSD) likely work as dimers, whereas full-length transporters with two nucleotide-binding domains and two or three MSDs function as monomers. In this study, we examined the oligomeric status of the human full-length ABC transporter ABCC1/MRP1 using several biochemical approaches. We found 1) that it is a homodimer, 2) that the dimerization domain is located in the amino-terminal MSD0L0 (where L0 is loop 0) region, and 3) that MSD0L0 has a dominant-negative function when coexpressed with wild-type ABCC1/MRP1. These findings suggest that ABCC1/MRP1 may exist and function as a dimer and that MSD0L0 likely plays some structural and regulatory functions. It is also tempting to propose that the MSD0L0-mediated dimerization may be targeted for therapeutic development to sensitize ABCC1/MRP1-mediated drug resistance in cancer chemotherapy.

A Novel Two Mode-Acting Inhibitor of ABCG2-Mediated Multidrug Transport and Resistance in Cancer Chemotherapy

Background Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major problem in successful treatment of cancers. Human ABCG2, a member of the ATP-binding cassette transporter superfamily, plays a key role in MDR and an important role in protecting cancer stem cells. Knockout of ABCG2 had no apparent adverse effect on the mice. Thus, ABCG2 is an ideal target for development of chemo-sensitizing agents for better treatment of drug resistant cancers and helping eradicate cancer stem cells. Methods/Preliminary Findings Using rational screening of representatives from a chemical compound library, we found a novel inhibitor of ABCG2, PZ-39 (N-(4-chlorophenyl)-2-[(6-{[4,6-di(4-morpholinyl)-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl]amino}-1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)sulfanyl]acetamide), that has two modes of actions by inhibiting ABCG2 activity and by accelerating its lysosome-dependent degradation. PZ-39 has no effect on ABCB1 and ABCC1-mediated drug efflux, resistance, and their expression, indicating that it may be specific to ABCG2. Analyses of its analogue compounds showed that the pharmacophore of PZ-39 is benzothiazole linked to a triazine ring backbone. Conclusion/Significance Unlike any previously known ABCG2 transporter inhibitors, PZ-39 has a novel two-mode action by inhibiting ABCG2 activity, an acute effect, and by accelerating lysosome-dependent degradation, a chronic effect. PZ-39 is potentially a valuable probe for structure-function studies of ABCG2 and a lead compound for developing therapeutics targeting ABCG2-mediated MDR in combinational cancer chemotherapy.