Overexpression of the dynein light chain km23-1 in human ovarian carcinoma cells inhibits tumor formation in vivo and causes mitotic delay at prometaphase/metaphase

Microtubule associated proteins as targets for anticancer drug development

The dynamic equilibrium of tubulin-microtubule is an essential aspect of cell survivality. Modulation of this dynamics has become an important target for the cancer drug development. Tubulin exists in the alpha-beta dimer form which polymerizes to form microtubule and further depolymerizes back to tubulin dimer. The microtubule plays an essential role in mitosis and cell multiplication. Antitubulin drugs disturb the microtubule dynamics which is essentially required for DNA segregation and cell division during mitosis so killing the cancerous cells. Microtubule Associated Proteins (MAPs) interact with cellular cytoskeletal microtubules. MAPs bind to the either polymerized or depolymerized tubulin dimers within the cell and mostly causing stabilization of microtubules. Some of the tubulin binding drugs are in clinical use and others in clinical trial. MAPs inhibitors are also in clinical trial. Post-translational modification of lysine-40 either in histone or in alpha tubulin has an important role in gene expression and is balanced between histone deacetylases (HDACs) and histone acetyltransferases (HATs). HDAC inhibitors have the anticancer properties to form a drug for the treatment of cancer. They act by inducing cell cycle arrest and cell death. Some of the HDAC inhibitors are approved to be used as anticancer drug while others are under different phases of clinical trial. The present review updates on various MAPs, their role in cancer progression, MAPs inhibitors and their future prospects.

Targeting mitotic pathways for endocrine-related cancer therapeutics

A colossal amount of basic research over the past few decades has provided unprecedented insights into the highly complex process of cell division. There is an ever-expanding catalog of proteins that orchestrate, participate and coordinate in the exquisite processes of spindle formation, chromosome dynamics and the formation and regulation of kinetochore microtubule attachments. Use of classical microtubule poisons has still been widely and often successfully used to combat a variety of cancers, but their non-selective interference in other crucial physiologic processes necessitate the identification of novel druggable components specific to the cell cycle/division pathway. Considering cell cycle deregulation, unscheduled proliferation, genomic instability and chromosomal instability as a hallmark of tumor cells, there lies an enormous untapped terrain that needs to be unearthed before a drug can pave its way from bench to bedside. This review attempts to systematically summarize the advances made in this context so far with an emphasis on endocrine-related cancers and the avenues for future progress to target mitotic mechanisms in an effort to combat these dreadful cancers.

The TGFβ receptor-interacting protein km23-1/DYNLRB1 plays an adaptor role in TGFβ1 autoinduction via its association with Ras

We have previously elucidated the signaling events that are required for TGFβ1 autoinduction (Yue, J., and Mulder, K. M. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 30765-30773). Further, we have reported that the TGFβ receptor (TβR)-interacting protein km23-1 plays an important role in TGFβ signal transduction (Jin, Q., Ding, W., and Mulder, K. M. (2007) J. Biol. Chem. 282, 19122-19132). Here we examined the role of km23-1 in TGFβ1 autoinduction in TGFβ-sensitive epithelial cells. siRNA blockade of km23-1 reduced TGFβ1 mRNA expression, as well as DNA binding and transcriptional activation of the relevant activator protein-1 site in the human TGFβ1 promoter. Further, knockdown of km23-1 inhibited TGFβ-mediated activation of ERK and JNK, phosphorylation of c-Jun, and transactivation of the c-Jun promoter. Sucrose gradient analyses indicate that km23-1 was present in lipid rafts together with Ras and TβRII after TGFβ treatment. Immunoprecipitation/blot analyses revealed the formation of a TGFβ-inducible complex between Ras and km23-1 in vivo within minutes of TGFβ addition. Moreover, we demonstrate for the first time that km23-1 is required for Ras activation by TGFβ. Our results indicate that km23-1 is required for TGFβ1 autoinduction through Smad2-independent Ras/ERK/JNK pathways. More importantly, our findings demonstrate that km23-1 functions as a critical adaptor coupling TβR activation to activation of Ras effector pathways downstream.

Requirement of a dynein light chain in transforming growth factor β signaling in zebrafish ovarian follicle cells

We have previously reported that the dynein light chains km23-1 and km23-2 are required for TGFβ signaling in mammalian cells. Here we describe another member of the km23/DYNLRB/LC7/robl family of dynein light chains in zebrafish, termed zkm23, which is also involved in TGFβ signaling. zkm23 was rapidly phosphorylated after TGFβ stimulation. TGFβ RII kinase activity was absolutely required for zkm23 phosphorylation, whereas a constitutively active TGFβ RI did not induce phosphorylation. Further, TGFβ stimulated a rapid recruitment of the zkm23 dynein light chain to the dynein intermediate chain of the dynein complex, and the TGFβ RII kinase was required for this interaction. Finally, blockade of zkm23 using morpholino oligos resulted in an inhibition of TGFβ-mediated transcriptional responses. Thus, our results demonstrate for the first time that the dynein light chain zkm23 is required for TGFβ signaling in cultured zebrafish ovarian follicle cells.