Down-modulation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) in human TUR leukemia cells restores transcriptional responsiveness for differentiation and cell cycle arrest

Cancer stem cell niche models and contribution by mesenchymal stroma/stem cells

BACKGROUND

The initiation and progression of malignant tumors is driven by distinct subsets of tumor-initiating or cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) which develop therapy/apoptosis resistance and self-renewal capacity. In order to be able to eradicate these CSCs with novel classes of anti-cancer therapeutics, a better understanding of their biology and clinically-relevant traits is mandatory.

MAIN BODY

Several requirements and functions of a CSC niche physiology are combined with current concepts for CSC generation such as development in a hierarchical tumor model, by stochastic processes, or via a retrodifferentiation program. Moreover, progressive adaptation of endothelial cells and recruited immune and stromal cells to the tumor site substantially contribute to generate a tumor growth-permissive environment resembling a CSC niche. Particular emphasis is put on the pivotal role of multipotent mesenchymal stroma/stem cells (MSCs) in supporting CSC development by various kinds of interaction and cell fusion to form hybrid tumor cells.

CONCLUSION

A better knowledge of CSC niche physiology may increase the chances that cancer stemness-depleting interventions ultimately result in arrest of tumor growth and metastasis.

Finding minimum gene subsets with heuristic breadth-first search algorithm for robust tumor classification

Background

Previous studies on tumor classification based on gene expression profiles suggest that gene selection plays a key role in improving the classification performance. Moreover, finding important tumor-related genes with the highest accuracy is a very important task because these genes might serve as tumor biomarkers, which is of great benefit to not only tumor molecular diagnosis but also drug development.

Results

This paper proposes a novel gene selection method with rich biomedical meaning based on Heuristic Breadth-first Search Algorithm (HBSA) to find as many optimal gene subsets as possible. Due to the curse of dimensionality, this type of method could suffer from over-fitting and selection bias problems. To address these potential problems, a HBSA-based ensemble classifier is constructed using majority voting strategy from individual classifiers constructed by the selected gene subsets, and a novel HBSA-based gene ranking method is designed to find important tumor-related genes by measuring the significance of genes using their occurrence frequencies in the selected gene subsets. The experimental results on nine tumor datasets including three pairs of cross-platform datasets indicate that the proposed method can not only obtain better generalization performance but also find many important tumor-related genes.

Conclusions

It is found that the frequencies of the selected genes follow a power-law distribution, indicating that only a few top-ranked genes can be used as potential diagnosis biomarkers. Moreover, the top-ranked genes leading to very high prediction accuracy are closely related to specific tumor subtype and even hub genes. Compared with other related methods, the proposed method can achieve higher prediction accuracy with fewer genes. Moreover, they are further justified by analyzing the top-ranked genes in the context of individual gene function, biological pathway, and protein-protein interaction network.

Involvement of CD11b integrin in the alteration of metabolic factors after phorbol ester stimulation of human myeloid leukemia cells

Previous work has demonstrated that phorbol ester (TPA)-induced adherence of human U937 myeloid leukemia cells can be blocked upon down-modulation of the β2-integrin CD11b after stable transfection of U937 cells with a pMTH1 vector-containing the CD11b gene in antisense orientation (asCD11b-U937) [Otte et al., (2011)]. In the present study, alterations in metabolism-associated factors, particularly intra- and extracellular proteases were investigated. A measurement of telomerase activity in the leukemic cells revealed continuously decreasing telomere adducts within 72 h of TPA treatment in pMTH1-U937 cells. In contrast, telomerase activity sustained in asCD11b-U937 upon TPA-induced differentiation. Flow cytometric analysis confirmed unchanged CD11b levels in TPA-induced asCD11b-U937 in contrast to elevated levels in pMTH1-U937 whereby the expression of other β2-integrins including CD11a, CD11c and CD18 was increased in both populations after TPA treatment. Moreover, adherent pMTH1-U937 demonstrated the expression of monocytic differentiation markers including F4-80 and CD14 and an increased MIP-1α production which remained at low or undetectable in TPA-induced asCD11b-U937. These effects indicated an altered response of the different cell populations to the TPA-induced differentiation process. Indeed, Western blot analysis revealed differences in the expression levels of intracellular metabolic factors including MnSOD and p97/VCP and after measurement of 20 S proteasomal proteolytic activity. In addition, increased levels of extracellular metabolic factors including the matrix metalloproteinases MMP-1, MMP-7 and MMP-9 were observed in pMTH1-U937 cells in contrast to unaltered levels in asCD11b-U937 cells.

Antioxidant defense and apoptotic effectors in ascorbic acid and β-glycerophosphate-induced osteoblastic differentiation

MC3T3-E1 cells grown in the presence of ascorbic acid and β-glycerophosphate (AA/β-GP) express alkaline phosphatase and produce an extensive collagenous extracellular matrix. Differentiated MC3T3-E1 cells are more sensitive to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress than undifferentiated cells. In this study, we compared the profile of antioxidant enzymes and molecular markers of apoptosis in undifferentiated and differentiated MC3T3-E1 cells (cell differentiation was induced by treatment with AA/β-GP). Differentiated osteoblasts showed lower expression and activity of catalase, glutathione S-transferase and glutathione peroxidase. The total superoxide dismutase activity and the expression of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase were also lower, while the expression of Mn superoxide dismutase was higher in differentiated osteoblasts. The level of malondialdehyde, a widely used marker for oxidative stress, was lower in the AA/β-GP group compared with control cells, but this difference was not significant. Western blotting showed that treatment with AA/β-GP increased the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio used as an index of cellular vulnerability to apoptosis. In addition, the activities of caspases 3, 8 and 9 and cleaved poly (ADP) ribose polymerase were significantly higher in differentiated cells. These findings provide new insights into how changes in the activities of major antioxidant enzymes and in the signaling pathways associated with apoptosis may influence the susceptibility of bone cells to oxidative stress.

PARP and PARG inhibitors--new therapeutic targets in cancer treatment

Today, the number of cancer patients throughout the world is increasing alarmingly and as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) data and statistics the prediction for the year 2020 will be 15 million new cases as compared to only 10 million cases in year 2000 leaving us dumbfounded. A lot of effort has been put in by researchers and scientists over decades to find drugs helpful in the treatment of cancers for the benefit of patients--the latest being the Poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) and the Poly ADP-ribose glycohydrolase (PARG) inhibitors. This review highlights their mechanism of action under the rationale of their use and current development in the field of cancer.

Rejuvenation in distinct cell populations - What does it mean?

Rejuvenation represents a well organized and tightly regulated cellular process in vitro and in vivo, whereby senescent and/or certain differentiated cells revert specific properties acquired during previous steps of maturation to restore again a younger phenotype. Effects of the microenvironment and cellular mechanisms including asymmetric mitosis or retrodifferentiation can contribute to rejuvenation during a dynamic cellular development in contrast to terminally differentiated cells like unicellular organisms, which appear unable to retrodifferentiate and to rejuvenate. The process of rejuvenation is observed in distinct cell populations and includes a coordinated multistep network of transduction cascades with extracellular signaling and cell-to-cell communication to relay intracellular pathways. This provides a certain tissue homeostasis by a regenerative potential and renewal upon tissue-specific repair requirements in addition to residual stem cells, which can vary among different organs and species to extend their life span. However, dysfunctions within a rejuvenation program may also include the risk of neoplastic growth during such a retrograde development. In contrast to rejuvenation in certain cell types, a life span extension - also termed longevity - does not represent a retrograde development but an overall prolonged function of tissues, organs and/or whole organisms. Thus, rejuvenation of a distinct cell population could contribute to longevity of the corresponding organism but may not necessarily be required since longevity could also be achieved mechanistically by inhibition of the mTOR-mediated signaling pathway or by sufficient supply of anti-oxidative defence compounds, physiologically by nutrient restrictions, genetically by the induction of longevity genes or environmentally by the inhibition of aging.

Retrodifferentiation--a mechanism for cellular regeneration?

Cellular differentiation can be characterized by the acquisition of specified properties during several steps of development whereby the original stem- or precursor-like populations can finally obtain a certain phenotype with highly specific cell functions. The continuing maturation process can be paralleled by progressively reduced proliferative capacity in various cell types functioning as postmitotic tissues. Conversely, other cell populations (e.g., distinct immune cells) may carry out their specific function upon stimulation of proliferation. While these differentiated phenotypes perform their appropriate specific duties throughout the functioning organism, nature may provide an interesting alternative within this concept of life: sometimes, differentiation steps appear to be reversible. Thus, retrograde differentiation--also termed retrodifferentiation--and accordingly rejuvenation may occur when differentiated cells lose their specific properties acquired during previous steps of maturation. Consequently, retrodifferentiation and rejuvenation could provide enormous potential for tissue repair and cell renewal; however, regulatory dysfunctions within these retrograde developments may also involve the risk of tumor promotion.

AMP-activated protein kinase is involved in neural stem cell growth suppression and cell cycle arrest by 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-beta-D-ribofuranoside and glucose deprivation by down-regulating phospho-retinoblastoma protein and cyclin D

The fate of neural stem cells (NSCs), including their proliferation, differentiation, survival, and death, is regulated by multiple intrinsic signals and the extrinsic environment. We had previously reported that 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-beta-D-ribofuranoside (AICAR) directly induces astroglial differentiation of NSCs by activation of the Janus kinase (JAK)/Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathway independently of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). Here, we reported the observation that AICAR inhibited NSC proliferation and its underlying mechanism. Analysis of caspase activity and cell cycle showed that AICAR induced G1/G0 cell cycle arrest in NSCs, associated with decreased levels of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, phospho-retinoblastoma protein (Rb), and cyclin D but did not cause apoptosis. Iodotubericidin and Compound C, inhibitors of adenosine kinase and AMPK, respectively, or overexpression of a dominant-negative mutant of AMPK, but not JAK inhibitor, were able to reverse the anti-proliferative effect of AICAR. Glucose deprivation also activated the AMPK pathway, induced G0/G1 arrest, and suppressed the proliferation of NSCs, an effect associated with decreased levels of phospho-Rb and cyclin D protein. Furthermore, Compound C and overexpression of dominant-negative AMPK in C17.2 NSCs could block the glucose deprivation-mediated down-regulation of cyclin D and partially reverse the suppression of proliferation. These results suggest that AICAR and glucose deprivation might induce G1/G0 cell cycle arrest and suppress proliferation of NSCs via phospho-Rb and cyclin D down-regulation. AMPK, but not JAK/STAT3, activation is key for this inhibitory effect and may play an important role in the responses of NSCs to metabolic stresses such as glucose deprivation.

The Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase PARP-1 is required for oxidative stress-induced TRPM2 activation in lymphocytes

TRPM2 cation channels are widely expressed in the immune system and are thought to play a role in immune cell responses to oxidative stress. Patch clamp analyses suggest that TRPM2 channel activation can occur through a direct action of oxidants on TRPM2 channels or indirectly through the actions of a related group of adenine nucleotide 2nd messengers. However, the contribution of each gating mechanism to oxidative stress-induced TRPM2 activation in lymphocytes remains undefined. To better understand the molecular events leading to TRPM2 activation in lymphocytes, we analyzed oxidative stress-induced turnover of intracellular NAD, the metabolic precursor of adenine nucleotide 2nd messengers implicated in TRPM2 gating, and oxidative stress-induced TRPM2-mediated currents and Ca2+ transients in DT40 B cells. TRPM2-dependent Ca2+ entry did not influence the extent or time course of oxidative stress-induced turnover of NAD. Furthermore, expression of oxidative stress-activated poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs) was required for oxidative stress-induced NAD turnover, TRPM2 currents, and TRPM2-dependent Ca2+ transients; no oxidant-induced activation of TRPM2 channels could be detected in PARP-deficient cells. Together, our results suggest that during conditions of oxidative stress in lymphocytes, TRPM2 acts as a downstream effector of the PARP/poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase pathway through PARP-dependent formation of ADP-ribose.

Transcriptional regulation by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 during T cell activation

Background

Accumulating evidence suggests an important role for the enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) as an integral part of the gene expression regulatory machinery during development and in response to specific cellular signals. PARP-1 might modulate gene expression through its catalytic activity leading to poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation of nuclear proteins or by its physical association with relevant proteins. Recently, we have shown that PARP-1 is activated during T cell activation. However, the proposed role of PARP-1 in reprogramming T cell gene expression upon activation remains largely unexplored.

Results

In the present study we use oligonucleotide microarray analysis to gain more insight into the role played by PARP-1 during the gene expression reprogramming that takes place in T cells upon activation with anti-CD3 stimulation alone, or in combination with anti-CD28 co-stimulation. We have identified several groups of genes with expression modulated by PARP-1. The expression of 129 early-response genes to anti-CD3 seems to be regulated by PARP-1 either in a positive (45 genes) or in a negative manner (84 genes). Likewise, in the presence of co-stimulation (anti-CD3 + anti-CD28 stimulation), the expression of 203 genes is also regulated by PARP-1 either up (173 genes) or down (30 genes). Interestingly, PARP-1 deficiency significantly alters expression of genes associated with the immune response such as chemokines and genes involved in the Th1/Th2 balance.

Conclusion

This study provides new insights into changes in gene expression mediated by PARP-1 upon T cell activation. Pathway analysis of PARP-1 as a nuclear signalling molecule in T cells would be of relevance for the future development of new therapeutic approaches targeting PARP-1 in the acquired immune response.

Poly(adp-ribose) polymerase-1 regulates Tracp gene promoter activity during RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis

The Tracp gene encodes an acid phosphatase strongly upregulated during osteoclastogenesis on RANKL treatment. Using the mouse osteoclastic model RAW264.7, we studied Tracp gene expression, and we identified PARP-1 as a transcriptional repressor negatively regulated by RANKL during osteoclastogenesis.

INTRODUCTION

The Tracp gene encodes an acid phosphatase strongly expressed in differentiated osteoclasts. TRACP enzyme has a dual role and is involved in (1) the regulation of the biological activity of the bone matrix phosphoproteins osteopontin and bone sialoprotein and (2) the intracellular collagen degradation. Based on our previous work on Tcirg1 gene expression, and using data available in the literature, we focused on a 200-bp sequence located upstream the Tracp gene transcriptional start to identify binding activities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We first performed siRNA transfections and RAW264.7 cell treatment with an inhibitor of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) activity. After EMSA and supershift experiments, we measured the promoter activity of wildtype and mutant constructs throughout the osteoclastic differentiation.

RESULTS

We first showed that depleting PARP-1 mRNA in the pre-osteoclastic cell line RAW264.7 results in an increase of both matrix metalloproteinase 9 and TRACP mRNA expression (3.5- and 2.5-fold, respectively). Moreover, in response to 3-aminobenzamide treatment, we measured a weak stimulation of MMP9 mRNA expression, whereas up to a 2-fold enhancement above the control condition of TRACP mRNA expression was observed. We next identified in the -839/-639 Tracp promoter region a PARP-1 binding site, and supershift experiments showed the interaction of a PARP-1 binding activity with the Tracp promoter sequence -830/-808. Finally, RAW264.7 cell transfection with a promoter construct mutated for this PARP-1 interacting sequence showed the functionality of this site within intact pre-osteoclastic cells.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, we provide evidence that the transcriptional activity of the Tracp gene, in pre-osteoclastic cells, is negatively regulated by the binding of PARP-1 protein to a potential consensus sequence located in its promoter region. Taken together with our previous results related to the control of Tcirg1 gene expression, our data suggest that PARP-1 exerts a pivotal role in the basal repression of genes that are upregulated during RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis.

Matrix metalloproteinase-7 and the 20S proteasome contribute to cellular senescence

A detailed understanding of aging and senescence is limited by the complex interplay of the effects of extracellular and environmental stimuli on cellular metabolic, mutational, and epigenetic phenomena. For example, STASIS (stress or aberrant signaling-induced senescence) is affected by the exposure to free radicals and conditions that cause an increased cellular production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during normal life span. In addition, progressive telomere erosion and telomeric dysfunction contribute to a cellular feature termed replicative or cellular senescence. To focus on distinct cellular pathways that contribute to these different forms of senescence, we investigated the reversible differentiation and aging process of the human U937 leukemia cell line. This was compared to cellular senescence that occurred in normal primary human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs). These two cell systems revealed an important role of the proteolytic activity of the 20S proteasome and its activation by the nuclear protein poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) during "retrodifferentiation" and rejuvenation of the leukemic cells. Moreover, reduced extracellular proteolytic activity of certain matrix metalloproteinases-for example, MMP-7-is associated with accelerated aging and senescence in normal HMECs.

Cellular responses to reactive oxygen species-induced DNA damage and aging

Oxidative stress in cells and tissues can occur during pathophysiological developments, e.g., during inflammatory and allergic diseases or during ischemic or toxic and hyperglycemic conditions via the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Moreover, ROS can be generated by radiation (UV, X-rays) and pharmacologically, e.g., by anthracyclins as chemotherapeutic compounds for treatment of a variety of tumors to induce 'stress or aberrant signaling-inducing senescence' (STASIS). Although STASIS is distinguished from intracellular replicative senescence, a variety of cellular mechanisms appear similar in both aging pathways. It is generally accepted that oxidative stress and ROS eventually cause DNA damage, whereby insufficient cellular repair mechanisms may contribute to premature aging and apoptosis. Conversely, ROS-induced imbalances of the signaling pathways for metabolic protein turnover may also result in opposite effects to recruit malfunctioning aberrant proteins and compounds that trigger tumorigenic processes. Consequently, DNA damage plays a role in the development of carcinogenesis, but is also associated with an aging process in cells and organisms.

The differentiation/retrodifferentiation program of human U937 leukemia cells is accompanied by changes of VCP/p97

BACKGROUND

Retrodifferentiation and regained proliferative capacity of growth-arrested human leukemic cells after monocyte-like differentiation requires proteolytic activities together with distinct regulatory factors. The AAA ATPase valosin-containing protein (VCP/p97) contributes to protein degradation and cell cycle regulation, respectively, and it was of interest to study a possible role of VCP/p97 during this myelomonocytic differentiation and retrodifferentiation.

RESULTS

Separation of autonomously proliferating human U937 myeloid leukemia cells by centrifugal elutriation demonstrated unaltered VCP/p97 expression levels throughout distinct phases of the cell cycle. However, phorbol ester-induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest in differentiating human U937 leukemia cells was associated with a significantly increased protein and mRNA amount of this AAA ATPase. These elevated VCP/p97 levels progressively decreased again when growth-arrested U937 cells entered a retrodifferentiation program and returned to the tumorigenic phenotype. Whereas VCP/p97 was observed predominantly in the cytosol of U937 tumor and retrodifferentiated cells, a significant nuclear accumulation appeared during differentiation and G0/G1 growth arrest. Analysis of subcellular compartments by immunoprecipitations and 2D Western blots substantiated these findings and revealed furthermore a tyrosine-specific phosphorylation of VCP/p97 in the cytosolic but not in the nuclear fractions. These altered tyrosine phosphorylation levels, according to distinct subcellular distributions, indicated a possible functional involvement of VCP/p97 in the leukemic differentiation process. Indeed, a down-modulation of VCP/p97 protein by siRNA revealed a reduced expression of differentiation-associated genes in subsequent DNA microarray analysis. Moreover, DNA-binding and proliferation-associated genes, which are down-regulated during differentiation of the leukemic cells, demonstrated elevated levels in the VCP/p97 siRNA transfectants.

CONCLUSION

The findings demonstrated that monocytic differentiation and G0/G1 growth arrest in human U937 leukemia cells was accompanied by an increase in VCP/p97 expression and a distinct subcellular distribution to be reverted during retrodifferentiation. Together with a down-modulation of VCP/p97 by siRNA, these results suggested an association of this AAA ATPase in the differentiation/retrodifferentiation program.