Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P04637 (p53)
 77,613 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Undifferentiated (anaplastic) thyroid carcinoma is a highly aggressive human cancer with very poor prognosis. Although there have been a few studies of candidate treatments, the fact that it is an infrequent tumor makes it very difficult to design clinical trials. A strong association has been observed between undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma and TP53 mutations in numerous molecular genetic and expression studies. Plitidepsin (Aplidin, PharmaMar, Madrid, Spain) is a novel anticancer compound obtained from a sea tunicate. This compound has been reported to induce apoptosis independently of TP53 status. We investigated the actions of plitidepsin in human thyroid cancer cells. In initial experiments using primary cultured cells from a differentiated (papillary) carcinoma, we found that 100 nmol/L plitidepsin induced apoptosis, whereas lower doses were cytostatic. Because our aim was to study the effects of plitidepsin at clinically relevant concentrations, subsequent experiments were done with a dosage regimen reflecting plasma concentrations observed in previously reported clinical trials: 100 nmol/L for 4 hours, followed by 10 nmol/L for 20 hours (4(100)/20(10) plitidepsin). This plitidepsin dosage regimen blocked the proliferation of a primary undifferentiated/anaplastic thyroid carcinoma culture obtained in our laboratory and of a commercial cell line (8305C) obtained from an undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma; however, it did not induce apoptosis. The proportion of cells in the G(1) phase of the cell cycle was greatly increased and the proportion in the S/G(2)-M phases greatly reduced, suggesting that plitidepsin blocks G(1)-to-S transition. Levels of the cyclin D1/cyclin-dependent kinase 4/p21 complex proteins were decreased and, in line with this, the levels of unphosphorylated Rb1 increased. The decrease in cell cycle proteins correlated with hypoacetylation of histone H3. Finally, we did experiments to assess how rapidly tumor cells return to their initial pretreatment proliferative behavior after 4(100)/20(10) plitidepsin treatment. Cells from undifferentiated tumors needed more than 3 days to recover logarithmic growth, and after 7 days, cell number was still significantly lower than in control cultures. 4(100)/20(10) plitidepsin inhibited the growth in soft agar. Together, our data show that plitidepsin is able to block in vitro cell cycle progression at concentrations similar to serum concentrations observed in vivo, and that this effect is persistent for several days after plitidepsin removal. Whether plitidepsin will prove to be clinically useful in the treatment of undifferentiated thyroid cancers remains to be established. However, our results raise the possibility that plitidepsin might be effective alone or in combination with radiotherapy and/or other drug treatments.
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PMID:Plitidepsin has a cytostatic effect in human undifferentiated (anaplastic) thyroid carcinoma. 1627 86

Human SET7/9 is a protein lysine methyltransferase (PKMT) that methylates histone H3, the tumor suppressor p53 and the TBP-associated factor TAF10. To elucidate the determinants of its substrate specificity, we have solved the enzyme's structure bound to a TAF10 peptide and examined its ability to methylate histone H3, TAF10 and p53 substrates bearing either mutations or covalent modifications within their respective methylation sites. Collectively, our data reveal that SET7/9 recognizes a conserved K/R-S/T/A motif preceding the lysine substrate and has a propensity to bind aspartates and asparagines on the C-terminal side of the lysine target. We then used a sequence-based approach with this motif to identify novel substrates for this PKMT. Among the putative targets is TAF7, which is methylated at Lys5 by the enzyme in vitro. These results demonstrate the predictive value of the consensus motif in identifying novel substrates for SET7/9.
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PMID:Structural basis for the methylation site specificity of SET7/9. 1641 81

The class III histone deactylase (HDAC), SIRT1, has cancer relevance because it regulates lifespan in multiple organisms, down-regulates p53 function through deacetylation, and is linked to polycomb gene silencing in Drosophila. However, it has not been reported to mediate heterochromatin formation or heritable silencing for endogenous mammalian genes. Herein, we show that SIRT1 localizes to promoters of several aberrantly silenced tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) in which 5' CpG islands are densely hypermethylated, but not to these same promoters in cell lines in which the promoters are not hypermethylated and the genes are expressed. Heretofore, only type I and II HDACs, through deactylation of lysines 9 and 14 of histone H3 (H3-K9 and H3-K14, respectively), had been tied to the above TSG silencing. However, inhibition of these enzymes alone fails to re-activate the genes unless DNA methylation is first inhibited. In contrast, inhibition of SIRT1 by pharmacologic, dominant negative, and siRNA (small interfering RNA)-mediated inhibition in breast and colon cancer cells causes increased H4-K16 and H3-K9 acetylation at endogenous promoters and gene re-expression despite full retention of promoter DNA hypermethylation. Furthermore, SIRT1 inhibition affects key phenotypic aspects of cancer cells. We thus have identified a new component of epigenetic TSG silencing that may potentially link some epigenetic changes associated with aging with those found in cancer, and provide new directions for therapeutically targeting these important genes for re-expression.
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PMID:Inhibition of SIRT1 reactivates silenced cancer genes without loss of promoter DNA hypermethylation. 1659 66

Histone acetyltransferases (HATs), and p300/CBP in particular, have been implicated in cancer cell growth and survival, and as such, HATs represent novel, therapeutically relevant molecular targets for drug development. In this study, we demonstrate that the small molecule natural product curcumin, whose medicinal properties have long been recognized in India and Southeast Asia, is a selective HAT inhibitor. Furthermore the data indicate that alpha, beta unsaturated carbonyl groups in the curcumin side chain function as Michael reaction sites and that the Michael reaction acceptor functionality of curcumin is required for its HAT-inhibitory activity. In cells, curcumin promoted proteasome-dependent degradation of p300 and the closely related CBP protein without affecting the HATs PCAF or GCN5. In addition to inducing p300 degradation curcumin inhibited the acetyltransferase activity of purified p300 as assessed using either histone H3 or p53 as substrate. Radiolabeled curcumin formed a covalent association with p300, and tetrahydrocurcumin displayed no p300 inhibitory activity, consistent with a Michael reaction-dependent mechanism. Finally, curcumin was able to effectively block histone hyperacetylation in both PC3-M prostate cancer cells and peripheral blood lymphocytes induced by the histone deacetylase inhibitor MS-275. These data thus identify the medicinal natural product curcumin as a novel lead compound for development of possibly therapeutic, p300/CBP-specific HAT inhibitors.
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PMID:Curcumin is an inhibitor of p300 histone acetylatransferase. 1678 65

The effect of synthetic isothiocyanate ethyl-4-isothiocyanatobutanoate (E-4IB) on survival of mismatch repair-proficient TK6 and -deficient MT1 cell lines as well as the influence of proteasomal inhibitor MG132, caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-fmk, and ATM inhibitor caffeine on E-4IB modulation of cell cycle and apoptosis was evaluated. Flow cytometric analyses of DNA double strand breaks (gamma-H2AX), mitotic fraction (phospho-histone H3), cell cycle modulation, apoptosis induction (sub-G(0) fraction and fluorescein diacetate staining), and dissipation of transmembrane mitochondrial potential (JC-1 staining) were performed. Western blotting was used for the evaluation of ERK activation, expression of p53, p21(cip1/waf1) and GADD45alpha proteins, as well as PARP fragmentation. Analysis of mitotic nuclei was performed for chromosomal aberrations assessment. MT1 cells were more resistant to E-4IB treatment then TK6 cells (IC(50) 8 muM vs. 4 muM). In both cell lines E-4IB treatment induced phosphorylation of H2AX, increase of p53 protein level, phospho-histone H3 staining, and G(2)/M arrest. The sub-G(0) fragmentation was accompanied by PARP degradation, decreased mitochondrial transmembrane potential, and diminished p21(cip1/waf1) protein expression in TK6 cells. Caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-fmk decreased E-4IB induced sub-G(0) fragmentation and extent of apoptosis in TK6 cells, while proteasome inhibitor MG132 increased number of apoptotic cells in both cell lines tested. A number of aberrant metaphases and clastogenic effect of high E-4IB concentration was observed. The synthetic isothiocyanate E-4IB induced DNA strand breaks, increased mitotic fraction and apoptosis potentiated by MG132 inhibitor in both mismatch repair-proficient and -deficient cell lines.
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PMID:Apoptotic effect of ethyl-4-isothiocyanatobutanoate is associated with DNA damage, proteasomal activity and induction of p53 and p21cip1/waf1. 1683 Feb 28

The breast cancer-associated gene-1 (BRCA1) plays many important functions in multiple biological processes/pathways. Mice homozygous for a targeted deletion of full-length BRCA1 (Brca1Delta11/Delta11) display both increased tumorigenesis and premature aging, yet molecular mechanisms underlying these defects remain elusive. Here, we show that Brca1 deficiency leads to increased expression of several insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling axis members in multiple experimental systems, including BRCA1-deficient mice, primary mammary tumors, and cultured human cells. Furthermore, we provide evidence that activation of IGF signaling by BRCA1 deficiency can also occur in a p53-independent fashion. Our data indicate that BRCA1 interacts with the IRS-1 promoter and inhibits its activity that is associated with epigenetic modification of histone H3 and histone H4 to a transcriptional repression chromatin configuration. We further show that BRCA1-deficient mammary tumor cells exhibit high levels of IRS-1, and acute suppression of Irs-1 using RNA interference significantly inhibits growth of these cells. Those observations provide a molecular insight in understanding both fundamental and therapeutic BRCA1-associated tumorigenesis and aging.
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PMID:Absence of the full-length breast cancer-associated gene-1 leads to increased expression of insulin-like growth factor signaling axis members. 3032 59

HOXA5 is a member of the HOX gene family, which is known to play key roles during embryonic development and in differentiation of adult cells. In addition, HOXA5 has been implicated as a tumour suppressor in breast cancer and shown to transactivate the p53 gene. CpG island methylation is a common mechanism of gene inactivation in tumour cells, but is rarely involved in control of cell-type-specific (CTS) expression in normal cells. However, here we demonstrate that HOXA5 is one of a small number of genes whose CTS expression pattern is controlled by CTS CpG island methylation in normal cells. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis identified novel patterns of histone modifications associated with DNA methylation of HOXA5. High levels of methylation of histone residues (lysine 9 and 36 of histone H3) previously associated with transcriptional repression were present in the unmethylated, actively transcribing state, and were then reduced following DNA methylation and gene inactivation. Alterations to the normal patterns of HOXA5 gene methylation were also observed in tumour cells. Quantitative analysis of HOXA5 methylation identified the presence of limited methylation in all of the breast, lung and ovarian tumours examined. However, methylation levels in these three tumour types were nearly always low and comparable with that detected in the corresponding normal tissue. In contrast, acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) samples frequently (60% of samples) exhibited very high methylation levels, far greater than that seen in normal haematopoietic cells, suggesting a role for hypermethylation of HOXA5 in the development of AML, consistent with its previously identified role in haematopoietic differentiation.
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PMID:HOXA5 is targeted by cell-type-specific CpG island methylation in normal cells and during the development of acute myeloid leukaemia. 1686 Dec 63

Methionine deprivation stress (MDS) eliminates mitotic activity in melanoma cells regardless of stage, grade, or TP53 status, whereas it has a negligible effect on normal skin fibroblasts. In most cases, apoptosis accounts for the elimination of up to 90% of tumor cells from the culture within 72 hours after MDS, leaving a scattered population of multinucleated resistant cells. Loss of mitosis in tumor cells is associated with marked reduction of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 1 transcription and/or loss of its active form (CDK1-P-Thr(161)), which is coincident with up-regulation of CDKN1A, CDKN1B, and CDKN1C (p21, p27, and p57). Expression of the proapoptotic LITAF, IFNGR, EREG, TNFSF/TNFRSF10 and TNFRSF12, FAS, and RNASEL is primarily up-regulated/induced in cells destined to undergo apoptosis. Loss of Aurora kinase B and BIRC5, which are required for histone H3 phosphorylation, is associated with the accumulation of surviving multinucleated cells. Nevertheless, noncycling survivors of MDS are sensitized to temozolomide, carmustin, and cisplatin to a much greater extent than normal skin fibroblasts possibly because of the suppression of MGMT/TOP1/POLB, MGMT/RAD52/RAD54, and cMET/RADD52, respectively. Sensitivity to these and additional genotoxic agents and radiation may also be acquired due to loss of cMET/OGG1, reduced glutathione reductase levels, and a G(2)-phase block that is a crucial step in the damage response associated with enhancement of drug toxicity. Although the genes controlling mitotic arrest and/or apoptosis in response to low extracellular methionine levels are unknown, it is likely that such control is exerted via the induction/up-regulation of tumor suppressors/growth inhibitor genes, such as TGFB, PTEN, GAS1, EGR3, BTG3, MDA7, and the proteoglycans (LUM, BGN, and DCN), as well as the down-regulation/loss of function of prosurvival genes, such as NFkappaB, MYC, and ERBB2. Although MDS targets several common genes in tumors, mutational variability among melanomas may decide which metabolic and signal transduction pathways will be activated or shutdown.
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PMID:Mitotic arrest, apoptosis, and sensitization to chemotherapy of melanomas by methionine deprivation stress. 1690 95

A range of cellular evidence supporting a G1 tetraploidy checkpoint was obtained from different assay methods including flow cytometry, immunoblotting, and microscopy. Cancer research would benefit if these cellular properties could instead be measured by a single, quantitative, automated assay method, such as high content analysis (HCA). Thus, nocodazole-treated cells were fluorescently labeled for different cell cycle-associated properties, including DNA content, retinoblastoma (Rb) and histone H3 phosphorylation, p53 and p21(WAF1) expression, nuclear and cell sizes, and cell morphology, and automatically imaged, analyzed, and correlated using HCA. HCA verified that nocodazole-induced mitosis block resulted in tetraploid cells. Rb and histone H3 were maximally hyperphosphorylated by 24 h of nocodazole treatment, accompanied by cell and nuclear size decreases and cellular rounding. Cells remained tetraploid and mononucleated with longer treatments, but other targets reverted to G1 levels, including Rb and histone H3 dephosphorylation accompanied by cellular respreading. This was accompanied by increased p53 and p21(WAF1) expression levels. The range of effects accompanying nocodazole-induced block of mitosis and the resulting tetraploid cells' reversal to a pseudo-G1 state can be quantitatively measured by HCA in an automated manner, recommending this assay method for the large-scale biology challenges of modern cancer drug discovery.
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PMID:Quantitative characterization of mitosis-blocked tetraploid cells using high content analysis. 1694 15

The inactive X chromosome of female mammals displays several properties of heterochromatin including late replication, histone H4 hypoacetylation, histone H3 hypomethylation at lysine-4, and methylated CpG islands. We show that cre-Lox-mediated excision of 21 kb from both Xist alleles in female mouse fibroblasts led to the appearance of two histone modifications throughout the inactive X chromosome usually associated with euchromatin: histone H4 acetylation and histone H3 lysine-4 methylation. Despite these euchromatic properties, the inactive X chromosome was replicated even later in S phase than in wild-type female cells. Homozygosity for the deletion also caused regions of the active X chromosome that are associated with very high concentrations of LINE-1 elements to be replicated very late in S phase. Extreme late replication is a property of fragile sites and the 21-kb deletions destabilized the DNA of both X chromosomes, leading to deletions and translocations. This was accompanied by the phosphorylation of p53 at serine-15, an event that occurs in response to DNA damage, and the accumulation of gamma-H2AX, a histone involved in DNA repair, on the X chromosome. The Xist locus therefore maintains the DNA stability of both X chromosomes.
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PMID:A deletion at the mouse Xist gene exposes trans-effects that alter the heterochromatin of the inactive X chromosome and the replication time and DNA stability of both X chromosomes. 1698 Apr 2


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