scholarly journals Overexpression of Bcl-w in the Testis Disrupts Spermatogenesis: Revelation of a Role of BCL-W in Male Germ Cell Cycle Control

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 1868-1879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Yan ◽  
Jun-Xing Huang ◽  
Anna-Stina Lax ◽  
Lauri Pelliniemi ◽  
Eeva Salminen ◽  
...  

Abstract To explore physiological roles of BCL-W, a prosurvival member of the BCL-2 protein family, we generated transgenic (TG) mice overexpressing Bcl-w driven by a chicken β-actin promoter. Male Bcl-w TG mice developed normally but were infertile. The adult TG testes displayed disrupted spermatogenesis with various severities ranging from thin seminiferous epithelium containing less germ cells to Sertoli cell-only appearance. No overpopulation of any type of germ cells was observed during testicular development. In contrast, the developing TG testes displayed decreased number of spermatogonia, degeneration, and detachment of spermatocytes and Sertoli cell vacuolization. The proliferative activity of germ cells was significantly reduced during testicular development and spermatogenesis, as determined by in vivo and in vitro 5′-bromo-2′deoxyuridine incorporation assays. Sertoli cells were structurally and functionally normal. The degenerating germ cells were TUNEL-negative and no typical apoptotic DNA ladder was detected. Our data suggest that regulated spatial and temporal expression of BCL-W is required for normal testicular development and spermatogenesis, and overexpression of BCL-W inhibits germ cell cycle entry and/or cell cycle progression leading to disrupted spermatogenesis.

2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 1884-1896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannick Doyon ◽  
William Selleck ◽  
William S. Lane ◽  
Song Tan ◽  
Jacques Côté

ABSTRACT The NuA4 histone acetyltransferase (HAT) multisubunit complex is responsible for acetylation of histone H4 and H2A N-terminal tails in yeast. Its catalytic component, Esa1, is essential for cell cycle progression, gene-specific regulation and has been implicated in DNA repair. Almost all NuA4 subunits have clear homologues in higher eukaryotes, suggesting that the complex is conserved throughout evolution to metazoans. We demonstrate here that NuA4 complexes are indeed present in human cells. Tip60 and its splice variant Tip60b/PLIP were purified as stable HAT complexes associated with identical polypeptides, with 11 of the 12 proteins being homologs of yeast NuA4 subunits. This indicates a highly conserved subunit composition and the identified human proteins underline the role of NuA4 in the control of mammalian cell proliferation. ING3, a member of the ING family of growth regulators, links NuA4 to p53 function which we confirmed in vivo. Proteins specific to the human NuA4 complexes include ruvB-like helicases and a bromodomain-containing subunit linked to ligand-dependent transcription activation by the thyroid hormone receptor. We also demonstrate that subunits MRG15 and DMAP1 are present in distinct protein complexes harboring histone deacetylase and SWI2-related ATPase activities, respectively. Finally, analogous to yeast, a recombinant trimeric complex formed by Tip60, EPC1, and ING3 is sufficient to reconstitute robust nucleosomal HAT activity in vitro. In conclusion, the NuA4 HAT complex is highly conserved in eukaryotes, in which it plays primary roles in transcription, cellular response to DNA damage, and cell cycle control.


1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 2515-2526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid S. Clarke ◽  
Joanna E. Lowell ◽  
Sandra J. Jacobson ◽  
Lorraine Pillus

ABSTRACT Histones are dynamically modified during chromatin assembly, as specific transcriptional patterns are established, and during mitosis and development. Modifications include acetylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitination, methylation, and ADP-ribosylation, but the biological significance of each of these is not well understood. For example, distinct acetylation patterns correlate with nucleosome formation and with transcriptionally activated or silenced chromatin, yet mutations in genes encoding several yeast histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activities result in either no cellular phenotype or only modest growth defects. Here we report characterization of ESA1, an essential gene that is a member of the MYST family that includes two yeast silencing genes, human genes associated with leukemia and with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Tat protein, and Drosophila mof, a gene essential for male dosage compensation. Esa1p acetylates histones in a pattern distinct from those of other yeast enzymes, and temperature-sensitive mutant alleles abolish enzymatic activity in vitro and result in partial loss of an acetylated isoform of histone H4 in vivo. Strains carrying these mutations are also blocked in the cell cycle such that at restrictive temperatures,esa1 mutants succeed in replicating their DNA but fail to proceed normally through mitosis and cytokinesis. Recent studies show that Esa1p enhances transcription in vitro and thus may modulate expression of genes important for cell cycle control. These observations therefore link an essential HAT activity to cell cycle progression, potentially through discrete transcriptional regulatory events.


1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 3607-3618
Author(s):  
P Belenguer ◽  
M Caizergues-Ferrer ◽  
J C Labbé ◽  
M Dorée ◽  
F Amalric

Nucleolin is a ubiquitous multifunctional protein involved in preribosome assembly and associated with both nucleolar chromatin in interphase and nucleolar organizer regions on metaphasic chromosomes in mitosis. Extensive nucleolin phosphorylation by a casein kinase (CKII) occurs on serine in growing cells. Here we report that while CKII phosphorylation is achieved in interphase, threonine phosphorylation occurs during mitosis. We provide evidence that this type of in vivo phosphorylation involves a mammalian homolog of the cell cycle control Cdc2 kinase. In vitro M-phase H1 kinase from starfish oocytes phosphorylated threonines in a TPXK motif present nine times in the amino-terminal part of the protein. The same sites which matched the p34cdc2 consensus phosphorylation sequence were used in vivo during mitosis. We propose that successive Cdc2 and CKII phosphorylation could modulate nucleolin function in controlling cell cycle-dependent nucleolar function and organization. Our results, along with previous studies, suggest that while serine phosphorylation is related to nucleolin function in the control of rDNA transcription, threonine phosphorylation is linked to mitotic reorganization of nucleolar chromatin.


2022 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qungen Xiao ◽  
Minhai Dong ◽  
Fangling Cheng ◽  
Feng Mao ◽  
Weifeng Zong ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (S) ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
P H Nguyen ◽  
J Giraud ◽  
C Staedel ◽  
L Chambonnier ◽  
P Dubus ◽  
...  

Gastric carcinoma is the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. This cancer, most of the time metastatic, is essentially treated by surgery associated with conventional chemotherapy, and has a poor prognosis. The existence of cancer stem cells (CSC) expressing CD44 and a high aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity has recently been demonstrated in gastric carcinoma and has opened new perspectives to develop targeted therapy. In this study, we evaluated the effects of all-transretinoic acid (ATRA) on CSCs in human gastric carcinoma. ATRA effects were evaluated on the proliferation and tumorigenic properties of gastric carcinoma cells from patient-derived tumors and cell lines in conventional 2D cultures, in 3D culture systems (tumorsphere assay) and in mouse xenograft models. ATRA inhibited both tumorspheres initiation and growth in vitro, which was associated with a cell-cycle arrest through the upregulation of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors and the downregulation of cell-cycle progression activators. More importantly, ATRA downregulated the expression of the CSC markers CD44 and ALDH as well as stemness genes such as Klf4 and Sox2 and induced differentiation of tumorspheres. Finally, 2 weeks of daily ATRA treatment were sufficient to inhibit gastric tumor progression in vivo, which was associated with a decrease in CD44, ALDH1, Ki67 and PCNA expression in the remaining tumor cells. Administration of ATRA appears to be a potent strategy to efficiently inhibit tumor growth and more importantly to target gastric CSCs in both intestinal and diffuse types of gastric carcinoma.


Author(s):  
Yilan Yang ◽  
Jurui Luo ◽  
Xingxing Chen ◽  
Zhaozhi Yang ◽  
Xin Mei ◽  
...  

Abstract Recently, the focus of enhancing tumor radiosensitivity has shifted from chemotherapeutics to targeted therapies. Cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors are a novel class of selective cell cycle therapeutics that target the cyclin D-CDK4/6 complex and induce G1 phase arrest. These agents have demonstrated favorable effects when used as monotherapy or combined with endocrine therapy and targeted inhibitors, stimulating further explorations of other combination strategies. Multiple preclinical studies have indicated that CDK4/6 inhibitors exhibit a synergistic effect with radiotherapy both in vitro and in vivo. The principal mechanisms of radiosensitization effects include inhibition of DNA damage repair, enhancement of apoptosis, and blockade of cell cycle progression, which provide the rationale for clinical use. CDK4/6 inhibitors also induce cellular senescence and promote anti-tumor immunity, which might represent potential mechanisms for radiosensitization. Several small sample clinical studies have preliminarily indicated that the combination of CDK4/6 inhibitors and radiotherapy exhibited well-tolerated toxicity and promising efficacy. However, most clinical trials in combined therapy remain in the recruitment stage. Further work is required to seek optimal radiotherapy-drug combinations. In this review, we describe the effects and underlying mechanisms of CDK4/6 inhibitors as a radiosensitizer and discuss previous clinical studies to evaluate the prospects and challenges of this combination.


2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 3178-3191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smita Abbi ◽  
Hiroki Ueda ◽  
Chuanhai Zheng ◽  
Lee Ann Cooper ◽  
Jihe Zhao ◽  
...  

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a major mediator of integrin signaling pathways. The mechanisms of regulation of FAK activity and its associated cellular functions are not very well understood. Here, we present data suggesting that a novel protein FIP200 functions as an inhibitor for FAK. We show the association of endogenous FIP200 with FAK, which is decreased upon integrin-mediated cell adhesion concomitant with FAK activation. In vitro- and in vivo-binding studies indicate that FIP200 interacts with FAK through multiple domains directly. FIP200 bound to the kinase domain of FAK inhibited its kinase activity in vitro and its autophosphorylation in vivo. Overexpression of FIP200 or its segments inhibited cell spreading, cell migration, and cell cycle progression, which correlated with their inhibition of FAK activity in vivo. The inhibition of these cellular functions by FIP200 could be rescued by coexpression of FAK. Last, we show that disruption of the functional interaction between endogenous FIP200 with FAK leads to increased FAK phosphorylation and partial restoration of cell cycle progression in cells plated on poly-l-lysine, providing further support for FIP200 as a negative regulator of FAK. Together, these results identify FIP200 as a novel protein inhibitor for FAK.


1999 ◽  
Vol 340 (1) ◽  
pp. 309-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sikha Bettina MUKHERJEE ◽  
S. ARAVINDA ◽  
B. GOPALAKRISHNAN ◽  
Sushma NAGPAL ◽  
Dinakar M. SALUNKE ◽  
...  

The seminiferous tubular fluid (STF) provides the microenvironment necessary for spermatogenesis in the adluminal compartment of the seminiferous tubule (ST), primarily through secretions of the Sertoli cell. Earlier studies from this laboratory demonstrated the presence of glutathione S-transferase (GST) in STF collected from adult rat testis and in the spent media of ST cultures. This study describes the cellular source, isoform composition and possible function of GSTs in the STF. The major GST isoforms present in STF in vivo share extensive N-terminal similarity with rat GSTM1 (rGSTM1), rGSTM2, rGSTM3 and rGST-Alpha. Molecular masses of rGSTM2, rGSTM3 and rGST-Alpha from liver and testis sources were similar, unlike STF-GSTM1, which was larger by 325 Da than its liver counterpart. Peptide digest analysis profiles on reverse-phase HPLC between liver and STF isoforms were identical, and N-terminal sequences of selected peptides obtained by digestion of the various isoforms were closely similar. The above results confirmed close structural similarity between liver and STF-GST isoforms. Active synthesis and secretion of GSTs by the STs were evident from recovery of radiolabelled GST from the spent media of ST cultures. Analysis of secreted GST isoforms showed that GST-Alpha was not secreted by the STs in vitro, whereas there was an induction of GST-Pi secretion. Detection of immunostainable GST-Mu in Sertoli cells in vitro and during different stages of the seminiferous epithelium in vivo, coupled with the recovery of radiolabelled GST from Sertoli cell-culture media, provided evidence for Sertoli cells as secretors of GST. In addition, STF of ‘Sertoli cell only’ animals showed no change in the profile of GST isoform secretion, thereby confirming Sertoli cells as prime GST secretors. Non-recovery of [35S]methionine-labelled GSTs from germ cell culture supernatants, but their presence in germ cell lysates, confirm the ability of the germ cells to synthesize, but not to release, GSTs. Functionally, STF-GSTM1 appeared to serve as a steroid-binding protein by its ability to bind to testosterone and oestradiol, two important hormones in the ST that are essential for spermatogenesis, with binding constants of < 9.8×10-7 M for testosterone and 9×10-6 M for oestradiol respectively.


Cancers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mouna Sdiri ◽  
Xiangmin Li ◽  
William Du ◽  
Safia El-Bok ◽  
Yi-Zhen Xie ◽  
...  

The extensive applications of Cynomorium species and their rich bioactive secondary metabolites have inspired many pharmacological investigations. Previous research has been conducted to examine the biological activities and numerous interesting pharmaceutical activities have been reported. However, the antitumor activities of these species are unclear. To understand the potential anticancer activity, we screened Cynomorium coccineum and Cynomorium songaricum using three different extracts of each species. In this study, the selected extracts were evaluated for their ability to decrease survival rates of five different cancer cell lines. We compared the cytotoxicity of the three different extracts to the anticancer drug vinblastine and one of the most well-known medicinal mushrooms Amaurederma rude. We found that the water and alcohol extracts of C. coccineum at the very low concentrations possessed very high capacity in decreasing the cancer cells viability with a potential inhibition of tumorigenesis. Based on these primitive data, we subsequently tested the ethanol and the water extracts of C. coccineum, respectively in in vitro and in vivo assays. Cell cycle progression and induction of programmed cell death were investigated at both biological and molecular levels to understand the mechanism of the antitumor inhibitory action of the C. coccineum. The in vitro experiments showed that the treated cancer cells formed fewer and smaller colonies than the untreated cells. Cell cycle progression was inhibited, and the ethanol extract of C. coccineum at a low concentration induced accumulation of cells in the G1 phase. We also found that the C. coccineum’s extracts suppressed viability of two murine cancer cell lines. In the in vivo experiments, we injected mice with murine cancer cell line B16, followed by peritoneal injection of the water extract. The treatment prolonged mouse survival significantly. The tumors grew at a slower rate than the control. Down-regulation of c-myc expression appeared to be associated with these effects. Further investigation showed that treatment with C. coccineum induced the overexpression of the tumor suppressor Foxo3 and other molecules involved in inducing autophagy. These results showed that the C. coccineum extract exerts its antiproliferative activity through the induction of cell death pathway. Thus, the Cynomorium plants appear to be a promising source of new antineoplastic compounds.


Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengqiu Song ◽  
Shuying Yin ◽  
Ran Zhao ◽  
Kangdong Liu ◽  
Joydeb Kumar Kundu ◽  
...  

Topoisomerase (TOP) I plays a major role in the process of supercoiled DNA relaxation, thereby facilitating DNA replication and cell cycle progression. The expression and enzymatic activity of TOP I is positively correlated with tumor progression. Although the anticancer activity of (S)-10-Hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT), a TOP I specific inhibitor, has been reported in various cancers, the effect of HCPT on esophageal cancer is yet to be examined. In this study, we investigate the potential of HCPT to inhibit the growth of ESCC cells in vitro and verify its anti-tumor activity in vivo by using a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumor model in mice. Our study revealed the overexpression of TOP I in ESCC cells and treatment with HCPT inhibited TOP I enzymatic activity at 24 h and decreased expression at 48 h and 72 h. HCPT also induced DNA damage by increasing the expression of H2A.XS139. HCPT significantly decreased the proliferation and anchorage-independent growth of ESCC cells (KYSE410, KYSE510, KYSE30, and KYSE450). Mechanistically, HCPT inhibited the G2/M phase cell cycle transition, decreased the expression of cyclin B1, and elevated p21 expression. In addition, HCPT stimulated ESCC cells apoptosis, which was associated with elevated expression of cleaved PARP, cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-7, Bax, Bim, and inhibition of Bcl-2 expression. HCPT dramatically suppressed PDX tumor growth and decreased the expression of Ki-67 and TOP I and increased the level of cleaved caspase-3 and H2A.XS139 expression. Taken together, our data suggested that HCPT inhibited ESCC growth, arrested cell cycle progression, and induced apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo via decreasing the expression and activity of TOP I enzyme.


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