Constitutive control of AKT1 gene expression by JUNB/CJUN in ALK+ anaplastic large-cell lymphoma: a novel crosstalk mechanism.

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive (ALK+) anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) is an aggressive T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma characterized by the t(2;5), resulting in the overexpression of nucleophosmin (NPM)-ALK, which is known to activate the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, resulting in cell cycle and apoptosis deregulation. ALK+ ALCL is also characterized by strong activator protein-1 (AP-1) activity and overexpression of two AP-1 transcription factors, CJUN and JUNB. Here, we hypothesized that a biologic link between AP-1 and AKT kinase may exist, thus contributing to ALCL oncogenesis. We show that JUNB and CJUN bind directly to the AKT1 promoter, inducing AKT1 transcription in ALK+ ALCL. Knockdown of JUNB and CJUN in ALK+ ALCL cell lines downregulated AKT1 mRNA and promoter activity and was associated with lower AKT1 protein expression and activation. We provide evidence that this is a transcriptional control mechanism shared by other cell types even though it may operate in a way that is cell context-specific. In addition, STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3)-induced control of AKT1 transcription was functional in ALK+ ALCL and blocking of STAT3 and AP-1 signaling synergistically affected cell proliferation and colony formation. Our findings uncover a novel transcriptional crosstalk mechanism that links AP-1 and AKT kinase, which coordinate uncontrolled cell proliferation and survival in ALK+ ALCL.

Suppression of Jab1/CSN5 induces radio- and chemo-sensitivity in nasopharyngeal carcinoma through changes to the DNA damage and repair pathways.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an Epstein-Barr virus-associated malignancy most common in East Asia and Africa. Radiotherapy and cisplatin-based chemotherapy are the main treatment options. Unfortunately, disease response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy varies among patients with NPC, and many cases are resistant to cisplatin. Increased DNA damage repair is one of the mechanisms contributing to this resistance. Jab1/CSN5 is a multifunctional protein that participates in controlling cell proliferation and the stability of multiple proteins. Jab1 overexpression has been found to correlate with poor prognosis in several tumor types. However, the biological significance of Jab1 activity in response to cancer treatment is unclear. In this study, we used three NPC cell lines (CNE1, CNE2 and HONE1) to investigate the hypothesis that Jab1 positively regulates the DNA repair protein Rad51 and, in turn, cellular response to treatment with DNA-damaging agents such as cisplatin, ionizing radiation (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) radiation. We found that Jab1 was overexpressed in two relatively cisplatin-, IR- and UV-resistant NPC cell lines, and knocking down its expression conferred sensitivity to cisplatin, IR and UV radiation. By contrast, exogenous Jab1 expression enhanced the resistance of NPC cells to cisplatin, IR and UV radiation. Moreover, we provide a mechanism by which Jab1 positively regulated Rad51 through p53-dependent pathway, and increased ectopic expression of Rad51 conferred cellular resistance to cisplatin, IR and UV radiation in Jab1-deficient cells. Taken together, our findings suggest that Jab1 has an important role in the cellular response to cisplatin and irradiation by regulating DNA damage and repair pathways. Therefore, Jab1 is a novel biomarker for predicting the outcome of patients with NPC who are treated with DNA-damaging agents.

The therapeutic potential of p53 reactivation by nutlin-3a in ALK+ anaplastic large cell lymphoma with wild-type or mutated p53.

p53 is expressed frequently, but is rarely mutated in anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) tumours. Nutlin-3a is a recently developed small molecule that targets Mdm2, a critical negative regulator of p53, and disrupts the p53-Mdm2 interaction resulting in p53 stabilization and activation. We show that nutlin-3a activates p53 in ALK+ ALCL cells carrying a wild type (wt) or mutated but partially functional p53 gene resulting in p53-dependent cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. Cell-cycle arrest was associated with upregulation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21. Nutlin-3a-induced apoptotic cell death was accompanied by Bax and Puma upregulation, downregulation of Bcl-xl, survivin, and caspase-3 cleavage, and this was reduced when p53-dependent transactivation activity was inhibited by pifithrin-alpha, or when pifithrin-mu was used to inhibit direct p53 targeting of mitochondria. Nutlin-3a sensitized the activation of the extrinsic apoptotic pathway in wt-p53 ALK+ ALCL cells, in part, through upregulation of DR-5 and downregulation of c-Flip(S/L), and was synergistic with TRAIL in cell death induction. In addition, nutlin-3a treatment enhanced doxorubicin cytotoxicity against ALK+ ALCL cells harbouring mt p53, and this was associated with p73 upregulation. These data suggest that disruption of the p53-mdm2 interaction by nutlin-3a offers a novel therapeutic approach for ALK+ ALCL patients.

Stabilization and activation of p53 downregulates mTOR signaling through AMPK in mantle cell lymphoma.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a clinically aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma characterized by the t(11;14)(q13;q32) and overexpression of cyclin D1. A high proportion of MCL tumors harbor wild-type (wt) and potentially functional p53 gene. We show here that stabilization and activation of wt-p53 using a recently developed potent MDM2 inhibitor, nutlin 3A, results in significant p53-dependent G1-S cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in MCL cells through regulation of p53 target genes. As mTOR signaling is activated in MCL and may control cyclin D1 levels, we show that p53 activation may downregulate the AKT/mTOR pathway through a mechanism involving AMP kinase (AMPK). Despite the non-genotoxic mode of nutlin 3A treatment, we show evidence that stabilization of p53 is associated with its phosphorylation at serine 15 residue and activation of AMPK. Stimulation of AMPK kinase activity using AICAR inhibits phosphorylation of critical downstream effectors of mTOR signaling, such as 4E-BP1 and rpS6. Pharmacologic inhibition of AMPK using compound C in nutlin-3A-treated MCL cells harboring wt-p53 did not affect the level of (ser15)p-p53, suggesting that the (ser15)p-p53 --> AMPK is the direction involved in the p53/AMPK/mTOR cross talk. These data establish a p53 --> AMPK --> mTOR mechanism in MCL and uncover a novel biologic effect of potent MDM2 inhibitors in preclinical models of MCL.