Plitidepsin as an Immunomodulator against Respiratory Viral Infections.

Plitidepsin is a host-targeted compound known for inducing a strong anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity, as well as for having the capacity of reducing lung inflammation. Because IL-6 is one of the main cytokines involved in acute respiratory distress syndrome, the effect of plitidepsin in IL-6 secretion in different in vitro and in vivo experimental models was studied. A strong plitidepsin-mediated reduction of IL-6 was found in human monocyte-derived macrophages exposed to nonproductive SARS-CoV-2. In resiquimod (a ligand of TLR7/8)-stimulated THP1 human monocytes, plitidepsin-mediated reductions of IL-6 mRNA and IL-6 levels were also noticed. Additionally, although resiquimod-induced binding to DNA of NF-κB family members was unaffected by plitidepsin, a decrease in the regulated transcription by NF-κB (a key transcription factor involved in the inflammatory cascade) was observed. Furthermore, the phosphorylation of p65 that is required for full transcriptional NF-κB activity was significantly reduced by plitidepsin. Moreover, decreases of IL-6 levels and other proinflammatory cytokines were also seen in either SARS-CoV-2 or H1N1 influenza virus-infected mice, which were treated at low enough plitidepsin doses to not induce antiviral effects. In summary, plitidepsin is a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of viral infections, not only because of its host-targeted antiviral effect, but also for its immunomodulatory effect, both of which were evidenced in vitro and in vivo by the decrease of proinflammatory cytokines.

c-Jun N-terminal kinase phosphorylation is a biomarker of plitidepsin activity.

Plitidepsin is an antitumor drug of marine origin currently in Phase III clinical trials in multiple myeloma. In cultured cells, plitidepsin induces cell cycle arrest or an acute apoptotic process in which sustained activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) plays a crucial role. With a view to optimizing clinical use of plitidepsin, we have therefore evaluated the possibility of using JNK activation as an in vivo biomarker of response. In this study, we show that administration of a single plitidepsin dose to mice xenografted with human cancer cells does indeed lead to increased phosphorylation of JNK in tumors at 4 to 12 h. By contrast, no changes were found in other in vitro plitidepsin targets such as the levels of phosphorylated-ERK, -p38MAPK or the protein p27KIP1. Interestingly, plitidepsin also increased JNK phosphorylation in spleens from xenografted mice showing similar kinetics to those seen in tumors, thereby suggesting that normal tissues might be useful for predicting drug activity. Furthermore, plitidepsin administration to rats at plasma concentrations comparable to those achievable in patients also increased JNK phosphorylation in peripheral mononuclear blood cells. These findings suggest that changes in JNK activity provide a reliable biomarker for plitidepsin activity and this could be useful for designing clinical trials and maximizing the efficacy of plitidepsin.

MYC accelerates p21CIP-induced megakaryocytic differentiation involving early mitosis arrest in leukemia cells.

p21(CIP) is a potent cell cycle inhibitor often up-regulated in differentiation. Protooncogene MYC induces cell growth and proliferation, inhibits differentiation and represses p21(CIP). However, both molecules are involved in processes of polyploidisation, cell size increase, differentiation and senescence. It is unclear why MYC has a dual role in differentiation. We have previously shown that overexpression of p21(CIP) in K562 myeloid cells induces megakaryocytic differentiation with polyploidy. We have now investigated the requirements for p21(CIP) to block mitosis and induce differentiation in the presence of overactivated MYC. Silencing and over-expression studies showed that p21(CIP) is required to induce differentiation. However, the expression of p21(CIP) needs to be transient to irreversibly inhibit mitosis but not DNA replication, what leads to polyploidy. Transient overexpression of p21(CIP) caused early down-regulation of mitotic Cyclins and up-regulation of G1/S Cyclins D and E, changes typical of endoreplication. Interestingly, over-activation of MYC did not release the proliferative block imposed by p21(CIP) and instead, accelerated cell size increase, megakaryocytic differentiation and polyploidisation. Our data suggests that in some systems p21(CIP) takes part in a mitosis control driving MYC-induced cellular growth into differentiation.

The mechanism of action of plitidepsin.

Plitidepsin (PharmaMar SA) is a cyclodepsipeptide originally isolated from the Mediterranean tunicate Aplidium albicans, and has demonstrated strong anticancer activity against a large variety of cultured human cancer cells and in xenografted mice. Phase I/II clinical trials of plitidepsin yielded promising results of anticancer activity in patients with cancer. Several studies have revealed that plitidepsin induces cell cycle arrest or apoptosis in a cell type- and dose-dependent manner. These effects are related to the induction of early oxidative stress, the activation of Rac1 GTPase and the inhibition of protein phosphatases, which in conjunction cause the sustained activation of JNK and p38 MAPK. This review outlines the current knowledge of plitidepsin activity, with a primary focus on the molecular mechanisms of action of the compound.

Determination of viability of human cartilage allografts by a rapid and quantitative method not requiring cartilage digestion.

Fresh osteochondral allograft transplantation is increasingly used for the treatment of cartilage pathologies of the knee. It is believed that transplantation success depends on the presence of viable chondrocytes in the graft, but methods to evaluate graft viability require the isolation of chondrocytes by enzymatic digestion of the cartilage and/or the use of radioactive precursors. We have adapted the well-known cell viability assay based on the reduction of tetrazolium derivatives to evaluate cartilage viability. We took advantage from the histological properties of cartilage tissue and the fact that some tetrazolium derivatives (e.g., WST-1, XTT) give soluble reduction products that can permeate the hyaline cartilage matrix. We have validated this assay in human cartilage explants from arthrotomy interventions and deceased donors, measuring the reduced product in the explant supernatant. Using this method we have compared the performance of several culture media in cartilage viability. From those tested, DMEM supplemented with fetal bovine serum results in higher viability of the cartilage and the explants remain viable at least 15 days in culture at 37 degrees C. Cartilage cells continued expressing chondrocyte-specific genes, suggesting the maintenance of chondrogenic phenotype. The described method offers a quantitative and convenient method to measure the viability of human cartilage grafts.

Plitidepsin has a dual effect inhibiting cell cycle and inducing apoptosis via Rac1/c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase activation in human melanoma cells.

Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer and a serious health problem worldwide because of its increasing incidence and the lack of satisfactory chemotherapy for late stages of the disease. The marine depsipeptide Aplidin (plitidepsin) is an antitumoral agent under phase II clinical development against several neoplasias, including melanoma. We report that plitidepsin has a dual effect on the human SK-MEL-28 and UACC-257 melanoma cell lines; at low concentrations (

Inhibitory effect of c-Myc on p53-induced apoptosis in leukemia cells. Microarray analysis reveals defective induction of p53 target genes and upregulation of chaperone genes.

We have previously demonstrated that c-Myc impairs p53-mediated apoptosis in K562 human leukemia cells, which lack ARF. To investigate the mechanisms by which c-Myc protects from p53-mediated apoptosis, we used K562 cells that conditionally express c-Myc and harbor a temperature-sensitive allele of p53. Gene expression profiles of cells expressing wild-type conformation p53 in the presence of either uninduced or induced c-Myc were analysed by cDNA microarrays. The results show that multiple p53 target genes are downregulated when c-Myc is present, including p21WAF1, MDM2, PERP, NOXA, GADD45, DDB2, PIR121 and p53R2. Also, a number of genes that are upregulated by c-Myc in cells expressing wild-type conformation p53 encode chaperones related to cell death protection as HSP105, HSP90 and HSP27. Both downregulation of p53 target genes and upregulation of chaperones could explain the inhibition of apoptosis observed in K562 cells with ectopic c-Myc. Myc-mediated impairment of p53 transactivation was not restricted to K562 cells, but it was reproduced in a panel of human cancer cell lines derived from different tissues. Our data suggest that elevated levels of Myc counteract p53 activity in human tumor cells that lack ARF. This mechanism could contribute to explain the c-Myc deregulation frequently found in cancer.

p21Cip1 and p27Kip1 induce distinct cell cycle effects and differentiation programs in myeloid leukemia cells.

The cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitors p21(Cip1) and p27(Kip1) have been proposed to exert redundant functions in cell cycle progression and differentiation programs, although nonoverlapping functions have also been described. To gain further insights into the relevant mechanisms and to detect possible functional differences between both proteins, we conditionally expressed p21(Cip1) and p27(Kip1) in K562, a multipotent human leukemia cell line. Temporal ectopic expression of either p21(Cip1) or p27(Kip1) arrested proliferation, inhibited Cdk2 and Cdk4 activities, and suppressed retinoblastoma phosphorylation. However, whereas p21(Cip1) arrested cells in both G(1) and G(2) cell cycle phases, p27(Kip1) blocked the G(1)/S-phase transition. Furthermore, although both p21(Cip1) and p27(Kip1) associated with Cdk6, only p27(Kip1) significantly inhibited its activity. Most importantly, each protein promoted differentiation along a distinct pathway; p21(Cip1) triggered megakaryocytic maturation, whereas p27(Kip1) resulted in the expression of erythroid markers. Consistently, p21(Cip1) and p27(Kip1) were rapid and transiently up-regulated when K562 cells are differentiated into megakaryocytic and erythroid lineages, respectively. These findings demonstrate distinct functions of p21(Cip1) and p27(Kip1) in cell cycle regulation and differentiation and indicate that these two highly related proteins possess unique biological activities and are not functionally interchangeable.

Kinetics of myc-max-mad gene expression during hepatocyte proliferation in vivo: Differential regulation of mad family and stress-mediated induction of c-myc.

Mad proteins (Mad1, Mxi1, Mad3, Mad4, Mnt/Rox) are biochemical and biological antagonists of c-Myc oncoprotein. Mad-Max dimers repress the transcription of the same target genes activated by Myc-Max dimers. Despite the critical role of Max and Mad proteins as modulators of c-Myc functions, there are no comparative data on their regulation in vivo. We carried out a systematic analysis of c-myc, max, and mad family expression in a model of synchronized cell proliferation in vivo in adult tissues, that is, rat hepatocytes after partial hepatectomy. We confirmed the previously reported early peak of c-myc expression after hepatectomy but we show that it did not correlate with hepatocyte proliferation as it also occurred in sham-operated animals as a result of surgical stresses. A second peak of c-myc expression was observed later, at the time of the wave of DNA synthesis. No such expression was detected in sham-operated rat quiescent hepatocytes. max expression increased around 4-16 h after hepatectomy, before the peaks of c-myc and DNA synthesis. mxi1 and mad4 were slightly downregulated during liver regeneration. mnt/rox expression did not change. These expression patterns suggest a role of Myc-Max for efficient mitogenic response of hepatocytes. We also analyzed the effects of Myc and Max ectopic expression on the clonogenic growth of the rat hepatoma cells. Expression of c-Myc and Max increased clonogenic growth, whereas the reduction of c-Myc levels by an antisense vector decreased growth. The results suggest nonredundant roles for mad genes in hepatocyte proliferation and point to c-Myc as a putative target for anticancer therapy of liver cancer.

Myc represses differentiation-induced p21CIP1 expression via Miz-1-dependent interaction with the p21 core promoter.

Inhibition of cellular differentiation is one of the well-known biological activities of c-Myc-family proteins. We show here that Myc represses differentiation-induced expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p21CIP1 (CDKN1A, p21), known to play an important role in cell fate decisions during growth and differentiation, in hematopoietic cells. Our results demonstrate that the c-Myc-responsive region is situated in the p21 core promoter. c-Myc binds to this region in vitro and in vivo through interaction with the initiator-binding Zn-finger transcription factor Miz-1, which associates directly with the promoter. Association of Myc with the promoter in vivo correlates inversely with p21 expression. Using mutants of c-Myc with impaired binding to Miz-1, our results further show that repression of p21 promoter/reporters as well as the endogenous p21 gene by Myc depends on interaction with Miz-1. Expression of Miz-1 increases during hematopoietic differentiation and Miz-1 activates the p21 promoter under conditions of low Myc levels, indicating a positive role for free Miz-1 in this process. In conclusion, repression of differentiation-induced p21 expression through Miz-1 may be an important mechanism by which Myc blocks differentiation.

Karyopherin alpha2: a control step of glucose-sensitive gene expression in hepatic cells.

Glucose is required for an efficient expression of the glucose transporter GLUT2 and other genes. We have shown previously that the intracytoplasmic loop of GLUT2 can divert a signal, resulting in the stimulation of glucose-sensitive gene transcription. In the present study, by interaction with the GLUT2 loop, we have cloned the rat karyopherin alpha2, a receptor involved in nuclear import. The specificity of the binding was restricted to GLUT2, and not GLUT1 or GLUT4, and to karyopherin alpha2, not alpha1. When rendered irreversible by a cross-linking agent, this transitory interaction was detected in vivo in hepatocytes. A role for karyopherin alpha2 in the transcription of two glucose-sensitive genes was investigated by transfection of native and inactive green fluorescent protein-karyopherin alpha2 in GLUT2-expressing hepatoma cells. The amount of inactive karyopherin alpha2 receptor reduced, in a dose-dependent manner, the GLUT2 and liver pyruvate kinase mRNA levels by competition with endogenous active receptor. In contrast, the overexpression of karyopherin alpha2 did not significantly stimulate GLUT2 and liver pyruvate kinase mRNA accumulation in green fluorescent protein-sorted cells. The present study suggests that, in concert with glucose metabolism, karyopherin alpha2 transmits a signal to the nucleus to regulate glucose-sensitive gene expression. The transitory tethering of karyopherin alpha2 to GLUT2 at the plasma membrane might indicate that the receptor can load the cargo to be imported locally.