Inhibition of protein methylesterase 1 decreased cancerous phenotypes in endometrial adenocarcinoma cell lines and xenograft tumor models.

Protein methylesterase 1 (PME-1) promotes cancerous phenotypes through the demethylation and inactivation of protein phosphatase 2A. We previously demonstrated that PME-1 overexpression promotes Akt, ERK, and may promote Wnt signaling and increases tumor burden in a xenograft model of endometrial cancer. Here, we show that covalent PME-1 inhibitors decrease cell proliferation and invasive growth in vitro but have no effect in vivo at the concentrations tested; however, depletion of PME-1 with shRNA in an endometrial cancer xenograft model significantly reduced tumor growth. Thus, discovery of more potent PME-1 inhibitors may be beneficial for the treatment of endometrial cancer.

Leucine-rich repeat-containing protein 59 mediates nuclear import of cancerous inhibitor of PP2A in prostate cancer cells.

Using yeast two-hybrid analysis, we identified several novel protein interactions for the oncoprotein Cancerous Inhibitor of PP2A (CIP2A) and confirmed a subset of these interactions in human cancer cell lines. Analysis of the interaction in prostate carcinoma cells between CIP2A and leucine-rich repeat-containing protein 59 (LRRC59) suggests that CIP2A is translocated into the nucleus at G2/M through its association with LRRC59. Recent work by others has demonstrated that nuclear CIP2A disrupts mitotic checkpoints, which promotes deregulation of the cell cycle and increases cancerous phenotypes. Thus, we provide a novel therapeutic mechanism for inhibiting CIP2A function in cancerous cells via targeting the CIP2A-LRRC59 interaction.

Cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A promotes premature chromosome segregation and aneuploidy in prostate cancer cells through association with shugoshin.

Yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) studies have shown that cancerous Inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A (CIP2A) interacted with several proteins, including leucine-rich repeat-containing protein 59 (LRRC59), suggesting that CIP2A may interact with the chromosome maintenance protein, shugoshin (Sgol1). We previously showed that LRRC59 interacted with CIP2A, which was required for CIP2A nuclear localization. Thus, we predicted that CIP2A and Sgol1 may also interact. Sgol1 is a nuclear protein that regulates chromosome segregation during cell division via protection of cohesin ring proteins. Here, we demonstrated that Sgol1 and the C-terminus of CIP2A interact in prostate carcinoma cell lines in a protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A)-dependent manner. Moreover, we demonstrated that depletion of CIP2A in PC-3 cells decreases premature chromosome segregation, whereas overexpression of CIP2A in an immortalized prostate cell line increases premature chromosome segregation. Importantly, we further showed that CIP2A depletion decreases the incidence of aneuploidy and stabilizes cohesin complex proteins, while overexpression of CIP2A destabilizes Sgol1. Thus, our findings strongly suggest that CIP2A promotes cell cycle progression, premature chromosome segregation, and aneuploidy, possibly through a novel interaction with Sgol1.

PME-1 modulates protein phosphatase 2A activity to promote the malignant phenotype of endometrial cancer cells.

Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) negatively regulates tumorigenic signaling pathways, in part, by supporting the function of tumor suppressors like p53. The PP2A methylesterase PME-1 limits the activity of PP2A by demethylating its catalytic subunit. Here, we report the finding that PME-1 overexpression correlates with increased cell proliferation and invasive phenotypes in endometrial adenocarcinoma cells, where it helps maintain activated ERK and Akt by inhibiting PP2A. We obtained evidence that PME-1 could bind and regulate protein phosphatase 4 (PP4), a tumor-promoting protein, but not the related protein phosphatase 6 (PP6). When the PP2A, PP4, or PP6 catalytic subunits were overexpressed, inhibiting PME-1 was sufficient to limit cell proliferation. In clinical specimens of endometrial adenocarcinoma, PME-1 levels were increased and we found that PME-1 overexpression was sufficient to drive tumor growth in a xenograft model of the disease. Our findings identify PME-1 as a modifier of malignant development and suggest its candidacy as a diagnostic marker and as a therapeutic target in endometrial cancer.

Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) regulates low density lipoprotein uptake through regulating sterol response element-binding protein-2 (SREBP-2) DNA binding.

LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) uptake by Ldlr is regulated at the transcriptional level by the cleavage-dependent activation of membrane-associated sterol response element-binding protein (SREBP-2). Activated SREBP-2 translocates to the nucleus, where it binds to an LDLR promoter sterol response element (SRE), increasing LDLR gene expression and LDL-C uptake. SREBP-2 cleavage and translocation steps are well established. Several SREBP-2 phosphorylation sites have been mapped and functionally characterized. The phosphatases dephosphorylating these sites remain elusive. The phosphatase(s) regulating SREBP-2 represents a novel pharmacological target for treating hypercholesterolemia. Here we show that protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) promotes SREBP-2 LDLR promoter binding in response to cholesterol depletion. No binding to an LDLR SRE was observed in the presence of the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, lovastatin, when PP2A activity was inhibited by okadaic acid or depleted by siRNA methods. SREBP-2 cleavage and nuclear translocation were not affected by loss of PP2A. PP2A activity was required for SREBP-2 DNA binding. In response to cholesterol depletion, PP2A directly interacted with SREBP-2 and altered its phosphorylation state, causing an increase in SREBP-2 binding to an LDLR SRE site. Increased binding resulted in induced LDLR gene expression and increased LDL uptake. We conclude that PP2A activity regulates cholesterol homeostasis and LDL-C uptake.

Ets1 and Elk1 transcription factors regulate cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A expression in cervical and endometrial carcinoma cells.

Cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A (CIP2A) has been identified as a proto-oncogene that is overexpressed in various types of human cancers. CIP2A acts by inhibiting protein phosphatase 2A-dependent destabilization of c-Myc, resulting in increased cell proliferation. Here, we have characterized the proximal promoter region of the human CIP2A gene in cervical, endometrial and liver carcinoma cells. The 5' flanking minimal proximal promoter of the CIP2A gene consists of putative binding sites for Ets1 and Elk1 in forward and reverse orientations. Here, we show that Ets1 and Elk1 binding is essential for CIP2A basal expression in several urogenital cancer cell lines. Interestingly, both Ets1 and Elk1 are required together for CIP2A expression, as siRNA knockdown of Ets1 and Elk1 together decreased CIP2A gene transcription, whereas knockdown of Ets1 or Elk1 alone had no effect. Moreover, ectopic expression of Ets1 and Elk1 together increased CIP2A expression. To gain physiological significance of the Ets1 and Elk1 regulation we observed, a panel of matched human cervical carcinoma samples was analyzed for the expression of CIP2A and Ets1 and/or Elk1. We found a direct correlation between the levels of CIP2A and the levels of Ets1 and Elk1. Our results suggest that the binding of Ets1 and Elk1 together to the proximal CIP2A promoter is absolutely required for CIP2A expression in cervical, endometrial and liver carcinoma cell lines. Thus, different factors regulate CIP2A expression in a cell-type specific manner. As previous work has shown a requirement for only Ets1 in prostate and gastric carcinomas, our results now indicate that CIP2A regulation is more complex than previously determined.

PP2A (Cdc)55 is required for multiple events during meiosis I.

Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is a heterotrimer consisting of A and B regulatory subunits and a C catalytic subunit. PP2A regulates mitotic cell events that include the cell cycle, nutrient sensing, p53 stability and various mitogenic signals. The role of PP2A during meiosis is less understood. We explored the role of Saccharomyces cerevisiae PP2A during meiosis. We show a PP2A (Cdc)55 containing the human B/55 family B subunit ortholog, Cdc55, is required for progression through meiosis I. Mutant cells lacking Cdc55 remain mononucleated. They harbor meiotic gene expression, premeiotic DNA replication, homologous recombination and spindle pole body (SPB) defects. They initiate but do not complete replication and are defective in performing intergenic homologous recombination. Bypass alleles, which allow cells defective in recombination to finish meiosis, do not suppress the meiosis I defect. cdc55 cells arrest with a single SPB lacking microtubules, or duplicated but not separated SBPs containing microtubules. Finally, the premeiotic replication defect is suppressed by loss of Rad9 checkpoint function. We conclude PP2A (Cdc)55 is required for the proper temporal initiation of multiple meiotic events and/or monitors these events to ensure their fidelity.

Altering sphingolipid metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells lacking the amphiphysin ortholog Rvs161 reinitiates sugar transporter endocytosis.

Amphiphysins are proteins thought to be involved in synaptic vesicle endocytosis. Amphiphysins share a common BAR domain, which can sense and/or bend membranes, and this function is believed to be essential for endocytosis. Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells lacking the amphiphysin ortholog Rvs161 are inviable when starved for glucose. Altering sphingolipid levels in rvs161 cells remediates this defect, but how lipid changes suppress remains to be elucidated. Here, we show that the sugar starvation-induced death of rvs161 cells extends to other fermentable sugar carbon sources, and the loss of sphingolipid metabolism suppresses these defects. In all cases, rvs161 cells respond to the starvation signal, elicit the appropriate transcriptional response, and properly localize the requisite sugar transporter(s). However, Rvs161 is required for transporter endocytosis. rvs161 cells accumulate transporters at the plasma membrane under conditions normally resulting in their endocytosis and degradation. Transporter endocytosis requires the endocytosis (endo) domain of Rvs161. Altering sphingolipid metabolism by deleting the very-long-chain fatty acid elongase SUR4 reinitiates transporter endocytosis in rvs161 and rvs161 endo(-) cells. The sphingolipid-dependent reinitiation of endocytosis requires the ubiquitin-regulating factors Doa1, Doa4, and Rsp5. In the case of Doa1, the phospholipase A(2) family ubiquitin binding motif is dispensable. Moreover, the conserved AAA-ATPase Cdc48 and its accessory proteins Shp1 and Ufd1 are required. Finally, rvs161 cells accumulate monoubiquitin, and this defect is remediated by the loss of SUR4. These results show that defects in sphingolipid metabolism result in the reinitiation of ubiquitin-dependent sugar transporter endocytosis and suggest that this event is necessary for suppressing the nutrient starvation-induced death of rvs161 cells.

Loss of meiotic rereplication block in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells defective in Cdc28p regulation.

Cdc28p is the major cyclin-dependent kinase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Its activity is required for blocking the reinitiation of DNA replication during mitosis. Here, we show that under conditions where Cdc28p activity is improperly regulated--either through the loss of function of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe wee1 ortholog Swe1p or through the expression of a dominant CDC28 allele, CDC28AF--diploid yeast cells are able to complete several rounds of premeiotic DNA replication within a single meiotic cell cycle. Moreover, a percentage of mutant cells exhibit a "multispore" phenotype, possessing the ability to package more than four spores within a single ascus. These multispored asci contain both even and odd numbers of viable spores. In order for meiotic rereplication and multispore formation to occur, cells must initiate homologous recombination and maintain proper chromosome cohesion during meiosis I. Rad9p- or Rad17p-dependent checkpoint mechanisms are not required for multispore formation and neither are the B-type cyclin Clb6p and the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor Sic1p. Finally, we present evidence of a possible role for a Cdc55p-dependent protein phosphatase 2A in initiating meiotic replication.