ABSTRACT
An inherited predisposition to acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is exceedingly rare, but the investigation of these families will aid in the delineation of the underlying mechanisms of the more common, sporadic cases. Three AML predisposition genes, RUNX1, CEBPA and GATA2, have been recognised, but the culprit genes in the majority of AML pedigrees remain obscure. We applied a combined strategy of linkage analysis and next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology in an autosomal-dominant AML Chinese family with 11 cases in four generations. A genome-wide linkage scan using a 500K SNP genotyping array was conducted to identify a previously unreported candidate region on 20p13 with a maximum multipoint heterogeneity LOD (HLOD) score of 3.56 (P=0.00005). Targeted NGS within this region and whole-exome sequencing (WES) revealed a missense mutation in TGM6 (RefSeq, NM_198994.2:c.1550T>G, p.(L517W)), which cosegregated with the phenotype in this family, and was absent in 530 healthy controls. The mutated amino acid was located in a highly conserved position, which may be deleterious and affect the activation of TGM6. Our results strongly support the candidacy of TGM6 as a novel familial AML-associated gene.
Subject(s)
Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/genetics , Mutation, Missense , Transglutaminases/genetics , Adult , Case-Control Studies , Child , Female , Humans , Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/diagnosis , Lod Score , Male , Middle Aged , Pedigree , Phenotype , Polymorphism, Single NucleotideABSTRACT
HIV-1 integrase (IN) plays an important role in integrating viral DNA into human genome, which has been considered as the drug target for anti-AIDS therapy. The appearance of drug-resistance mutants urgently requires novel inhibitors that act on non-active site of HIV-1 IN. Nanoparticles have such unique geometrical and chemical properties, which inspires us that nanoparticles like nanotubes may serve as better HIV-1 IN inhibitors than the conventional inhibitors. To test this hypothesis, we performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to study the binding of a carbon nanotube (CNT) to a full-length HIV-1 IN. The results showed that the CNT could stably bind to the C-terminal domain (CTD) of HIV-1 IN. The CNT also induced a domain-shift which disrupted the binding channel for viral DNA. Further MD simulation showed that a HIV-1 IN inhibitor, 5ClTEP was successfully sealed inside the uncapped CNT. These results indicate that the CNT may serve as a potential dual-functional HIV-1 IN inhibitor, not only inducing conformation change as an allosteric inhibitor but also carrying small-molecular inhibitors as a drug delivery system.
Subject(s)
HIV Integrase Inhibitors/chemistry , Nanotubes, Carbon , HIV Integrase Inhibitors/pharmacology , HIV-1/enzymology , Models, Molecular , Molecular Dynamics SimulationABSTRACT
In human, Aurora B is a chromosomal passenger protein that induces phosphorylation of histone and involves in spindle checkpoint and cytokinesis. Aberrant expression of Aurora B has been shown to correlate with genetic instability and carcinogenesis. In the past, Aurora B has been validated as a drug target by several studies. Here we report that the dietary flavonoid luteolin could inhibit recombinant Aurora B in radiometric activity assay (IC(50)=0.357 µM) and bind to Aurora B with a high affinity (K(D)=5.85 µM) measured by Biacore 3000. Dose-dependent down-regulation of phosphorylation on Ser10 of histone H3 was also observed in cancer cell lines after 24-h treatment, indicating that endogenous Aurora B activity was inhibited by luteolin. Furthermore, we evaluated the effects of luteolin on the survival of a panel of 23 cell lines, and found that luteolin blocked growth of HeLa cells and SW620 cells in an 8-day cell proliferation assay as well as in colony formation assay. Thus, we identified Aurora B as a novel direct target of luteolin, and our results demonstrated that targeting Aurora B by natural products may be a feasible strategy to develop low toxic anticancer agents.
