RalA and RalB: antagonistic relatives in cancer cell migration.

The Ral family of small G proteins has been implicated in tumorigenesis, invasion, and metastasis. However, little emphasis has been placed on clarifying the individual roles of the two Ral proteins, RalA and RalB, in these processes in view of their high sequence homology. Here we analyze the separate contributions of RalA and RalB in regulating cell migration, a necessary component of the invasive phenotype, in two human cancer cell lines; UMUC-3, a bladder carcinoma line, and the prostate carcinoma line, DU145. Although inhibiting RalA protein expression by approximately 80% with two different small interfering RNA duplexes had no effect on migration, inhibiting RalB expression to the same extent with two different duplexes resulted in a marked reduction in migration. Inhibiting RalB expression did trigger a significant loss of actin cytoskeleton fibers in UMUC-3 that was not seen with inhibition of RalA expression. Interestingly, simultaneous inhibition of RalA and RalB expression had no effect on migration. However, dual inhibition of RalA and RalB expression in UMUC-3 did result in an almost total loss of actin fibers as well as a reduction in proliferation, particularly in reduced serum conditions. These results suggest that RalA and RalB have different roles in cell migration and that they may in fact act as antagonists with regard to this phenotype. As further verification of this hypothesis, we found that expression of constitutively active RalA inhibited migration, whereas expression of constitutively active RalB stimulated migration, consistent with this model. In summary, we present the first demonstration that despite their significant sequence homology, RalA and RalB have nonoverlapping and opposing functions in cancer cell migration but overlapping functions in cell growth.

Protein kinase Cepsilon interacts with Bax and promotes survival of human prostate cancer cells.

Prostatic glandular epithelial cells express protein kinase Cepsilon (PKCepsilon ), an oncoprotein that coordinately disrupts the reactivation of the tumor suppressor Rb, derepressess transcriptional elongation of the c-myc oncogene, and propagates survival signals in LNCaP cells. Since the activation of such a program may contribute to the progression of human prostate cancer, a proteomic analysis was performed to gain a more global perspective on the signaling network that PKCepsilon might be capable of engaging in prostate cancer cells. Using CWR22 xenografts, we identified at least 18 different structural, signaling, and stress-related proteins that associated with PKCepsilon, including an interaction with the proapoptotic protein Bax that was novel to recurrent CWR22 tumors. An investigation into the biological significance of the PKCepsilon association with Bax provided the first evidence of an inverse relationship between endogenous levels of PKCepsilon and susceptibility of prostate cancer cells to the apoptotic effects of phorbol esters. Western blot and antisense experiments demonstrated that CWR-R1 cells expressed moderate levels of PKCepsilon and relied on this protein to survive in the presence of phorbol esters, while the apoptosis normally induced by phorbol esters in PKCepsilon -deficient LNCaP cells was dependent on the presence of Bax. Forced expression of PKCepsilon in LNCaP cells was sufficient to confer a significant resistance to phorbol esters and this resistance was associated with an inhibition of phorbol ester-induced Bax conformational rearrangements that are important for Bax oligomerization, mitochondrial integration, and cytochrome c release. Considered in their entirety, our data suggest that an association of PKCepsilon with Bax may neutralize apoptotic signals propagated through a mitochondrial death-signaling pathway.

Regulation of tumor invasion and metastasis in protein kinase C epsilon-transformed NIH3T3 fibroblasts.

Protein kinase C epsilon is an oncogenic, actin nucleating protein that coordinately regulates changes in cell growth and shape. Cells constitutively expressing PKCepsilon spontaneously acquire a polarized morphology and extend long cellular membrane protrusions. Here we report that the regulatory C1 domain of PKCepsilon contains an actin binding site that is essential for the formation of elongate invadopodial-like structures, increased pericellular metalloproteinase activity, in vitro invasion of a Matrigel barrier, and the invasion and metastasis of tumors grown in vivo by PKCepsilon-transformed NIH3T3 fibroblasts in nude mice. While removing this small actin binding motif caused a dramatic reversion of tumor invasion, the deletion mutant of PKCepsilon remained oncogenic and tumorigenic in this experimental system. We propose that PKCepsilon directly interacts with actin to stimulate polymerization and the extension of membrane protrusions that transformed NIH3T3 cells use in vivo to penetrate and degrade surrounding tissue boundaries.

Deregulated expression of the homeobox gene Cux-1 in transgenic mice results in downregulation of p27(kip1) expression during nephrogenesis, glomerular abnormalities, and multiorgan hyperplasia.

Cux-1 is a murine homeobox gene that is highly expressed in the developing kidney with expression restricted to the nephrogenic zone. Cux-1 is highly expressed in cyst epithelium of polycystic kidneys from C57BL/6J-cpk/cpk mice, but not in kidneys isolated from age-matched phenotypically normal littermates. To further elucidate the role of Cux-1 in renal development, we generated transgenic mice expressing Cux-1 under the control of the CMV immediate early gene promoter. Mice constitutively expressing Cux-1 developed multiorgan hyperplasia and organomegaly, but not an overall increase in body size. Transgenic kidneys were enlarged 50% by 6 weeks of age, with the increased growth primarily restricted to the cortex. Proliferating cells were found in proximal and distal tubule epithelium throughout the cortex, and the squamous epithelium that normally lines Bowman's capsule was replaced with proximal tubule epithelium. However, the total number of nephrons was not increased. In the developing kidneys of transgenic mice, Cux-1 was ectopically expressed in more highly differentiated tubules and glomeruli, and this was associated with reduced expression of the cyclin kinase inhibitor, p27. Transient transfection experiments revealed that Cux-1 is an inhibitor of p27 promoter activity. These results suggest that Cux-1 regulates cell proliferation during early nephrogenesis by inhibiting expression of p27.

Protein kinase cepsilon has the potential to advance the recurrence of human prostate cancer.

Prostatic epithelial cells that are capable of surviving in the absence of androgenic steroids were found to express protein kinase Cepsilon (PKCepsilon), an oncogenic protein capable of promoting autocrine cell-signaling events. Gene transfer experiments demonstrated that PKCepsilon overexpression was sufficient to transform androgen-dependent LNCaP cells into an androgen-independent variant that rapidly initiated tumor growth in vivo in both intact and castrated male nude mice. This transformation was associated with an accelerated rate of androgen-independent LNCaP cell proliferation, resistance to apoptosis, hyperphosphorylation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase extracellular signal-regulated kinase and transcriptional repressor protein retinoblastoma, and increased expression of E2F-1 and other 5'-cap-dependent mRNAs, including the G(1) cyclins, c-myc, and caveolin-1. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments indicated that PKCepsilon was associated with members of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling cascade and the scaffolding protein caveolin-1. Caveolin-1, produced by LNCaP cells overexpressing PKCepsilon, was released into the medium, possibly through a Golgi-independent route, and significant growth inhibition was observed when these cells were cultured in the presence of an anti-caveolin-1 antiserum. Finally, antisense experiments established that endogenous PKCepsilon plays an important role in regulating the growth and survival of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells. This study provides several independent lines of evidence supporting the hypothesis that PKCepsilon expression may be sufficient to maintain prostate cancer growth and survival after androgen ablation.