Survivin-directed RNA interference cocktail is a potent suppressor of tumour growth in vivo.

BACKGROUND: Survivin is proposed to play a central role in the progression and resistance to therapy of diverse tumour types. High levels of this molecule in tumour cells also correlate with loss of the TP53 tumour suppressor gene, suggesting a molecular connection between TP53 loss and transcriptional induction of Survivin. Patients with TP53 germline mutations, such as those with Li-Fraumeni syndrome, are particularly susceptible to sarcomas, including rhabdomyosarcomas. Our study aimed to identify rhabdomyosarcoma tumours that express Survivin, in order to test novel Survivin-targeted therapies in these tumours. METHODS: Tumour microarray slides composed of 63 primary rhabdomyosarcoma tumours were stained with a polyclonal antibody to Survivin to identify tumours expressing Survivin. Subcutaneous tumours were then established in NOD/SCID mice using RH30(red) cells, a red fluorescent clone of the RH30 human alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma cell line. Tumours were treated by hydrodynamic injection with a cocktail of Survivin-shRNA-encoding plasmids for a period of 2 weeks. RESULTS: Over 80% of primary rhabdomyosarcoma tumours expressed Survivin. Treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma xenografts showed greater than 70% reduction in growth when compared with control injected tumours at study completion (average tumour sizes: 1683 v 304 mm3, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support a role for Survivin in rhabdomyosarcoma biology and provide preliminary evidence for the therapeutic use of Survivin-targeted RNA interference for human tumours that express high levels of this molecule.

Survivin, Survivin-2B, and Survivin-deItaEx3 expression in medulloblastoma: biologic markers of tumour morphology and clinical outcome.

Survivin is an apoptotic inhibitor that is expressed at high levels in a variety of malignancies. Survivin has four known alternative splice forms (Survivin, Survivin-2B, Survivin-deltaEx3, and Survivin-3B), and the recent literature suggests that these splice variants have unique functions and subcellular localisation patterns. We evaluated 19 fresh-frozen paediatric medulloblastomas for the expression of three Survivin isoforms by quantitative PCR. Survivin was most highly expressed when compared with normal cerebellar tissue. We also investigated Survivin protein expression in 40 paraffin-embedded paediatric medulloblastoma tumours by immunohistochemistry. We found a statistically significant association between the percentage of Survivin-positive cells and histologic subtype, with the large-cell-anaplastic variant expressing Survivin at higher levels than the classic subtype. We also found a statistically significant relationship between the percent of Survivin-positive cells in the tumours and clinical outcome, with higher levels of Survivin correlating with a worse prognosis. In summary, our study demonstrates a role for Survivin as a marker of tumour morphology and clinical outcome in medulloblastoma. Survivin may be a promising future prognostic tool and potential biologic target in this malignancy.

Co-localization of calcium-modulating cyclophilin ligand with intracellular calcium pools.

The calcium-modulating cyclophilin ligand (CAML) protein activates Ca2+ influx signaling when overexpressed in Jurkat T cells. Although CAML appears to directly participate in Ca2+-dependent signaling initiated by the transmembrane activator and CAML interactor cell surface receptor, its mechanism of action is unknown. To address this issue, we have determined its membrane topology, subcellular localization, and ability to mobilize intracellular Ca2+ pools. Fractionation of cell extracts on discontinuous sucrose gradients and indirect immunofluorescence indicate that CAML co-localizes with sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum calcium/ATPase-2 and calreticulin at membrane-bound cytosolic vesicles. Limited trypsin digests indicate that the hydrophilic NH2-terminal domain of CAML is directed toward the cytoplasm. Functionally, CAML overexpression was shown to deplete thapsigargin-sensitive intracellular Ca2+ pools. These data suggest that CAML may initiate Ca2+ signaling through activation of a capacitative Ca2+ influx pathway.

A hydrophobic domain of Ca2+-modulating cyclophilin ligand modulates calcium influx signaling in T lymphocytes.

Ca2+-modulating cyclophilin ligand (CAML) was originally described as a cyclophilin B-binding protein whose overexpression in T cells causes a rise in intracellular calcium, thus activating transcription factors responsible for the early immune response. As reported here, structure-function analysis of the CAML gene in Jurkat T cells indicates that two of CAML's putative membrane-spanning domains are necessary and sufficient for the modulation of intracellular calcium. We propose that the hydrophobic C-terminal tail of CAML forms its effector domain, thus implicating the N-terminal hydrophilic domain in a regulatory role. These findings define a novel protein motif that functions in intracellular calcium signaling.

Tissue-specific DNaseI hypersensitivity regions are located in the 5'-region of the rat preproenkephalin gene.

Extracellular stimuli affecting mechanisms of transcriptional control of the preproenkephalin gene link stimulus-secretion-synthesis coupling to transmitter phenotypic expression. In order to define distal and proximal genomic regions that might participate in transcriptionally active protein-DNA interactions, DNaseI hypersensitivity assays were conducted. Four DNaseI-hypersensitive regions were identified at -3000, -2500, -1800, and -200 base pairs (bp) relative to the somatic start site. The appearance of a site over the proximal promoter/enhancer region (-200 bp) is of interest since we and others have published a detailed footprint and functional analysis of this region using rat tissues. While liver (which does not express proenkephalin mRNA) displays essentially no hypersensitivity here, adrenal gland preparations show a strong signal and striatal tissue a significantly weaker signal. Cholinergic induction of proenkephalin mRNA was not associated with a change in hypersensitivity pattern. These data suggest that chromatin structure may have an influence on preproenkephalin transcriptional control and that cholinergic-inducible cis-acting DNA elements may reside within subdomains of at least these four hypersensitivity sites. Understanding the basis of this open chromatin structure should aid in identifying genomic mechanisms involved in tissue-specific expression and suggest avenues of future study.

Primary sequence of -1436 to +53 bp of the rat preproenkephalin gene putative Z-DNA and regulatory motifs.

We report novel sequence data extending -1436 bases 5' of the rat proenkephalin gene start site known as E4. We noted an interesting stretch of 58 bases of alternating pyrimidines that lies immediately adjacent to 71 bases of an alternating purine-pyrimidine Z-DNA-like sequence that lies between -694 bp and -566 bp. Multiple sequence homologies to putative cis-acting regulatory factor binding sites were identified by a computer aided sequence search.

Photochemical instability of 1-nitropyrene, 3-nitrofluoranthene, 1,8-dinitropyrene and their parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

The environmental contaminants pyrene, 1-nitropyrene, 1,8-dinitropyrene, fluoranthene, and 3-nitrofluoranthene were exposed to light (greater than or equal to 310 nm) either in DMSO, or following coating onto silica. Under all conditions tested the pyrenyl were less stable than the fluoranthenyl compounds. During irradiation in DMSO or on silica, 1-nitropyrene had half-lives of 1.2 and 6 days, while those of 3-nitrofluoranthene were 12.5 and greater than 20 days, respectively. The photodecomposition of 1,8-dinitropyrene resembled that of 1-nitropyrene with half-lives of 0.7 and 5.7 days. A principle photodecomposition product of 1,8-dinitropyrene was identified as 1-nitropyren-8-ol. It was also found that when the nitroarenes were exposed to light, the loss of compound was associated with a concomitant loss of mutagenicity in Salmonella typhimurium strain TA98. The mechanism of nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon decomposition and 1-nitropyren-8-ol formation, and the relevance to the atmospheric disposition of these compounds are discussed.

The catalytic mechanism of transketolase. Thiamin pyrophosphate-derived transition states for transketolase and pyruvate dehydrogenase are not identical.

Thiamin thiazolone pyrophosphate (TTPP) has been reported to be an effective transition state analogue for the thiamin pyrophosphate-dependent partial reaction of pyruvate dehydrogenase (Gutowski, J. A., and Lienhard, G. E. (1976) J. Biol. Chem. 251, 2863-2866). The kinetics of the interaction of TTPP with transketolase are reported here. TTPP is a competitive inhibitor, with respect to thiamin pyrophosphate, of bakers' yeast transketolase but it is neither a tight binding inhibitor nor a slow binding inhibitor. TTPP decreases the kinetically observed negative cooperativity seen for thiamin pyrophosphate and also decreases the rate constant for the hysteretic activation of the enzyme by thiamin pyrophosphate. We conclude that thiamin thiazolone pyrophosphate is not an effective transition state analogue for the reaction catalyzed by bakers' yeast transketolase. This difference between transketolase and pyruvate dehydrogenase may be related to differences in the polarity of the active sites of the enzymes. It is conceivable that the active sites of the pyruvate decarboxylase subunit of pyruvate dehydrogenase is hydrophobic, by analogy with the known hydrophobicity of the active site of brewers' yeast pyruvate decarboxylase. This hydrophobicity would stabilize a transition state with no charge on the thiazole portion of the coenzyme, similar to the "uncharged" thiazole portion of TTPP. In contrast, the active site of bakers' yeast transketolase, which is known to contain charged amino acid side chains, should be less favorable for such an uncharged transition state. A charge-separated canonical form related to TTPP could be preferentially stabilized in the active site of transketolase.