Bcl-xL inhibition potentiates interferon-induced apoptosis in MPN stem cells
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: This RNA sequencing data set investigates the transcriptional response of wild-type and Jak2V617F haematopoietic stem cells to the chronic administration of a pegylated form of murine interferon alpha.
Project description:Cancer therapies trigger diverse cellular responses, ranging from apoptotic death to acquisition of persistent therapy-refractory states such as senescence. Tipping the balance toward apoptosis could improve treatment outcomes regardless of therapeutic agent or malignancy. We find that inhibition of the mitochondrial protein BCL-xL increases the propensity of cancer cells to die after treatment with a broad array of oncology drugs, including mitotic inhibitors and chemotherapy. Functional precision oncology and omics analyses suggest that BCL-xL inhibition redirects the outcome of p53 transcriptional response from senescence to apoptosis, which likely occurs via caspase-dependent down-modulation of p21 and downstream cytostatic proteins. Consequently, addition of a BCL-2/xL inhibitor strongly improves melanoma response to the senescence-inducing drug targeting mitotic kinase Aurora kinase A (AURKA) in mice and patient-derived organoids. This study shows a crosstalk between the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway and cell cycle regulation that can be targeted to augment therapeutic efficacy in cancers with wild-type p53.
Project description:Interferon alpha (IFNa) is an effective treatment for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). In addition to inducing hematological responses in most MPN patients, IFNa reduces the JAK2V617F allelic burden and can render the JAK2V617F mutant clone undetectable in some patients. The precise mechanism underlying these responses is incompletely understood and whether the molecular responses that are seen occur due to the effects of IFNa on JAK2V617F mutant stem cells is debated. Using a murine model of Jak2V617F MPN, we investigated the effects of IFNa on Jak2V617F MPN-propagating stem cells in vivo. We report that IFNa treatment induces hematological responses in the model and causes depletion of Jak2V617F MPN-propagating cells over time, impairing disease transplantation. We demonstrate that IFNa treatment induces cell-cycle activation of Jak2V617F mutant long-term hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSC) and promotes a predetermined erythroid-lineage differentiation program. These findings provide insights into the differential effects of IFNa on Jak2V617F mutant and normal hematopoiesis and suggest that IFNa achieves molecular remissions in MPN patients through its effects on MPN stem cells. Furthermore, these results support combinatorial therapeutic approaches in MPN, by concurrently depleting dormant JAK2V617F MPN-propagating stem cells with IFNa and targeting the proliferating downstream progeny with JAK2-inhibitors or cytotoxic chemotherapy. HSC-enriched population from WT (CD45.1) or Jak2VF knockin (CD45.2), after 4 weeks of interferon alpha or vehicle treatment. N=4 per condition
Project description:Pegylated interferon-alpha (peg-IFNa) treatment induces molecular remissions (MR) in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), including partial MR (PMR) in 30-40% of patients. Here, we compared the efficacy of IFNa treatment in JAK2V617F vs. CALR-mutated cells and investigated the mechanisms of differential response. Retrospective analysis of MPN patients treated with peg-IFNa demonstrated that patients harboring the JAK2V617F mutation were more likely to achieve PMR than those with mutated CALR (p=0.004), while there was no significant difference in hematological response. In vitro experiments confirmed an upregulation of interferon-stimulated genes in JAK2V617F-positive 32D cells compared to their CALR-mutated counterparts, and higher IFNa doses were needed to achieve the same IFNa response in CALR- as in JAK2V617F mutant 32D cells.
Project description:Interferon alpha (IFNa) is an effective treatment for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). In addition to inducing hematological responses in most MPN patients, IFNa reduces the JAK2V617F allelic burden and can render the JAK2V617F mutant clone undetectable in some patients. The precise mechanism underlying these responses is incompletely understood and whether the molecular responses that are seen occur due to the effects of IFNa on JAK2V617F mutant stem cells is debated. Using a murine model of Jak2V617F MPN, we investigated the effects of IFNa on Jak2V617F MPN-propagating stem cells in vivo. We report that IFNa treatment induces hematological responses in the model and causes depletion of Jak2V617F MPN-propagating cells over time, impairing disease transplantation. We demonstrate that IFNa treatment induces cell-cycle activation of Jak2V617F mutant long-term hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSC) and promotes a predetermined erythroid-lineage differentiation program. These findings provide insights into the differential effects of IFNa on Jak2V617F mutant and normal hematopoiesis and suggest that IFNa achieves molecular remissions in MPN patients through its effects on MPN stem cells. Furthermore, these results support combinatorial therapeutic approaches in MPN, by concurrently depleting dormant JAK2V617F MPN-propagating stem cells with IFNa and targeting the proliferating downstream progeny with JAK2-inhibitors or cytotoxic chemotherapy.
Project description:Through analysis of the cancer dependency map of CRISPR and short hairpin RNA datasets, the antiapoptotic BCL-XL was found to be a selective dependency in kidney cancer. Among kidney cancers, BCL-XL inhibition is most active in those with a mesenchymal gene signature, which portends a poor prognosis and response to current therapies. See related article by Grubb et al., p. 4689.
Project description:Ceramide is a bioactive sphingolipid involved in mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis. Our data suggest that ceramides directly regulate a key initiation step in apoptosis: mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP). MOMP allows release of intermembrane space proteins to the cytosol, inducing the execution of the cell. Ceramides form channels in planar phospholipid membranes and outer membranes of isolated mitochondria, channels large enough to facilitate passage of proteins released during MOMP. Bcl-xL inhibits MOMP in vivo and inhibits the formation of ceramide channels in vitro. However the significance of Bcl-xL's regulation of ceramide channel formation within cells was untested. We engineered Bcl-xL point mutations that specifically affect the interaction between ceramide and Bcl-xL to probe the mechanism of ceramide channel regulation and the role of ceramide channels in apoptosis. Using these mutants and fluorescently-labeled ceramide, we identified the hydrophobic groove on Bcl-xL as the critical ceramide binding site and regulator of ceramide channel formation. Bcl-xL mutants with weakened interaction with ceramide also have reduced ability to interfere with ceramide channel formation. Some mutants have similar altered ability to inhibit both ceramide and Bax channel formation, whereas others act differentially, suggesting distinct but overlapping binding sites. To probe the relative importance of these channels in apoptosis, Bcl-xL mutant proteins were stably expressed in Bcl-xL deficient cells. Weakening the inhibition of either Bax or ceramide channels decreased the ability of Bcl-xL to protect cells from apoptosis in a stimulus-dependent manner. These studies provide the first in vivo evidence for the role of ceramide channels in MOMP.
Project description:FKBP38 is a member of the family of FK506-binding proteins that acts as an inhibitor of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). The inhibitory action of FKBP38 is antagonized by Rheb, an oncogenic small GTPase, which interacts with FKBP38 and prevents its association with mTOR. In addition to the role in mTOR regulation, FKBP38 is also involved in binding and recruiting Bcl-2 and Bcl-X(L), two anti-apoptotic proteins, to mitochondria. In this study, we investigated the possibility that Rheb controls apoptosis by regulating the interaction of FKBP38 with Bcl-2 and Bcl-X(L). We demonstrate in vitro that the interaction of FKBP38 with Bcl-2 is regulated by Rheb in a GTP-dependent manner. In cultured cells, the interaction is controlled by Rheb in response to changes in amino acid and growth factor conditions. Importantly, we found that the Rheb-dependent release of Bcl-X(L) from FKBP38 facilitates the association of this anti-apoptotic protein with the pro-apoptotic protein Bak. Consequently, when Rheb activity increases, cells become more resistant to apoptotic inducers. Our findings reveal a novel mechanism through which growth factors and amino acids control apoptosis.
Project description:Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of proteins often regulate function upon post-translational modification (PTM) through interactions with folded domains. An IDR linking two α-helices (α1-α2) of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-xL experiences several PTMs that reduce antiapoptotic activity. Here, we report that PTMs within the α1-α2 IDR promote its interaction with the folded core of Bcl-xL that inhibits the proapoptotic activity of two types of regulatory targets, BH3-only proteins and p53. This autoregulation utilizes an allosteric pathway whereby, in one direction, the IDR induces a direct displacement of p53 from Bcl-xL coupled to allosteric displacement of simultaneously bound BH3-only partners. This pathway operates in the opposite direction when the BH3-only protein PUMA binds to the BH3 binding groove of Bcl-xL, directly displacing other bound BH3-only proteins, and allosterically remodels the distal site, displacing p53. Our findings show how an IDR enhances functional versatility through PTM-dependent allosteric regulation of a folded protein domain.
Project description:Lung cancer is the leading cause of death in the United States, with non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) accounting for 85% of all cases. By analyzing the expression profile of the pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins, we have assigned NSCLCs into two distinct groups. While single agent treatment with the BCL-2/BCL-xL/BCL-w inhibitor ABT-263 (navitoclax) did not trigger apoptosis in either group, cells with a moderate to high level of MCL-1 expression were sensitive to ABT-263 treatment when MCL-1 expression was suppressed with a gene-specific siRNA. In contrast, those with a low MCL-1 expression did not undergo apoptosis upon combination treatment with ABT-263 and MCL-1 siRNA. Further studies revealed that cells with a low MCL-1 expression had low mitochondrial priming, and treatment with the chemotherapy drug docetaxel raised the mitochondrial priming level and consequently sensitized cells to ABT-263. These results establish a rationale for molecular profiling and a therapeutic strategy to treat NSCLC patients with pro-apoptotic anti-cancer drugs based on their MCL-1 expression level.