Project description:By selective and reversible inhibition of CDK4/CDK6, we have developed a strategy to both inhibit proliferation and enhance cytotoxic killing of cancer cells. Induction of prolonged early-G1 arrest (pG1) by CDK4/CDK6 inhibition halts gene expression in early-G1 and prevents expression of genes programmed for other cell cycle phases. S-phase synchronization upon removal of the early-G1 block (pG1-S) fails to completely restore scheduled gene expression. Consequently, coordinate loss of IRF4 and gain of Bim and Noxa expression sensitize myeloma tumor cells to bortezomib-induced apoptosis in pG1 and more profoundly in pG1-S in vitro. Induction of pG1 and pG1-S by CDK4/CDK6 inhibition augments tumor-specific bortezomib killing in myeloma xenografts. Inhibition of CDK4/CDK6 in combination therapy thus represents a novel mechanism-based cancer therapy. PD 0332991 (PD) is the only known specific and reversible CDK4/CDK6 inhibitor. Gene expression was measured in myeloma MM1.S cells treated with PD (0.25 uM) in triplicate for 12, 24 or 36 h, or in cells released from G1, induced by 24hPD, for 4 or 18 h.
Project description:By selective and reversible inhibition of CDK4/CDK6, we have developed a strategy to both inhibit proliferation and enhance cytotoxic killing of cancer cells. Induction of prolonged early-G1 arrest (pG1) by CDK4/CDK6 inhibition halts gene expression in early-G1 and prevents expression of genes programmed for other cell cycle phases. S-phase synchronization upon removal of the early-G1 block (pG1-S) fails to completely restore scheduled gene expression. Consequently, coordinate loss of IRF4 and gain of Bim and Noxa expression sensitize myeloma tumor cells to bortezomib-induced apoptosis in pG1 and more profoundly in pG1-S in vitro. Induction of pG1 and pG1-S by CDK4/CDK6 inhibition augments tumor-specific bortezomib killing in myeloma xenografts. Inhibition of CDK4/CDK6 in combination therapy thus represents a novel mechanism-based cancer therapy.
Project description:CDK4/6 inhibitors arrest the cell cycle in G1-phase. They are licenced to treat breast cancer and are also undergoing clinical trials against a range of other tumour types. To facilitate these efforts, it is important to understand why a temporary cell cycle arrest in G1 causes long-lasting effects on tumour growth. Here we demonstrate that a prolonged G1-arrest following CDK4/6 inhibition downregulates replisome components and impairs origin licencing. This causes a failure in DNA replication after release from that arrest, resulting in a p53-dependent withdrawal from the cell cycle. If p53 is absent, then cells bypass the G2-checkpoint and undergo a catastrophic mitosis resulting in excessive DNA damage. These data therefore link CDK4/6 inhibition to genotoxic stress; a phenotype that is shared by most other broad-spectrum anti-cancer drugs. This provides a rationale to predict responsive tumour types and effective combination therapies, as demonstrated by the fact that chemotherapeutics that cause replication stress also induce sensitivity to CDK4/6 inhibition.
Project description:We report a novel resistance mechanism to CDK4/6 inhibition in Hedgehog-associated medulloblastoma where cell models and mouse models demonstrate that prolonged inhibition of CDK4/6 inhibits ribosome biogenesis, activates the unfolded protein response, and increases the amount of Smoothened-activating lipids. This RNA-Sequencing dataset represents genomically-engineered mouse medulloblastoma models that either have wild-type Cdk6 or genomic knockout of Cdk6. We find that tumors that grew despite genetic loss of Cdk6 have suppresed ribosome biogenesis.
Project description:The p53 tumour suppressor is a transcription factor that can regulate the expression of numerous genes encoding either proteins or microRNAs (miRNAs). The predominant outcomes of a typical p53 response are the initiation of apoptotic cascades and the activation of cell cycle checkpoints. HT29-tsp53 cells express a temperature sensitive variant of p53 and in the absence of exogenous DNA damage, these cells preferentially undergo G1 phase cell cycle arrest at the permissive temperature that correlates with increased expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21WAF1. Recent evidence also suggests that a variety of miRNAs can induce G1 arrest by inhibiting the expression of proteins like CDK4 and CDK6. Here we used oligonucleotide microarrays to identify p53-regulated miRNAs that are induced in these cells undergoing G1 arrest. At the permissive temperature, the expression of several miRNAs was increased through a combination of either transcriptional or post-transcriptional regulation. In particular, miR-34a-5p, miR-143-3p and miR-145-5p were strongly induced and they reached levels comparable to that of reference miRNAs (miR-191 and miR-103). Importantly, miR-34a-5p and miR-145-5p are known to silence the Cdk4 and/or Cdk6 G1 cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks). Surprisingly, there was no p53-dependent decrease in the expression of either of these G1 cdks. To search for other potential targets of p53-regulated miRNAs, p53-downregulated mRNAs were identified through parallel microarray analysis of mRNA expression. Once again, there was no clear effect of p53 on the repression of mRNAs under these conditions despite a remarkable increase in p53-induced mRNA expression. Therefore, despite a strong p53 transcriptional response, there was no clear evidence that p53-responsive miRNA contributed to gene silencing. Taken together, the changes in cell cycle distribution in this cell line at the permissive temperature is likely attributable to transcriptional upregulation of the CDKN1A mRNA and p21WAF1 protein and not to the down regulation of CDK4 or CDK6 by p53-regulated miRNAs. Two independent experiments were performed with 2 samples in each experiment (1 control and 1 treatment condition). In the control sample, RNA was isolated cells maintained at the restrictive temperature (37ËC). The treatment treated sample, was incubated for 16 hours at the permissive temperature (32ËC).
Project description:Cell size and the cell cycle are intrinsically coupled and abnormal increases in cell size are associated with senescence and permanent cell cycle arrest. The mechanism by which overgrowth primes cells to withdraw from the cell cycle remains unknown. We investigate this here using CDK4/6 inhibitors that arrest cell cycle progression during G0/G1 and are used in the clinic to treat ER+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer. We demonstrate that CDK4/6 inhibition promotes cellular overgrowth during G0/G1, causing p38MAPK-p53-p21-dependent cell cycle withdrawal. We find that cell cycle withdrawal is triggered by two waves of p21 induction. First, overgrowth during a long-term G0/G1 arrest induces an osmotic stress response. This stress response produces the first wave of p21 induction. Second, when CDK4/6 inhibitors are removed, a fraction of cells escape long term G0/G1 arrest and enter S-phase where overgrowth-driven replication stress results in a second wave of p21 induction that causes cell cycle withdrawal from G2, or the subsequent G1. We propose a model whereby both waves of p21 induction contribute to promote permanent cell cycle arrest. This model could explain why cellular hypertrophy is associated with senescence and why CDK4/6 inhibitors have long-lasting effects in patients.
Project description:A long-term goal in cancer research has been to inhibit the cell cycle in tumour cells without causing toxicity in proliferative healthy tissues. The best evidence that this is achievable is provided by CDK4/6 inhibitors, which arrest the cell cycle in G1, are well-tolerated in patients, and are effective in treating ER+/HER2- breast cancer. CDK4/6 inhibitors are effective because they arrest tumour cells more efficiently than some healthy cell types and, in addition, they affect the tumour microenvironment to enhance anti-tumour immunity. We demonstrate here another reason to explain their efficacy. Tumour cells are specifically vulnerable to CDK4/6 inhibition because during the G1 arrest, oncogenic signals drive toxic cell overgrowth. This overgrowth causes permanent cell cycle withdrawal by either preventing progression from G1 or by inducing replication stress and genotoxic damage during the subsequent S-phase and mitosis. Inhibiting or reverting oncogenic signals that converge onto mTOR can rescue this excessive growth, DNA damage and cell cycle exit in cancer cells. Conversely, inducing oncogenic signals in non-transformed cells can drive these toxic phenotypes and sensitize cells to CDK4/6 inhibition. Together, this demonstrates how oncogenic signals that have evolved to stimulate constitutive tumour growth and proliferation driven subverted to cause toxic cell growth and irreversible cell cycle exit when proliferation is halted in G1.
Project description:Given the intimate link between inflammation and dysregulated cell proliferation in cancer we investigated cytokine-triggered gene expression in different cell cycle stages. High density microarray analysis revealed that G1 release primes and cooperates with the cytokine-driven gene response. This effect is transmitted through CDK6 which shares the ability to regulate expression of inflammatory genes with its functional homologue CDK4. CDK6 contributes to the regulation of inflammatory gene expression by physical and functional cooperation with the NF-κB subunit p65 in the nucleus. ChIPSeq experiments showed a tight co-recruitment of CDK6 and p65 to enhancers and promoters of many transcriptionally active NF-κB target genes. While CDK6 recruitment to distinct chromatin regions of inflammatory target genes had no effect on histone modifications, it was essential for proper loading of NF-κB p65 to its cognate binding sites and for the function of p65 coactivators such as TRIP6. Furthermore, cytokine-inducible nuclear translocation and chromatin association of CDK6 depends on the kinase activity of TAK1 and p38. These results have widespread biological implications, as aberrant CDK6 expression or activation that is frequently observed in human tumors cooperates with NF-κB to shape the cytokine- and chemokine-repertoire in chronic inflammation and cancer. Four sets of experiments were performed in total (Exp1-4). Within each of these sets biological duplicates (Rep1-2) were included and analyzed. HeLa control cells or cells with established shRNA-mediated knockdown of CDK4 or CDK6 were analyzed. Cells were subjected to cell cycle arrest or were released from the arrested state for 6h. Cells were treated for 30 minutes with Interleukin-1-alpha at the arrested state or after release or were left untreated.
Project description:The p53 tumour suppressor is a transcription factor that can regulate the expression of numerous genes encoding either proteins or microRNAs (miRNAs). The predominant outcomes of a typical p53 response are the initiation of apoptotic cascades and the activation of cell cycle checkpoints. HT29-tsp53 cells express a temperature sensitive variant of p53 and in the absence of exogenous DNA damage, these cells preferentially undergo G1 phase cell cycle arrest at the permissive temperature that correlates with increased expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21WAF1. Recent evidence also suggests that a variety of miRNAs can induce G1 arrest by inhibiting the expression of proteins like CDK4 and CDK6. Here we used oligonucleotide microarrays to identify p53-regulated miRNAs that are induced in these cells undergoing G1 arrest. At the permissive temperature, the expression of several miRNAs was increased through a combination of either transcriptional or post-transcriptional regulation. In particular, miR-34a-5p, miR-143-3p and miR-145-5p were strongly induced and they reached levels comparable to that of reference miRNAs (miR-191 and miR-103). Importantly, miR-34a-5p and miR-145-5p are known to silence the Cdk4 and/or Cdk6 G1 cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks). Surprisingly, there was no p53-dependent decrease in the expression of either of these G1 cdks. To search for other potential targets of p53-regulated miRNAs, p53-downregulated mRNAs were identified through parallel microarray analysis of mRNA expression. Once again, there was no clear effect of p53 on the repression of mRNAs under these conditions despite a remarkable increase in p53-induced mRNA expression. Therefore, despite a strong p53 transcriptional response, there was no clear evidence that p53-responsive miRNA contributed to gene silencing. Taken together, the changes in cell cycle distribution in this cell line at the permissive temperature is likely attributable to transcriptional upregulation of the CDKN1A mRNA and p21WAF1 protein and not to the down regulation of CDK4 or CDK6 by p53-regulated miRNAs.
Project description:Cdk4 and Cdk6 are two related kinases that bind D-type cyclins and regulate cell cycle progression. Due to their relevance in cancer, Cdk4/6 inhibitors are currently in advanced clinical trials in multiple tumor types. Cdk4/6 are inhibited by INK4 proteins that exert tumor suppressing functions. To test the significance of this inhibitory mechanism we have generated knock-in mice that express a Cdk6 mutant (Cdk6 R31C) insensitive to INK4-mediated inhibition. Cdk6R/R mice display altered development of the hematopoietic system without resulting in enhanced tumor susceptibility, either in the presence or absence of p53. The presence of the Cdk6 R31C allele results in defective potential of hematopoietic progenitors in adoptive transfer assays or after induced damage. These defects are rescued after complete insensitivity to INK4 inhibitors in Cdk4R/R; Cdk6R/R double mutant mice, and INK4-resistant mice display increased susceptibility to hematopoietic and endocrine tumors. In BCR-ABL-transformed hematopoietic cells, the presence of the Cdk6 R31C allele results in increased binding of p16INK4a to wild-type Cdk4, whereas the double mutant is fully insensitive to INK4 inhibitors resulting in accelerated disease onset. Our observations reveal that Cdk4 and Cdk6 cooperate in tumor development and suggest a role for Cdk6 in buffering INK4 protein levels thus contributing to the development of hematopoietic tumors. The presence of the Cdk4 R24C and Cdk6 R31C alleles results in relevant changes in the expression profiles of cancer cells including deregulation of apoptosis and other processes. p185BCR-ABL1 was used to transform wild-type or double knock-in Cdk4 R24C; Cdk6 R31C fetal livers. Cell lines were isolated as spontaneous immortal and transformed clones after transduction of fetal liver with a p185 BCR-ABL1-transgene. RNA was isolated from asynchronous cultures. Two-condition experiment, Cdk4R-Cdk6R cells versus wild-type cells. Biological replicates: 3 control replicates, 3 transfected replicates.