bims-istrec 2022-11-27 papers

bims-istrec

Biomed News

on Integrated stress response in cancer

Issue of 2022–11–27
nine papers selected by
the Vincenzo Ciminale lab, Istituto Oncologico Veneto

GZ17-6.02 kills prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.
Ginsenoside Rh2 Induces HeLa Apoptosis through Upregulating Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Related and Downstream Apoptotic Gene Expression.
Remdesivir inhibits the progression of glioblastoma by enhancing endoplasmic reticulum stress.
Anticancer effects of ABTL0812, a clinical stage drug inducer of autophagy-mediated cancer cell death, in glioblastoma models.
Activating transcription factor 4 regulates hypoxia inducible factor 1α in chronic hypoxia in pancreatic cancer cells.
Mast cells inhibit colorectal cancer development by inducing ER stress through secreting Cystatin C.
An In-silico Comparative study of Curcumin and 2-deoxy Uridine Nucleoside Derivatives: Reveals the Role of Angiogenin in ER Stress Induced Apoptosis Signaling.
ER stress as a trigger of UPR and ER-phagy in cancer growth and spread.
Unfolded protein response and angiogenesis in malignancies.

Front Oncol. 2022 ;12 1045459

GZ17-6.02 kills prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Laurence Booth, Jane L Roberts, Cameron West, Paul Dent.

  GZ17-6.02 is undergoing clinical evaluation in solid tumors and lymphoma. We defined the biology of GZ17-6.02 in prostate cancer cells and determined whether it interacted with the PARP1 inhibitor olaparib to enhance tumor cell killing. GZ17-6.02 interacted in a greater than additive fashion with olaparib to kill prostate cancer cells, regardless of androgen receptor expression or loss of PTEN function. Mechanistically, GZ17-6.02 initially caused peri-nuclear activation of ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) that was followed after several hours by activation of nuclear ATM, and which at this time point was associated with increased levels of DNA damage. Directly downstream of ATM, GZ17-6.02 and olaparib cooperated to activate the AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK) which then activated the kinase ULK1, resulting in autophagosome formation that was followed by autophagic flux. Knock down of ATM, AMPKα or the autophagy-regulatory proteins Beclin1 or ATG5 significantly reduced tumor cell killing. GZ17-6.02 and olaparib cooperated to activate protein kinase R which phosphorylated and inactivated eIF2α, i.e., enhanced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling. Knock down of eIF2α also significantly reduced autophagosome formation and tumor cell killing. We conclude that GZ17-6.02 and olaparib interact to kill prostate cancer cells in vitro by increasing autophagy and by enhancing ER stress signaling. In vivo, GZ17-6.02 as a single agent profoundly reduced tumor growth and significantly prolonged animal survival. GZ17-6.02 interacted with olaparib to further suppress the growth of LNCaP tumors without ultimately enhancing animal survival. Our data support the consideration of GZ17-6.02 as a possible therapeutic agent in patients with AR+ prostate cancer.

Keywords:  ATM; ER stress; GZ17-6.02; PARP1; autophagy; olaparib

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2022.1045459
Molecules. 2022 Nov 14. pii: 7865. [Epub ahead of print]27(22):

Ginsenoside Rh2 Induces HeLa Apoptosis through Upregulating Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Related and Downstream Apoptotic Gene Expression.

Ying Liu, Xinran Wang, Juhui Qiao, Jiawen Wang, Leilei Jiang, Chenxi Wang, Shiting Yu, Peiguang Zhang, Daqing Zhao, Meiling Fan, Meichen Liu.

  Cervical cancer is a common gynecological malignancy afflicting women all over the world. Ginsenoside Rh2 (GRh2), especially 20(S)-GRh2, is a biologically active component in the natural plant ginseng, which can exhibit anticancer effects. Here, we aimed to investigate the effect of 20(S)-GRh2 on cervical cancer and elucidate the underlying mechanism through RNA-seq. In this study, the CCK-8 assay showed that 20(S)-GRh2 inhibited HeLa cell viability in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Caspase 3 activity and Annexin V staining results showed that 20(S)-GRh2 induced apoptosis of HeLa cells. Gene function enrichment analysis revealed that the biological process gene ontology (GO) terms were associated with the apoptotic signaling pathway. Biological process GO terms' similarity network indicated that apoptosis might be from endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERs). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis revealed that 20(S)-GRh2 primarily modulates apoptosis pathway genes. Combined protein-protein interaction network, hub gene screening, and qPCR validation data showed that ERs-related genes (ATF4 and DDIT3) and the downstream apoptotic genes (JUN, FOS, BBC3, and PMAIP1) were potential novel targets of 20(S)-GRh2-inducing cervical cancer cell apoptosis. Differential transcript usage analysis indicated that DDIT3 is also a differential transcript and its usage of the isoform (ENST00000552740.5) was reduced by 20(S)-GRh2. Molecular docking suggested that 20(S)-GRh2 binds to the targets (ATF4, DDIT3, JUN, FOS, BBC3, and PMAIP1) with high affinity. In conclusion, our findings indicated that 20(S)-GRh2 might promote ERs-related apoptosis of cervical cancer cells by regulating the DDIT3-based targets' signal pathway. The role of 20(S)-GRh2 at the transcriptome level provides novel targets and evidence for the treatment of cervical cancer.

Keywords:  RNA-seq; apoptosis; cervical cancer; endoplasmic reticulum stress; ginsenoside Rh2; molecular docking

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27227865
Biomed Pharmacother. 2022 Nov 22. pii: S0753-3322(22)01426-3. [Epub ahead of print]157 114037

Remdesivir inhibits the progression of glioblastoma by enhancing endoplasmic reticulum stress.

Yujia Chen, Yuduo Guo, Shenglun Li, Jiacheng Xu, Weihai Ning, Chao Zhao, Jun Wang, Yanming Qu, Mingshan Zhang, Wanlu Zhou, Qinghua Cui, Hongwei Zhang.

  Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most aggressive primary malignant brain tumors. The major challenge is the lack of effective therapeutic drugs due to the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and tumor heterogeneity. Remdesivir (RDV), a new member of the nucleotide analog family, has previously been shown to have excellent antiviral effects and BBB penetration, and was predicted here to have anti-GBM effects. In vitro experiments, RDV significantly inhibited the growth of GBM cells, with IC50 values markedly lower than those of normal cell lines or the same cell lines treated with temozolomide. Moreover, in multiple mouse models, RDV not only distinctly inhibited the progression and improved the prognosis of GBM but also exhibited a promising biosafety profile, as manifested by the lack of significant body weight loss, liver or kidney dysfunction or organ structural damage after administration. Furthermore, we investigated the anti-GBM mechanism by RNA-seq and identified that RDV might induce apoptosis of GBM cells by enhancing endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and activating the PERK-mediated unfolded protein response. In conclusion, our results indicated that RDV might serve as a novel agent for GBM treatment by increasing ER stress and inducing apoptosis in GBM cells.

Keywords:  Apoptosis; Endoplasmic reticulum stress; Glioblastoma; PERK-mediated unfolded protein response; Remdesivir

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2022.114037
Front Oncol. 2022 ;12 943064

Anticancer effects of ABTL0812, a clinical stage drug inducer of autophagy-mediated cancer cell death, in glioblastoma models.

Andrea Mancini, Alessandro Colapietro, Loredana Cristiano, Alessandra Rossetti, Vincenzo Mattei, Giovanni Luca Gravina, Héctor Perez-Montoyo, Marc Yeste-Velasco, Jose Alfon, Carles Domenech, Claudio Festuccia.

   Background: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant adult brain tumor. Current standard of care treatments have very limited efficacy, being the patients´ overall survival 14 months and the 2-year survival rate less than 10%. Therefore, the treatment of GBM is an urgent unmet clinical need.
Methods: The aim of this study was to investigate in vitro and in vivo the potential of ABTL0812, an oral anticancer compound currently in phase II clinical stage, as a novel therapy for GBM.
Results: We showed that ABTL0812 inhibits cell proliferation in a wide panel of GBM cell lines and patient-derived glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) with half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) ranging from 15.2 µM to 46.9 µM. Additionally, ABTL0812 decreased GSCs neurosphere formation. GBM cells aggressiveness is associated with a trans-differentiation process towards a less differentiated phenotype known as proneural to mesenchymal transition (PMT). ABTL0812 was shown to revert PMT and induce cell differentiation to a less malignant phenotype in GBM cell lines and GSCs, and consequently reduced cell invasion. As previously shown in other cancer types, we demonstrated that the molecular mechanism of action of ABTL0812 in glioblastoma involves the inhibition of Akt/mTORC1 axis by overexpression of TRIB3, and the activation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress/unfolded protein response (UPR). Both actions converge to induce autophagy-mediated cell death. ABTL0812 anticancer efficacy was studied in vivo using subcutaneous and orthotopic intra-brain xenograft tumor models. We demonstrated that ABTL0812 impairs tumor growth and increases disease-free survival and overall survival of mice. Furthermore, the histological analysis of tumors indicated that ABTL0812 decreases angiogenesis. Finally, we investigated the combination of ABTL0812 with the standard of care treatments for GBM radiotherapy and temozolomide in an orthotopic model, detecting that ABTL0812 potentiates the efficacy of both treatments and that the strongest effect is obtained with the triple combination of ABTL0812+radiotherapy+temozolomide.
Conclusions: Overall, the present study demonstrated the anticancer efficacy of ABTL0812 as single agent and in combination with the GBM standard of care treatments in models of glioblastoma and supports the clinical investigation of ABTL0812 as a potential novel therapy for this aggressive brain tumor type.

Keywords:  ABTL0812; Akt; ER stress; TRIB3; UPR; autophagy; glioblastoma; mTOR

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2022.943064
Oncol Rep. 2023 Jan;pii: 14. [Epub ahead of print]49(1):

Activating transcription factor 4 regulates hypoxia inducible factor 1α in chronic hypoxia in pancreatic cancer cells.

Nancy T Chee, Candace H Carriere, Zachary Miller, Scott Welford, Shaun P Brothers.

  Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive and difficult to treat cancers with tumors typically exhibiting high levels of chronic hypoxia. Hypoxia activates hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) that mediate cellular responses to adapt to low oxygen environments. Hypoxia also causes endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, increasing activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4), a master regulator of the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway that mediates cellular response to ER stress. ATF4 is overexpressed in PDAC and is associated with poor prognoses. While ATF4 promotes cell proliferation and tumorigenesis, most studies have been conducted under normoxia or acute hypoxia. The functions of ATF4 in chronic hypoxia remain largely unexplored. Using siRNA knockdown experiments of healthy skin fibroblast cells WS1 and PDAC cell lines PANC-1 and Mia-PaCa2 to analyze mRNA and protein expression levels, a novel ATF4 function was identified, in which it decreases HIF2α mRNA and increases HIF1α mRNA in chronic hypoxia while having no effect in acute hypoxia. A scratch assay was used to show that ATF4 decreases cell migration in chronic hypoxia as opposed to the increase in cell migration ATF4 imparts in acute hypoxia. Colony formation assay and cell viability assay showed that ATF4 promotes colony formation and cell viability in both chronic and acute hypoxia. In addition to the differential response of ATF4 in chronic hypoxia compared with acute hypoxia, this is the first time ATF4 has been implicated in regulation of response to hypoxia via interaction with HIF proteins in PDAC.

Keywords:  ATF4; HIF1α; HIF2α; PDAC; UPR pathway; chronic hypoxia

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2022.8451
Oncogene. 2022 Nov 19.

Mast cells inhibit colorectal cancer development by inducing ER stress through secreting Cystatin C.

Feifei Song, Youhua Zhang, Qi Chen, Dexi Bi, Muqing Yang, Ling Lu, Man Li, Huiyuan Zhu, Ying Liu, Qing Wei, Huanlong Qin, Jiyu Li.

Mast cells (MCs) are abundantly distributed in the human intestinal mucosa and submucosa. However, their roles and mechanisms in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC) are still unclear. In the present research, we found that the infiltration density of MCs in CRC tissues was positively correlated with improved patients' prognoses. Moreover, MCs suppressed the growth and induced the apoptosis of CRC cells in vitro and in vivo but had no effect on normal colonic epithelial cells. The present study revealed that MCs specifically induced endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) and activated the unfolded protein response (UPR) in CRC cells but not in normal cells, which led to the suppression of CRC development in vivo. Furthermore, we found that the secreted Cystatin C protein was the key factor for the MC-induced ERS in CRC cells. This work is of significance for uncovering the antitumor function of MCs in CRC progression and identifying the potential of CRC to respond to MC-targeted immunotherapy.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-022-02543-z
Chem Biol Drug Des. 2022 Nov 22.

An In-silico Comparative study of Curcumin and 2-deoxy Uridine Nucleoside Derivatives: Reveals the Role of Angiogenin in ER Stress Induced Apoptosis Signaling.

Faizan Ahmad, P T V Lakshmi, Annamalai Arunachalam.

  Angiogenin (ANG) protein plays a crucial role in angiogenesis, neovascularization, and cancer metastasis in NSCLC (Non-Small cell lung cancer) via noncoding tiRNA. It protects the cell under ER (endoplasmic reticulum) stress-induced apoptosis through the translational reprogramming process. Although B82 (Curcumin derivatives) induces ER stress-induced apoptosis, its mechanism of action was not studied. Therefore, it was hypothesized that the ribonucleolytic activity of ANG may be regulated by B82, resulting in modulated ER stress signaling for apoptosis. Hence, we designed and proposed a synthesis scheme for RNA-based anti-angiogenic derivatives of 2-deoxy uridine nucleoside forming peptide bond with amino acids like serine (Ser-3) and para-hydroxy-phenyl glycine (Normtyr-1) and compared B82 with them to know the binding affinity with ANG, anti-angiogenic potential, and its probable mechanism of anti-RNase activity through MD simulation study. Therefore, using Gromos96 43a1 and 43a2 force fields, MD simulation was performed to investigate binding affinity, ligand- induced molecular surface area change, conformational change, and dynamics of catalytic site residues to predict ligand binding to ANG in this study. The obtained binding free energy (∆Gbind ) result showed the total average ∆Gbind as -113.480+/-1.682 (Normtyr-1) > -53.038 +/-33.069(B82) > -27.909 +/-16.438(Ser-3) Kj/mole specify role of B82 in regulating ER stress signaling induced apoptosis through ANG ribonucleolytic activity inhibition, suitability of 43a2 force fields and methodology in ligand screening. It shows the crucial role of Leu115 and His13 residue involvement in total ∆Gbind contribution. Hence, based on the MD result, novel conformation of catalytic residues, and ∆Gbind, a promising combination candidate could be proposed for metastatic NSCLC therapy.

Keywords:  2-deoxy Uridine Nucleoside; Anti-angiogenesis; Curcumin; ER Stress; MD Simulation; Molecular Docking; Non-Small Lung Cancer; Ribonucleolytic inhibitor

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/cbdd.14184
Front Oncol. 2022 ;12 997235

ER stress as a trigger of UPR and ER-phagy in cancer growth and spread.

Alessandro Cherubini, Ester Zito.

  Tumors can survive environmental and metabolic stress by triggering homeostatic responses that re-establish the pre-stress status and permit them to grow and thrive. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the organelle where proteins undergo post-translational modifications and are folded and exported to the secretory pathway. Its environment and activity are therefore fundamental for proteostasis, i.e., the plethora of mechanisms controlling protein formation, folding, degradation, and secretion, needed to assure protein balance and cellular health. In different tumor-related conditions, such as after the activation of oncogenes or under hypoxia and nutrient deprivation, the ER experiences stress, triggered by a high load of proteins to be folded compared to the limited folding capacity of the organelle. As a consequence, three ER membrane sensors and the related unfolded protein response (UPR) are activated. The UPR comprises a complex interconnection between signal transduction pathways that promote a homeostatic response that acts by increasing the amount of protein chaperones and of proteins involved in ER-associated protein degradation (ERAD) on one hand and attenuating protein translation on the other. ER-phagy, literally "eating" the ER, is part of another homeostatic response consisting of the clearance of non-functional ER portions including misfolded proteins. This response is also activated by a set of dedicated ER-phagy receptors after ER stimuli, which overlap the stimuli generating ER stress. Thus, the UPR and ER-phagy are two closely related homeostatic mechanisms that cooperate in re-establishing ER homeostasis. However, while the role of the UPR in favoring cancer growth and thriving by promoting angiogenesis, metastasis, chemotherapy resistance, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition is consolidated, that of ER-phagy is still in its infancy. This essay provides an overview of emerging concepts on ER stress, the UPR, and ER-phagy and their crosstalk in tumorigenesis. We also critically review new findings on their pharmacological targeting in cancer.

Keywords:  ER stress; ER-phagy; ERO1 alpha; UPR; cancer; hypoxia

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2022.997235
Biochim Biophys Acta Rev Cancer. 2022 Nov 19. pii: S0304-419X(22)00164-0. [Epub ahead of print] 188839

Unfolded protein response and angiogenesis in malignancies.

Amin Izadpanah, Kurtis Willingham, Bysani Chandrasekar, Eckhard U Alt, Reza Izadpanah.

  Cellular stress, arising from accumulation of unfolded proteins, occurs frequently in rapidly proliferating cancer cells. This cellular stress, in turn, activates the unfolded protein response (UPR), an interconnected set of signal transduction pathways that alleviate the proteostatic stress. The UPR is implicated in cancer cell survival and proliferation through upregulation of pro-tumorigenic pathways that ultimately promote malignant metabolism and neoangiogenesis. Here, we reviewed mechanisms of signaling crosstalk between the UPR and angiogenesis pathways, as well as transmissible ER stress and the role in tumor growth and development. To characterize differences in UPR and UPR-mediated angiogenesis in malignancy, we employed a data mining approach using patient tumor data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The analysis of TCGA revealed differences in UPR between malignant samples versus their non-malignant counterparts.

Keywords:  ATF6; IRE1α; PERK; Tumor microenvironment; Unfolded protein response; XBP1

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbcan.2022.188839