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CSR1 (cellular stress response 1), a newly characterized tumor-suppressor gene, undergoes hypermethylation in over 30% of prostate cancers. Re-expression of CSR1 inhibits cell growth and induces cell death, but the mechanism by which CSR1 suppresses tumor growth is not clear. In this study, we screened a prostate cDNA library using a yeast two-hybrid system and found that the cleavage and polyadenylation-specific factor 3 (CPSF3), an essential component for converting heteronuclear RNA to mRNA, binds with high affinity to the CSR1 C terminus. Further analyses determined that the binding motifs for CPSF3 are located between amino acids 440 and 543. The interaction between CSR1 and CPSF3 induced CPSF3 translocation from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, resulting in inhibition of polyadenylation both in vitro and in vivo. Downregulation of CPSF3 using small interfering RNA induced cell death in a manner similar to CSR1 expression. A CSR1 mutant unable to bind to CPSF3 did not alter CPSF3 subcellular distribution, did not inhibit its polyadenylation activity and did not induce cell death. In summary, CSR1 appears to induce cell death through a novel mechanism by hijacking a critical RNA processing enzyme.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is an aggressive B-cell lymphoma with poor clinical outcome. Although front therapy induces a high rate of complete remission (CR), relapse is inevitable and new regimens are much needed for relapsed MCL. The proteasome inhibitor bortezomib (BTZ) induces apoptosis and sensitizes MCL cells to chemotherapy in relapsed MCL, but CR rates are low, with a short duration of response and severe toxicity. Here we evaluated whether BTZ is additive or synergistic with cyclophosphamide (CTX) and rituximab (RTX). Increasing doses of BTZ with a fixed dose of RTX and CTX (BRC regimen) resulted in markedly synergistic growth inhibition of MCL cells. BRC significantly enhanced apoptosis in MCL cell lines and primary tumor cells compared with single-agent treatment. Furthermore, western blotting analysis indicated that BRC induces apoptosis earlier via activation and cleavage of caspases-8, -9 and -3, and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, than single-agent treatment. The pan-caspase inhibitor completely blocked apoptosis induced by BRC. In vivo studies showed that BRC eradicated subcutaneous tumors in MCL-bearing SCID mice and significantly prolonged the long-term event-free survival in 70% of the mice. Hence, our study demonstrates that cytoreductive chemotherapy with both BTZ and anti-CD20 antibody may offer a better therapeutic modality for relapsed MCL.