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WISP-2/CCN5 is an estrogen-regulated member of the "connective tissue growth factor/cysteine-rich 61/nephroblastoma overexpressed" (CCN) family of the cell growth and differentiation regulators. The WISP-2/CCN5 mRNA transcript is undetectable in normal human mammary cells, as well as in highly aggressive breast cancer cell lines, in contrast with its higher level in the breast cancer cell lines characterized by a more differentiated phenotype. We report here that knockdown of WISP-2/CCN5 by RNA interference in estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha)-positive MCF-7 breast cancer cells induced an estradiol-independent growth linked to a loss of ERalpha expression and promoted epithelial-to-mesenchymal transdifferentiation. In contrast, forced expression of WISP-2/CCN5 directed MCF-7 cells toward a more differentiated phenotype. When introduced into the poorly differentiated, estrogen-independent, and invasive MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, WISP-2/CCN5 was able to reduce their proliferative and invasive phenotypes. In a series of ERalpha-positive tumor biopsies, we found a positive correlation between the expression of WISP-2/CCN5 and ID2, a transcriptional regulator of differentiation in normal and transformed breast cells. We propose that WISP-2/CCN5 is an important regulator involved in the maintenance of a differentiated phenotype in breast tumor epithelial cells and may play a role in tumor cell invasion and metastasis.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDIs) induced expression of the B-ind1 protein that is a component of Rac-1-signaling pathways leading to the modulation of gene expression. In the present study, we have determined the structure of the human B-ind1 gene promoter region. The oligocapping method revealed that the transcriptional start site of the human B-ind1 gene is located at 166 bases upstream of the first adenine residue of the translation start site that is highly homologous to an initiator (Inr) consensus sequence. In reporter assays, transactivation of the B-ind1 promoter was observed up to 300 bp of the initiation site. Deletion analysis of the promoter region revealed that histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDIs)-induced luciferase response was regulated by the core promoter elements. Mutation introduced into the proximal CG-boxes decreased most of the basal and HDIs-induced promoter activity. These results suggested a novel mechanism, which implicate minimal core promoter elements as potential mediator of HDIs.

Estrogen receptors (ER) are ligand-dependent transcription factors that regulate growth, differentiation, and maintenance of cellular functions in a wide variety of tissues. We report here that p21WAF1/CIP1, a cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor, cooperates with CBP to regulate the ERalpha-mediated transcription of endogenous target genes in a promoter-specific manner. The estrogen-induced expression of the progesterone receptor and WISP-2 mRNA transcripts in MCF-7 cells was enhanced by p21WAF1/CIP1, whereas that of the cyclin D1 mRNA was reduced and the pS2 mRNA was not affected. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed that p21WAF1/CIP1 was recruited simultaneously with ERalpha and CBP to the endogenous progesterone receptor gene promoter in an estrogen-dependent manner. Experiments in which the p21WAF1/CIP1 protein was knocked down by RNA interference showed that the induction of the expression of the gene encoding the progesterone receptor required p21WAF1/CIP1, in contrast with that of the cyclin D1 and pS2 genes. p21WAF1/CIP1 induced not only cell cycle arrest in breast cancer cells but also milk fat globule protein and lipid droplets, indicators of the differentiated phenotype, as well as cell flattening and increase of the volume of the cytoplasm. These results indicate that p21WAF1/CIP1, in addition to its Cdk-regulatory role, behaves as a transcriptional coactivator in a gene-specific manner implicated in cell differentiation.

Rapamycin, a bacterial macrolide antibiotic, is a potent immunosuppressant agent that blocks cell proliferation by inhibiting the G1/S transition in several cell types. In sensitive cells, rapamycin inhibits the phosphorylation of p70 S6K and of Rb; however, the precise mechanisms involved have not been elucidated. In the mouse BP-A31 fibroblasts, synchronised in G0/G1 phase by serum starvation and induced to reinitiate the G1-phase progression, rapamycin inhibited the entry into S phase. The effect of rapamycin was situated in early G1 phase. The assembly of the cyclin D1/cdk4 complexes that phosphorylate Rb early in the G1 phase was not modified by the drug. Nevertheless, an inhibition of the activation of cyclin D1/cdk4 and cyclin E/cdk2 as well as of Rb phosphorylation accompanied the cell cycle arrest. Remarkably, rapamycin reduced the level of total p21WAF1/CIP1 as well as that of p21WAF1/CIP1 associated with the cyclin D1/cdk4 complexes. Besides its inhibitory activity toward cdk, p21WAF1/CIP1 has been recently found to participate in the formation/stabilisation/nuclear translocation of cyclin D1/cdk4 complexes. We propose that the inhibition of the expression of p21WAF1/CIP1 is a mechanism by which rapamycin inhibits the triggering of the cdk cascade in the BP-A31 cells. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

We have addressed the question of rapid, nongenomic mechanisms that may be involved in the mitogenic action of estrogens in hormone-dependent breast cancer cells. In quiescent, estrogen-deprived MCF-7 cells, estradiol did not induce a rapid activation of either the MAPK/ERK or phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI-3K)/Akt pathway, whereas the entry into the cell cycle was documented by the successive inductions of cyclin D1 expression, hyperphosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein (Rb), activity of the promoter of the cyclin A gene, and DNA synthesis. However, pharmacological inhibitors of the src family kinases, 4-amino-5-(4-methylphenyl)-7-(t-butyl) pyrazolo[3,4-d] pyrimidine (PP1) or of the PI-3K (LY294002) did prevent the entry of the cells into the cell cycle and inhibited the late G1 phase progression, whereas the inhibitor of MAPK/ERK activation (U0126) had only a partial inhibitory effect in the early G1 phase. In agreement with these results, small interfering RNA targeting Akt strongly inhibited the estradiolinduced cell cycle progression monitored by the activation of the promoter of the cyclin A gene. The expression of small interfering RNA targeting MAPK 1 and 2 also had a clear inhibitory effect on the estradiol-induced activation of the cyclin A promoter and also antagonized the estradiol-induced transcription directed by the estrogen response element. Finally, transfection of the estrogen receptor into NIH3T3 fibroblasts did not confer to the cells sensitivity to a mitogenic action of estradiol. We conclude that the induction of the cell cycle by estradiol does not require a direct activation of MAPK/ERK or PI-3K signaling protein kinase cascades, but that these kinases appear to have a permissive role in the cell cycle progression.

The effects of GA, an ansamycin antibiotic in development as a lead anticancer drug, were studied in mouse BP-A31 fibroblasts and in human cancer-derived cell lines. GA and related molecules act by inhibiting the chaperone function of the Hsp90 protein through competition for ATP binding. The antiproliferative effects of GA have been attributed to destabilization of the Raf-1 protein, one of the targets of Hsp90, and to the resulting inhibition of MAPK. Addition of GA to BP-A31 cells, synchronously progressing through the G(1) phase, inhibited Rb hyperphosphorylation and G(1)/S transition irrespective of the time of addition. The G(1) arrest was accompanied by a progressive decrease in Raf-1 content, especially of the phosphorylated form; however, GA caused only partial inhibition of MAPK phosphorylation. We show that GA triggers a rapid and marked decrease in the kinase activity of the cyclin E/cdk2 complex coupled with a decline in both total and cdk2-associated cyclin E. In transient transfection experiments, inhibition of cyclin E expression by GA was correlated with inhibition of the transcriptional activity of the cyclin E gene promoter. Inhibition of cdk4 activity by GA was observed 3 hr after addition of the drug to late G(1) cells but not after a short (1 hr) exposure, as revealed by the phosphorylation of Rb on the Ser(780) residue. In human cancer-derived cell lines expressing or not a functional Rb protein, GA blocked proliferation and inhibited the transcriptional activity of the cyclin E gene promoter. In these cell lines, the antiproliferative effect of GA was not limited to the G(1) phase, suggesting the existence of multiple cellular targets of the drug.

In vitro enzymatic amplification of nucleic acids by PCR or other techniques is a very sensitive method to detect rare DNA segments. We present here a protocol that allows the rapid, sensitive and precise quantification of DNA molecules using PCR amplification run to saturation. The DNA (or cDNA) to be assayed is co-amplified with known amounts of an internal standard DNA. We show that the latter must be almost identical to the assayed DNA, otherwise quantification at the plateau is unreliable. The read-out of the amplification involves one or two additional oligonucleotides. Using fluorescent oligonucleotides as primers in run-off reactions together with an automated DNA sequencer, we could measure the level of expression of several genes, like the murine MHC class I H-2Kd or a specific T cell receptor beta chain transcript in the course of an immunization. mRNA levels were normalized by measuring in a similar manner the number of transcripts encoding the housekeeping gene HPRT. Finally, our procedure might allow the rapid analysis of a large number of samples at the same time, as illustrated by the simultaneous analysis of the mRNAs encoding the CD4 and CD8 murine T cell markers.

The expression of the thymidine-thymidylate kinase (HSV1-TK), (ATP: thymidine 5'-phosphotransferase; EC 2.7.1.21) of herpes simplex virus type 1 endows the host cell with a conditional lethal phenotype which depends on the presence of nucleoside analogues metabolized by this enzyme into toxic inhibitors of DNA replication. To generate a recombinant baculovirus that could be selected against by nucleoside analogs, the HSV1-tk coding sequence was placed under the control of the Autographa californica multicapsid nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcMNPV) immediate early promoterm IE-1(0), and this construction was introduced via homologous recombination into the polyhedrin locus of AcMNPV. Two recombinant baculoviruses harboring this gene construct at the polyhedrin locus were isolated and tested for their ability to replicate in the presence of various concentrations of the nucleoside analog 9-(1,3-Dihydroxy-2-propoxymethyl)guanine (Ganciclovir). Neither Sf9 lepidopteran cell viability nor replication of wild type or beta-Galactosidase-expressing recombinant AcMNPVs were affected by concentrations of Ganciclovir up to 100 microM. In contrast, replication of the recombinant AcMNPV virus harboring the HSV1-tk gene was inhibited by Ganciclovir in a dose-dependent manner. The inhibition was detectable at 2 microM and complete at 100 microM. This property was exploited in model isolations aimed at purifying new recombinant viruses having lost this counter-selectable gene marker as a result of homologous recombination at the polyhedrin locus after cotransfection of the viral DNA with a replacement vector. After being propagated in the presence of Ganciclovir, the progeny of such co-transfections contained over 85% recombinant viruses, demonstrating that counter-selection of parental HSV1-tk-containing viruses by Ganciclovir constitutes a novel approach for recombinant baculovirus isolation.

A recombinant baculovirus encoding a single-chain murine major histocompatibility complex class I molecule in which the first three domains of H-2Kd are fused to beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2-m) via a 15-amino acid linker has been isolated and used to infect lepidopteran cells. A soluble, 391-amino acid single-chain H-2Kd (SC-Kd) molecule of 48 kDa was synthesized and glycosylated in insect cells and could be purified in the absence of detergents by affinity chromatography using the anti-H-2Kd monoclonal antibody SF1.1.1.1. We tested the ability of SC-Kd to bind antigenic peptides using a direct binding assay based on photoaffinity labeling. The photoreactive derivative was prepared from the H-2Kd-restricted Plasmodium berghei circumsporozoite protein (P.b. CS) peptide 253-260 (YIPSAEKI), a probe that we had previously shown to be unable to bind to the H-2Kd heavy chain in infected cells in the absence of co-expressed beta 2-microglobulin. SC-Kd expressed in insect cells did not require additional mouse beta 2-m to bind the photoprobe, indicating that the covalently attached beta 2-m could substitute for the free molecule. Similarly, binding of the P.b. CS photoaffinity probe to the purified SC-Kd molecule was unaffected by the addition of exogenous beta 2-m. This is in contrast to H-2KdQ10, a soluble H-2Kd molecule in which beta 2-m is noncovalently bound to the soluble heavy chain, whose ability to bind the photoaffinity probe is greatly enhanced in the presence of an excess of exogenous beta 2-m. The binding of the probe to SC-Kd was allele-specific, since labeling was selectively inhibited only by antigenic peptides known to be presented by the H-2Kd molecule.