Search

The MYC and RAS oncogenes are sufficient for transformation of normal rodent cells. This cooperativity is at least in part based on suppression of RAS-induced cellular senescence by MYC and block of MYC-induced apoptosis by RAS - thereby canceling out two main barriers against tumor development. However, it remains unclear whether MYC and RAS cooperate in this way in human cells, where MYC and RAS are not sufficient for transformation. To address this question, we established a combined Tet-inducible H-RAS V12 and hydroxytamoxifen-inducible MycER system in normal human BJ fibroblasts. We show here that activation of RAS alone induced senescence while activation of MYC alone or together with RAS triggered DNA damage, induction of p53 and massive apoptosis, suggesting that RAS cannot rescue MYC-induced apoptosis in this system. Although coexpression with MYC reduced certain RAS-induced senescence markers (histone H3 lysine 9 trimethylation and senescence-associated β-GAL activity), the induction of the senescence marker p16INK4A was further enhanced and the culture ceased to proliferate within a few days, revealing that MYC could not fully suppress RAS-induced senescence. Furthermore, depletion of p53, which enhanced proliferation and rescued the cells from RAS-induced senescence, did not abrogate MYC-induced apoptosis. We conclude that MYC and RAS are unable to cooperate in overcoming senescence and apoptosis in normal human fibroblasts even after depletion of p53, indicating that additional oncogenic events are required to abrogate these fail-safe mechanisms and pave the way for cellular transformation. These findings have implications for our understanding of the transformation process in human cells. Abbreviations and acronyms: CDK: Cyclin-dependent kinase; DDR: DNA damage response; DOX: Doxycycline; EdU: 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine; FACS: Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting; MycER: MYC-estrogen receptor; OHT: 4-hydroxytamoxifen; OIS: Oncogene-induced senescence; PP2A: Protein phosphatase 2A; ROS: Reactive oxygen species; SA-β-GAL: Senescence-associated β-galactosidase; SAHF: Senescence-associated heterochromatin foci; shRNA: Short hairpin RNA; YFP: Yellow fluorescent protein.

The Myc oncoprotein is tightly regulated at multiple levels including ubiquitin-mediated protein turnover. We recently demonstrated that inhibition of Cdk2-mediated phosphorylation of Myc at Ser-62 pharmacologically or through interferon (IFN)-γ-induced expression of p27(Kip1) (p27) repressed Myc's activity to suppress cellular senescence and differentiation. In this study we identified an additional activity of p27 to interfere with Myc independent of Ser-62 phosphorylation. p27 is required and sufficient for IFN-γ-induced turnover of Myc. p27 interacted with Myc in the nucleus involving the C-termini of the two proteins, including Myc box 4 of Myc. The C-terminus but not the Cdk2 binding fragment of p27 was sufficient for inducing Myc degradation. Protein expression data of The Cancer Genome Atlas breast invasive carcinoma set revealed significantly lower Myc protein levels in tumors with highly expressed p27 lacking phosphorylation at Thr-157--a marker for active p27 localized in the nucleus. Further, these conditions correlated with favorable tumor stage and patient outcome. This novel regulation of Myc by IFN-γ/p27(KIP1) potentially offers new possibilities for therapeutic intervention in tumors with deregulated Myc.

Aging in organisms as diverse as yeast, nematodes, and mammals is delayed by caloric restriction, an effect mediated by the nutrient sensing TOR, RAS/cAMP, and AKT/Sch9 pathways. The transcription factor Gis1 functions downstream of these pathways in extending the lifespan of nutrient restricted yeast cells, but the mechanisms involved are still poorly understood. We have used gene expression microarrays to study the targets of Gis1 and the related protein Rph1 in different growth phases. Our results show that Gis1 and Rph1 act both as repressors and activators, on overlapping sets of genes as well as on distinct targets. Interestingly, both the activities and the target specificities of Gis1 and Rph1 depend on the growth phase. Thus, both proteins are associated with repression during exponential growth, targeting genes with STRE or PDS motifs in their promoters. After the diauxic shift, both become involved in activation, with Gis1 acting primarily on genes with PDS motifs, and Rph1 on genes with STRE motifs. Significantly, Gis1 and Rph1 control a number of genes involved in acetate and glycerol formation, metabolites that have been implicated in aging. Furthermore, several genes involved in acetyl-CoA metabolism are downregulated by Gis1.

Background: The MYC protein controls cellular functions such as differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. In response to genotoxic agents, cells overexpressing MYC undergo apoptosis. However, the MYC-regulated effectors acting upstream of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway are still unknown., Principal Findings: In this study, we demonstrate that expression of Myc is required to activate the Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM)-dependent DNA damage checkpoint responses in rat cell lines exposed to ionizing radiation (IR) or the bacterial cytolethal distending toxin (CDT). Phosphorylation of the ATM kinase and its downstream effectors, such as histone H2AX, were impaired in the myc null cell line HO15.19, compared to the myc positive TGR-1 and HOmyc3 cells. Nuclear foci formation of the Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome (Nbs) 1 protein, essential for efficient ATM activation, was also reduced in absence of myc. Knock down of the endogenous levels of MYC by siRNA in the human cell line HCT116 resulted in decreased ATM and CHK2 phosphorylation in response to irradiation. Conversely, cell death induced by UV irradiation, known to activate the ATR-dependent checkpoint, was similar in all the cell lines, independently of the myc status., Conclusion: These data demonstrate that MYC contributes to the activation of the ATM-dependent checkpoint responses, leading to cell death in response to specific genotoxic stimuli.

The MYC and RAS oncogenes are frequently activated in cancer and, together, are sufficient to transform rodent cells. The basis for this cooperativity remains unclear. We found that although Ras interfered with Myc-induced apoptosis, Myc repressed Ras-induced senescence, together abrogating two main barriers of tumorigenesis. Inhibition of cellular senescence required phosphorylation of Myc at Ser-62 by cyclin E/cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) 2. Cdk2 interacted with Myc at promoters, where it affected Myc-dependent regulation of genes, including Bmi-1, p16, p21, and hTERT, which encode proteins known to control senescence. Repression of senescence by Myc was abrogated by the Cdk inhibitor p27Kip1, which is induced by antiproliferative signals like IFN-gamma or by pharmacological inhibitors of Cdk2 but not by inhibitors of other Cdks. In contrast, a phospho-mimicking Myc-S62D mutant was resistant to these manipulations. Inhibition of cyclin E/Cdk2 reversed the senescence-associated gene expression pattern imposed by Myc/cyclin E/Cdk2. This indicates a role of Cdk2 as a transcriptional cofactor and activator of the antisenescence function of Myc and provides mechanistic insight into the Myc-p27Kip1 antagonism. Finally, our findings highlight that pharmacological inhibition of Cdk2 activity is a potential therapeutical principle for cancer therapy, in particular for tumors with activated Myc or Ras.

Activated oncogenes induce compensatory tumour-suppressive responses, such as cellular senescence or apoptosis, but the signals determining the main outcome remain to be fully understood. Here, we uncover a role for Cdk2 (cyclin-dependent kinase 2) in suppressing Myc-induced senescence. Short-term activation of Myc promoted cell-cycle progression in either wild-type or Cdk2 knockout mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs). In the knockout MEFs, however, the initial hyper-proliferative response was followed by cellular senescence. Loss of Cdk2 also caused sensitization to Myc-induced senescence in pancreatic beta-cells or splenic B-cells in vivo, correlating with delayed lymphoma onset in the latter. Cdk2-/- MEFs also senesced upon ectopic Wnt signalling or, without an oncogene, upon oxygen-induced culture shock. Myc also causes senescence in cells lacking the DNA repair protein Wrn. However, unlike loss of Wrn, loss of Cdk2 did not enhance Myc-induced replication stress, implying that these proteins suppress senescence through different routes. In MEFs, Myc-induced senescence was genetically dependent on the ARF-p53-p21Cip1 and p16INK4a-pRb pathways, p21Cip1 and p16INK4a being selectively induced in Cdk2-/- cells. Thus, although redundant for cell-cycle progression and development, Cdk2 has a unique role in suppressing oncogene- and/or stress-induced senescence. Pharmacological inhibition of Cdk2 induced Myc-dependent senescence in various cell types, including a p53-null human cancer cell line. Our data warrant re-assessment of Cdk2 as a therapeutic target in Myc- or Wnt-driven tumours.

The jumonji domain is a highly conserved bipartite domain made up of two subdomains, jmjN and jmjC, which is found in many eukaryotic transcription factors. The jmjC domain was recently shown to possess the histone demethylase activity. Here we show that the jmjN and jmjC domains of the yeast zinc finger protein Gis1 interact in a two-hybrid system with 19 yeast proteins that include the RecQ helicase Sgs1, the silencing factors Esc1 and Sir4, the URI-type prefoldin Bud27 and the PIAS type SUMO ligase Nfi1/Siz2. Extensive interaction cross dependencies further suggest that the proteins form a larger complex. Consistent with this, 16 of the proteins also interact with a Bud27 two-hybrid bait, and three of them co-precipitate with TAP-tagged Gis1. The Gis1 jumonji domain can repress transcription when recruited to a promoter as a lexA fusion. This effect is dependent on both the jmjN and jmjC subdomains, as were all 19 two-hybrid interactions, indicating that the two subdomains form a single functional unit. The human Sgs1 homolog WRN also interacts with the Gis1 jumonji domain. Finally, we note that several jumonji domain interactors are related to proteins that are found in mammalian PML nuclear bodies.

Med21 (Srb7) is a small essential subunit of the middle domain of the Mediator, which is conserved in all eukaryotes. It is thought to play an important role in both transcriptional activation and repression. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Med21 is known to interact both with the Mediator subunit Med6 and the global co-repressor Tup1. We have made a temperature-sensitive med21-ts mutant, which we used in a high copy number suppressor screen. We found ten yeast genes that can suppress the med21-ts mutation in high copy number. The three strongest suppressors were MED7 and MED10 (NUT2), which encode other Mediator subunits, and ASH1, which encodes a repressor of the HO gene. 2-Hybrid experiments confirmed multiple interactions between Med21, Med10, Med7 and Med4, and also revealed a Med21 self-interaction. The interactions of Med21 with Med7 and Med10 were verified by co-immunoprecipitation of tagged proteins produced in insect cells and E. coli, where both interactions were found to depend strongly on the amino acid residues 2-8 of Med21. These interactions, and the interactions of Med21 with Med6 and Tup1, suggest that Med21 may serve as a molecular switchboard that integrates different signals before they reach the core polymerase.