Stress induced by the accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a feature of specialized secretory cells and is also observed in many diseases, including cancer, ...diabetes, autoimmune conditions, liver disorders, obesity and neurodegenerative disorders. Cellular adaptation to ER stress is achieved by the activation of the unfolded protein response, which is an integrated signal transduction pathway that modulates many aspects of ER physiology. When these mechanisms of adaptation are insufficient to handle the unfolded protein load, cells undergo apoptosis. Here, we discuss recent advances in the design of novel compounds and therapeutic strategies to manipulate levels of ER stress in disease.
Many biological processes are regulated through the selective dephosphorylation of proteins. Protein serine-threonine phosphatases are assembled from catalytic subunits bound to diverse regulatory ...subunits that provide substrate specificity and subcellular localization. We describe a small molecule, guanabenz, that bound to a regulatory subunit of protein phosphatase 1, PPP1R15A/GADD34, selectively disrupting the stress-induced dephosphorylation of the α subunit of translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2α). Without affecting the related PPP1R15B-phosphatase complex and constitutive protein synthesis, guanabenz prolonged eIF2α phosphorylation in human stressed cells, adjusting the protein production rates to levels manageable by available chaperones. This favored protein folding and thereby rescued cells from protein misfolding stress. Thus, regulatory subunits of phosphatases are drug targets, a property used here to restore proteostasis in stressed cells.
GDF15 is an established biomarker of cellular stress. The fact that it signals via a specific hindbrain receptor, GFRAL, and that mice lacking GDF15 manifest diet-induced obesity suggest that GDF15 ...may play a physiological role in energy balance. We performed experiments in humans, mice, and cells to determine if and how nutritional perturbations modify GDF15 expression. Circulating GDF15 levels manifest very modest changes in response to moderate caloric surpluses or deficits in mice or humans, differentiating it from classical intestinally derived satiety hormones and leptin. However, GDF15 levels do increase following sustained high-fat feeding or dietary amino acid imbalance in mice. We demonstrate that GDF15 expression is regulated by the integrated stress response and is induced in selected tissues in mice in these settings. Finally, we show that pharmacological GDF15 administration to mice can trigger conditioned taste aversion, suggesting that GDF15 may induce an aversive response to nutritional stress.
Display omitted
•Dietary changes influencing adipose/gut-derived hormones do not alter GDF15 levels•Chronic high-fat or acute lysine-deficient diet exposure increases GDF15 levels•GDF15 administration triggers conditioned taste aversion in mice•GDF15 is a stress-induced hormone that may mediate an aversive dietary response
Patel et al. show that whereas short-term overfeeding or fasting does not change GDF15 levels substantially, prolonged high-fat feeding and lysine-deficient diets activate the integrated stress response and increase GDF15 levels. GDF15 administration triggers conditioned taste aversion in mice, suggesting that GDF15 might induce an aversive response to nutritional stress.
The integrated stress response (ISR) modulates messenger RNA translation to regulate the mammalian unfolded protein response (UPR), immunity, and memory formation. A chemical ISR inhibitor, ISRIB, ...enhances cognitive function and modulates the UPR in vivo. To explore mechanisms involved in ISRIB action, we screened cultured mammalian cells for somatic mutations that reversed its effect on the ISR. Clustered missense mutations were found at the amino-terminal portion of the delta subunit of guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) eIF2B. When reintroduced by CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing of wild-type cells, these mutations reversed both ISRIB-mediated inhibition of the ISR and its stimulatory effect on eIF2B GEF activity toward its substrate, the translation initiation factor elF2, in vitro.Thus, ISRIB targets an interaction between eIF2 and eIF2B that lies at the core of the ISR.
When unfolded proteins accumulate in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the unfolded protein response (UPR) increases ER-protein-folding capacity to restore protein-folding homeostasis. Unfolded ...proteins activate UPR signaling across the ER membrane to the nucleus by promoting oligomerization of IRE1, a conserved transmembrane ER stress receptor. However, the coupling of ER stress to IRE1 oligomerization and activation has remained obscure. Here, we report that the ER luminal co-chaperone ERdj4/DNAJB9 is a selective IRE1 repressor that promotes a complex between the luminal Hsp70 BiP and the luminal stress-sensing domain of IRE1α (IRE1LD). In vitro, ERdj4 is required for complex formation between BiP and IRE1LD. ERdj4 associates with IRE1LD and recruits BiP through the stimulation of ATP hydrolysis, forcibly disrupting IRE1 dimers. Unfolded proteins compete for BiP and restore IRE1LD to its default, dimeric, and active state. These observations establish BiP and its J domain co-chaperones as key regulators of the UPR.
Display omitted
•The endoplasmic reticulum co-chaperone ERdj4 selectively represses IRE1 signaling•ERdj4 associates with the IRE1 luminal domain and recruits the Hsp70 BiP•Recruited BiP hydrolyzes ATP to disrupt the active IRE1 luminal domain dimer•Unfolded proteins compete for the repressive machinery to restore IRE1 dimers
Molecular basis for the regulation of the unfolded protein response by chaperones and misfolded proteins.
Many regulatory PPP1R subunits join few catalytic PP1c subunits to mediate phosphoserine and phosphothreonine dephosphorylation in metazoans. Regulatory subunits engage the surface of PP1c, locally ...affecting flexible access of the phosphopeptide to the active site. However, catalytic efficiency of holophosphatases towards their phosphoprotein substrates remains unexplained. Here we present a cryo-EM structure of the tripartite PP1c-PPP1R15A-G-actin holophosphatase that terminates signaling in the mammalian integrated stress response (ISR) in the pre-dephosphorylation complex with its substrate, translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α). G-actin, whose essential role in eIF2α dephosphorylation is supported crystallographically, biochemically and genetically, aligns the catalytic and regulatory subunits, creating a composite surface that engages the N-terminal domain of eIF2α to position the distant phosphoserine-51 at the active site. Substrate residues that mediate affinity for the holophosphatase also make critical contacts with eIF2α kinases. Thus, a convergent process of higher-order substrate recognition specifies functionally antagonistic phosphorylation and dephosphorylation in the ISR.
The integrated stress response (ISR) is a conserved translational and transcriptional program affecting metabolism, memory, and immunity. The ISR is mediated by stress-induced phosphorylation of ...eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α) that attenuates the guanine nucleotide exchange factor eIF2B. A chemical inhibitor of the ISR, ISRIB, reverses the attenuation of eIF2B by phosphorylated eIF2α, protecting mice from neurodegeneration and traumatic brain injury. We describe a 4.1-angstrom-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure of human eIF2B with an ISRIB molecule bound at the interface between the β and δ regulatory subunits. Mutagenesis of residues lining this pocket altered the hierarchical cellular response to ISRIB analogs in vivo and ISRIB binding in vitro. Our findings point to a site in eIF2B that can be exploited by ISRIB to regulate translation.
The small molecule ISRIB antagonizes the activation of the integrated stress response (ISR) by phosphorylated translation initiation factor 2, eIF2(αP). ISRIB and eIF2(αP) bind distinct sites in ...their common target, eIF2B, a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for eIF2. We have found that ISRIB-mediated acceleration of eIF2B’s nucleotide exchange activity in vitro is observed preferentially in the presence of eIF2(αP) and is attenuated by mutations that desensitize eIF2B to the inhibitory effect of eIF2(αP). ISRIB’s efficacy as an ISR inhibitor in cells also depends on presence of eIF2(αP). Cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) showed that engagement of both eIF2B regulatory sites by two eIF2(αP) molecules remodels both the ISRIB-binding pocket and the pockets that would engage eIF2α during active nucleotide exchange, thereby discouraging both binding events. In vitro, eIF2(αP) and ISRIB reciprocally opposed each other’s binding to eIF2B. These findings point to antagonistic allostery in ISRIB action on eIF2B, culminating in inhibition of the ISR.
Display omitted
•Mutually antagonistic binding of phosphorylated eIF2 and ISRIB to eIF2B•Opposing structural rearrangement of eIF2B by binding ISRIB or phosphorylated eIF2•Phosphorylated eIF2 exposes ISRIB’s ability to enhance eIF2B activity in vitro•Weak ISR-inhibitory activity of ISRIB in cells lacking phosphorylated eIF2
ISRIB is a drug-like compound that restores memory and cognitive function in mouse models of certain human diseases. Its beneficial properties derive from interference with a stress-response pathway that hinges on regulating rates of protein synthesis. Here, Zyryanova, Kashiwagi et al. dissect the molecular basis of ISRIB action in cells.
IRE1 couples endoplasmic reticulum unfolded protein load to RNA cleavage events that culminate in the sequence-specific splicing of the Xbp1 mRNA and in the regulated degradation of diverse ...membrane-bound mRNAs. We report on the identification of a small molecule inhibitor that attains its selectivity by forming an unusually stable Schiff base with lysine 907 in the IRE1 endonuclease domain, explained by solvent inaccessibility of the imine bond in the enzyme-inhibitor complex. The inhibitor (abbreviated 4μ8C) blocks substrate access to the active site of IRE1 and selectively inactivates both Xbp1 splicing and IRE1-mediated mRNA degradation. Surprisingly, inhibition of IRE1 endonuclease activity does not sensitize cells to the consequences of acute endoplasmic reticulum stress, but rather interferes with the expansion of secretory capacity. Thus, the chemical reactivity and sterics of a unique residue in the endonuclease active site of IRE1 can be exploited by selective inhibitors to interfere with protein secretion in pathological settings.
The eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α) kinase GCN2 is activated by amino acid starvation to elicit a rectifying physiological program known as the Integrated Stress Response (ISR). A ...role for uncharged tRNAs as activating ligands of yeast GCN2 is supported experimentally. However, mouse GCN2 activation has recently been observed in circumstances associated with ribosome stalling with no global increase in uncharged tRNAs. We report on a mammalian CHO cell-based CRISPR-Cas9 mutagenesis screen for genes that contribute to ISR activation by amino acid starvation. Disruption of genes encoding components of the ribosome P-stalk, uL10 and P1, selectively attenuated GCN2-mediated ISR activation by amino acid starvation or interference with tRNA charging without affecting the endoplasmic reticulum unfolded protein stress-induced ISR, mediated by the related eIF2α kinase PERK. Wildtype ribosomes isolated from CHO cells, but not those with P-stalk lesions, stimulated GCN2-dependent eIF2α phosphorylation in vitro. These observations support a model whereby lack of a cognate charged tRNA exposes a latent capacity of the ribosome P-stalk to activate GCN2 in cells and help explain the emerging link between ribosome stalling and ISR activation.
PDF
