A network of transcription factors (TFs) coordinates transcription with cell cycle events in eukaryotes. Most TFs in the network are phosphorylated by cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK), which limits ...their activities during the cell cycle. Here, we investigate the physiological consequences of disrupting CDK regulation of the paralogous repressors Yhp1 and Yox1 in yeast. Blocking Yhp1/Yox1 phosphorylation increases their levels and decreases expression of essential cell cycle regulatory genes which, unexpectedly, increases cellular fitness in optimal growth conditions. Using synthetic genetic interaction screens, we find that Yhp1/Yox1 mutations improve the fitness of mutants with mitotic defects, including condensin mutants. Blocking Yhp1/Yox1 phosphorylation simultaneously accelerates the G1/S transition and delays mitotic exit, without decreasing proliferation rate. This mitotic delay partially reverses the chromosome segregation defect of condensin mutants, potentially explaining their increased fitness when combined with Yhp1/Yox1 phosphomutants. These findings reveal how altering expression of cell cycle genes leads to a redistribution of cell cycle timing and confers a fitness advantage to cells.
The YjgF/YER057c/UK114 family of proteins is conserved in all domains of life, suggesting that the role of these proteins arose early and was maintained throughout evolution. Metabolic consequences ...of lacking this protein in Salmonella enterica and other organisms have been described, but the biochemical function of YjgF remained unknown. This work provides the first description of a conserved biochemical activity for the YjgF protein family. Our data support the conclusion that YjgF proteins have enamine/imine deaminase activity and accelerate the release of ammonia from reactive enamine/imine intermediates of the pyridoxal 5′-phosphate-dependent threonine dehydratase (IlvA). Results from structure-guided mutagenesis experiments suggest that YjgF lacks a catalytic residue and that it facilitates ammonia release by positioning a critical water molecule in the active site. YjgF is renamed RidA (reactive intermediate/imine deaminase A) to reflect the conserved activity of the protein family described here. This study, combined with previous physiological studies on yjgF mutants, suggests that intermediates of pyridoxal 5′-phosphate-mediated reactions may have metabolic consequences in vivo that were previously unappreciated. The conservation of the RidA/YjgF family suggests that reactive enamine/imine metabolites are of concern to all organisms.
Background: YjgF proteins are conserved across the three domains of life.
Results: YjgF proteins deaminate unstable products of PLP-dependent enzyme threonine dehydratase by positioning the enamine/imine close to water in the active site.
Conclusion: YjgF is an enamine/imine deaminase and is renamed RidA.
Significance: RidA removes reactive metabolites released by PLP-dependent enzymes before they can damage cellular components.
SignificanceTo ensure their survival, cells arrest the cell division cycle when they are exposed to environmental stress. The duration of this arrest is dependent upon the time it takes a cell to ...adapt to a particular environment. How cells adjust the amount of time they remain arrested is not known. This study investigates the role of the phosphatase calcineurin in controlling cell cycle arrest duration in yeast. We show that calcineurin lengthens arrest by prolonging Hog1-dependent activation of the poorly characterized cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor Cip1. Cip1 only impacts cell cycle arrest in response to stressors that robustly activate calcineurin, suggesting that Cip1 is a context-specific regulator that differentially adjusts the length of arrest depending on the particular stressor.
Chemoimmunotherapy has been the standard of care for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). However, the introduction of B-cell receptor (BCR) kinase inhibitors such as ibrutinib has the potential to ...eliminate the role of chemotherapy in the treatment of CLL. How to best incorporate old and new therapies for CLL in this landscape is increasingly complex.
This article reviews current data available to clinicians and integrates these data to provide a strategy that can be used to approach the treatment of CLL in the era of BCR signaling inhibitors.
Current strategies separate patients based on age or functional status as well as genetics presence or absence of del(17)(p13.1). In the era of targeted therapy, this will likely continue based on current available data. Phase III studies support chemoimmunotherapy as the initial standard therapy for patients without del(17)(p13.1). Choice of chemotherapy (fludarabine plus cyclophosphamide, bendamustine, or chlorambucil) and anti-CD20 antibody (rituximab, ofatumumab, or obinutuzumab) varies based on regimen and patient status. For patients with del(17)(p13.1), no standard initial therapy exists, although several options supported by phase II clinical trials (methylprednisolone plus alemtuzumab or ibrutinib) seem better than chemoimmunotherapy. Treatment of relapsed CLL seems to be best supported by ibrutinib-based therapy. Completion of trials with ibrutinib and other new agents in the near future will offer opportunity for chemotherapy-free treatment across all groups of CLL.
Therapy for CLL has evolved significantly over the past decade with introduction of targeted therapy for CLL. This has the potential to completely transform how CLL is treated in the future.
Upon exposure to environmental stressors, cells transiently arrest the cell cycle while they adapt and restore homeostasis. A challenge for all cells is to distinguish between stress signals and ...coordinate the appropriate adaptive response with cell cycle arrest. Here we investigate the role of the phosphatase calcineurin (CN) in the stress response and demonstrate that CN activates the Hog1/p38 pathway in both yeast and human cells. In yeast, the MAPK Hog1 is transiently activated in response to several well-studied osmostressors. We show that when a stressor simultaneously activates CN and Hog1, CN disrupts Hog1-stimulated negative feedback to prolong Hog1 activation and the period of cell cycle arrest. Regulation of Hog1 by CN also contributes to inactivation of multiple cell cycle-regulatory transcription factors (TFs) and the decreased expression of cell cycle-regulated genes. CN-dependent downregulation of G1/S genes is dependent upon Hog1 activation, whereas CN inactivates G2/M TFs through a combination of Hog1-dependent and -independent mechanisms. These findings demonstrate that CN and Hog1 act in a coordinated manner to inhibit multiple nodes of the cell cycle-regulatory network. Our results suggest that crosstalk between CN and stress-activated MAPKs helps cells tailor their adaptive responses to specific stressors.
Ibrutinib has been shown to have immunomodulatory effects by inhibiting Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) and IL-2-inducible T cell kinase (ITK). The relative importance of inhibiting these 2 kinases ...has not been examined despite its relevance to immune-based therapies.
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients on clinical trials of ibrutinib (BTK/ITK inhibitor; n = 19) or acalabrutinib (selective BTK inhibitor; n = 13) were collected serially. T cell phenotype, immune function, and CLL cell immunosuppressive capacity were evaluated.
Ibrutinib markedly increased CD4+ and CD8+ T cell numbers in CLL patients. This effect was more prominent in effector/effector memory subsets and was not observed with acalabrutinib. Ex vivo studies demonstrated that this may be due to diminished activation-induced cell death through ITK inhibition. PD-1 and CTLA-4 expression was significantly markedly reduced in T cells by both agents. While the number of Treg cells remained unchanged, the ratio of these to conventional CD4+ T cells was reduced with ibrutinib, but not acalabrutinib. Both agents reduced expression of the immunosuppressive molecules CD200 and BTLA as well as IL-10 production by CLL cells.
Ibrutinib treatment increased the in vivo persistence of activated T cells, decreased the Treg/CD4+ T cell ratio, and diminished the immune-suppressive properties of CLL cells through BTK-dependent and -independent mechanisms. These features provide a strong rationale for combination immunotherapy approaches with ibrutinib in CLL and other cancers.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01589302 and NCT02029443. Samples described here were collected per OSU-0025.
The National Cancer Institute.
Given its critical role in T-cell signaling, interleukin-2–inducible kinase (ITK) is an appealing therapeutic target that can contribute to the pathogenesis of certain infectious, autoimmune, and ...neoplastic diseases. Ablation of ITK subverts Th2 immunity, thereby potentiating Th1-based immune responses. While small-molecule ITK inhibitors have been identified, none have demonstrated clinical utility. Ibrutinib is a confirmed irreversible inhibitor of Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) with outstanding clinical activity and tolerability in B-cell malignancies. Significant homology between BTK and ITK alongside in silico docking studies support ibrutinib as an immunomodulatory inhibitor of both ITK and BTK. Our comprehensive molecular and phenotypic analysis confirms ITK as an irreversible T-cell target of ibrutinib. Using ibrutinib clinical trial samples along with well-characterized neoplastic (chronic lymphocytic leukemia), parasitic infection (Leishmania major), and infectious disease (Listeria monocytogenes) models, we establish ibrutinib as a clinically relevant and physiologically potent ITK inhibitor with broad therapeutic utility. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT01105247 and #NCT01217749.
•Ibrutinib is the first clinically viable irreversible ITK inhibitor.•Ibrutinib inhibits the formation of Th2 but not Th1 immunity.
The Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib is effective in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Reasons for discontinuing therapy with this drug and outcomes following ...discontinuation have not been evaluated outside of clinical trials with relatively short follow-up.
To determine features associated with discontinuation of ibrutinib therapy and outcomes.
A total of 308 patients participating in 4 sequential trials of ibrutinib at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center were included. These clinical trials accrued patients included in this analysis from May 2010 until April 2014, and data were locked in June 2014.
Patients were evaluated for time to therapy discontinuation, reasons for discontinuation, and survival following discontinuation. For patients who discontinued therapy because of disease progression, targeted deep sequencing was performed in samples at baseline and time of relapse.
With a median follow-up of 20 months, 232 patients remained on therapy, 31 had discontinued because of disease progression, and 45 had discontinued for other reasons. Disease progression includes Richter's transformation (RT) or progressive CLL. Richter's transformation appeared to occur early and CLL progressions later (cumulative incidence at 12 months, 4.5% 95% CI, 2.0%-7.0% and 0.3% 95% CI, 0%-1.0%, respectively). Median survival following RT was 3.5 months (95% CI, 0.3-6.0 months) and 17.6 months (95% CI, 4.7 months-"not reached") following CLL progression. Sequencing on peripheral blood from 8 patients with RT revealed 2 with mutations in BTK, and a lymph node sample showed no mutations in BTK or PLCG2. Deep sequencing on 11 patients with CLL progression revealed BTK or PLCG2 mutations in all. These mutations were not identified before treatment in any patient.
This single-institution experience with ibrutinib confirms it to be an effective therapy and identifies, for the first time, baseline factors associated with ibrutinib therapy discontinuation. Outcomes data show poor prognosis after discontinuation, especially for those patients with RT. Finally, sequencing data confirm initial reports associating mutations in BTK and PLCG2 with progression and clearly show that CLL progressions are associated with these mutations, while RT is likely not.
clinicaltrials.gov Identifiers:NCT01105247, NCT01217749, NCT01589302, and NCT01578707.
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