Posts Tagged ‘medicine’

Researchers develop novel therapy that could be effective in many cancers

Posted in Cancer - General, Cancer and Current Therapeutics, CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Genomic Expression, Loss of function gene, therapeutics, tagged Akt, Cancer - General, Clinical trial, Drug discovery, health, medicine, Mount Sinai, MS21, novel therapeutic approach, Novella Clinical, research, therapeutics on July 29, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Reporter: Danielle Smolyar, Research Assistant 3 – Text Analysis for 2.0 LPBI Group’s TNS #1 – 2020/2021 Academic Internship in Medical Text Analysis (MTA)

Recently, researchers at Mount Sinai were able to develop a therapeutic agent that shows high levels of effectiveness in Vitro disrupting a biological pathway that allow cancer to survive. This finding is according to a paper which was published in Cancer Discovery, which is a Journal of the American Association of cancer research in July 2021.

The therapy in which they focus on is a molecule named MS21, which causes the degradation of AKT which is an enzyme that is very active and present in cancers. In this study there was much evidence that pharmacological degradation of AKT is a feasible treatment for cancer’s which have a mutation in certain genes. 

AKT is a cancer gene that encodes an enzyme that is abnormally activated in cancer cells to stimulate tumor growth. The degradation of AKT reverses all these processes which ultimately inhibits further tumor growth.

“Our study lays a solid foundation for the clinical development of an AKT degrader for the treatment of human cancers with certain gene mutations,” said Ramon Parsons, MD, Ph.D., Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute and Ward-Coleman Chair in Cancer Research and Chair of Oncological Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Examination of 44,000 human cancers identified that 19 percent of tumors have at least one of these mutations, suggesting that a large population of cancer patients could benefit from therapy with an AKT degrader such as MS21.”

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-07-therapy-effective-cancers.html.

MS21 was tested and human cancer derived cell lines, is used in Laboratories as a model to study the efficacy of different cancer therapies.

At Mount Sinai they were looking to develop MS21 with an industry partner in order to open clinical trials for patients. 

“Translating these findings into effective cancer therapies for patients is a high priority because the mutations and the resulting cancer-driving pathways that we lay out in this study are arguably the most commonly activated pathways in human cancer, but this effort has proven to be particularly challenging,” said Jian Jin, Ph.D., Mount Sinai Professor in Therapeutics Discovery and Director of the Mount Sinai Center for Therapeutics Discovery at Icahn Mount Sinai. “We look forward to an opportunity to develop this molecule into a therapy that is ready to be studied in clinical trials.”

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-07-therapy-effective-cancers.html.

Image credit: National Cancer Institute

Original article: 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-07-therapy-effective-cancers.html

Researchers develop novel therapy that could be effective in many cancers

staff, S. X. (2021, July 23). R. Medical Xpress – by The Mount Sinai Hospital

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-07-therapy-effective-cancers.html. 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/779594

UPDATE 12/12/2022

From Mt. Sinai

Advancing cancer precision medicine by creating a better toolbox for cancer therapy

Jian Jin1,2,3,4,5*, Arvin C. Dar1,2,3,4, Deborah Doroshow¹

A

mong approximately 20,000 proteins in the human proteome, 627 have been identified by cancer-dependency studies as priority can­cer targets, which are functionally important for various cancers. Of these 600-plus priority targets, 232 are enzymes and 395 are nonenzyme proteins (1). Tremendous progress has been made over the past several decades in targeting enzymes, in particular kinas-es, which have suitable binding pockets that can be occupied by small-molecule inhibitors, leading to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals of many small-molecule drugs as targeted anticancer thera-

¹Tisch Cancer Institute; ²Department of Oncological Sciences; ³Department of Pharmacological Sciences; ⁴Mount Sinai Center for Therapeutics Discovery; ⁵Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY

*Corresponding author: jian.jin@mssm.edu

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pies. However, most of the 395 nonenzyme protein targets, including tran­scription factors (TFs), do not have suitable binding pockets that can be effectively targeted by small molecules. These targets have consequently been considered undruggable; however, new cutting-edge approaches and technologies have recently been developed to target some of these “un-druggable” proteins in order to advance precision oncology.

TPD, a promising approach to precision cancer therapeutics

Targeted protein degradation (TPD) refers to the process of chemical­ly eliminating proteins of interest (POIs) by utilizing small molecules, which are broadly divided into two types of modalities: PROteolysis Tar­geting Chimeras (PROTACs) and molecular glues (2). PROTACs are het-erobifunctional small molecules that contain two moieties: one binding the POI, linked to another binding an ubiquitin E3 ligase. The induced proximity between the POI and ubiquitination machinery leads to selec­tive polyubiquitylation of the POI and its subsequent degradation by the ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS). Molecular glues are monovalent small molecules, which, when built for TPD, directly induce interactions between the POI and an E3 ligase, also resulting in polyubiquitylation and subsequent degradation of the POI by the UPS. One of the biggest poten­tial advantages of these therapeutic modalities over traditional inhibitors is that PROTACs and molecular glues can target undruggable proteins. Explosive growth has been seen in the TPD field over recent years (2, 3). Here, we highlight several recent advancements.

TF-PROTAC, a novel platform for targeting undruggable

tumorigenic TFs

Many undruggable TFs are tumorigenic. To target them, TF-PROTAC was developed (4), which exploits the fact that TFs bind DNA in a sequence-specific manner. TF-PROTAC was created to selectively bind a TF and E3 ligase simultaneously, by conjugating a DNA oligonucleotide specific for the TF of interest to a selective E3 ligase ligand. As stated ear­lier, this simultaneous binding and induced proximity leads to selective polyubiquitination of the TF and its subsequent degradation by the UPS. TF-PROTAC is a cutting-edge technology that could potentially provide a universal strategy for targeting most undruggable tumorigenic TFs.

Development of novel PROTAC degraders

WDR5, an important scaffolding protein, not an enzyme, is essential for sustaining tumorigenesis in multiple cancers, including MLL-rearranged (MLL-r) leukemia. However, small-molecule inhibitors that block the pro-tein–protein interaction (PPI) between WDR5 and its binding partners ex­hibit very modest cancer cell–killing effects, likely due to the confounding fact that these PPI inhibitors target only some—but not all—of WDR5’s on-cogenic functions. To address this shortcoming, a novel WDR5 PROTAC, MS67, was recently created using a powerful approach that effectively eliminates the protein and thereby all WDR5 functions via ternary com­plex structure-based design (Figure 1) (5). MS67 is a highly effective WDR5 degrader that potently and selectively degrades WDR5 and effec­tively suppresses the proliferation of tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. This study provides strong evidence that pharmacological degradation of WDR5 as a novel therapeutic strategy is superior to WDR5 PPI inhibition for treating WDR5-dependent cancers.

EZH2 is an oncogenic methyltransferase that catalyzes histone H3 ly­sine 27 trimethylation, mediating gene repression. In addition to this ca­nonical function, EZH2 has numerous noncanonical tumorigenic func­tions. EZH2 enzymatic inhibitors, however, are generally ineffective in

suppressing tumor growth in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and MLL-r leukemia models and fail to phenocopy antitumor effects induced by EZH2 knockdown strategies. To target both canonical and noncanon-ical oncogenic functions of EZH2, several novel EZH2 degraders were recently developed, including MS1943, a hydrophobic tag–based EZH2 degrader (6), and MS177, an EZH2 PROTAC (7). MS1943 and MS177 effectively degrade EZH2 and suppress in vitro and in vivo growth in TNBC and MLL-r leukemia, respectively, suggesting that EZH2 degrad­ers could provide a novel and effective therapeutic strategy for EZH2-dependent tumors.

MS21, a novel AKT PROTAC degrader, was developed to target acti­vated AKT, the central node of the PI3K–AKT–mTOR signaling pathway (8). MS21 effectively suppresses the proliferation of PI3K–PTEN pathway-mutant cancers with wild-type KRAS and BRAF, which represent a large percentage of all human cancers. Another recent technology that expands the bifunctional toolbox for TPD is the demonstration that the E3 ligase KEAP1 can be leveraged for PROTAC development using a selective KEAP1 ligand (9). Overall, tremendous progress has been made in discov­ering novel degraders, some of which have advanced to clinical develop­ment as targeted therapies (2, 3).

Novel approaches to selective TPD in cancer cells

To minimize uncontrolled protein degradation in normal tissues, which may cause potential toxicity, a new technology was developed that incor­porates a light-inducible switch, termed “opto-PROTAC” (10). This switch serves as a caging group that renders opto-PROTAC inactive in all cells in the absence of ultraviolet (UV) light. Upon UV irradiation, however, the caging group is removed, resulting in the release of the active degrader and spatiotemporal control of TPD in cancer cells. Another strategy to achieve selective TPD in cancer over normal cells is to cage degraders with a folate group (11, 12). Folate-caged degraders are inert and selectively concen­trated within cancer cells, which overexpress folate receptors compared to normal cells. The caging group is subsequently removed inside tumor cells, releasing active degraders and achieving selective TPD in these cells. These novel approaches potentially enable degraders to be precision can­cer medicines.

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Frontiers of Medical Research: Cancer

Trametiglue, a novel and atypical molecular glue

The RAS–RAF–MEK–ERK signaling pathway, one of the most frequent­ly mutated pathways in cancer, has been intensively targeted. Several drugs, such as the KRAS G12C inhibitor sotorasib and the MEK inhib­itor trametinib, have been approved by the FDA. A significant advance­ment in this area is the discovery that trametinib unexpectedly binds a pseudokinase scaffold termed “KSR” in addition to MEK through inter­facial contacts (13). Based on this structural and mechanistic insight, tra-metiglue, an analog of trametinib, was created as a novel molecular glue to limit adaptive resistance to MEK inhibition by enhancing interfacial binding between MEK, KSR, and the related homolog RAF. This study provides a strong foundation for developing next-generation drugs that target the RAS pathway.

TF-DUBTAC, a novel technology to stabilize undruggable tumor-suppressive TFs

Complementary to degrading tumorigenic TFs, stabilizing tumor-suppressive TFs could provide another effective approach for treating can­cer. While most tumor-suppressive TFs are undruggable, TF-DUBTAC was recently developed as a generalizable platform to stabilize tumor-sup­pressive TFs (14). Deubiquitinase-targeting chimeras (DUBTACs) are heterobifunctional small molecules with a deubiquitinase (DUB) ligand linked to a POI ligand, which stabilize POIs by harnessing the deubiq-uitination machinery (15). Similar to TF-PROTAC, TF-DUBTAC exploits the fact that most TFs bind specific DNA sequences. TF-DUBTAC links a DNA oligonucleotide specific to a tumor-suppressive TF with a selective DUB ligand, resulting in simultaneous binding of the TF and DUB. The induced proximity between the TF and DUB leads to selective deubiquiti-

Putting a bull’s-eye on cancer’s back

Scientists are aiming the immune systems’ “troops” directly at tumors to better treat cancer

Joshua D. Brody, Brian D. Brown

I

mmunotherapy has transformed the treatment of several types of can­cers. In particular, immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), which reinvig­orates killer T cells, has helped extend the lives of many patients with advanced-stage lung, bladder, kidney, or skin cancers. Unfortunately, ~80% of patients do not respond to current immunotherapies or even-tually relapse. Emerging data indicate that one of the most profound ways cancers resist immunotherapy is by keeping killer T cells out of the tumor and putting other immune cells in a suppressed state (1). This un­derstanding is giving rise to a new frontier in immunotherapy that is using synthetic biology and other approaches to reprogram the tumor from im­mune “cold” to immune “hot,” so T cells can be recruited to the tumor, and enter, target, and destroy the cancer cells (2) (Figure 1).

Cancers protect themselves by keeping out immune cells

Cancers grow in tissues like foreign invaders. Though they start from healthy cells, mutations turn cells malignant and allow them to grow un­checked. T cells can kill malignant cells that express mutated proteins, but cancers employ strategies to fend off the T cells. One way they do this is

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nation of the TF and its stabilization. As an exciting new technology, TF-DUBTAC provides a potential general strategy to stabilize most undrugga-ble tumor-suppressive TFs for treating cancer.

Future outlook

The breathtaking pace we are seeing in the development of innovative approaches and technologies for advancing cancer therapies is only ex­pected to accelerate. The promising clinical results achieved by PROTACs with established targets are particularly encouraging and pave the way for development of PROTACs for newer and more innovative targets. These groundbreaking discoveries have now put opportunities to fully realize cancer precision medicine within our reach.

References

1. F. M. Behan et al., Nature 568, 511–516 (2019).
2. B. Dale et al., Nat. Rev. Cancer 21, 638–654 (2021).
3. A. Mullard, Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 20, 247–250 (2021).
4. J. Liu et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 143, 8902–8910 (2021).
5. X. Yu et al., Sci. Transl. Med. 13, eabj1578 (2021).
6. A. Ma et al., Nat. Chem. Biol. 16, 214–222 (2020).
7. J. Wang et al., Nat. Cell Biol. 24, 384–399 (2022).
8. J. Xu et al., Cancer Discov. 11, 3064–3089 (2021).
9. J. Wei et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 143, 15073–15083 (2021).
10. J. Liu et al., Sci. Adv. 6, eaay5154 (2020).
11. J. Liu et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 143, 7380–7387 (2021).
12. H. Chen et al., J. Med. Chem. 64, 12273–12285 (2021).
13. Z. M. Khan et al., Nature 588, 509–514 (2020).
14. J. Liu et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 144, 12934–12941 (2022).

N. J. Henning et al., Nat. Chem. Biol. 18, 412–421 (2022

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Will COVID become a disease of the young?

Posted in children, COVID-19, COVID-19, Immunology, SARS-CoV-2, Vaccinology, tagged adolescent, COVID Vaccine, COVID-19, COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2, medicine, research, vaccines on July 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Will COVID become a disease of the young?

Reporter: Danielle Smolyar, Research Assistant 3 – Text Analysis for 2.0 LPBI Group’s TNS #1 – 2020/2021 Academic Internship in Medical Text Analysis (MTA)

An increase of infections among youth who are unvaccinated in countries with high vaccination rates is getting noticed in the role of young people in the pandemic.

On June 21 is Ross Ministry of health recommended that all individuals between the ages of 12 and 15 should be vaccinated. This makes the nation one of the few that have been approved vaccinations for younger kids. This decision came about in response too many other countries with high rates of vaccination are experiencing an increase in numbers of infections that are found to be in younger age groups.

Israel’s vaccination campaign which has reached to more than 85% of the adult population to be vaccinated noticed that case numbers are dropping around a dozen daily in the month of June. At the end of June, they have realized that the cases began to rise to more than 100 cases a day. These cases were found in kids under the age of 16 which is why the government decided to allow vaccinations.

Ran Balicer, and epidemiologists at Israel’s largest healthcare provider in Tel Aviv said that the younger profile is not surprising.

This trend that Israel started to notice is not just happening in Israel. The United States and the United Kingdom COVID-19, “become a disease of the unvaccinated, who are predominantly young”, says Joshua Goldstein, a demographer at the University of California, Berkeley. Stated in the article. 

This trend has been occurring in the countries where the older population were being vaccinated first. Follow the drop in age because they were vaccinating older people who are the most at risk for the disease.

This shift has shut attention to the studies of transmission in the younger age groups. Karin Magnusson immunologist said that it has come very important to understand the burden of the disease among the younger children. 

Magnusson on the impact of COVID-19 in children in Norway. On June 5 pre-print she reported that children see their doctor regularly up to six months after contracting Covid-19.

Balicer, is studying the virus spread in multi-generational households in Israel. Going beyond whether vaccinating children or not the patterns of COVID-19 infection have caused discussions about mask wearing to adolescence and kids in Israel. 

As stated in the article, “As the burden of cases shifts towards younger people, arguments for vaccinating adolescents will become slightly more compelling,” agrees Nick Bundle, an epidemiologist at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Stockholm.” However, the risk of disease in children still is low and in other countries the total number of cases have declined.

Countries also need to consider the global contacts. As stated in the article, “Are we really better off giving the vaccine to kids in rich countries than to older people [in less wealthy countries] where it might have a much bigger impact on people’s lives?” says Jennie Lavine, who studies infectious-disease dynamics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. “It seems hard for me to imagine a really good argument for that.”

Oh there is a downward shift and the average age of infected with COVID-19 in countries with high COVID-19 vaccination rates it may be short-lived. There could be a few scenarios where the shift could bounce back says Henrik Salje, who is an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge, UK. Many of the countries could start vaccinating the adolescence just like Israel and the United States are already doing so. 

Bundle says that COVID- 19 can still be present in younger kids. “But how big a problem that is, is not a simple thing to respond to.”

SOURCE: Mallapaty, S. (2021, July 8). Will COVID become a disease of the young? Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01862-7

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COVID and the brain: researchers zero in on how damage occurs

Posted in Cancer Researchers Fighting COVID-19, COVID-19, COVID-19, Human Antibody Response, Immunology, memory loss, Neurological Diseases, SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-2 Viral Variants, Stroke, Treatment Protocols for COVID-19, tagged brain, brain development, Clinical trial, COVID-19, damage, health, medicine, memory loss, SARS-CoV-2 on July 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

COVID and the brain: researchers zero in on how damage occurs

Reporter: Danielle Smolyar

Research Assistant 3 – Text Analysis for 2.0 LPBI Group’s TNS #1 – 2020/2021 Academic Internship in Medical Text Analysis (MTA)

Recent evidence has indicated that coronavirus can cause brain fog and also lead to different neurological symptoms. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, researchers have been trying to understand how the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 affects the brain

Image Credit: Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS/Getty

image source:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01693-6?utm_source=Nature+Briefing

New evidence has shown how coronavirus has caused much damage to the brain. There is a new evidence that shows that COVID-19 assault on the brain I has the power to be multipronged. What this means is that it can attack on certain Brain cells such as reduce the amount of blood flow that the brain needs to the brain tissue.

Along with brain damage COVID-19 has also caused strokes and memory loss. A neurologist at yell University Serena Spudich says, “Can we intervene early to address these abnormalities so that people don’t have long-term problems?”

We’re on 80% of the people who have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 have showed brain symptoms which seem to be correlated to coronavirus.

At the start of the pandemic a group of researchers speculated that coronavirus they can damage the brain by infecting the neurons in the cells which are important in the process of transmitting information. After further studies they found out that coronavirus has a harder time getting past the brains defense system and the brain barrier and that it does not affect the neurons in anyway.

An expert in this study indicated that a way in which SARS-CoV-2 may be able to get to the brain is by going through the olfactory mucosa which is the lining of the nasal cavity. It is found that this virus can be found in the nasal cavity which is why we swab the nose one getting tested for COVID-19.

Spudich quotes, “there’s not a tonne of virus in the brain”.

Recent studies indicate that SARS-CoV-2 have ability to infect astrocytes which is a type of cell found in the brain. Astrocytes do quite a lot that supports normal brain function,” including providing nutrients to neurons to keep them working, says Arnold Kriegstein, a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco.

Astrocytes are star-shaped cells in the central nervous system that perform many functions, including providing nutrients to neurons.

Image Credit: David Robertson, ICR/SPL

image source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01693-6?utm_source=Nature+Briefing

Kriegstein and his fellow colleagues have found that SARS-CoV-2 I mostly infects the astrocytes over any of the other brain cells present. In this research they expose brain organoids which is a miniature brain that are grown from stem cells into the virus.

As quoted in the article” a group including Daniel Martins-de-Souza, head of proteomics at the University of Campinas in Brazil, reported⁶ in a February preprint that it had analysed brain samples from 26 people who died with COVID-19. In the five whose brain cells showed evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, 66% of the affected cells were astrocytes.”

The infected astrocytes could indicate the reasoning behind some of the neurological symptoms that come with COVID-19. Specifically, depression, brain fog and fatigue. Kreigstein quotes, “Those kinds of symptoms may not be reflective of neuronal damage but could be reflective of dysfunctions of some sort. That could be consistent with astrocyte vulnerability.”

A study that was published on June 21 they compared eight different brands of deceased people who did have COVID-19 along with 14 brains as the control. The results of this research were that they found that there was no trace of coronavirus Brain infected but they found that the gene expression was affected in some of the astrocytes.

As a result of doing all this research and the findings the researchers want to know more about this topic and how many brain cells need to be infected for there to be neurological symptoms says Ricardo Costa.

Further evidence has also been done on how SARS-CoV-2 can affect the brain by reducing its blood flow which impairs the neurons’ function which ends up killing them.

Pericytes can be found on the small blood vessels which are called capillaries and are found all throughout the body and in the brain. In a February pre-print there was a report about how SARS-CoV-2 can infect the pericyte in the brain organoids. 

David Atwell, a neuroscientist at the University College London, along with his other colleagues had published a pre-print which has evidence to show that SARS-CoV-2 odes In fact pericytes behavior. I researchers saw that in the different part of the hamsters brain SARS-CoV-2 blocks the function of receptors on the pericytes which ultimately causes the capillaries found inside the tissues to constrict.

As stated in the article, It’s a “really cool” study, says Spudich. “It could be something that is determining some of the permanent injury we see — some of these small- vessel strokes.”

Attwell brought to the attention that the drugs that are used to treat high blood pressure may in fact be used in some cases of COVID-19. Currently there are two clinical trials that are being done to further investigate this idea.

There is further evidence showing that the neurological symptoms and damage could in fact be happening because of the bodies on immune system reacting or misfiring after having COVID-19.

Over the past 15 years it has become evident that people’s immune system’s make auto antibodies which attack their own tissues says Harald Prüss in the article who has a Neuroimmunologist at the German Center for neurogenerative Diseases in Berlin. This may cause neuromyelitis optica which is when you can experience loss of vision or weakness in limbs. Harald Prüss summarized that the autoantibodies can pass through the blood brain barrier and ultimately impact neurological disorders such as psychosis.

Prüss and his colleagues published a study last year that focused on them isolating antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 from people. They found that one was able to protect hamsters from lung damage and other infections. The purpose of this was to come up with and create new treatments. During this research they found that some of the antibodies from people. They found that one was able to protect hamsters from lung damage and other infections. The purpose of this was to come up with and create new treatments. During this research they found that some of the antibodies can bind to the brain tissue which can ultimately damage it. Prüss states, “We’re currently trying to prove that clinically and experimentally,” says Prüss.

Was published online in December including Prüss sorry the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of 11 people who were extremely sick with COVID-19. These 11 people had neurological symptoms as well. All these people were able to produce auto antibodies which combined to neurons. There is evidence that when the patients were given intravenous immunoglobin which is a type of antibody it was successful.

Astrocytes, pericytes and autoantibodies we’re not the only  pathways. However it is likely that people with COVID-19 experience article symptoms for many reasons. As stated, In the article, Prüss says a key question is what proportion of cases is caused by each of the pathways. “That will determine treatment,” he says.

SOURCE: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01693-6?utm_source=Nature+Briefing

Original article: 

Marshall, M. (2021, July 7). COVID and the brain: researchers zero in on how damage occurs. Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01693-6

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Heat Shock Proteins (HSP) and Molecular Chaperones

Posted in Cancer - General, Proteins, Proteomics, tagged Aging, Biology, Cancer - General, cataract, heat shock proteins, immunity, lens proteins, medicine, Molecular chaperones on April 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Heat Shock Proteins (HSP) and Molecular Chaperones

Curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

 

 

Report on the VIIth International Symposium on Heat Shock Proteins in Biology & Medicine

Stuart K. Calderwood and Lawrence E. Hightower
Cell Stress Chaperones. 2015 Mar; 20(2): 213–216.doi:  10.1007/s12192-014-0562-z

The major themes of this meeting were: new properties of heat shock proteins (HSPs) and heat shock factor (HSF) and role in the etiology of cancer, molecular chaperones in aging, extracellular HSPs in inflammation and immunity, role of heat shock and the heat shock response in immunity and cancer, protein aggregation disorders and HSP expression, and Hsp70 in blood cell differentiation.

This symposium was the seventh symposium in a series presided over by Dr Stuart Calderwood aimed at exploring the association of molecular chaperones, heat shock proteins, and the heat shock response in physiological/pathological processes. The biochemistry and ultrastructure of molecular chaperones was not emphasized, as these topics are well represented at other meetings. The major themes were: new properties of heat shock proteins (HSPs) and heat shock factor (HSF) and role in the etiology of cancer, molecular chaperones in aging, extracellular HSPs in inflammation and immunity, role of heat shock and the heat shock response in immunity and cancer, protein aggregation disorders and HSP expression, and Hsp70 in blood cell differentiation. This report gives a thematic overview and does not include all the topics presented.

NEW PROPERTIES OF HSPS AND HSF, AND ROLE IN THE ETIOLOGY OF CANCER 

One of the exciting aspects of the meeting involved advances made in understanding the biology of Hsp90. In recent years, we have understood the molecular chaperone activities of Hsp90 mostly in terms of its biochemistry, cooperative interactions with cochaperones. However, Dr Len Neckers (NCI/NIH), the conference keynote speaker, has opened up new areas in our understanding of this chaperone by characterizing the role of posttranslational modification (PTM) in terms of phosphorylation, acetylation, and sumoylation in Hsp90 biology. One particularly intriguing possibility is that altered signaling mechanisms characteristic of cancer may target such PTMs, and this could contribute to the “addiction to chaperones” observed in malignant cells. (Also discussed later by Dr Mehdi Mollapour, SUNY Upstate Medical University).

In addition, interesting differences in properties of the two Hsp90 isoforms have been detected. Dr Wei Li (University of Southern California) has shown that Hsp90a can be released into the extracellular environment and there take part in cell regulation, mediating for instance wound healing effects. In addition, proteomic studies carried out by Thomas Prince (NCI/NIH) in the Neckers lab indicate that Hsp90β may be more dedicated to “housekeeping” molecular chaperone functions while Hsp90α may play more glamorous roles in cell regulation. These distinctions might not be anticipated based on the rather minimal sequence differences between the Hsp90s but offer keen insights into the biology of this chaperone. Finally, Dr Tim Haystead (Duke University) discussed the approach of targeting ectopically expressed Hsp90 for imaging and treatment.

Another PTM with implications in the stress response is the modification of intracellular proteins by monosaccharides of O-linked β-N- acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc). Dr Natasha Zachara (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) discussed targets for this modification and roles in cytoprotection.

The poster session was also rich in Hsp90 studies, mostly from the Neckers lab—presentations by Kristin Beebe et al. (NCI/NIH) Posttranslational modification state of Hsp90 differentially affects binding of small molecule inhibitors; Toshiki Kijima et al. (NCI/NIH), Defined interactions between HSF1 and Hsp90; T. Prince et al. (NCI/NIH) Hsp90 and tyrosine kinase inhibitors: A synergistic approach towards combating cancer; Andrew W. Truman (University of Chicago)Quantitive ptoteomics of the yeast Hsp70/Hsp90 interactomes during DNA damage reveals chaperone–dependent regulation of ribonucleotide reductase. Inhibition of Hsp90 via C–domain induces temporally distinct phosphorylation patterns; and Diana M. Dunn (SUNY Upstate Medical University)Phosphorylation of human Hsp90 threonine 115 modulates chaperone function and drug sensitivity.

Hsp70 is also emerging as a factor in cell regulation, exhibiting properties beyond a narrow role in chaperoning. Dr Michael Sherman (Boston University) showed a key role for Hsp72 in mammary cancer, and this property did not seem to depend on alterations in protein folding. Instead, Hsp72 appeared to function through its co-chaperone Bag3, a major regulatory molecule in cell signaling. In addition, a presentation by Stuart Calderwood (Harvard Medical School) that included work by Jianlin Gong showed that Hsp72 is required for tumor initiation and metastasis in murine spontaneous breast cancer. These effects appeared to be partially mediated through regulation of expression of the protoooncogene c–Met, a key player in invasion and metastasis in cancer. We anticipate advances in understanding of the roles of individual members of the Hsp70 family, as is currently emerging for Hsp90. The prospect of targeting Hsp70 with small molecule inhibitors was elegantly discussed by Maureen Murphy (The Wistar Institute), who introduced a novel class of drugs that could selectively kill cancer cells by inhibiting Hsp70 function. In a related topic, Dr Mathias P. Mayer (University of Heidelberg) showed a detailed analysis of the activities of inhibitors targeting various domains in Hsp70.

Dr Takanori Eguchi (Harvard Medical School) then described his studies showing an unconventional role for the extracellular protease MMP3 as a nuclear protein that could trigger molecular chaperone synthesis (HspA7) in mammary cancer. Interestingly, a role in cancer for the Hsp70 co-chaperone Hsp40 was also shown by Dr Jane Trepel (NCI/NIH).

One presentation that stood apart was that of Dr Carmen Garrido (INSERM U866) who has shown very impressive studies indicating a key role for Hsp70 in hematopoiesis, acting through the factor GATA1. This role appeared to depend on nuclear localization of Hsp70, and Dr Garrido is attempting to study the role of PTM, particularly phosphorylation in this function/localization of Hsp70. This continued the theme of HSP PTM and regulation in the cell.

MOLECULAR CHAPERONES IN AGING

A symposium on molecular chaperones in aging was organized by Dr Shelley Buffenstein (University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio). This symposium featured some fascinating studies on the naked mole rat (NMR), a rodent with a remarkable lifespan based on size (32 years compared to 3 years in the comparably sized mouse). This has permitted comparative biology studies that have uncovered important aspects of the aging process in mammals. Dr Buffenstein showed that one aspect of the proteotoxic response was enhanced in NMR—proteasome activity that was resistant to oxidative stress as well as conventional proteasome inhibitors. Such proteasome resistance appeared to be conferred by Hsp70 and Hsp40. Karl Rodriguez (also from the UTHSC San Antonio) stressed the importance of Hsp25 in the longevity of NMR. This small HSP is expressed to very high levels in this organism. Kenneth B. Storey (Carleton University) finally gave an encyclopedic presentation entitled “HeatShock Proteins and Hypometabolism in Nature”, discussing the multiple roles of chaperones in hibernation and other processes involving a step down in metabolism.

PROTEIN AGGREGATION DISORDERS AND HSP EXPRESSION

Michael Sherman (Boston University) chaired a lively and highly diverse session on protein aggregation disorders and HSPs. Gary Jones (Maynooth University) discussed his studies on the roles of Hsp104, Hsp70, and Hsp40 in prion propagation in yeast, concentrating on Hsp70. The Hsp complex was able to dissolve prions in yeast. Daniel Kaganovich (Hebrew University) then continued in a yeast theme, discussing a further strategy for resolving proteotoxic stress involving asymmetric cell division in which damaged proteins and mitochondria remain with the mother cell after mitosis. Nava Zaarur (Boston University) then discussed the role of aggresome particles in resolving aggregated proteins, in this case in eucaryotes. Alberto Macario (University of Maryland School of Medicine) discussed the role of chaperonins in proteotoxic disorders dealing with the effects of a pathogenic mutation of human CCT5 on its intrinsic properties. Dr Elaine C. Lee (University of Connecticut) discussed another type of stress. She showed significant roles for chaperones in osmotic stress responses of Caenorhabditis elegans models of polyglutamine diseases.

EXTRACELLULAR HSPS, INFLAMMATION, AND IMMUNITY

Although it is now generally accepted that HSPs can escape the confines of the cell, many questions still remain regarding their extracellular properties, particularly with regard to their immune effects. These questions include: whether HSPs are mostly immunostimulatory or immunosuppressive, whether they can induce sterile inflammation, and what structures on the immune cells recognize the HSPs. Dr Cristina Bonorino (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul) chaired a symposium “HSP as modulators of immunity: prokaryotic meets eukaryotic” featuring presentations by Robert Binder (University of Pittsburgh), Eckhart R. Podack (University of Miami), Renata Pasqualini (University of New Mexico Medical School), and Cristina Bonorino. In short, the talks indicated that while the prokaryotic chaperone DNA-PK can be immunosppressive and prolong the lifetime of transplanted tissues and reduce the morbidity of arthritis (Drs Bonorino and Kamal Moudgil (University of Maryland School of Medicine)), HSPs can also be immunostimulatory and act as cancer vaccines when associated with cancer antigens (Drs Binder and Podack). In the discussion, it was stressed that these effects may be related to HSP dose, with low doses of HSP antigen complex favoring immunity while higher doses may lead to immunoregulatory effects (Dr Binder). Most parties agreed that much future study is required to resolve all these issues. It was also suggested, inspired by the presentation of Dr Neckers, that HSP PTMs might also be playing roles in shading the immune effects of HSPs (Dr Bonorino). In the next session, Drs Shawn Wang (Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine) and John Subjeck (Roswell Park Cancer Institute) discussed the molecular foundations of their highly effective large HSP vaccines that are now in clinical trial for tumor immunotherapy. They indicated that the high avidity for antigen of the larger HSPs might be key for effectiveness. Although the nature of HSP receptors is still not fully resolved, Ayesha Murshid (Harvard Medical School) made a strong case for the scavenger receptor SREC-I as a key molecule in the effects of HSPs on immune cells. As many of the HSPs are in large families, it has not been clear whether all members of Hsp90 or Hsp70 can function outside the cell. Dr Wei Li (University of Southern California) showed that HSP90 family member Hsp90α is the major secreted factor while Dr John Williams (University of Chester) showed potent extracellular effects for human HSP70 isoform HSPA1A. Extracellular roles are not restricted to Hsp90, and Edward O’Brien (Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta/University of Calgary) discussed the extracellular role of heat shock protein 27 (HSPB1) in inflammatory vascular disease. Another lively issue is whether HSPs are released as free proteins, packaged in exosomes, or whether both forms co-exist. This issue was discussed by Monika Fleshner (University of Colorado) and Antonio De Maio (University of California San Diego). Dr De Maio brought up the interesting scenario of Hsp70 binding directly to lipid membranes and perhaps forming membrane channels (Ryan White, University of Maryland).

HSPs are evidently not the only types of stress proteins that can function in the extracellular milieu, as indicated by Dr Michael A. Lynes (University of Connecticut). In a presentation entitled Therapeutic manipulation of the stress response during inflammatory disease, Dr Lynes showed a significant role for extracellular metallothionen in inflammatory bowel disease. Along those lines, Dr George Perdrizet (University of California San Diego) discussed the use of hyperbaric oxygen for enhanced wound healing in diabetic neuropathy, showing impressive clinical findings.

see more at — doi:  10.1007/s12192-014-0562-z

Lens Intermediate Filaments

Paul FitzGerald

Exp Eye Res. 2009 Feb; 88(2): 165–172.      doi:  10.1016/j.exer.2008.11.007

 The ocular lens assembles two separate Intermediate Filament systems sequentially with differentiation. Canonical 8–11 nm IFs composed of Vimentin are assembled in lens epithelial cells and younger fiber cells, while the fiber cell-specific Beaded Filaments are switched on as fiber cell elongation initiates. Some of the key features of both filament systems are reviewed. Actin filaments and microtubules are essential to the most elemental functions of eukaryotic cells. These filamentous structures are assembled from proteins derived from small, highly conserved gene families. Though tissue specificity exists in the expression of some actin and tubulin family members, they are generally expressed in a ubiquitous manner, and are required for eukaryotic cell survival and replication. In contrast, the family of proteins that comprise the cytoplasmic Intermediate Filaments (IFs) is one of the largest in the human genome with greater than 60 members. IFs are generally not required for cell survival, and are absent from single cell eukaryotes, suggesting a more recent appearance on the evolutionary stage, and a less-essential role in the biology of the cell.

The IF family also differs sharply from actins and tubulins in that there is great variation in both size and sequence among the IF proteins, with sequence identity falling below 30% between more distant members of the human IF family. However, despite the large number of IF proteins available for the construction of IFs, any given cell typically expresses only 1–3 IF proteins, with expression tightly restricted to cell type and state of differentiation. This suggests a considerable degree of cell-specific specialization.

While IF proteins show considerable sequence and size variation, they are unified into a family on the basis of three major features:

1. Predicted domain structure (see figure 1): Algorithms that predict coiled-coil structure show a common predicted domain structure consisting of a) head and tail domains which are quite variable in both size and sequence, and b) a central rod domain where the size (~310 amino acids) and predicted secondary structure is strongly conserved. The rod domain consists of large regions of alpha helical structure (coil domains) interrupted by short non-helical regions (“linkers”) that connect the coil domains. The size, number, and placement of linkers and coils are well-conserved. Moreover, the coil domains exhibit a heptad repeat pattern where the 1, 4 positions in the heptad are dominated by hydrophobic amino acids. Because the 1,4 positions are aligned on one  side of the helix, they form a largely hydrophobic “stripe” that runs along one side of the alpha helix. This stripe mediates the dimerization of two matched coil domains. The hydrophobic stripe gently twists around the axis of the helix, giving rise to a supercoiling of two alpha helices, hence the “coiled-coil”.

The requisite hydrophobicity at the 1, 4 positions of the heptad can be conferred by any of several amino acids, thus the central rod domain of IF proteins, while showing conserved secondary structure, also exhibits a generally high degree of sequence variation. The exceptions to this are two short motifs found at either end of the central rod domain, commonly called the Helix Initiation Motif (HIM) and the Helix termination Motif (HTM). At these two sites the primary sequence among IF proteins is well conserved. Not surprisingly, the HIM and HTM motifs are intolerant of mutations, with the majority of known IF diseases arising from point mutations in these sites (http://www.interfil.org).

2. Conserved gene structure: Sequence analysis of IF proteins has allowed clustering of IF proteins into several major classes. Sequence conservation in the rod domain is high within a class (typically greater than 70%) but low between classes. Analysis of the IF genes shows that there is conservation of gene structure as well within the IF family, with the number and placement of introns and exons well conserved, especially in the central rod domain. The degree of gene structure conservation correlates well with the degree of primary sequence conservation, and reinforces the grouping of IF proteins into classes on the basis of primary sequence.

The Type I and II IF classes are called cytokeratins, and these comprise the IFs of epithelia. These begin assembly as an obligate heterodimer of one Type I and one Type II cytokeratin. The Type III IF proteins include vimentin, desmin, GFAP, and peripherin, and these are commonly found in tissues of mesenchymal origin. While Type III IF proteins can heterodimerize, they are more commonly found as homomeric filaments. The Type IV IF proteins are the neurofilament proteins Heavy (NFH), Medium (NFM) and Light (NFL), which assemble collectively into the IFs of neurons.

3. IF proteins form 8–11 nm diameter IFs. Ultimately, despite the differences in head/ tail size and sequence, and variation in the rod domain sequence, all cytoplasmic IF proteins typically assemble into 8–11 nm IFs.

The mechanism by which vimentin is removed as the cell transitions to the organelle-free state is unknown. In cells undergoing mitosis, vimentin IFs are routinely dismantled by phosphorlylation (Inagaki, Nishi et al. 1987), a modification that causes the relatively stable IF polymer break up into smaller subunits, thought to be tetramers. These are subsequently reassembled after cell division is complete. However, vimentin in lens fiber cells appears to removed, and not simply dismantled. IFs are known to be among the first targets of calcium activated proteases (calpains) in cells that are damaged, and many investigators have demonstrated the calcium-activated degradation of both vimentin and BFs in lens(Yoshida, Murachi et al. 1984; Truscott, Marcantonio et al. 1990; Marcantonio and Duncan 1991; Bettelheim, Qin et al. 1995; Andersson, Sjostrand et al. 1996; Sanderson, Marcantonio et al. 1996; Sanderson, Marcantonio et al. 2000). The dismantling of organelles implies a potential release of calcium from organelles in which it is otherwise routinely sequestered. Whether this release occurs, and whether it alters cytoplasmic calcium levels to a degree that would activate those calpains present in the fiber cell is not known.

Caspases activated in the apoptotic cascade can target conserved sites in IF proteins(Caulin, Salvesen et al. 1997). The elimination of organelles from the fiber cell represents an incomplete apoptotic event, and thus those enzymes responsible for organelle elimination may also represent a viable mechanism for explanation of vimentin’s suggested disappearance(Oshima 2002; Omary, Coulombe et al. 2004).

The loss or reduction of vimentin levels does not leave the mature lens fiber cell devoid of an IF system, however. In a manner that emulates IF switching seen in stratified epithelia, a second generation IF system is switched on in the lens as vimentin is being switched off. It is here where the story of the lens IF system takes the most unusual turn yet described in the IF field.

The initial recognition that the mature lens fiber cells departed from the IF dogma was made when Maisel and co-workers noted the presence of “Beaded Chain Filaments” or Beaded Filaments (BFs) in an electron microscopic analysis of chick lens homogenates (Maisel and Perry 1972; Maisel 1977; Bradley and Maisel 1978; Bradley, Ireland et al. 1979). These studies noted a clearly filamentous structure that was distinct from thin filaments, microtubules, and IFs, which at that time were emerging as the universal cytoskeletal structures common to essentially all vertebrate cells. Speculation emerged that these structures were thin filaments with bound alpha crystallin particles, or nucleosomes on DNA, but these explanations were ruled out experimentally (Bloemendal, Berbers et al. 1984; Ireland and Maisel 1984).

Consistent with the emerging role of IFAPs in modulating and adapting IF function is the observation that fiber cell vimentin IFs interact with the N Cadherin-gamma catenin complex (Leonard, Chan et al. 2008), lengsin(Wyatt, Gao et al. 2008), MIP(Lindsey Rose, Gourdie et al. 2006), periplakin(Yoon and FitzGerald 2008), tropomodulin(Fischer, Quinlan et al. 2003) and possibly other complexes which are present in lens(Bagchi, Katar et al. 2002; Straub, Boda et al. 2003; Bagchi, Katar et al. 2004). The number of candidate linker proteins demonstrated in lens leads to the expectation that the BF and IF are likely to accomplish multiple functions, and that these may be modulated as differentiation progresses, and as the fiber cell proteome changes, either by expression or proteolysis. Similarly, the small heat shock proteins, whose chaperone function appears essential to IF/BF assembly and maintenance, must be considered as critical parts of the biology of IFs in lens. Mutations in the small heat shock proteins have been shown to precipitate a failure in the IF systems in many tissues, and in lens specifically, and to subsequently emulate IF diseases (FitzGerald and Graham 1991; Nicholl and Quinlan 1994; Carter, Hutcheson et al. 1995; Vicart, Caron et al. 1998; Muchowski, Valdez et al. 1999; Perng, Cairns et al. 1999; Perng, Muchowski et al. 1999; Evgrafov, Mersiyanova et al. 2004; Treweek, Rekas et al. 2005; Song, Hanson et al. 2008). The growing multiplicity of IF interactions underscores the need to expect that failure in “IF function” in the lens can result from failure in a wide spectrum of proteins that affect assembly, phosphorylation, proteolytic modification, stability, removal, or linkage to other cellular structures, and that “IF failure” is likely to show considerable variability in phenotype.

Morphological characterization of the AlphaA- and AlphaB-crystallin double knockout mouse lens    Edited by Harry Maisel

Daniel L Boyle, Larry Takemoto, James P Brady and Eric F Wawrousek
BMC Ophthalmology 2003; 3:3   http://dx.doi.org:/10.1186/1471-2415-3-3

Background: One approach to resolving some of the in vivo functions of alpha-crystallin is to generate animal models where one or both of the alpha-crystallin gene products have been eliminated. In the single alpha-crystallin knockout mice, the remaining alpha-crystallin may fully or partially compensate for some of the functions of the missing protein, especially in the lens, where both alphaA and alphaB are normally expressed at high levels. The purpose of this study was to characterize gross lenticular morphology in normal mice and mice with the targeted disruption of alphaA- and alphaB-crystallin genes (alphaA/BKO). Methods: Lenses from 129SvEvTac mice and alphaA/BKO mice were examined by standard scanning electron microscopy and confocal microscopy methodologies. Results: Equatorial and axial (sagittal) dimensions of lenses for alphaA/BKO mice were significantly smaller than age-matched wild type lenses. No posterior sutures or fiber cells extending to the posterior capsule of the lens were found in alphaA/BKO lenses. Ectopical nucleic acid staining was observed in the posterior subcapsular region of 5 wk and anterior subcapsular cortex of 54 wk alphaA/BKO lenses. Gross morphological differences were also observed in the equatorial/bow, posterior and anterior regions of lenses from alphaA/BKO mice as compared to wild mice. Conclusion: These results indicated that both alphaA- and alphaB-crystallin are necessary for proper fiber cell formation, and that the absence of alpha-crystallin can lead to cataract formation.

Dogfish a-Crystallin Sequences COMPARISON WITH SMALL HEAT SHOCK PROTEINS AND SCHISTOSOMA EGG ANTIGEN*

Wilfried W. de JongS, Jack A. M. Leunissen, Pieter J. M. Leenen, Anneke Zweers, and Marlies Versteeg
J BIOL CHEM  1988; 263(11):5141-5149

The amino acid sequences of the a-crystallin A and B chains of the dogfish, Squalus acanthias, have been determined. Comparison with a-crystallins from other species reveals that charged amino acid replacements have been strongly avoided in the evolution of this lens protein. The homology of a-crystallins with the small heat shock proteins is pronounced throughout the major part of the proteins, starting from the position of the first intron in the a-crystallin genes, but is also detectable in the amino-terminal sequences of human, Xenopus, and Drosophila small heat shock proteins. In addition, a remarkable short sequence similarity is present only in the amino termini of dogfish aB and Drosophila HSP22. The Schistosoma egg antigen p40 turns out to have a tandomly repeated region of homology with the common sequence domain of a-crystallins and small heat shock proteins. Comparison of hydropathy profiles indicates the conservation of conformation of the common domains in these three families of proteins. Construction of phylogenetic trees suggests that the aA and aB genes apparently originated from a single ancestral small heat shock protein gene and indicates that introns have been lost during the evolution of the heat shock protein.

Acknowledgment – Maisel, H. (ed) (1985) The Ocular Lens, Marcel Dekker, New. York

 

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Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Second Annual New Frontiers in Gene Editing

Posted in CRISPR/Cas9 & Gene Editing, tagged Conference Coverage with Social Media, CRISPR-Cas9, gene editing, medicine, Molecular Biology, TALEN on November 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Second Annual New Frontiers in Gene Editing

Reporter: Stephen J. Williams, PhD

Gene editing is rapidly progressing from being a research/screening tool to one that promises important applications downstream in drug development, cell therapy and bioprocessing. Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s second annual symposium on New Frontiers in Gene Editing will bring together experts from all aspects of basic science and clinical research to talk about the progress being made in gene editing and how it’s being applied. Knowing the strengths and limitations of the different tools, how does one decide when to use the CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)/Cas system, as opposed to Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs), zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) and other systems? What is being done to overcome some of the inherent challenges with design, delivery and off-target effects, associated with each of these techniques? Experts from pharma/biotech, academic and government labs will share their experiences leveraging the utility of gene editing for diverse applications.	REGISTER
	VIEW SYMPOSIA AGENDA
	SUBMIT A POSTER EXHIBIT & SPONSOR INFO PRESS/MEDIA PASSES @TriConference #TRICON TriConference.com
HOT TOPICS to be discussed: How to pick the right tools for gene editing How to set-up and run genome-scale CRISPR screens Striving for better design, targeted delivery and performance CRISPR Screening for drug target identification Gene editing in stem cells Gene editing for cell therapy and regenerative medicine Understanding the pitfalls of gene editing Dealing with off-target effects
Interested in Gene Editing? You may also want to attend our focused short course:
Cambridge Healthtech Institute 250 First Avenue, Suite 300 | Needham, MA 02494 | 781-972-5400 | www.healthtech.com

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