Secreted PTEN binds PLXDC2 on macrophages to drive antitumor immunity and tumor suppression.

Loss of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) has been linked to an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, but its underlying mechanisms remain largely enigmatic. Here, we report that PTEN can be secreted by the transmembrane emp24 domain-containing protein 10 (TMED10)-channeled protein secretion pathway. Inhibiting PTEN secretion from tumor cells contributes to immunosuppression and impairs the tumor-suppressive role of PTEN, while intratumoral injection of PTEN protein promotes antitumor immunity and suppresses tumor growth in mice.

Furin extracellularly cleaves secreted PTENα/β to generate C-terminal fragment with a tumor-suppressive role.

PTENα and PTENβ (PTENα/β), two long translational variants of phosphatase and tensin homolog on chromosome 10 (PTEN), exert distinct roles from canonical PTEN, including promoting carcinogenesis and accelerating immune-resistant cancer progression. However, their roles in carcinogenesis remain greatly unknown. Herein, we report that, after secreting into the extracellular space, PTENα/β proteins are efficiently cleaved into a short N-terminal and a long C-terminal fragment by the proprotein convertase Furin at a polyarginine stretch in their N-terminal extensions.

Epithelial cells-enriched lncRNA SNHG8 regulates chromatin condensation by binding to Histone H1s.

Linker histone H1 proteins contain many variants in mammalian and can stabilize the condensed state of chromatin by binding to nucleosomes and promoting a more inaccessible structure of DNA. However, it is poorly understood how the binding of histone H1s to chromatin DNA is regulated. Screened as one of a collection of epithelial cells-enriched long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), here we found that small nucleolar RNA host gene 8 (SNHG8) is a chromatin-localized lncRNA and presents strong interaction and phase separation with histone H1 variants.

FBXO22 degrades nuclear PTEN to promote tumorigenesis.

Nuclear localization of PTEN is essential for its tumor suppressive role, and loss of nuclear PTEN is more prominent than cytoplasmic PTEN in many kinds of cancers. However, nuclear PTEN-specific regulatory mechanisms were rarely reported. Based on the finding that nuclear PTEN is more unstable than cytoplasmic PTEN, here we identify that F-box only protein 22 (FBXO22) induces ubiquitylation of nuclear but not cytoplasmic PTEN at lysine 221, which is responsible for the degradation of nuclear PTEN.

Author Correction: PTENα and PTENβ promote carcinogenesis through WDR5 and H3K4 trimethylation.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

PTENα and PTENβ promote carcinogenesis through WDR5 and H3K4 trimethylation.

PTENα and PTENβ are two longer translational variants of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) messenger RNA. Their expressional regulations and functions in carcinogenesis remain largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that, in contrast with the well-established tumour-suppressive role of canonical PTEN, PTENα and PTENβ promote tumourigenesis by directly interacting with the histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4) presenter WDR5 to promote H3K4 trimethylation and maintain a tumour-promoting signature.

Phenotype and target-based chemical biology investigations in cancers.

Chemical biology has been attracting a lot of attention because of the key roles of chemical methods and techniques in helping to decipher and manipulate biological systems. Although chemical biology encompasses a broad field, this review will focus on chemical biology aimed at using exogenous chemical probes to interrogate, modify and manipulate biological processes, at the cellular and organismal levels, in a highly controlled and dynamic manner. In this area, many advances have been achieved for cancer biology and therapeutics, from target identification and validation based on active anticancer compounds (forward approaches) to discoveries of anticancer molecules based on some important targets including protein-protein interaction (reverse approaches).

Nuclear PTEN safeguards pre-mRNA splicing to link Golgi apparatus for its tumor suppressive role.

Dysregulation of pre-mRNA alternative splicing (AS) is closely associated with cancers. However, the relationships between the AS and classic oncogenes/tumor suppressors are largely unknown. Here we show that the deletion of tumor suppressor PTEN alters pre-mRNA splicing in a phosphatase-independent manner, and identify 262 PTEN-regulated AS events in 293T cells by RNA sequencing, which are associated with significant worse outcome of cancer patients.

Downregulation of AIF by HIF-1 contributes to hypoxia-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition of colon cancer.

Recently, we have reported that apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) regulates the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process of cancers, but the mechanisms underlying the regulation of AIF expression in cancers remain greatly unknown. Here, we report that hypoxia inversely correlates with the expression of AIF in tumor tissues from a cohort of colon cancer patients and inhibits AIF expression in multiple colon cancer cell lines. This inhibition is mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), which transcriptionally represses AIF through direct binding to the hypoxia-response element in AIF promoter as revealed by luciferase reporter and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays.

AIF inhibits tumor metastasis by protecting PTEN from oxidation.

Apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) exerts dual roles on cell death and survival, but its substrates as a putative oxidoreductase and roles in tumorigenesis remain elusive. Here, we report that AIF physically interacts with and inhibits the oxidation of phosphatase and tensin homolog on chromosome ten (PTEN), a tumor suppressor susceptible for oxidation-mediated inactivation. More intriguingly, we also identify PTEN as a mitochondrial protein and the ectopic expression of mitochondrial targeting sequence-carrying PTEN almost completely inhibits Akt phosphorylation in PTEN-deficient cells.

Annonaceous acetogenin mimic AA005 induces cancer cell death via apoptosis inducing factor through a caspase-3-independent mechanism.

Background: Annonaceous acetogenins are a family of natural products with antitumor activities. Annonaceous acetogenin mimic AA005 reportedly inhibits mammalian mitochondrial NADH-ubiquinone reductase (Complex I) and induces gastric cancer cell death. However, the mechanisms underlying its cell-death-inducing activity are unclear.

Caspase-3-resistant uncleavable form of acidic leucine-rich nuclear phosphoprotein 32B potentiates leukemic cell apoptosis.

One member of the highly conserved acidic leucine‑rich nuclear phosphoprotein 32 kDa (ANP32) family of proteins, ANP32B, is critical for normal development, as demonstrated by a study in ANP32B‑deficient mice. Another study indicated that ANP32B was a direct substrate of caspase‑3, and was primarily cleaved at the sequence Ala‑Glu‑Val‑Asp, following Asp‑163. To investigate the significance of ANP32B cleavage in apoptosis, leukemic U937T cell lines were generated with inducible expression of ANP32B(wild type; WT), the uncleavable mutant ANP32B(D163A) and the N‑terminal fragment ANP32B(1‑163).

Phosphoproteomics study on the activated PKCδ-induced cell death.

The proteolytic activation of protein kinase Cδ (PKCδ) generates a catalytic fragment called PKCδ-CF, which induces cell death. However, the mechanisms underlying PKCδ-CF-mediated cell death are largely unknown. On the basis of an engineering leukemic cell line with inducible expression of PKCδ-CF, here we employ SILAC-based quantitative phosphoproteomics to systematically and dynamically investigate the overall phosphorylation events during cell death triggered by PKCδ-CF expression.

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α mediates the down-regulation of superoxide dismutase 2 in von Hippel-Lindau deficient renal clear cell carcinoma.

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) is an oxygen-sensitive subunit of HIF-1, the master transcription factor for cellular response to hypoxia. Down-regulation of the mitochondrial enzyme superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) contributes to the stabilization of HIF-1α under hypoxia due to the decreased dismutation of superoxide radical. Here we report that HIF-1α could also regulate the expression of SOD2.

PKCδ enhances C/EBPα degradation via inducing its phosphorylation and cytoplasmic translocation.

Our previous study has shown that PKCδ stimulates proteasome-dependent degradation of C/EBPα, which partially contributes to PKCδ-mediated apoptosis. However, the molecular interrelationship between these two important proteins is still unknown. In this study, we reported that C/EBPα was phosphorylated by activated PKCδ on three serines, two of which were reported for the first time.

Targeted genes and interacting proteins of hypoxia inducible factor-1.

Heterodimeric transcription factor hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) functions as a master regulator of oxygen homeostasis in almost all nucleated mammalian cells. The fundamental process adapted to cellular oxygen alteration largely depends on the refined regulation on its alpha subunit, HIF-1α. Recent studies have unraveled expanding and critical roles of HIF-1α, involving in a multitude of developmental, physiological, and pathophysiological processes.

Acidic leucine-rich nuclear phosphoprotein 32 family member B (ANP32B) contributes to retinoic acid-induced differentiation of leukemic cells.

The acidic leucine-rich nuclear phosphoprotein 32B (ANP32B) is a member of a conserved superfamily of nuclear proteins whose functions are largely unknown. In our previous work, ANP32B was identified as a novel direct substrate for caspase-3 and acted as a negative regulator for leukemic cell apoptosis. In this work, we provided the first demonstration that ANP32B expression was down-regulated during differentiation induction of leukemic cells by all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA).

Apoptosis-inducing factor is a target gene of C/EBPα and participates in adipocyte differentiation.

Besides the contribution in cell death, apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) also exerts roles in other cellular activities, which are largely unknown. The CCAAT-enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPα) is required for differentiation of adipocytes and granulocytes. Here we report that, during 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation, AIF expression is robustly upregulated via transcriptional regulation by C/EBPα.

Downregulation of ANP32B, a novel substrate of caspase-3, enhances caspase-3 activation and apoptosis induction in myeloid leukemic cells.

The acidic leucine-rich nuclear phosphoprotein 32 (ANP32)B has been reported to regulate gene expression by acting as a histone chaperone or modulate messenger RNA trafficking by serving as a HuR ligand. However, its exact cellular functions are poorly understood. By utilizing a proteomics-based approach, in this work, we identify that the human ANP32B protein is cleaved during apoptosis induction by NSC606985, a novel camptothecin analog.

Alterations of mitochondrial enzymes contribute to cardiac hypertrophy before hypertension development in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is recently thought to be tightly associated with the development of cardiac hypertrophy as well as hypertension. However, the detailed molecular events in mitochondria at early stages of hypertrophic pathogenesis are still unclear. Applying two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) combined with MALDI-TOF/TOF tandem mass spectrometry, here we identified the changed mitochondrial proteins of left ventricular mitochondria in prehypertensive/hypertensive stages of cardiac hypertrophy through comparing spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and the age-matched normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats.

Subcellular proteome analysis of camptothecin analogue NSC606985-treated acute myeloid leukemic cells.

We reported previously that NSC606985, a camptothecin analogue, induces apoptosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells through proteolytic activation of protein kinase Cdelta. Here, we analyzed protein expression profiles of fractionated nuclei, mitochondria, raw endoplasmic reticula, and cytosols of NSC606985-induced apoptotic AML cell line NB4 cells by two-dimensional electrophoresis combined with MALDI-TOF/TOF tandem mass spectrometry. In total, 90 unique deregulated proteins, including 16 compartment-compartment translocated ones, were identified.