bims-tunefa Biomed News
on Tumor necrosis factor superfamily and post-translational modifications
Issue of 2020‒10‒11
ten papers selected by
John Silke
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
  1. TDP-43 Triggers Mitochondrial DNA Release via mPTP to Activate cGAS/STING in ALS.
  2. Stoking the Fire: How Dying Cells Propagate Inflammatory Signalling through Extracellular Vesicle Trafficking.
  3. Receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 is a key mediator in TLR3 ligand and Smac mimetic-induced cell death and suppresses TLR3 ligand-promoted invasion in cholangiocarcinoma.
  4. TNFR2 is required for RIP1-dependent cell death in human leukemia.
  5. BCL-XL inhibition by BH3-mimetic drugs induces apoptosis in models of Epstein-Barr virus-associated T/NK-cell lymphoma.
  6. Tumor-associated macrophages induce PD-L1 expression in gastric cancer cells through IL-6 and TNF-ɑ signaling.
  7. Myeloid cells in sensing of tissue damage.
  8. Understanding the Metabolism of Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs): The Next Step toward Pharmaceutical Applications.
  9. Words of Advice: choosing the right lab for your post-doctoral fellowship.
  10. Tankyrase inhibitor XAV-939 enhances osteoblastogenesis and mineralization of human skeletal (mesenchymal) stem cells.
  1. Cell. 2020 Oct 03. pii: S0092-8674(20)31161-2. [Epub ahead of print]
    TDP-43 Triggers Mitochondrial DNA Release via mPTP to Activate cGAS/STING in ALS.
    Chien-Hsiung Yu, Sophia Davidson, Cassandra R Harapas, James B Hilton, Michael J Mlodzianoski, Pawat Laohamonthonkul, Cynthia Louis, Ronnie Ren Jie Low, Jonas Moecking, Dominic De Nardo, Katherine R Balka, Dale J Calleja, Fiona Moghaddas, Erya Ni, Catriona A McLean, Andre L Samson, Shiraz Tyebji, Christopher J Tonkin, Christopher R Bye, Bradley J Turner, Genevieve Pepin, Michael P Gantier, Kelly L Rogers, Kate McArthur, Peter J Crouch, Seth L Masters.
      Cytoplasmic accumulation of TDP-43 is a disease hallmark for many cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), associated with a neuroinflammatory cytokine profile related to upregulation of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) and type I interferon (IFN) pathways. Here we show that this inflammation is driven by the cytoplasmic DNA sensor cyclic guanosine monophosphate (GMP)-AMP synthase (cGAS) when TDP-43 invades mitochondria and releases DNA via the permeability transition pore. Pharmacologic inhibition or genetic deletion of cGAS and its downstream signaling partner STING prevents upregulation of NF-κB and type I IFN induced by TDP-43 in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived motor neurons and in TDP-43 mutant mice. Finally, we document elevated levels of the specific cGAS signaling metabolite cGAMP in spinal cord samples from patients, which may be a biomarker of mtDNA release and cGAS/STING activation in ALS. Our results identify mtDNA release and cGAS/STING activation as critical determinants of TDP-43-associated pathology and demonstrate the potential for targeting this pathway in ALS.
    Keywords:  ALS; IFN; NF-κB; STING; TDP-43; cGAMP; cGAS; mPTP; mitochondria; neurodegeneration
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.020
  2. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Oct 01. pii: E7256. [Epub ahead of print]21(19):
    Stoking the Fire: How Dying Cells Propagate Inflammatory Signalling through Extracellular Vesicle Trafficking.
    Amy A Baxter.
      Communication between dying cells and their environment is a critical process that promotes tissue homeostasis during normal cellular turnover, whilst during disease settings, it can contribute to inflammation through the release of intracellular factors. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a heterogeneous class of membrane-bound cell-derived structures that can engage in intercellular communication via the trafficking of bioactive molecules between cells and tissues. In addition to the well-described functions of EVs derived from living cells, the ability of dying cells to release EVs capable of mediating functions on target cells or tissues is also of significant interest. In particular, during inflammatory settings such as acute tissue injury, infection and autoimmunity, the EV-mediated transfer of proinflammatory cargo from dying cells is an important process that can elicit profound proinflammatory effects in recipient cells and tissues. Furthermore, the biogenesis of EVs via unique cell-death-associated pathways has also been recently described, highlighting an emerging niche in EV biology. This review outlines the mechanisms and functions of dying-cell-derived EVs and their ability to drive inflammation during various modes of cell death, whilst reflecting on the challenges and knowledge gaps in investigating this subgenre of extracellular vesicles research.
    Keywords:  cell death; extracellular vesicles; inflammation
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21197256
  3. Cell Commun Signal. 2020 Oct 09. 18(1): 161
    Receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 is a key mediator in TLR3 ligand and Smac mimetic-induced cell death and suppresses TLR3 ligand-promoted invasion in cholangiocarcinoma.
    Thanpisit Lomphithak, Swati Choksi, Apiwat Mutirangura, Rutaiwan Tohtong, Tewin Tencomnao, Hajime Usubuchi, Michiaki Unno, Hironobu Sasano, Siriporn Jitkaew.
      BACKGROUND: Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) ligand which activates TLR3 signaling induces both cancer cell death and activates anti-tumor immunity. However, TLR3 signaling can also harbor pro-tumorigenic consequences. Therefore, we examined the status of TLR3 in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) cases to better understand TLR3 signaling and explore the potential therapeutic target in CCA.METHODS: The expression of TLR3 and receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) in primary CCA tissues was assayed by Immunohistochemical staining and their associations with clinicopathological characteristics and survival data were evaluated. The effects of TLR3 ligand, Poly(I:C) and Smac mimetic, an IAP antagonist on CCA cell death and invasion were determined by cell death detection methods and Transwell invasion assay, respectively. Both genetic and pharmacological inhibition of RIPK1, RIPK3 and MLKL and inhibitors targeting NF-κB and MAPK signaling were used to investigate the underlying mechanisms.
    RESULTS: TLR3 was significantly higher expressed in tumor than adjacent normal tissues. We demonstrated in a panel of CCA cell lines that TLR3 was frequently expressed in CCA cell lines, but was not detected in a nontumor cholangiocyte. Subsequent in vitro study demonstrated that Poly(I:C) specifically induced CCA cell death, but only when cIAPs were removed by Smac mimetic. Cell death was also switched from apoptosis to necroptosis when caspases were inhibited in CCA cells-expressing RIPK3. In addition, RIPK1 was required for Poly(I:C) and Smac mimetic-induced apoptosis and necroptosis. Of particular interest, high TLR3 or low RIPK1 status in CCA patients was associated with more invasiveness. In vitro invasion demonstrated that Poly(I:C)-induced invasion through NF-κB and MAPK signaling. Furthermore, the loss of RIPK1 enhanced Poly(I:C)-induced invasion and ERK activation in vitro. Smac mimetic also reversed Poly(I:C)-induced invasion, partly mediated by RIPK1. Finally, a subgroup of patients with high TLR3 and high RIPK1 had a trend toward longer disease-free survival (p = 0.078, 28.0 months and 10.9 months).
    CONCLUSION: RIPK1 plays a pivotal role in TLR3 ligand, Poly(I:C)-induced cell death when cIAPs activity was inhibited and loss of RIPK1 enhanced Poly(I:C)-induced invasion which was partially reversed by Smac mimetic. Our results suggested that TLR3 ligand in combination with Smac mimetic could provide therapeutic benefits to the patients with CCA. Video abstract.
    Keywords:  Cholangiocarcinoma; Invasion; Necroptosis; Receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1); Smac mimetic; Toll-like receptor 3
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12964-020-00661-3
  4. Blood Adv. 2020 Oct 13. 4(19): 4823-4833
    TNFR2 is required for RIP1-dependent cell death in human leukemia.
    Júlia Aguadé-Gorgorió, Scott McComb, Cornelia Eckert, Anna Guinot, Blerim Marovca, Caterina Mezzatesta, Silvia Jenni, Liridon Abduli, Martin Schrappe, Maria Pamela Dobay, Martin Stanulla, Arend von Stackelberg, Gunnar Cario, Jean-Pierre Bourquin, Beat C Bornhauser.
      Despite major advances in the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the last decades, refractory and/or relapsed disease remains a clinical challenge, and relapsed leukemia patients have an exceedingly dismal prognosis. Dysregulation of apoptotic cell death pathways is a leading cause of drug resistance; thus, alternative cell death mechanisms, such as necroptosis, represent an appealing target for the treatment of high-risk malignancies. We and other investigators have shown that activation of receptor interacting protein kinase 1 (RIP1)-dependent apoptosis and necroptosis by second mitochondria derived activator of caspase mimetics (SMs) is an attractive antileukemic strategy not currently exploited by standard chemotherapy. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms that determine sensitivity to SMs have remained elusive. We show that tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (TNFR2) messenger RNA expression correlates with sensitivity to SMs in primary human leukemia. Functional genetic experiments using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas9 demonstrate that TNFR2 and TNFR1, but not the ligand TNF-α, are essential for the response to SMs, revealing a ligand-independent interplay between TNFR1 and TNFR2 in the induction of RIP1-dependent cell death. Further potential TNFR ligands, such as lymphotoxins, were not required for SM sensitivity. Instead, TNFR2 promotes the formation of a RIP1/TNFR1-containing death signaling complex that induces RIP1 phosphorylation and RIP1-dependent apoptosis and necroptosis. Our data reveal an alternative paradigm for TNFR2 function in cell death signaling and provide a rationale to develop strategies for the identification of leukemias with vulnerability to RIP1-dependent cell death for tailored therapeutic interventions.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2019000796
  5. Blood Adv. 2020 Oct 13. 4(19): 4775-4787
    BCL-XL inhibition by BH3-mimetic drugs induces apoptosis in models of Epstein-Barr virus-associated T/NK-cell lymphoma.
    Nenad Sejic, Lindsay C George, Rosemary J Tierney, Catherine Chang, Olga Kondrashova, Ruth N MacKinnon, Ping Lan, Andrew I Bell, Guillaume Lessene, Heather M Long, Andreas Strasser, Claire Shannon-Lowe, Gemma L Kelly.
      Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated T- and natural killer (NK)-cell malignancies, such as extranodal NK-/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTL), exhibit high chemoresistance and, accordingly, such patients have a poor prognosis. The rare nature of such cancers and nonmalignant T/NK lymphoproliferative disorders, such as chronic active EBV (CAEBV), has limited our understanding of the pathogenesis of these diseases. Here, we characterize a panel of ENKTL- and CAEBV-derived cell lines that had been established from human tumors to be used as preclinical models of these diseases. These cell lines were interleukin-2 dependent and found to carry EBV in a latency II gene-expression pattern. All cell lines demonstrated resistance to cell death induction by DNA damage-inducing agents, the current standard of care for patients with these malignancies. This resistance was not correlated with the function of the multidrug efflux pump, P-glycoprotein. However, apoptotic cell death could be consistently induced following treatment with A-1331852, a BH3-mimetic drug that specifically inhibits the prosurvival protein BCL-XL. A-1331852-induced apoptosis was most efficacious when prosurvival MCL-1 was additionally targeted, either by BH3-mimetics or genetic deletion. Xenograft models established from the ENKTL cell line SNK6 provided evidence that A-1331852 treatment could be therapeutically beneficial in vivo. The data here suggest that therapeutic targeting of BCL-XL would be effective for patients with EBV-driven T/NK proliferative diseases, however, MCL-1 could be a potential resistance factor.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2020002446
  6. Exp Cell Res. 2020 Oct 05. pii: S0014-4827(20)30564-4. [Epub ahead of print]396(2): 112315
    Tumor-associated macrophages induce PD-L1 expression in gastric cancer cells through IL-6 and TNF-ɑ signaling.
    Xiaoli Ju, Heng Zhang, Zidi Zhou, Miao Chen, Qiang Wang.
      PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade therapy has been widely used for the clinical treatment of cancer. However, recent clinical trials have shown that only a small proportion of cancer patients respond to PD1/PD-L1 immunotherapy. The tumor immune microenvironment plays an important regulatory role in PD1/PD-L1 immunotherapy. Macrophages are one of the most important immune cells in the tumor immune microenvironment. In this study, we found a high correlation between macrophage infiltration and PD-L1 expression in gastric cancer (GC) specimens. Further study revealed that infiltrated macrophages released the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-ɑ and IL-6, which induced PD-L1 expression in tumor cells. The release of TNF-ɑ and IL-6 activated the NF-kB and STAT3 signaling pathway to regulate PD-L1 expression. TNF-α, p-65 and STAT3 expression in cancer patients has prognostic value in stomach adenocarcinoma. Furthermore, infiltrated macrophages can also promote GC cell proliferation by inducing PD-L1 expression in GC cells. Taken together, our results suggest that macrophages play a dual role in regulating the expression of PD-L1 in tumor cells. On the one hand, macrophages induce PD-L1 expression in tumor cells, helping tumor cells escape cytotoxic T cell killing; on the other hand, they can promote the proliferation of tumor cells by regulating the expression of PD-L1.
    Keywords:  Infiltrated macrophages; NF-kB and STAT3; PD-1/PD-L1; TNF-ɑ and IL-6
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yexcr.2020.112315
  7. Curr Opin Immunol. 2020 Oct 06. pii: S0952-7915(20)30082-0. [Epub ahead of print]68 34-40
    Myeloid cells in sensing of tissue damage.
    Carlos Del Fresno, David Sancho.
      Myeloid cells are components of the innate immune system that represent the first line of defense. Tissue damage, associated with pathological conditions such as infection, cancer or autoimmunity, leads to the exposure of the intracellular content to the extracellular environment. Myeloid cells detect ligands exposed or released by dead cells through specific receptors that signal for a diversity of responses. Inflammatory responses triggered by myeloid cells after sensing tissue injury can contribute to resolution of the damage. The signaling response following dead-cell sensing by myeloid cells can contribute either to an inflammatory or a regulatory response. We review herein some representative examples of how myeloid cells react to the recognition of cell death during specific tissue damage contexts. A deep understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these processes would allow to improve therapeutical interventions in pathologies associated with tissue damage.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coi.2020.08.006
  8. J Med Chem. 2020 Oct 07.
    Understanding the Metabolism of Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs): The Next Step toward Pharmaceutical Applications.
    Laura Goracci, Jenny Desantis, Aurora Valeri, Beatrice Castellani, Michela Eleuteri, Gabriele Cruciani.
      Hetero-bifunctional PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras (PROTACs) represent a new emerging class of small molecules designed to induce polyubiquitylation and proteasomal-dependent degradation of a target protein. Despite the increasing number of publications about the synthesis, biological evaluation, and mechanism of action of PROTACs, the characterization of the pharmacokinetic properties of this class of compounds is still minimal. Here, we report a study on the metabolism of a series of 40 PROTACs in cryopreserved human hepatocytes at multiple time points. Our results indicated that the metabolism of PROTACs could not be predicted from that of their constituent ligands. Their linkers' chemical nature and length resulted in playing a major role in the PROTACs' liability. A subset of compounds was also tested for metabolism by human cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) and human aldehyde oxidase (hAOX) for more in-depth data interpretation, and both enzymes resulted in active PROTAC metabolism.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c00793
  9. FEBS J. 2020 Oct 08.
    Words of Advice: choosing the right lab for your post-doctoral fellowship.
    Joseph A Trapani, Ilia Voskoboinik.
      For most researchers, the time they spend as a postdoc stands out as one of challenge, but also enormous personal and professional growth. This Words of Advice is intended to guide the choice of postdoctoral position to help make the venture a success and to launch the first chapter of a happy and fulfilling professional life.
    Keywords:  postdoc; postdoctoral fellow; research career advice; second postdoc; starting a research career; working abroad
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.15565
  10. Sci Rep. 2020 10 07. 10(1): 16746
    Tankyrase inhibitor XAV-939 enhances osteoblastogenesis and mineralization of human skeletal (mesenchymal) stem cells.
    Nuha Almasoud, Sarah Binhamdan, Ghaydaa Younis, Hanouf Alaskar, Amal Alotaibi, Muthurangan Manikandan, Musaad Alfayez, Moustapha Kassem, Nihal AlMuraikhi.
      Tankyrase is part of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase superfamily required for numerous cellular and molecular processes. Tankyrase inhibition negatively regulates Wnt pathway. Thus, Tankyrase inhibitors have been extensively investigated for the treatment of clinical conditions associated with activated Wnt signaling such as cancer and fibrotic diseases. Moreover, Tankyrase inhibition has been recently reported to upregulate osteogenesis through the accumulation of SH3 domain-binding protein 2, an adaptor protein required for bone metabolism. In this study, we investigated the effect of Tankyrase inhibition in osteoblast differentiation of human skeletal (mesenchymal) stem cells (hMSCs). A Tankyrase inhibitor, XAV-939, identified during a functional library screening of small molecules. Alkaline phosphatase activity and Alizarin red staining were employed as markers for osteoblastic differentiation and in vitro mineralized matrix formation, respectively. Global gene expression profiling was performed using the Agilent microarray platform. XAV-939, a Tankyrase inhibitor, enhanced osteoblast differentiation of hBMSCs as evidenced by increased ALP activity, in vitro mineralized matrix formation, and upregulation of osteoblast-related gene expression. Global gene expression profiling of XAV-939-treated cells identified 847 upregulated and 614 downregulated mRNA transcripts, compared to vehicle-treated control cells. It also points towards possible changes in multiple signaling pathways, including TGFβ, insulin signaling, focal adhesion, estrogen metabolism, oxidative stress, RANK-RANKL (receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand) signaling, Vitamin D synthesis, IL6, and cytokines and inflammatory responses. Further bioinformatic analysis, employing Ingenuity Pathway Analysis identified significant enrichment in XAV-939-treated cells of functional categories and networks involved in TNF, NFκB, and STAT signaling. We identified a Tankyrase inhibitor (XAV-939) as a powerful enhancer of osteoblastic differentiation of hBMSC that may be useful as a therapeutic option for treating conditions associated with low bone formation.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73439-9
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