Project description:The centrosomal protein, CEP55 is a key regulator of cytokinesis and its overexpression is linked to genomic instability, a hallmark of cancer. However, the mechanism by which it mediates genomic instability remains elusive. Here, we showed that CEP55 overexpression/knockdown impacts survival of aneuploid cells. Loss of CEP55 sensitizes breast cancer cells to anti-mitotic agents through premature CDK1/Cyclin B activation and CDK1-Caspase-dependent mitotic cell death. Further, we showed that CEP55 is a downstream effector of the MEK1/2-MYC axis. Blocking MEK1/2-PLK1 signaling therefore reduced outgrowth of basal-like syngeneic and human breast tumors in in-vivo models. In conclusion, high CEP55 levels dictate cell fate during perturbed mitosis. Forced mitotic cell death by blocking MEK1/2-PLK1 represents a potential therapeutic strategy for MYC-CEP55-dependent basal-like, triple-negative breast cancers.
Project description:The centrosomal protein, CEP55, is a key regulator of cytokinesis, and its overexpression is linked to genomic instability, a hallmark of cancer. However, the mechanism by which it mediates genomic instability remains elusive. Here, we showed that CEP55 overexpression/knockdown impacts survival of aneuploid cells. Loss of CEP55 sensitizes breast cancer cells to anti-mitotic agents through premature CDK1/cyclin B activation and CDK1 caspase-dependent mitotic cell death. Further, we showed that CEP55 is a downstream effector of the MEK1/2-MYC axis. Blocking MEK1/2-PLK1 signaling therefore reduced outgrowth of basal-like syngeneic and human breast tumors in in vivo models. In conclusion, high CEP55 levels dictate cell fate during perturbed mitosis. Forced mitotic cell death by blocking MEK1/2-PLK1 represents a potential therapeutic strategy for MYC-CEP55-dependent basal-like, triple-negative breast cancers.
Project description:The centrosomal protein, CEP55 is a key regulator of cytokinesis and its overexpression is linked to genomic instability, a hallmark of cancer. However, the mechanism by which it mediates genomic instability remains elusive. Here, we showed that CEP55 overexpression/knockdown impacts survival of aneuploid cells. Loss of CEP55 sensitizes breast cancer cells to anti-mitotic agents through premature CDK1/Cyclin B activation and CDK1-Caspase-dependent mitotic cell death. Further, we showed that CEP55 is a downstream effector of the MEK1/2-MYC axis. Blocking MEK1/2-PLK1 signaling therefore reduced outgrowth of basal-like syngeneic and human breast tumors in in-vivo models. In conclusion, high CEP55 levels dictate cell fate during perturbed mitosis. Forced mitotic cell death by blocking MEK1/2-PLK1 represents a potential therapeutic strategy for MYC-CEP55-dependent basal-like, triple-negative breast cancers.
Project description:Calpains are non-lysosomal, Ca2+-dependent cysteine proteases, which are associated with various cellular functions but have so far been mainly studied in the context of disease. Their contribution to homeostasis in the healthy organism is still not well understood and their substrates have remained enigmatic in most cases. In the present study, we describe a previously unrecognized role for the calpain protease calpain2 in the regulation of neuronal differentiation of adult neural stem- and progenitor cells through cleavage and elimintation of the neuronal fate determinant MEIS2. Mass spectrometry analysis was performed on immunoprecipitated MEIS2 protein to identify phosphory¬lated residues in MEIS2 and on immunoprecipitated MEIS2 incubated with native porcine calpain2 to map calpain2-induced cleavage sites in the protein.
Project description:Entry into and exit from mitosis is driven by precisely-timed changes in protein abundance, and involves transcriptional regulation and protein degradation. However, the role of translational regulation in modulating cellular protein content during mitosis remains poorly understood. Here, using ribosome profiling, we show that translational, rather than transcriptional regulation is the dominant mechanism for modulating protein synthesis at mitotic entry. The vast majority of regulated mRNAs are translationally repressed, which contrasts previous findings of selective mRNA translational activation at mitotic entry. One of the most pronounced translationally repressed genes in mitosis is Emi1, an inhibitor of the anaphase promoting complex (APC), which is degraded during mitosis. We show that Emi1 degradation is insufficient for full APC activation and that simultaneous translational repression is required. These results provide a genome-wide view of protein translation during mitosis and suggest that translational repression may be used to ensure complete protein inactivation Ribosome profiling and mRNA-seq from 3 time points in the cell cycle
Project description:We report genome wide mapping of the histone variant H2A.Z during G0/G1 and mitosis in T24 bladder cancer cells. The results show that the broad enrichment pattern of H2A.Z near transcription start sites of active genes is maintained during mitosis. Furthermore, using H2A.Z localization to visualize nucleosome positioning near the start site, we see that the +1 nucleosome of active genes shifts upstream to occupy the transcription start sites during mitosis and the nucleosome depleted region is shortened. H2A.Z is also maintained on the -2 nucleosome which also shifts towrds the transcription start site during mitosis, further contributing to the shorteneing of the nucleosome depleted region. Examination of H2A.Z duing G0/G1 and mitosis in bladder cancer cells
Project description:Entry into and exit from mitosis is driven by precisely-timed changes in protein abundance, and involves transcriptional regulation and protein degradation. However, the role of translational regulation in modulating cellular protein content during mitosis remains poorly understood. Here, using ribosome profiling, we show that translational, rather than transcriptional regulation is the dominant mechanism for modulating protein synthesis at mitotic entry. The vast majority of regulated mRNAs are translationally repressed, which contrasts previous findings of selective mRNA translational activation at mitotic entry. One of the most pronounced translationally repressed genes in mitosis is Emi1, an inhibitor of the anaphase promoting complex (APC), which is degraded during mitosis. We show that Emi1 degradation is insufficient for full APC activation and that simultaneous translational repression is required. These results provide a genome-wide view of protein translation during mitosis and suggest that translational repression may be used to ensure complete protein inactivation