Project description:Patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) are in dire need of more effective therapeutic options. Frequent disruption of the G1 checkpoint in SCLC cells creates a greater dependency of these cells on the G2/M checkpoint to maintain genomic integrity. Indeed, in pre-clinical models, inhibiting the G2/M kinase WEE1 shows promise in inhibiting SCLC growth. However, toxicity and acquired resistance limit the clinical effectiveness of this strategy. Here we conducted CRISPR/Cas9 knockout screens to identify genes influencing the response of SCLC cells to WEE1 kinase inhibition. These screens uncovered a role for the GCN2 amino acid-sensing pathway in modulating the response of SCLC cells to WEE1 inhibition. Rapid activation of GCN2 upon WEE1 inhibition triggers a stress response. Pharmacological activation of the GCN2 pathway synergizes with WEE1 inhibition. Thus, activation of the GCN2 amino acid-sensing pathway represents a novel approach for augmenting the efficacy of WEE1 inhibitors in SCLC.
Project description:we demonstrate that the WEE1 inhibitor AZD1775 triggers endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and activates the PERK and IRE1α branches of the unfolded protein response (UPR) in TP53 mutant HGSOC cells. Upon AZD1775 treatment, PERK facilitates apoptotic signaling in these cells via activating CHOP, whereas IRE1α-induced spliced XBP1 (XBP1s) confers survival in response to WEE1 inhibition. Our data uncover an important dual role of UPR in TP53 mutant HGSOC cells in response to AZD1775, where additional inhibition of IRE1α-XBP1s signaling may offer synergistic efficacy.
Project description:Cancers invoke various pathways to mitigate external and internal stresses to continue their growth and progression. We previously reported that the eIF2 kinase GCN2 and the integrated stress response are constitutively active in prostate cancer (PCa) and are required to maintain amino acid homeostasis needed to fuel tumor growth. However, although loss of GCN2 function reduces intracellular amino acid availability and PCa growth, there is no appreciable cell death. Here, we discovered that the loss of GCN2 in PCa induces prosenescent p53 signaling. This p53 activation occurred through GCN2 inhibition-dependent reductions in purine nucleotides that impaired ribosome biogenesis and, consequently, induced the impaired ribosome biogenesis checkpoint. p53 signaling induced cell cycle arrest and senescence that promoted the survival of GCN2-deficient PCa cells. Depletion of GCN2 combined with loss of p53 or pharmacological inhibition of de novo purine biosynthesis reduced proliferation and enhanced cell death in PCa cell lines, organoids, and xenograft models. Our findings highlight the coordinated interplay between GCN2 and p53 regulation during nutrient stress and provide insight into how they could be targeted in developing new therapeutic strategies for PCa.
Project description:Diverse environmental insults induce the integrated stress response (ISR), which features eIF2 phosphorylation and translational control that serves to restore protein homeostasis. The eIF2 kinase GCN2 is a first responder in the ISR that is activated by amino acid depletion and other unrelated stresses. Two processes are suggested to trigger an ordered process of GCN2 activation during stress: GCN2 monitoring stress via accumulating uncharged tRNAs or by stalled and colliding ribosomes. Our results suggest that while ribosomal collisions are indeed essential for GCN2 activation in response to translational elongation inhibitors, conditions that trigger deacylation of tRNAs activate GCN2 via its direct association with affected tRNAs. Both process require the GCN2 regulatory domain related to histidyl tRNA synthetases. GCN2 activation by UV irradiation features lowered amino acids and increased uncharged tRNAs and ribosome collisions are dispensable. We conclude that there are multiple mechanisms that activate GCN2 during diverse stresses.
Project description:Regulation of gene expression by chromatin modification through methylation of histone lysine residues is a dynamic, reversible process that when deregulated is associated with cancer development. In multiple myeloma, combined inhibition of the histone demethylases JARID1B, UTX and JmjD3 by the small molecule GSK-J4 prevents cellular glutamine utilization leading to amino acids deprivation, activates the integrated stress response via GCN2-dependent ATF4 activation, and induces apoptosis. This response is associated with a profound upregulation of metallothionein genes. Combined with clinical data demonstrating that overexpression of JARID1B is associated with shorter survival in multiple myeloma patients, this study highlights histone demethylases as epigenetic drug targets and places this demethylase inhibitor chemotype as having unique potential relative to established anti-myeloma treatment options. In total there are 7 different samples analyzed and one input control. Treatments are carried out with the demethylase inhibitor (or DMSO as negative control) at 6h and 48h, or with LNA targeting demethylases (or scrambled LNA) at 7 days. A negative control at 0h is included.
Project description:Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with activation of the integrated stress response (ISR) but the underlying triggers remain unclear. We systematically combined acute mitochondrial inhibitors with genetic tools for compartment-specific NADH oxidation to trace mechanisms linking different forms of mitochondrial dysfunction to the ISR in proliferating mouse myoblasts and in differentiated myotubes. In myoblasts, we find that impaired NADH oxidation upon electron transport chain (ETC) inhibition depletes asparagine, activating the ISR via the eIF2α kinase GCN2. In myotubes, however, impaired NADH oxidation following ETC inhibition neither depletes asparagine nor activates the ISR, reflecting an altered metabolic state. ATP synthase inhibition in myotubes triggers the ISR via a distinct mechanism related to mitochondrial inner-membrane hyperpolarization. Our work dispels the notion of a universal path linking mitochondrial dysfunction to the ISR, instead revealing multiple paths that depend both on the nature of the mitochondrial defect and on the metabolic state of the cell.
Project description:BRAF V600 mutation influences cellular signaling pathways for melanoma development. Here, we show that mutated BRAF plays an essential role in the adaptive stress response following activation of general control non-derepressible 2 (GCN2) kinase. In parallel with GCN2, BRAF ensures ATF4 induction by utilizing mTOR and eIF4B as downstream regulators during nutrient stress and BRAF-targeted, therapeutic stress. Upon pharmacological BRAF inhibition, this signaling pathway exhibits temporal resistance, compared with the MEK-ERK pathway, thereby enabling transient induction of ATF4 under GCN2 activation. Notably, the prevention of GCN2 activation, using a chemical inhibitor that we identified, produces synergistic cell killing with BRAF inhibition. Thus, oncogenic BRAF can collaborate with the GCN2–ATF4 pathway, promoting stress adaptation for cell survival.
Project description:BRAF V600 mutation influences cellular signaling pathways for melanoma development. Here, we show that mutated BRAF plays an essential role in the adaptive stress response following activation of general control non-derepressible 2 (GCN2) kinase. In parallel with GCN2, BRAF ensures ATF4 induction by utilizing mTOR and eIF4B as downstream regulators during nutrient stress and BRAF-targeted, therapeutic stress. Upon pharmacological BRAF inhibition, this signaling pathway exhibits temporal resistance, compared with the MEK-ERK pathway, thereby enabling transient induction of ATF4 under GCN2 activation. Notably, the prevention of GCN2 activation, using a chemical inhibitor that we identified, produces synergistic cell killing with BRAF inhibition. Thus, oncogenic BRAF can collaborate with the GCN2–ATF4 pathway, promoting stress adaptation for cell survival.
Project description:Cancer cells survive therapy-induced stress, but how they resolve it is not clear. Using an integrated systems level approach we delineate the global mechanisms of cellular recovery from proteotoxic stress. Our findings in proteasome inhibitor-treated myeloma cells provide a layered chart of the protracted processes of stress resolution that encompass extensive metabolic changes. Tumour cells that have survived proteasome inhibition and are recovering from proteotoxic injuries are more vulnerable to certain insults than acutely stressed or unstressed cells. We identify mitochondria and the GCN2-driven cellular response to amino acid depletion as examples of recovery-associated vulnerabilities, and demonstrate that GCN2 is a bona fide target in transcriptional signature-defined subsets of solid cancers irrespective of prior proteasome inhibition. Thus, targeting multi-system vulnerabilities tied to cellular recovery from drug-induced stress has the potential to optimise cancer therapies.
Project description:The BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib has been reported to activate the integrated stress response (ISR) kinase GCN2, and the therapeutic effect has been partially attributed to GCN2 activation. Since ISR signaling is a key component of myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) development and function, we measured the effect of dabrafenib on MDSC differentiation and suppressive activity. Our data showed that dabrafenib attenuated MDSC ability to suppress T cell activity, which was associated with a GCN2-dependent block of the transition from monocytic progenitor to polymorphonuclear (PMN)-MDSCs and proliferative arrest resulting in PMN-MDSC loss. Transcriptional profiling revealed that dabrafenib-driven GCN2 activation altered metabolic features in MDSCs enhancing oxidative respiration, and attenuated transcriptional programs required for PMN development. Thus, ourdata reveals transcriptional networks that govern MDSC developmental programs, and the impact of GCN2 stress signaling on the innate immune landscape in tumors, providing novel insight into potentially beneficial off target effects of dabrafenib.