Production of a soluble cyclin B/cdc2 substrate for cdc25 phosphatase

Molecules inducing specific cyclin-dependent kinase degradation and their possible use in cancer therapy

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) play an important role in the regulation of cell proliferation, and many CDK inhibitors were developed. However, pan-CDK inhibitors failed to be approved due to intolerant toxicity or low efficacy and the use of selective CDK4/6 inhibitors is limited by resistance. Protein degraders have the potential to increase selectivity, efficacy and overcome resistance, which provides a novel strategy for regulating CDKs. In this review, we summarized the function of CDKs in regulating the cell cycle and transcription, and introduced the representative CDK inhibitors. Then we made a detailed introduction about four types of CDKs degraders, including their action mechanisms, research status and application prospects, which could help the development of novel CDKs degraders.

CDK1 inhibitor controls G2/M phase transition and reverses DNA damage sensitivity

CDK1 plays key roles in cell cycle progression through the G2/M phase transition and activation of homologous recombination (HR) DNA repair pathway. Accordingly, various CDK1 inhibitors have been developed for cancer therapy that induce prolonged G2 arrest and/or sensitize cells to DNA damaging agents in tumor cells, resulting in cell death. However, CDK1 inhibition can induce resistance to DNA damage in certain conditions. The mechanism of different DNA damage sensitivity is not completely understood. We performed immunofluorescence and flow cytometry analysis to investigate DNA damage responses in human tumor cells during low and high dose treatments with RO-3306, a selective CDK1 inhibitor. This comparative investigation demonstrated that RO-3306-induced G2 arrest prevented cells with DNA double-strand breaks from transitioning into the M-phase and that the cells maintained their DNA repair capacity in G2-phase, even under RO-3306 dose-dependent DNA repair inhibition. These findings reveal that CDK1 inhibitor-induced DNA repair inhibition and cell cycle control, which regulate each other during the G2/M phase transition determine the cellular sensitivity to DNA damage, providing insight useful for developing clinical strategies targeting CDK1 inhibition in tumor cells.

Semi-purified extracts of Commelina benghalensis (Commelinaceae) induce apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in Jurkat-T cells

BACKGROUND

Commelina benghalensis (CB) is a small plant whose fleshy stems are used in South Africa to treat skin conditions (e.g., cancerous skin outgrowths). This study was aimed at evaluating the effect of sub-fractions of acetone extracts of CB stems on growth-associated molecular events of apoptosis and cell division cycle of Jurkat-T (JT) cells.

METHODS

Acetone extract of CB stems were subfractioned into n-hexane (F1) and dichloromethane (F2) fractions. After treatment of JT cells with these subfractions, cell proliferation, viability and apoptosis were determined using a haemocytometer, the trypan blue dye exclusion assay, and Hoechst 33258 staining, respectively. Cell division cycle distribution profiles were analysed using an Epics Alba Flow Cytometer and the expression of cell division cycle regulatory genes was analysed using RT-PCR, while immunoreactive proteins were detected on western blots.

RESULTS

The F1 and F2 fractions inhibited the proliferation and viability of JT cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, with IC50 values of 32.5 μg/mℓ and 56 μg/mℓ, respectively. The observed cytotoxicity was established to be a consequence of apoptosis. as verified using Hoechst staining method. Both fractions induced a G1/S interphase arrest of the cell division cycle of JT cells.RT-PCR analyses showed an up-regulatory effect by the F1 fraction in the expression of cyclin B1, cdc2 and bax, with a down-regulatory effect in the expression levels of bcl-2. Fraction F1 also increased the protein expression levels of p53 and its downstream regulators, p21 and Cdc2. However, protein Bax and p21 and p53 transcripts were undetectable under the same experimental conditions. On the other hand, fraction F2 increased the mRNA expression levels of bax, bcl-2, cyclin B1 and cdc2. Concomitantly, fraction F2 showed an up-regulation in the protein expression levels of Cdc2, Bcl-2, Cyclin B1 and p21. Despite the up-regulation in protein expression levels by fraction F2, there was no observable expression levels of the p53 protein and p21 and p53 mRNAs under similar experimental conditions.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that the F1 and F2 fractions of CB may provide a valuable lead for the development of novel and effective anti-neoplastic drug(s).