TY  - JOUR
A1  - Leikam, C
A1  - Hufnagel, AL
A1  - Otto, C
A1  - Murphy, DJ
A1  - Mühling, B
A1  - Kneitz, S
A1  - Nanda, I
A1  - Schmid, M
A1  - Wagner, TU
A1  - Haferkamp, S
A1  - Bröcker, E-B
A1  - Schartl, M
A1  - Meierjohann, S
T1  - In vitro evidence for senescent multinucleated melanocytes as a source for tumor-initiating cells
JF  - Cell Death and Disease
N2  - Oncogenic signaling in melanocytes results in oncogene-induced senescence (OIS), a stable cell-cycle arrest frequently characterized by a bi-or multinuclear phenotype that is considered as a barrier to cancer progression. However, the long-sustained conviction that senescence is a truly irreversible process has recently been challenged. Still, it is not known whether cells driven into OIS can progress to cancer and thereby pose a potential threat. Here, we show that prolonged expression of the melanoma oncogene N-RAS\(^{61K}\) in pigment cells overcomes OIS by triggering the emergence of tumor-initiating mononucleated stem-like cells from senescent cells. This progeny is dedifferentiated, highly proliferative, anoikis-resistant and induces fast growing, metastatic tumors. Our data describe that differentiated cells, which are driven into senescence by an oncogene, use this senescence state as trigger for tumor transformation, giving rise to highly aggressive tumor-initiating cells. These observations provide the first experimental in vitro evidence for the evasion of OIS on the cellular level and ensuing transformation.
KW  - reactive oxygen
KW  - human melanoma
KW  - MITF
KW  - cancer
KW  - skin
KW  - DNA damage
KW  - kappa-B
KW  - oncogene-induced senescence
KW  - cellular senescence
Y1  - 2015
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-148718
VL  - 6
IS  - e1711
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Otto, C.
A1  - Schmidt, S.
A1  - Kastner, C.
A1  - Denk, S.
A1  - Kettler, J.
A1  - Müller, N.
A1  - Germer, C.T.
A1  - Wolf, E.
A1  - Gallant, P.
A1  - Wiegering, A.
T1  - Targeting bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) inhibits MYC expression in colorectal cancer cells
JF  - Neoplasia
N2  - The transcriptional regulator BRD4 has been shown to be important for the expression of several oncogenes including MYC. Inhibiting of BRD4 has broad antiproliferative activity in different cancer cell types. The small molecule JQ1 blocks the interaction of BRD4 with acetylated histones leading to transcriptional modulation. Depleting BRD4 via engineered bifunctional small molecules named PROTACs (proteolysis targeting chimeras) represents the next-generation approach to JQ1-mediated BRD4 inhibition. PROTACs trigger BRD4 for proteasomale degradation by recruiting E3 ligases. The aim of this study was therefore to validate the importance of BRD4 as a relevant target in colorectal cancer (CRC) cells and to compare the efficacy of BRD4 inhibition with BRD4 degradation on downregulating MYC expression. JQ1 induced a downregulation of both MYC mRNA and MYC protein associated with an antiproliferative phenotype in CRC cells. dBET1 and MZ1 induced degradation of BRD4 followed by a reduction in MYC expression and CRC cell proliferation. In SW480 cells, where dBET1 failed, we found significantly lower levels of the E3 ligase cereblon, which is essential for dBET1-induced BRD4 degradation. To gain mechanistic insight into the unresponsiveness to dBET1, we generated dBET1-resistant LS174t cells and found a strong downregulation of cereblon protein. These findings suggest that inhibition of BRD4 by JQ1 and degradation of BRD4 by dBET1 and MZ1 are powerful tools for reducing MYC expression and CRC cell proliferation. In addition, downregulation of cereblon may be an important mechanism for developing dBET1 resistance, which can be evaded by incubating dBET1-resistant cells with JQ1 or MZ1.
KW  - Cancer
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-202451
VL  - 21
IS  - 11
ER  -