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Research Article Identification of an Inactivating Cysteine Switch in Protein Kinase CE, a Rational Target for the Design of Protein Kinase CE–Inhibitory Cancer Therapeutics Feng Chu,1 John M. Koomen,2 Ryuji Kobayashi,2 and Catherine A. O’Brian1 Departments of 1Cancer Biology and 2Molecular Pathology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas Abstract sion by selectively inhibiting the protein-tyrosine kinase activity of Critical roles played by some protein kinases in neoplastic BCR-ABL (1). In addition, gefitinib (Iressa) selectively inhibits the transformation and progression provide a rationale for devel- protein-tyrosine kinase activity of the epidermal growth factor oping selective, small-molecule kinase inhibitors as antineo- receptor (EGFR) and is effective against a small fraction of non– plastic drugs. Protein kinase CE (PKCE) is a rational target small cell lung cancers that express various somatic EGFR muta- for cancer therapy, because it is oncogenic and prometastatic tions (3). Both imatinib and gefitinib inhibit their protein kinase in transgenic mouse models. PKCE is activated by sn-1,2- targets by competing with the substrate ATP (1, 2). Similarly, selec- diacylglycerol (DAG). Attempts to develop selective PKCE tive inhibitors have been identified for other protein kinases in inhibitors that block activation by DAG or compete with ATP recent years by screening libraries of chemicals designed to compete have not yet met with success, suggesting a need for new with ATP (5, 6). However, this heavily mined approach has failed to identify selective inhibitors of some protein kinases that are strategies. We previously reported that cystamine and a meta- q q bolic cystine precursor inactivate PKCE in cells in a thiol- rational targets for cancer therapy, such as protein kinase C (PKC ). PKC is a family of 10 isozymes in the AGC group of serine/ reversible manner. In this report, we first determined that q PKCE became resistant to inactivation by disulfides when threonine protein kinases (7, 8). PKC is a rational target for cancer Cys452 was replaced with alanine by site-specific mutagenesis therapy, based on its oncogenic activity in fibroblasts and epithelial of human PKCE or a constitutively active PKCE mutant. These cells (9–11) and prometastatic activity in transgenic mouse models E of chemical carcinogenesis (12, 13). ATP-competitive inhibitors results showed that the disulfides inactivated PKC by thiol- q disulfide exchange, either upon Cys452 S-thiolation or by re- that have been identified for PKC are nonselective; this strategy arrangement to an intra-protein disulfide. Mass spectrometric has also failed to yield selective inhibitors for most of the other PKC isozymes (8, 14). Similarly, allosteric binding site targeting analysis of peptide digests of cystamine-inactivated, carbami- q q domethylated PKCE detected a peptide S-cysteaminylated at has not yielded selective PKC inhibitors. PKC and seven other 452 452 PKC isozymes are activated by phosphatidylserine-dependent Cys , indicating that Cys S-cysteaminylation is a stable 2+ modification. Furthermore, PKCE inactivation by N-ethyl- binding of sn-1,2-diacylglycerol (DAG) to cysteine-rich Zn fingers 452 in the regulatory domain (8). Efforts to develop selective inhibitors maleimide was Cys dependent, providing corroborative evidence that PKCE inhibitors can be designed by targeting of PKC isozymes by targeting the DAG-binding site have not Cys452 with small molecules that stably modify the residue. met with success, and enthusiasm for this strategy has waned as Cys452 is an active site residue that is conserved in only 11 other signaling protein families with homologous DAG-binding human protein kinase genes. Therefore, the PKCE-inactivating sites have been identified (e.g., RAS-GRPs and PKDs; refs. 15, 16). Cys452 switch is a rational target for the design of antineo- In recent years, we have investigated regulatory responses of plastic drugs that selectively inhibit PKCE. (Cancer Res 2005; PKC isozymes to cysteine modification by cystamine and other 65(22): 10478-85) disulfides (17–20). We initially analyzed purified human recombi- nant PKC isozymes and found that structurally diverse disulfides activated PKCy, which is tumor suppressive (21), and inactivated Introduction PKCq,PKCa, and other PKC isozymes to various extents (18, 19). Protein kinases play influential roles in aberrant cell signaling Similarly, treatment of cells with cystamine or a metabolic cystine events involved in neoplastic transformation and malignant prog- precursor activated PKCy and inactivated PKCq in a concentration- ression of epithelial and other types of cells. This is widely recog- dependent and thiol-reversible manner (17, 18). These results iden- nized as a strong rationale for developing selective, small-molecule tified covalent modification of one or more cysteine residues by inhibitors of protein kinases as antineoplastic drugs (1–4). This thiol-disulfide exchange as a novel mode of PKCq inactivation. approach was recently validated as a modality of antineoplastic In this report, we establish that Cys452 is a cysteine switch in therapy by the efficacy of imatinib (Gleevec) against chronic mye- human PKCq (hPKCq) that inactivates the kinase in cells upon q loid leukemia (CML; ref. 1). Imatinib treatment induces CML remis- modification by disulfides or N-ethylmaleimide (NEM). Cys452PKC is an active site residue (22) that is conserved in only 11 of the >400 genes that encode human protein kinases. Further narrowing the q Note: DNA sequence analysis and peptide synthesis were done at M.D. Anderson field, PKCy conserves Cys452PKC but is resistant to inactivation DNA Analysis and Peptide Synthesis Facilities, which are supported in part by NIH by cysteine modification (17–20). Therefore, the design of small- core grant CA16672. Requests for reprints: Catherine A. O’Brian, Department of Cancer Biology, M.D. molecule inhibitors that bind in the active site cavity in an Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Box 173, Houston, TX 77030. orientation favoring reaction with the side chain of Cys452 may Phone: 713-792-7969; E-mail: [email protected]. I2005 American Association for Cancer Research. offer a new avenue for the development of antineoplastic drugs doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-05-1989 that selectively inhibit PKCq. Cancer Res 2005; 65: (22). November 15, 2005 10478 www.aacrjournals.org Downloaded from cancerres.aacrjournals.org on September 23, 2021. © 2005 American Association for Cancer Research. A PKCe-Inactivating Switch Materials and Methods Western blot analysis of FLAG-immunoprecipitated PKCq samples was done using a PKCq mAb from BD Biosciences (San Jose, CA) to detect Cell culture and reagents. COS-7 cells obtained from the American the wt/mut hPKCq species and a PKCq mAb (sc-214) from Santa Cruz Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA) were maintained in DMEM Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA) to detect the mPKCq-CAT species. supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and penicillin-streptomycin Enhanced chemiluminescence (Amersham Biosciences, Piscataway, NJ) in humidified air with 5% CO at 37jC. The media, antibiotics, and serum 2 was employed as the detection system. were from Invitrogen (Carlsbad, CA). Protein kinase CE inactivation by N-ethylmaleimide. To measure Plasmids and mutagenesis. Murine PKCq (mPKCq) catalytic domain Cys452-dependent PKCq inactivation in NEM-treated cell lysates, wt hPKCq cDNA encoding a constitutively active PKCq mutant (11) and hPKCq cDNA and C452A hPKCq transfectants were prepared and lysed as described were provided by Dr. I. Bernard Weinstein (Columbia University, New York) in Cellular PKCq Inactivation by Disulfides, except that the cells were and Dr. A.C. Newton (University of California-San Diego), respectively. harvested with Buffer B [0.65 mL/plate; 50 mmol/L HEPES (pH 7.0), Sequence analysis confirmed that the cDNAs encoded the catalytic domain 1 mmol/L EDTA, 1 mmol/L EGTA, 10 Ag/mL leupeptin, 250 Amol/L PMSF, of mPKCq (residues 395-737; Genbank accession no. P16054) and hPKCq 1 mmol/L Na VO , 20 mmol/L NaF, 10 nmol/L microcystin]. The cell (residues 2-737; Genbank accession no. Q02156). 3 4 lysates were briefly centrifuged, assayed for protein content, and nor- To generate cDNAs encoding site-specific mutants of mPKCq and hPKCq malized to 1 mg/mL protein. Next, the lysates were treated with NEM with alanine substituted for cysteine, we used the PCR-based, site-directed for 10 minutes at 30jC; the alkylation reaction was terminated by adding mutagenesis kit QuikChange (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA). pcDNA3-PKCq 2 mmol/L DTT (final concentration) to scavenge unreacted NEM. NEM- expression plasmids served as template DNA and contained the coding induced hPKCq inactivation was measured by immunoprecipitating hPKCq sequence for hPKCq with an NH2-terminal FLAG-epitope tag or the coding sequence for the mPKCq catalytic domain with a COOH-terminal FLAG (wt/mut) with FLAG M2 mAb and analyzing the immunoprecipitated q tag (mPKCq-CAT). Oligonucleotides were commercially synthesized and isozyme as described in Cellular PKC Inactivation by Disulfides, except j purified (Sigma-Genosys, The Woodlands, TX). Mutagenic primers were that the 15-minute incubation at 30 C was omitted. 452 q employed in conjunction with complementary primers to generate To measure Cys -dependent PKC inactivation in NEM-treated cells, q site-specific PKCq mutants. The following are mutagenic primers for wt and C452A hPKC transfectants