Caspase-3–Dependent Mitotic Checkpoint Inactivation by the Small-Molecule Inducers of Mitotic Slippage SU6656 and Geraldol
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Published OnlineFirst March 25, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-10-0909 Molecular Cancer Preclinical Development Therapeutics Caspase-3–Dependent Mitotic Checkpoint Inactivation by the Small-Molecule Inducers of Mitotic Slippage SU6656 and Geraldol Jenna L. Riffell1, Reiner U. Janicke€ 2, and Michel Roberge1 Abstract Microtubule-targeting cancer drugs such as paclitaxel block cell-cycle progression at mitosis by prolonged activation of the mitotic checkpoint. Cells can spontaneously escape mitotic arrest and enter interphase without chromosome segregation by a process termed mitotic slippage that involves the degradation of cyclin B1 without mitotic checkpoint inactivation. Inducing mitotic slippage with chemicals causes cells to die after multiple rounds of DNA replication without cell division, which may enhance the antitumor activity of microtubule-targeting drugs. Here, we explore pathways leading to mitotic slippage by using SU6656 and geraldol, two recently identified chemical inducers of mitotic slippage. Mitotic slippage induced by SU6656 or geraldol was blocked by the proteasome inhibitor MG-132 and involved proteasome-dependent degradation of cyclin B1 and the mitotic checkpoint proteins budding uninhibited by benzimidazole related 1 (BubR1) and cell division cycle 20 (Cdc20) in T98G cells. Mitotic slippage and the degradation of BubR1 and Cdc20 were also inhibited by the caspase-3 and -7 inhibitor DEVD-CHO. MCF-7 cells lacking caspase-3 expression could not degrade BubR1 or undergo mitotic slippage in response to SU6656 or geraldol. Introduction of caspase-3 completely restored the ability of MCF-7 cells to degrade BubR1 and undergo mitotic slippage. However, lack of expression of caspase-3 did not affect cell death after exposure to paclitaxel, with or without mitotic slippage induction. The requirement for caspase-3 for chemically induced mitotic slippage reveals a new mechanism for mitotic exit and a link between mitosis and apoptosis that has implications for the outcome of cancer chemotherapy. Mol Cancer Ther; 10(5); 839–49. Ó2011 AACR. Introduction mosome separation when even 1 kinetochore is unat- tached. Exposure to drugs that interfere with microtubule During cell division, genetic integrity is maintained by dynamics, such as the taxanes (4) and the Vinca alkaloids ensuring that all chromosomes are attached to microtu- (5), similarly activates the mitotic checkpoint and arrests bules emanating from both poles of the mitotic spindle cells at mitosis, effectively preventing further prolifera- before segregation of sister chromatids begins (1). This tion. process is monitored by the mitotic checkpoint, which The mitotic checkpoint acts through inhibition of the prevents initiation of anaphase until every kinetochore is anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C; ref. attached and tension between kinetochores of paired 6), the E3 ubiquitin ligase (7) that, when activated by sister chromatids is sufficient, ensuring biorientation cofactors cell division cycle 20 (Cdc20) or Cdh1 (8), (2). To prevent aneuploidy and ensuing genetic defects polyubiquitylates the cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1) leading to cell death or tumorigenesis (3), the mitotic cofactor cyclin B1 (7) and the separase regulator securin checkpoint must be sufficiently sensitive to delay chro- (9), targeting them for degradation by the proteasome. This results in inactivation of Cdk1, separation of sister chromatids, and exit from mitosis. The key components Authors' Affiliations: 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biol- ogy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; of the mitotic checkpoint are budding uninhibited by and 2Laboratory for Molecular Radiooncology, Clinic and Policlinic for benzimidazole related 1 (BubR1), budding uninhibited Radiation Therapy and Radiooncology, Heinrich Heine Universitat€ by benzimidazole 3 (Bub3), and Cdc20, which form a Dusseldorf,€ Dusseldorf,€ Germany mitotic checkpoint complex (MCC; ref. 10). This complex Note: Supplementary data for this article are available at Molecular Cancer is the main inhibitor of APC/C activity, along with Therapeutics Online (http://mct.aacrjournals.org/). mitotic arrest dependent 2 (Mad2), which initially binds Corresponding Author: Michel Roberge, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, 2350 Health Cdc20 (11) and catalyzes its binding to BubR1 and sub- Sciences Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z3. Phone: sequent formation of the MCC (12). Cdc20 is an activating 604-822-2304; Fax: 604-822-5227. E-mail: [email protected] cofactor of APC/C during mitosis (8); an active mitotic doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-10-0909 checkpoint inhibits APC/C through APC/C-dependent Ó2011 American Association for Cancer Research. polyubiquitylation of Cdc20 and subsequent degradation www.aacrjournals.org 839 Downloaded from mct.aacrjournals.org on September 25, 2021. © 2011 American Association for Cancer Research. Published OnlineFirst March 25, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-10-0909 Riffell et al. by the proteasome (12). BubR1 binds to and inhibits both Materials and Methods Cdc20 (13) and APC/C itself (14), acting as a pseudosub- strate inhibitor that, depending on acetylation status, can Cell culture and chemicals be actively degraded by APC/CCdc20 (15). The role of T98G cells, obtained from the American Type Culture Bub3 in the MCC is unclear, although in fission yeast it is Collection (ATCC; characterized by short tandem repeat involved in MCC localization (16). Other components of analysis) and used within 6 months of resuscitation, were the mitotic checkpoint include the kinases Bub1, mono- maintained in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium polar spindle 1 (Mps1), and Aurora B (2). (Invitrogen) supplemented with 10% FBS (Gibco). Caspases have well-characterized apoptotic functions, MCF-7 cell lines, obtained from the ATCC and stably but caspase-3 and caspase-7 have both recently been transfected with empty vector (pcDNA) or caspase-3 observed to play a role, yet to be defined, in mitotic (casp3), were maintained in RPMI (Invitrogen) supple- progression (17, 18). Their activities are tightly regulated mented with 10% FBS and 10 mmol/L HEPES, pH 7.3 and must be restrained during mitotic stress to prevent (Invitrogen). Paclitaxel was obtained from USB, SU6656, extensive cell death, most notably through survivin, and MG-132 from Sigma, geraldol from Chromadex, and which inhibits caspase activation during mitotic arrest cell-permeable DEVD-CHO from Enzo Life Sciences. and functions as part of the mitotic checkpoint machinery (19). Slippage induction assay Mitotic checkpoint activation during an unperturbed T98G cells at 75% confluency were treated with 30 mitosis provides sufficient time for microtubule attach- nmol/L paclitaxel, or MCF-7 cells were treated with 50 ment, preventing aneuploidy (20) and increasing cell nmol/L paclitaxel, for 20 hours at 37 C, and mitotic cells survival (21). However, long-term activation of the were harvested by shake-off, counted using a hemacyt- mitotic checkpoint during exposure to antimitotic ometer, seeded in a 96-well plate (PerkinElmer View- agents can be problematic because chromosome con- plate) at 5,000 cells per well, and treated with chemicals as densation hinders RNA transcription (22). With time, an indicated for 4 hours at 37 C. Unattached mitotic cells imbalance between new protein production and protein were then aspirated and discarded while attached, degradation may cause the levels of proteins essential to slipped cells were fixed in 3% paraformaldehyde maintain mitotic arrest to fall, triggering mitotic slip- (EMD) in PBS for 15 minutes at room temperature, and page. Also termed mitotic checkpoint adaptation, mito- stained with Hoechst 33342 (Invitrogen) in PBS for 10 tic slippage occurs when cells exit mitosis without minutes at room temperature. Five fields per well were chromosome segregation or cell division (20, 23) and counted by a Cellomics ArrayScan VTI automated fluor- results from slow APC/CCdc20- and proteasome-depen- escence imager (ThermoFisher) by using a 10Â objective. dent degradation of cyclin B1 in the presence of an Individual nuclei of slipped cells were detected and active mitotic checkpoint (24, 25). Cells that have under- counted using the Cellomics Target Activation Analysis gone mitotic slippage enter a G1-like state with decon- Program. In all figures, mitotic slippage was expressed as densed chromosomes that form multiple micronuclei a percentage of the cells seeded in each well (26). (23), allowing resumption of transcription and other cellular processes. Immunoblotting Our group and others have identified chemicals that Cells were washed in PBS and lysed for 5 minutes on stimulate mitotic slippage and observed that slipped ice in lysis buffer containing 20 mmol/L Tris-HCl cells typically undergo at least 1 round of DNA replica- (Fisher), pH 7.5, 150 mmol/L NaCl (Fisher), 1 mmol/L tion without subsequent cell division but that, even- EDTA (Sigma), 1 mmol/L EGTA (Sigma), 1% Triton tually, all cells that undergo mitotic slippage die (26– X-100 (LabChem Inc.), 2.5 mmol/L sodium pyropho- 30). Known chemical inducers of mitotic slippage sphate (Fisher), 1 mmol/L b-glycerol phosphate (Sigma), include CDK1 inhibitors (roscovitine, RO3066; ref. 1 mmol/L sodium orthovanadate (Sigma), and 1Â pro- 28), histone deacetylase complex inhibitors (SBHA, tease inhibitor cocktail (Roche). Lysates were spun at SAHA, sodium butyrate, trichostatin