Colon Carcinoma Cells Harboring PIK3CA Mutations Display Resistance to Growth Factor Deprivation Induced Apoptosis
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1143 Colon carcinoma cells harboring PIK3CA mutations display resistance to growth factor deprivation induced apoptosis Jing Wang,1 Karen Kuropatwinski,1 Jennie Hauser1 resulted in resistance to GFDS-induced apoptosis, where- Michael R.Rossi, 2 Yunfei Zhou,1 Alexis Conway,1 as transfection of wild-type PIK3CA or empty vector had Julie L.C. Kan,3 Neil W.Gibson, 3 little effect. Taken together, our studies show that mutant James K.V. Willson,4 John K.Cowell, 2 PIK3CA increases the capacity for proliferation and and Michael G.Brattain 1 survival under environmental stresses, such as GFDS while also imparting greater dependency on the PI3K Departments of 1Pharmacology and Therapeutics and pathway for proliferation and survival. [Mol Cancer Ther 2Cancer Genetics, Roswell Park Center Institute, Elm and Carlton 2007;6(3):1143–50] Streets, Buffalo, New York; 3OSI Pharmaceuticals, Broadhollow Bioscience Park, Farmingdale, New York; and 4University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, Texas Introduction Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) is a lipid kinase that catalyzes the transfer of the g-phosphate from ATP to the Abstract D3 position of the phosphatidylinositol, generating phos- A PIK3CA, encoding the p110 catalytic subunit of phos- phatidylinositol 3-phosphate, phosphatidylinositol 3,4- phatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), is mutated in a variety of bisphosphate and phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate human cancers. We screened the colon cancer cell lines (1). Class I PI3Ks are heterodimers consisting of two sub- previously established in our laboratory for PIK3CA units: an adaptor/regulatory subunit and a catalytic sub- mutations and found that four of them harbored gain of unit (p110). The regulatory subunit is a 50-kDa or 85-kDa function mutations. We have now compared a panel of protein that is tightly associated with the p110 catalytic mutant and wild-type cell lines for cell proliferation and subunit. PI3Ks are activated through receptor tyrosine survival in response to stress. There was little difference in kinases or through G protein–coupled receptors. Class IA PI3K activity between mutant PIK3CA-bearing cells PI3Ks are very diverse in mammals; they have three (mutant cells) and wild-type PIK3CA-bearing cells (wild- catalytic p110 isoforms (p110a, h, and y), each encoded by type cells) under optimal growth conditions. However, the a separate gene, and seven adaptor proteins generated by mutant cells showed constitutive PI3K activity during expression and alternative splicing of three different genes growth factor deprivation stress (GFDS), whereas PI3K (p85a, h, and p55g; ref. 2). activity decayed rapidly in the wild-type cells. Importantly, PI3K activation has been shown to have important roles constitutively active PI3K rendered the mutant cells in sustaining processes important to malignancy, including resistant to GFDS-induced apoptosis relative to the wild- cell proliferation, adhesion, survival, and motility. There type cells, indicating a biological advantage under stress are several downstream effectors of PI3K, including PDK1, conditions that is imparted by the mutant enzymes. Rac, p70S6K, certain isoforms of protein kinase C, and Compared with the wild-type cells, the mutant cells were AKT, which is most relevant to cell survival (1). Phosphor- hypersensitive to the apoptosis induced by the PI3K ylation of phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate by PI3K inhibitor LY294002. In addition, PIK3CA small interfering generates phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate, which RNA significantly decreased DNA synthesis and/or in- then recruits PDK1 to the cell membrane. PDK1 subse- duced apoptosis in the mutant cells but not in the wild- quently phosphorylates and activates AKT. Activated AKT type cells. Furthermore, ecotopic expression of a mutant can then phosphorylate a variety of substrates, such as Bad, PIK3CA in a nontumorigenic PIK3CA wild-type cell line FKHR, caspase-9, and GSK3, that participate in a variety of cellular processes, including cell survival and proliferation. Phosphorylation of Bad and caspase-9 by AKT inhibits the ability of these proteins to induce apoptosis. Therefore, the Received 9/8/06; revised 12/21/06; accepted 1/31/07. PI3K pathway has been shown to inhibit apoptotic Grant support: NIH grants CA 34432, CA54807, and CA 16056. processes and has been linked to inappropriate cell survival The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked by malignant cells in response to stress (3, 4). advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to Overexpression of AKT has an antiapoptotic effect in indicate this fact. many cell types, resulting in a delay of cell death during Requests for reprints: Michael G. Brattain, Department of Pharmacology stress. AKT was found to be amplified in human breast and Therapeutics, Roswell Park Center Institute, Elm and Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY 14263. Phone: 716-845-3044; Fax: 716-845-8857. (5, 6), ovarian (7), pancreatic (8), and prostate cancer (9), E-mail: [email protected] suggesting the specific involvement of AKT in the onset Copyright C 2007 American Association for Cancer Research. and/or propagation of cancer. In addition, the genomic doi:10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-06-0555 locus encoding the p110a catalytic subunit PIK3CA was Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(3). March 2007 Downloaded from mct.aacrjournals.org on September 25, 2021. © 2007 American Association for Cancer Research. 1144 Mutant PI3-Kinase Signaling in GFDS-induced Apoptosis found to be amplified in a high percentage of various from PIK3CA haplo-insufficient cells. It has been shown that cancers. PIK3CA gene amplification has been shown to be expression of mutant PI3K enhances lipid kinase activity associated with the progression of several types of tumors and induces constitutive activation of AKT signaling and to an invasive phenotype (10–12). Recent studies have oncogenic transformation in chicken embryo fibroblasts, shown that PIK3CA is mutated in approximately one-third as well as in NIH3T3 cells (17, 18). Because environmental of 234 colorectal cancers but only in 2 of 76 adenomas (13). restriction on growth seems to be common in solid tumors It is also mutated at a high frequency in other cancers, (20), the ability of malignant cells to withstand these stresses including breast, ovarian, and hepatocellular carcinomas is considered a key factor in tumor development and (14–16), making it one of the most common mutations progression. Our finding that the differential cell survival described to date in human cancers. Expression of one of characteristics between the mutant and wild-type cells the PIK3CA mutants in NIH3T3 cells conferred significant- under stress conditions, in which the wild-type PI3K activity ly more lipid kinase activity compared with the wild-type is more severely down-regulated, provides an explanation protein, suggesting the gain-of-function nature of the for the irrelevance of the wild-type PI3K activity in terms of mutations (13). In addition, some of the most frequent the advantage provided by the mutant enzyme. We also mutants of PIK3CA showed transforming activity with found that ecotopic expression of the mutant PI3K in the high efficiency in chicken embryo fibroblasts, as well as in wild-type PI3K-bearing colon cancer cells led to increased NIH3T3 cells (17, 18). Analogy to gain-of-function epider- resistance to GFDS-induced apoptosis. This result indicates mal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutants in lung cancers that gain-of-function mutant PIK3CA may contribute to the suggests that these PIK3CA mutations may be associated ability to withstand the environmental stresses that are with ‘‘oncogenic addiction’’ and are, therefore, hypersen- important in tumor development and/or progression. sitive to PI3K inhibition. Thus, mutant PI3K may be a promising target for PI3K small molecule inhibitors. Exploration of the roles of mutant PI3K in cancer growth, Materials and Methods survival, and metastasis will help unveil the mechanisms of Cell Culture and Reagents malignant progression and facilitate development of drugs Human colon carcinoma cells used in this study were for cancer treatment. established in vitro from primary tumors, as described This study compares a panel of unmodified PIK3CA previously (21). HCT116, FET, GEO, CBS, and RCA were mutant and wild-type colon cell lines for proliferation and cultured in SM medium [McCoy’s 5A serum-free medium survival under stress condition. We found that mutant (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) with pyruvate, vitamins, amino PIK3CA-bearing cells were more resistant to growth acids, and antibiotics] supplemented with 10 ng/mL factor deprivation stress (GFDS)–induced apoptosis than epidermal growth factor, 20 Ag/mL insulin, and 4 Ag/mL the wild-type PIK3CA-bearing cells, probably due to the transferrin, as described previously (22). RKO and TENN constitutively active PI3K and its downstream effectors. In were cultured in SM medium supplemented with 10% fetal addition, the mutant cells were hypersensitive to a potent bovine serum. Vaco481 were cultured in MEM basal PI3K inhibitor, LY294002, as reflected by significantly medium (MEM medium with glutamine and amino acids) increased apoptosis compared with the wild-type cells. supplemented with 100 Ag/mL insulin, 20 Ag/mL trans- PIK3CA small interfering RNA dramatically decreased ferrin, 8.6 ng/mL selenium, and 2% fetal bovine serum. DNA synthesis and induced