GSK-3Β Can Regulate the Sensitivity of MIA-Paca-2 Pancreatic and MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells to Chemotherapeutic Drugs, Targeted Therapeutics and Nutraceuticals
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cells Article GSK-3β Can Regulate the Sensitivity of MIA-PaCa-2 Pancreatic and MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells to Chemotherapeutic Drugs, Targeted Therapeutics and Nutraceuticals Stephen L. Abrams 1, Shaw M. Akula 1, Akshaya K. Meher 1 , Linda S. Steelman 1, Agnieszka Gizak 2 , Przemysław Duda 2 , Dariusz Rakus 2 , Alberto M. Martelli 3 , Stefano Ratti 3 , Lucio Cocco 3 , Giuseppe Montalto 4,5, Melchiorre Cervello 5 , Peter Ruvolo 6, Massimo Libra 7,8 , Luca Falzone 7,8 , Saverio Candido 7,8 and James A. McCubrey 1,* 1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Brody Building 5N98C, Greenville, NC 27858, USA; [email protected] (S.L.A.); [email protected] (S.M.A.); [email protected] (A.K.M.); [email protected] (L.S.S.) 2 Department of Molecular Physiology and Neurobiology, University of Wrocław, 50-335 Wrocław, Poland; [email protected] (A.G.); [email protected] (P.D.); [email protected] (D.R.) 3 Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, Università di Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; [email protected] (A.M.M.); [email protected] (S.R.); [email protected] (L.C.) 4 Department of Health Promotion, Maternal and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, University of Palermo, 90133 Palermo, Italy; [email protected] 5 Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation, National Research Council (CNR), 90133 Palermo, Italy; [email protected] 6 Citation: Abrams, S.L.; Akula, S.M.; Department of Leukemia, MD Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas, Houston, TX 77030, USA; Meher, A.K.; Steelman, L.S.; Gizak, A.; [email protected] 7 Research Center for Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer (PreDiCT), University of Catania, Duda, P.; Rakus, D.; Martelli, A.M.; 95123 Catania, Italy; [email protected] (M.L.); [email protected] (L.F.); [email protected] (S.C.) Ratti, S.; Cocco, L.; et al. GSK-3β Can 8 Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy Regulate the Sensitivity of * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-(252)-744-2704; Fax: +1-(252)-744-3104 MIA-PaCa-2 Pancreatic and MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells to Abstract: Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is a regulator of signaling pathways. KRas is frequently Chemotherapeutic Drugs, Targeted mutated in pancreatic cancers. The growth of certain pancreatic cancers is KRas-dependent and can be Therapeutics and Nutraceuticals. Cells 2021, 10, 816. https://doi.org/ suppressed by GSK-3 inhibitors, documenting a link between KRas and GSK-3. To further elucidate 10.3390/cells10040816 the roles of GSK-3β in drug-resistance, we transfected KRas-dependent MIA-PaCa-2 pancreatic cells with wild-type (WT) and kinase-dead (KD) forms of GSK-3β. Transfection of MIA-PaCa-2 cells Academic Editor: Stephen Yarwood with WT-GSK-3β increased their resistance to various chemotherapeutic drugs and certain small molecule inhibitors. Transfection of cells with KD-GSK-3β often increased therapeutic sensitivity. An Received: 7 March 2021 exception was observed with cells transfected with WT-GSK-3β and sensitivity to the BCL2/BCLXL Accepted: 4 April 2021 ABT737 inhibitor. WT-GSK-3β reduced glycolytic capacity of the cells but did not affect the basal Published: 6 April 2021 glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration. KD-GSK-3β decreased both basal glycolysis and glycolytic capacity and reduced mitochondrial respiration in MIA-PaCa-2 cells. As a comparison, the effects Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral of GSK-3 on MCF-7 breast cancer cells, which have mutant PIK3CA, were examined. KD-GSK-3β with regard to jurisdictional claims in increased the resistance of MCF-7 cells to chemotherapeutic drugs and certain signal transduction published maps and institutional affil- inhibitors. Thus, altering the levels of GSK-3β can have dramatic effects on sensitivity to drugs and iations. signal transduction inhibitors which may be influenced by the background of the tumor. Keywords: GSK-3β; targeted therapy; PDAC; breast cancer; KRas; β-catenin; BCL2; chemotherapeu- tic drugs; nutraceuticals Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and 1. Introduction conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is a family of kinases consisting of GSK-3α creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ and GSK-3β. The GSK-3 family members are highly conserved and expressed in many 4.0/). different types of cells and tissues [1–4]. They function as kinases and phosphorylate many Cells 2021, 10, 816. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10040816 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cells Cells 2021, 10, x 2 of 27 Cells 2021, 10, 816 1. Introduction 2 of 27 Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is a family of kinases consisting of GSK-3α and GSK-3β. The GSK-3 family members are highly conserved and expressed in many differ- ent types of cells and tissues [1–4]. They function as kinases and phosphorylate many pro- proteins on serine (S) and threonine (T) residues [5–9]. After phosphorylation, their target teins on serine (S) and threonine (T) residues [5–9]. After phosphorylation, their target proteinsproteins are are often often inactivated. inactivated. GSK-3 GSK-3 kinases kinases play playkey roles key in roles many in biological many biological processes processes includingincluding aging, aging, diabetes, diabetes, inflammation, inflammation, meta metabolism,bolism, neural neural transmission, transmission, obesity, obesity,and and drug-resistancedrug-resistance [3,4,10–12]. [3,4,10–12 The]. The abilities abilities of GSK-3 of GSK-3β to influenceβ to influence the drug-sensitivity the drug-sensitivity of of pancreaticpancreatic cancer cancer cells cells and and breast breast cancer cancer cells cells are the are subjects the subjects of this of manuscript. this manuscript. GSK-3ββ isis often often considered considered to function to in concertfunction with in the concert PI3K/PTEN/AKT/mTORC1 with the andPI3K/PTEN/AKT/mTORC1 Wnt/β-catenin pathways and Wnt/ [10–16β-catenin]. An overview pathways of [10–16]. the interactions An overview with of the various in- signal- ingteractions pathways with andvarious sites signaling of certain pathways small molecule and sites of inhibitors certain small action molecule is presented inhibitors in Figure 1 . Oneaction of is thepresented best characterized in Figure 1. One reactions of the best involving characterized GSK-3 reactionsβ is its involving phosphorylation GSK-3β at S9 byis its AKT, phosphorylation which results at S9 in by its AKT, inactivation which results [6]. in GSK-3 its inactivationβ is then [6]. targeted GSK-3 forβ is proteasomalthen degradation.targeted for proteasomal Other kinases degradation. and phosphatases Other kinases and also phosphatases regulate GSK-3 also regulateβ activity GSK- by either 3β activity by either phosphorylation (e.g., protein kinase A (PKA), p70 ribosomal S6 ki- phosphorylation (e.g., protein kinase A (PKA), p70 ribosomal S6 kinase (p70S6K), and p90 nase (p70S6K), and p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (p90Rsk) [5,17–20] or dephosphorylation (e.g., ribosomal S6 kinase (p90Rsk)[5,17–20] or dephosphorylation (e.g., protein phosphorylase 1 protein phosphorylase 1 (PP1) and protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A)) at various regulatory (PP1)sites [21]. and protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A)) at various regulatory sites [21]. FigureFigure 1. 1. IllustrationIllustration of ofglycogen glycogen synthase synthase kinase-3 kinase-3 (GSK-3) (GSK-3) interactions interactions with other with signaling other signalingpath- path- waysways important in in regulation regulation of cell of cellgrowth growth and si andtes of sites interaction of interaction for certain for signal certain transduction signal transduction inhibitors used in this study. inhibitors used in this study. The PI3K/PTEN/AKT/mTORC1 pathway is often deregulated in human cancers due to mutations at PI3K (PIK3CA), PTEN, AKT, MTOR and tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2). Mutations that alter the activity of this pathway can be either activating (PIK3CA, AKT, and MTOR) or inactivating (PTEN and TSC2). Both types of mutations can lead to pathway activation [16,22]. In various cancers, including breast, prostate, and brain cancers, the PTEN tumor suppressor gene is frequently inactivated, which results in constitutive AKT activity that in turn inhibits GSK-3 activity. In pancreatic cancer, the upstream KRAS gene Cells 2021, 10, 816 3 of 27 is frequently mutated, which results in the activation of the PI3K/PTEN/AKT/mTORC1 pathway [23,24]. These events can lead to the activation of AKT, which in turn, leads to inactivation of GSK-3β. Thus, one of the converging points in cancer development is phosphorylation of GSK-3 and its subsequent inactivation. Silencing of GSK-3 can lead to activation of downstream molecules such as mTOR, which promote cell growth. Therefore, in many cancers with aberrant AKT activity, subsequent suppression of GSK-3 may prevent its normal negative regulatory effects on cellular proliferation. This may contribute to altered sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs, signal transduction inhibitors and nutraceuticals and the cancer cells can proliferate in an uncontrolled fashion. An example of this dysregulation is the effects of GSK-3 on the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTORC1) activity. mTORC1 activity is important in cell growth and autophagy. mTORC1 activity is blocked by the immunosuppressive drug rapamycin and PI3K/mTOR dual inhibitors [14,15]. Both types of drugs are used to treat patients with various diseases. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) can phosphorylate TSC2 at S1345, GSK-3β can then phosphorylate the TSC2 protein at T1329, S1333, S1337, and S1345. TSC2 activity is suppressed and results in inhibition of downstream Ras homolog enriched in brain (RHEB) which can normally activate mTORC1. In this scenario, mTORC1 is suppressed by GSK-3 and its ability to aid in the translation of growth-regulatory mRNAs which have unique 30ends, which are normally difficult to translate, is suppressed [10,14,15].