3-Phosphoinositide-Dependent Kinase 1 Controls Breast Tumor
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Volume 14 Number 8 August 2012 pp. 719–731 719 www.neoplasia.com † † Paolo Armando Gagliardi*, , Laura di Blasio*, , 3-Phosphoinositide–Dependent † ‡ † Francesca Orso , ,§, Giorgio Seano*, , † † ‡ Kinase 1 Controls Breast Tumor Roberto Sessa*, ,DanielaTaverna, ,§, † Growth in a Kinase-Dependent but Federico Bussolino*, ,§ and Luca Primo*,§,¶ 1,2 Akt-Independent Manner *Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment, Candiolo, Italy; †Department of Oncological Sciences, University of Torino, Torino, Italy; ‡Molecular Biotechnology Center, Torino, Italy; §Center for Complex Systems in Molecular Biology and Medicine, Torino, Italy; ¶Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Torino, Torino, Italy Abstract 3-Phosphoinositide–dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK1) is the pivotal element of the phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway because it phosphorylates Akt/PKB through interactions with phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5 phosphate. Recent data indicate that PDK1 is overexpressed in many breast carcinomas and that alterations of PDK1 are critical in the context of oncogenic PI3K activation. However, the role of PDK1 in tumor progression is still controversial. Here, we show that PDK1 is required for anchorage-independent and xenograft growth of breast cancer cells harboring either PI3KCA or KRAS mutations. In fact, PDK1 silencing leads to increased anoikis, re- duced soft agar growth, and pronounced apoptosis inside tumors. Interestingly, these phenotypes are reverted by PDK1 wild-type but not kinase-dead mutant, suggesting a relevant role of PDK1 kinase activity, even if PDK1 is not relevant for Akt activation here. Indeed, the expression of constitutively active forms of Akt in PDK1 knock- down cells is unable to rescue the anchorage-independent growth. In addition, Akt down-regulation and pharma- cological inhibition do not inhibit the effects of PDK1 overexpression. In summary, these results suggest that PDK1 may contribute to breast cancer, even in the absence of PI3K oncogenic mutations and through both Akt-dependent and Akt-independent mechanisms. Neoplasia (2012) 14, 719–731 Introduction The phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) pathway is one of the most Abbreviations: PDK1, 3-phosphoinositide–dependent protein kinase 1; PI3K, phospha- important pathways in cancer metabolism and growth [1,2]. Class IA tidylinositol 3 kinase; PIP3, phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5 triphosphate; PH, pleckstrin PI3Ks, deregulated in cancer, are heterodimers composed of a regu- homology; shRNA, short hairpin RNA Address all correspondence to: Luca Primo, PhD, Institute for Cancer Research and latory (p85) and a catalytic (p110) subunit. Binding of p85 to tyro- Treatment, Candiolo, Str. Prov. 142 Km. 3.95, 10060 Candiolo, Italy. E-mail: luca. sine kinase receptors removes the inhibitory effect of p85 on p110, [email protected] resulting in the full activation of PI3K. The activated kinase catalyzes 1This work was supported in part by grants of Italian Association for Cancer Research “ ” the phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 4,5 biphosphate to (to F.B. and L.P.), Intramural Grant 5 ×mille 2008 Fondazione Piemontese per la Ricerca sul Cancro ONLUS (L.P.), Regione Piemonte (Ricerca Tecnologie Convergenti phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5 triphosphate (PIP3). PIP3 acts as a dock- 2007, Grant PHOENICS, Piattaforme Tecnologiche per le Biotecnologie Grant Druidi, ing site for 3-phosphoinositide–dependent kinase 1 (PDK1) and Akt Industrial Research 2009 Grants BANP) and eLab Italian Fondazione CRT-Torino that, in turn, phosphorylates their substrates, including mammalian (F.B.), and Fondo per gli Investimenti della Ricerca di Base Grant RBAP11BYNP NEWTON (L.P. and F.B.), Compagnia San Paolo (to D.T.). target of rapamycin and glycogen synthase kinase β (GSK3β) [3]. 2 This article refers to supplementary materials, which are designated by Figures W1 to PDK1 is a cytoplasmic kinase that phosphorylates serine/threonine W7 and are available online at www.neoplasia.com. residues in the activation segment of AGC (cAMP-dependent protein Received 24 May 2012; Revised 25 June 2012; Accepted 28 June 2012 kinases A, cGMP-dependent protein kinases G, and phospholipid- Copyright © 2012 Neoplasia Press, Inc. All rights reserved 1522-8002/12/$25.00 dependent protein kinases C) family protein, initially discovered as DOI 10.1593/neo.12856 720 PDK1 Regulates Breast Tumorigenesis Gagliardi et al. Neoplasia Vol. 14, No. 8, 2012 the kinase that phosphorylates Akt on threonine 308 upon binding to Gibco, Life Technologies, Rockville, MD) and 200 U/ml penicillin PIP3 [4–6]. In fact, PDK1 is able to recognize the phosphoinositides and 200 μg/ml streptomycin (catalog no. 67513; Sigma-Aldrich). phosphorylated in position 3 by PI3K, through its C-terminal pleck- strin homology (PH) domain. This event localizes PDK1 to the plasma Soft Agar Colony Formation Assay membrane where it phosphorylates Akt [6]. PDK1 substrates lacking One milliliter of bottom layer constituted by 0.7% agar (catalog the PH domain, such as p70S6K [7], SGK [8], RSK [9], and PKC iso- no. 214220; Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ) in DMEM was forms [10], require a different mechanism for their activation: PDK1, spread in each 35-mm-diameter well. A total of 1 × 104 cells were through its PIF-binding pocket, binds the hydrophobic motif on these suspended in 3 ml of DMEM–10% FBS 0.35% agar and spread over substrates, and this leads to their phosphorylation and full activation the bottom layer. A layer of medium (1.5 ml) was added on the gel [4,11]. Furthermore, it has been described that PDK1 binds and reg- layers and substituted every 3 to 4 days until the end of the assay (15- ulates other substrates through kinase-independent mechanisms. 21 days). For the quantification, colonies grown in soft agar were PDK1 has been demonstrated to activate the Ral guanine nucleotide stained with nitrotetrazolium blue chloride (N-6876; Sigma-Aldrich). exchange factors through its noncatalytic N-terminal 50 amino acids High-resolution image acquisitions by ChemiDoc XRS (170-8070; [12] and found to activate Rho-associated coiled-coil contain- Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA) were processed and analyzed ing protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) by competing against its inhibitor using the ImageJ software (http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/). Only colonies RhoE [13]. with diameter bigger than 100 μm were counted. The PI3K pathway is often aberrantly activated in breast cancer with mutations occurring in up to one quarter of breast cancers. Anoikis and Apoptosis Assay PIK3CA activating mutations and PTEN loss are the most frequent 5 events in human breast tumors, whereas a significant role for Akt1 For the anoikis assay, 4 × 10 MDA-MB-231 or T-47D were mutations is also emerging [14]. Moreover, most of the elements seeded in 35-mm dishes coated with poly-hydroxy-ethyl-methacrylate (catalog no. P3942; Sigma-Aldrich) in medium with 10% FBS. For of this pathway are found hyperactive or amplified in breast tumors: 5 PIK3CA [15], PIK3CB [16], Akt1 [17], Akt2 [18], PDK1 [19], the apoptosis assay, 4 × 10 MDA-MB-231 or T-47D were seeded in p70S6 kinase [20], and IKBKE [21]. Such alterations strongly corre- 35-mm dishes in the absence of FBS. After 2 days, the percentage of late with a more aggressive phenotype and a poor prognosis. apoptotic cells was evaluated by FACS analysis using M30 Cyto- Recently, PDK1 was found overexpressed both at the protein and DEATH (12-140-349-001; Roche Applied Science, Indianapolis, IN), or alternatively, the rate of apoptosis was evaluated using Cell mRNA levels in most human breast cancer with frequent genomic plus amplifications. Moreover, its Ser-241 phosphorylated form was Death Detection ELISA (11-774-425-001; Roche). found enriched in human breast carcinoma versus benign tumors [22,23]. Despite this, forced PDK1 expression has been described Xenograft Assay to be oncogenic only in the Comma-1D murine mammary cell model MDA-MB-231 cells were inoculated subcutaneously in nude [24,25], whereas in breast-derived cell lines, it is able to potentiate the athymic mice (5 × 106 cells) or in NOD/SCID mice (3 × 106 cells). oncogenic effects of upstream lesions but not to transform per se [19]. After 30 days, mice were killed, and tumor weight was evaluated. In mice, its oncogenic effect seems to function by altering the PI3K The tumors were cryopreserved by OCT embedding at −80°C. Cryo- pathway because PTEN-driven tumors were severely attenuated in sections of 15 μm thickness were stained with In Situ Cell Death PDK1 knockout and hypomorphic mice. However, results obtained Detection Kit, TMR red (12-156-792-910; Roche) for the evaluation with human cancer cell lines [26] together with the involvement of of apoptotic cells. PDK1 in resistance mechanisms to several anticancer drugs such as gemcitabine, trastuzumab, tamoxifen, and rapamicin suggest that Statistical Analysis – PDK1 regulates others oncogenic signaling pathways [27 30]. Data were compared using a Student’s t test. Results were expressed Here, we show that PDK1 regulates anchorage-independent as mean and SD of at least three independent experiments each in growth, resistance to anoikis, and tumor formation in breast cancer triplicate. The EC50 of log[inhibitor]-versus-response curves was cal- cells not only harboring PIK3CA genetic alterations but also in the culated with the nonlinear regression tool of the GraphPad 5 Prism absence of these lesions. software (GraphPad, La Jolla, CA). Materials and Methods PDK1, Akt, and PI3K Inhibitors BX-795 (catalog no. 1390; Axon Medchem, Groningen, the Cell Lines Netherlands), OSU-03012 (catalog no. 1-800-364-9897; Cayman 293T (CRL-11268), MDA-MB-231 (HTB-26), and T-47D Chemical, Ann Arbor, MI), LY294002 (catalog no. 9901; Cell Sig- (HTB-133) cell lines were obtained from ATCC resource center naling, Danvers, MA), and Akt inhibitor VIII (catalog no. 124017; (http://www.atcc.org). Phoenix-GP was provided by Garry P. Nolan Calbiochem, Darmstadt, Germany) were reconstituted in DMSO at − Lab (Stanford, CA). The MDA-MB-231 metastatic variant, LM2- 10 mM.