WO2001020034A9 - Methods and compositions for the screening of cell cycle modulators - Google Patents
Methods and compositions for the screening of cell cycle modulatorsInfo
- Publication number
- WO2001020034A9 WO2001020034A9 PCT/US2000/024838 US0024838W WO0120034A9 WO 2001020034 A9 WO2001020034 A9 WO 2001020034A9 US 0024838 W US0024838 W US 0024838W WO 0120034 A9 WO0120034 A9 WO 0120034A9
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- cdc25
- gene
- promoter
- cdc25a
- transcription
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- C12Q—MEASURING OR TESTING PROCESSES INVOLVING ENZYMES, NUCLEIC ACIDS OR MICROORGANISMS; COMPOSITIONS OR TEST PAPERS THEREFOR; PROCESSES OF PREPARING SUCH COMPOSITIONS; CONDITION-RESPONSIVE CONTROL IN MICROBIOLOGICAL OR ENZYMOLOGICAL PROCESSES
- C12Q1/00—Measuring or testing processes involving enzymes, nucleic acids or microorganisms; Compositions therefor; Processes of preparing such compositions
- C12Q1/68—Measuring or testing processes involving enzymes, nucleic acids or microorganisms; Compositions therefor; Processes of preparing such compositions involving nucleic acids
- C12Q1/6897—Measuring or testing processes involving enzymes, nucleic acids or microorganisms; Compositions therefor; Processes of preparing such compositions involving nucleic acids involving reporter genes operably linked to promoters
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
- A61P43/00—Drugs for specific purposes, not provided for in groups A61P1/00-A61P41/00
Definitions
- cyclin dependent Ainases cyclin dependent Ainases
- Activity of these molecules is regulated by many mechanisms including phosphorylation and protein- protein interactions (Lew, et al, (1996) Curr Opin Cell Biol 8:795-804).
- phosphorylation of Cdk by Cdk7 activates Cdk activity whereas phosphorylation by Mytl and Weel (on Thr-14 and Tyr-15) is inhibitory (Gould, K.L., et al. (1989) Nature 42(6245): 39-45; Krek, W., et al. (1991) EMBO J 10(2):305-16; Russell, P., et al, (1987) Cell 49(4):559-567).
- Cdk activity can be regulated by the dephosphorylation of these residues by, for example, a Cdc25 dual-specificity protein phosphatase which is a member of a group of highly related dual specificity phosphatases that promote cell cycle phase transitions (Gal syndrome, J.B., et al, (1991) EMBO J 10(13):4301-4309).
- Cdc25 phosphatases are expressed in all eukaryotes.
- a single form of Cdc25 is expressed in yeast (Russell, P., et al. (1986) Cell 45(1):145-153) and two forms are present in Drosophila (Edgar, B.A., et al (1989) Cell 57(1):177-187; Alphey, L., et al, (1992) Cell 69, 977-988).
- yeast yeast
- Drosophila Edgar, B.A., et al (1989) Cell 57(1):177-187; Alphey, L., et al, (1992) Cell 69, 977-988.
- three forms of Cdc25 are present and are encoded by three highly related but distinct genes (reviewed by Draetta, et al, (1997) Biochem et Biophys Acta 1332:M53-M63).
- Cdc25A has been proposed to mediate transition from Gl to S phase (Jinno, S., et al., (1994) EMBO Journal 13, 1549-1556).
- Cdc25B The role of Cdc25B has been cast both at the Gl/S and G2M transitions (Sebastian et al. (1993) Proc NatlAcadSci USA 90(8):3521- 3524; Galstrokeov, K., et al, (1995) Genes & Development 9, 1046-1058; Gabrielli, B.G., et al, (1996) J Cell Sci 109(Pt 5):1081-1093; Garner-Hamrick, et al, (1998) IntJ Cancer 76:720-728) and Cdc25C is required for the onset of mitosis (Karlsson C, et al, (1999) J Cell Biol 146(3):573-584).
- Cdc25 phosphatases Based on gene disruption studies, Cdc25 phosphatases clearly play a role in cell cycle progression in yeast and Drosophila (Russell, P., et al (1986) Cell 45(1):145-153; Edgar, B.A., et al. (1989) Cell 57(1):177-187; Alphey, L., et al, (1992) Cell 69, 911- 988).
- Cdc25A in regulating Gl arrest due to DNA damage (Terada, Y., et al, (1995) Nature 316, 358-362).
- Cdc25A has been reported to play a role in regulating cell cycle progression in response to serum factors.
- TGF ⁇ was proposed to cause Gl arrest in certain cell types by inhibiting Cdc25A expression (Iavarone, A., et al, (1999) Mol Cell Biol 19, 916-922; Hoffman, I., et al, (1994) EMBO Journal 13, 4302-4310).
- Cdc25A has also been proposed to lie at the end of signal transduction pathways activated by mitogens (Gal surgeonov, K., et al, (1996) Nature 382, 511-517; Gal forceov, K., et al, (1995) Genes & Development 9:1046-1058).
- Cdc25 A and B are expressed in overlapping but distinct patterns in adult animals as well as in embryos (Wickramasinghe, D., et al, (1995) Development 121, 2047-2056; Kakizuka, A., et al, (1992) Genes & Development 6, 578-590).
- Cdc25 A is expressed most abundantly in testes and kidney and is barely detectable in lung and spleen (Wickramasinghe, D., et al, (1995) Development 121, 2047-2056).
- Cdc25B is expressed most abundantly in spleen and lung but not detectable in kidney (Kakizuka, A., et al, (1992) Genes & Development 6, 578- 590). In adult mice, Cdc25C is expressed most abundantly in thymus but was not detected in lung or kidney (Nargi, J. L., et al, (1994) Immunogenetics 39, 99-108). Consistent with their proposed role as cell cycle regulators, over-expression of
- Cdc25A and B can cooperate with the activated ras oncogene to immortalize mouse embryo fibroblasts (Gal syndrome, et al, (1995) Science 269:1575-1577).
- Cdc25 polypeptides regulate the cell cycle are still incompletely understood.
- current methods for identifying modulators of Cdc25 activity involve assays that are directed to screening for compounds that alter either, 1) Cdc25 phosphatase activity, or, 2) the ability of a Cdc25 polypeptide to cause a phenotypic effect such as, e.g., apoptosis.
- Examples of techniques for identifying modulators of Cdc25 phosphatase activity are presented in, e.g., USPN 5,695,950, where potential inhibitor compounds are incubated with Cdc25 and a substrate, and a change in the ability of Cdc25 to dephosphorylate the substrate is taken as indicative of the test compound as modulating Cdc25 phosphatase activity.
- USPN 5,294,538 an assay is presented for screening anti-mitotic compounds using a Cdc25 phosphatase and test substrate, e.g., p- nitrophenyl, and Cdc25 phosphatase activity on the substrate in the presence or absence of a candidate compound is determined.
- compounds for inhibiting the phosphatase activity of protein phosphatases such as Cdc25A and Cdc25B are presented.
- Examples of techniques for assaying the ability of a Cdc25 polypeptide to cause a phenotypic effect such as, e.g., apoptosis are presented in USPN 5,443,962, where an assay for identifying an inhibitor of Cdc25 phosphatase causing apoptosis is scored based on the ability of the inhibitor to cause the cell to proliferate.
- Another phenotypic assay is presented in USPN 5,861,249, where modulators of Cdc25 are identified based on their ability to alter Cdc25-induced apoptosis as compared to a control.
- all of the foregoing assays are directed to screening compounds that alter, either phosphatase activity on a substrate, e.g., an artificial substrate such as p- nitrophenyl, or the ability of the modulator to alter a Cdc25-related change of a phenotypic effect such as, e.g., apoptosis.
- a substrate e.g., an artificial substrate such as p- nitrophenyl
- the modulator to alter a Cdc25-related change of a phenotypic effect such as, e.g., apoptosis.
- these assays have several limitations.
- the assays either look at phosphatase activity in isolation of any downstream or biological effect, or, are designed to begin with cells that are severely compromised in their growth and yield a qualitative result.
- candidate compounds that may function in a phosphatase assay may not have been assayed for any downstream or biological efficacy.
- the invention solves the foregoing problems by providing a novel assay for screening modulators of Cdc25 that relies on a robust cell culture system that can identify a candidate modulator by the appearance of a return or "rescue" of a strong reporter gene signal.
- the assay employs a catalytically active form of a Cdc25 that can repress a selected promoter driving strong gene expression.
- a control is performed using a catalytically inactive form of Cdc25 that does not repress promoter activity but allows for a strong baseline signal to be established.
- This important control allows for determining if a particular test compound is inhibiting promoter activity independently of Cdc25. If the control signal is essentially unaffected, than the signal measured from the test reaction containing the catalytically active form of a Cdc25 can be accurately interpreted.
- candidate modulators of Cdc25 e.g., inhibitors of Cdc25-mediated gene regulation, will cause a strong signal to appear. Accordingly, the invention has several advantages which include, but are not limited to, the following:
- - provides an assay that measures the appearance of a quantifiable signal and not a qualitative signal involving variable cell growth or other biological effect; - provides an assay that contains a control that can accurately identify compounds that are false positives (e.g., compounds that rescue the signal but also increase the signal in the test reaction) or false negatives (e.g., compounds that produce no signal but also lower the control signal, e.g., cytotoxic compounds) and this insures that inappropriate compounds are not further investigated and that candidate compounds are not erroneously dismissed;
- false positives e.g., compounds that rescue the signal but also increase the signal in the test reaction
- false negatives e.g., compounds that produce no signal but also lower the control signal, e.g., cytotoxic compounds
- Cdc25-mediated gene regulation e.g., at the level of promoter control, and provides promoters that are mediated by Cdc25 (e.g., the p21/WAF promoter; SN40 promoter) and control promoters that are not (e.g., the globin promoter); and
- the invention provides a method for identifying an modulator of Cdc25 activity by providing a cell having a recombinant Cdc25 phosphatase gene where the expression of the gene alters the transcription of a selected gene.
- the method further includes contacting the test cell with a compound under conditions where the recombinant Cdc25 phosphatase gene is expressed and alters the transcription of a selected gene and determining the amount of transcription of a selected gene in the test cell as compared to the amount of transcription of the selected gene in the absence of the compound where a statistically significant change in the amount of transcription of the selected gene is indicative of the compound being a modulator of Cdc25-mediated transcription.
- the assay further includes comparing the change in transcription measured in the above aspect in comparison with the transcription measured from a control test cell having a recombinant catalytically inactive Cdc25 phosphatase under conditions where the catalytically inactive Cdc25 phosphatase is expressed and does not substantially alter the transcription of the selected gene and determining the amount of transcription of the selected gene in the control test cell in the absence of the test compound as compared to the amount of transcription of the selected gene in the presence of the compound where a statistically significant change in the amount of transcription of the selected gene is indicative of the compound as a modulator of transcription independent of Cdc25.
- the selected gene is a eukaryotic gene that contains, or is operably linked, to a eukaryotic promoter element.
- the selected gene is p21 /WAF, pGK, or Cdc25.
- the selected gene contains a reporter gene, preferably, luciferase.
- the reporter gene is controlled by a cellular promoter such as the p21/WAF promoter, pGK promoter, or a Cdc25 promoter.
- the reporter gene is controlled by a viral promoter, preferably the SN40 promoter.
- the recombinant Cdc25 phosphatase gene of the above aspect encodes a mammalian Cdc25 phosphatase, preferably a mouse Cdc25 phosphatase, more preferably a human Cdc25 phosphatase.
- the Cdc25 phosphatase preferably a human phosphatase, is selected from the group consisting of Cdc25A, Cdc25B, and Cdc25C.
- the above aspect employs a test cell that is a mammalian cell, preferably a murine cell, and more preferably a human cell.
- the method includes determining transcription by measuring reporter gene activity, preferably luciferase activity. In preferred embodiment, a statistically significant increase in the amount of transcription determined, indicates that the test compound is an inhibitor of Cdc25 activity.
- a statistically significant decrease in the amount of transcription determined indicates the test compound is an activator of Cdc25 activity.
- Figure 1 shows the cD ⁇ A sequence and predicted amino acid sequence of murine
- FIG. 2 shows in a schematic of the probes used for SI nuclease protection analysis (Panel A).
- Panel B depicts an autoradiograph of an SI nuclease protection analysis. Genomic fragments were isolated and 5' end-labeled at the indicated restriction sites. These were hybridized to RNA isolated from 129sv mouse ES cells as described herein. The probe labeled at the Ncol site gave rise to a protected fragment of 420 nucleotides (nt) (700 nt undigested) whereas the probe labeled at the Notl site gave rise to a product of 260 nt (1100 nt undigested). Probes hybridized to 50 ⁇ g yeast tR ⁇ A did not give rise to protections.
- Figure 3 is a histogram of Cdc25 A promoter activity. Mammalian 293 kidney cells (Panel A) and H460 lung cells (Panel B) were transfected in triplicate with the indicated reporter construct. Shown is the average of each triplicate transfection. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean and the Y axis scales have been adjusted to reflect the difference in transfection efficiency of the two cell lines.
- Figure 4 is a histogram indicating the auto-regulatory activity of Cdc25 A phosphatase.
- Figure 5 shows an autoradiograph of Cdc25A R ⁇ A levels during the cell cycle.
- R ⁇ A samples were isolated at the indicated times before or after release from a cell synchronization step (double thymidine block) and analyzed by Northern blot.
- Replicate blots were probed with a Cdc25A cDNA (Panel A) or ribosomal protein S14 cDNA (Panel B), quantitated using a phosphoimager, and values were normalized (Panel C).
- FIG. 6 shows a schematic of two Cdc25A targeting vectors with the frequency of homologous recombination achieved indicated.
- the conditional targeting vector contains the tNT cassette inserted into the Notl site (+260) in the untranslated leader sequence of the Cdc25A gene.
- This t ⁇ T cassette contains the coding sequences of the tTA gene, a phosphoglycerate kinase gene promoter regulated neomycin (G418) resistance gene and the Tet-o-7 tetracycline responsive promoter (Gossen, M., et al, (1992) Proc NatlAcadSci USA 89(12):5547-5551).
- the Tet responsive promoter is fused (at +62) to the Notl site in the untranslated leader sequence of the Cdc25A gene. Also contained within the cassette are three polyadenylation sites and stop codons in all three reading frames. tTA driven, tetracycline dependent regulation of this tet responsive promoter can be demonstrated.
- the conventional targeting vector was constructed by removing a 2396 bp cml fragment disrupting exons 1, 2 and 3 and replacing it with a Pvul-Bstell fragment containing the pGK regulated G418 resistance gene derived from pP ⁇ T. After selection for G418 resistance, ELI ES cells electroporated with these vectors were expanded and analyzed by Southern blot for homologous recombination.
- Figure 7 shows a schematic of the genomic locus of murine Cdc25A and targeting vector.
- Neomycin transferase Neo ⁇
- Neomycin transferase contained within the tNT cassette and inserted at the Notl site in exon 1, was used for positive selection.
- the 1.3 kb 5' and 3.2 kb 3' homology regions of murine genomic sequences are represented by closed boxes.
- the PI and P2 probes used in Southern blot analysis are indicated.
- FIG 8 shows photomicrographs of a histological analysis of Cdc25A heterozygous intercross embryos (A-J). Embryos at E6.5, from a maternal uterus, were fixed in formaldehyde, sectioned serially and stained with hemotoxylin and eosin. All eight embryos (A-J) at E6.5 appeared healthy and displayed normal post-implantation development to the early primitive streak stage (K-T; 100X) embryos (R-T) were disorganized and, in contrast to the adjacent normal embryos, had not developed to the late primitive streak stage (K-Q; 40X).
- Figure 9 shows photomicrographs of an in situ hybridization analysis of heterozygous intercross embryos at E7.5 (A-F).
- Figure 10 shows the complete sequence of the murine Cdc25A genomic locus.
- Cdc25 is intended to include any art recognized cell division control 25 gene and/or corresponding polypeptide expressed therefrom.
- the above term is also intended to refer to related Cdc25 genes and/or polypeptides, e.g., Cdc25A, Cdc25B, and Cdc25C, unless indicated otherwise.
- Cdc25 activity is intended to include any activity attributable to the Cdc25 polypeptide including direct catalytic activity, i.e., phosphatase activity, protein/protein interactions, and/or indirect activity such as, transcriptional modulation.
- selected gene is intended to include any eukaryotic gene or gene capable of being transcriptionally regulated in a eukaryotic cell or cell lysate, such as, e.g., a cellular gene or a viral gene. Accordingly, the selected gene, unless otherwise noted, is typically operably linked to at least a minimal promoter and other regulatory elements, e.g., introns, termination sequences, polyadenylation sequences, etc., necessary for transcription of the gene.
- the selected gene may be a cellular gene in a natural context, e.g., encoded on a chromosome or encoded on, e.g., a plasmid.
- transcription is intended to include any measurable transcription that occurs when the genetic information of a DNA molecule is transferred to a molecule of a messenger RNA (mRNA).
- mRNA messenger RNA
- the transcription may take place in a cell or in a cell lysate.
- levels of transcription may be measured directly as a function of, e.g., RNA transcript production or indirectly as, e.g. , a function of a resultant polypeptide being produced from the RNA transcript.
- the term is also intended to include an indirect determination of transcription by measuring, e.g., a modulation in polypeptide occupancy of a gene element, e.g., a promoter element, using, e.g., DNAse footprinting or an electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMS A).
- EMS A electrophoretic mobility shift assay
- statically significant change is intended to include any reproducible change in Cdc25 activity that is measurable with a minimum of statistical significance. Typically a change of 10%, more preferably 20%, and more preferably from 30% - 50% , and most preferably, 100%), 200%, 300%, or more, is considered a significant change.
- eukaryotic promoter element is intended to include any partial promoter sequence which by itself is not capable of initiating normal transcription but has been determined to contribute to the activity of the overall activity of the promoter.
- reporter gene is intended to include any heterologous nucleotide sequence that encodes a gene product that can be conveniently assayed and includes, for example, luciferase, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase, green fluorescent protein, etc.
- cellular promoter is intended to include a DNA sequence generally described as the 5' region of a eukaryotic gene, located proximal to the start codon. The transcription of an adjacent gene(s) is initiated at the promoter region.
- viral promoter is intended to include any promoter element determined to regulate the transcription of a viral polypeptide, or, when operably linked to a heterologous gene, regulate the transcription of the heterologous gene in a eukaryotic cell or cell extract.
- Typical viral promoters intended to be encompassed by the invention include promoters derived from, e.g., SN40, adenovirus, CMN, herpesvirus, HIN, papillomavirus, AAN, etc.
- cell is intended to include any eukaryotic cell such as yeast cells, plant cells, fungal cells, insect cells, e.g., Schneider and sF9 cells, mammalian cells, e.g., HeLa cells (human), ⁇ IH3T3 (murine), RK13 (rabbit) cells, embryonic stem cells (e.g., D3 and Jl), and cell types such as hematopoietic stem cells, myoblasts, hepatocytes, lymphocytes, and epithelial cells.
- yeast cells e.g., plant cells, fungal cells, insect cells, e.g., Schneider and sF9 cells
- mammalian cells e.g., HeLa cells (human), ⁇ IH3T3 (murine), RK13 (rabbit) cells, embryonic stem cells (e.g., D3 and Jl)
- embryonic stem cells e.g., D3 and Jl
- cell types such as hematopoietic stem cells, my
- catalytically inactive Cdc25 is intended to include a Cdc25, such as, e.g., Cdc25A, that has reduced or absent levels of phosphatase activity as compared to a corresponding wild type Cdc25 polypeptide.
- test cell is intended to include a eukaryotic cell having a catalytically active form of a Cdc25 polypeptide, e.g., a mammalian Cdc25A, B, or C.
- control test cell is intended to include a eukaryotic cell having a catalytically inactive form of a Cdc25 polypeptide, e.g., a mammalian Cdc25A, B, or C that has reduced or absent levels of phosphatase activity as compared to a corresponding wild type Cdc25 polypeptide.
- a Cdc25 polypeptide e.g., a mammalian Cdc25A, B, or C that has reduced or absent levels of phosphatase activity as compared to a corresponding wild type Cdc25 polypeptide.
- the present invention will be described in detail as methods and nucleic acids, nucleic acid constructs, cells containing such nucleic acids, transgenic animals, and cells derived therefrom for screening compositions (including, e.g., small molecules, peptides, polypeptides, and genes) that modulate Cdc25 (e.g., mammalian Cdc25A, Cdc25B, or Cdc25C, or a combination thereof) transcription; Cdc25 activity (e.g., phosphatase activity, protein/protein interactions); Cdc25-mediated gene regulation (including, e.g., promoter repression), Cdc25-mediated cell cycle activity (e.g., apoptosis, proliferation), and Cdc25 pathways in general.
- Cdc25 e.g., mammalian Cdc25A, Cdc25B, or Cdc25C, or a combination thereof
- Cdc25 activity e.g., phosphatase activity,
- RNA from the remaining cells was isolated from 175cm 2 flasks of synchronized 3T3 cells utilizing RNAgents Total RNA Isolation System (Promega) according to the manufacturer's protocol.
- RNA marker Twenty micrograms of total RNA per time point and 5.5ug 0.5 - 9 kb RNA marker (New England Biolabs) were electrophoresed on 1.2% agarose/formaldehyde gel and transferred to Nytran nylon membrane (Schleicher and Schuell) in 10X SSC. Prehybridization and hybridization in 5X SSPE, 10X Denhardt's, 50% formamide, 100 ⁇ g/ml salmon sperm DNA and 2% SDS was carried out at 42°C for 20 hours. The probe was a 1.7 kb C-terminal fragment of the murine Cdc25A cDNA labeled with [alpha - 32 P] using random primer method (Stratagene).
- Luciferase Assay Mammalian 293T cells grown in 6-well dishes at 1 x 10 5 cells/well were co-transfected with 1 ⁇ g/well effector DNA (active and inactive Cdc25A) and l ⁇ g/well reporter DNA (Cdc25A luciferase, p21 luciferase, and gamma globin) using 3 ⁇ l/well FuGENE (Boehringer-Mannheim) in 100 ⁇ l/well serum-free medium. Forty- eight hours post-transfection, the cells were harvested and lysed using Promega's Luciferase Assay System.
- Si Nuclease Analysis An amount of 1.5 fmoles (approximately 9 l0 6 cpm) of 5' end labeled probe was hybridized to 50 ⁇ g total RNA isolated from 129sv mouse ES cells (51°C, 80% formamide) and digested with 150 units of SI nuclease for 1 hr at 31°C. The products of the SI nuclease digestions were fractionated on a 6% polyacrylamide gels containing 8M urea and visualized by autoradiography.
- EXAMPLE 1 CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MURINE Cdc25A GENE
- genomic locus cDNA sequence
- amino acid sequence of murine Cdc25A is described.
- the complete genomic sequence of murine Cdc25A (Fig. 10) and the transcription unit was determined by sequencing genomic DNA, cDNA, and by RNA mapping.
- the coding sequence of Cdc25A (Fig. 1) was determined as being expressed from 18,314 bp of genomic DNA comprising 15 exons.
- genomic clones for DNA sequencing were isolated by hybridization screening of shot gun libraries prepared from a PI vector containing the entire Cdc25 A locus using oligonucleotides derived from a previously published cDNA sequence (Wickramasinghe, D., et al., (1995) Development 121, 2047- 2056).
- Exon and intron sequences are shown in upper- and lowercase letters, respectively.
- the splice acceptor and donor sequences are shown in boldface type.
- a canonical polyadenylation site AATAAA (Wickens, M., et al, (1984) Science 226(4618):! 045- 1051) was identified 17,893 bp down stream of the initiator methionine codon.
- the 3' most cluster of mouse ESTs present in the NCBI dbEST database was determined to overlap this site, consistent with this being the 3' end of the gene. Previous reports have proposed a 3' end further upstream. This conclusion likely results from false priming of a poly A track present in the transcribed region.
- the 3' UTR contains two copies of the mRNA destabilizing motif ATTTA at positions 16,811 and 16,939 (Wilson, T., et al.
- Cdc25A PROMOTER In this example, a characterization of the murine Cdc25A promoter is presented.
- the structure of the murine Cdc25A promoter could be determined.
- various key structural motifs of the Cdc25A promoter were identified.
- the Cdc25A transcription initiation site was determined using SI nuclease protection analysis. Two genomic DNA probes were used for this analysis, one labeled at the Ncol site coincident with the translation initiation site and one labeled at the Notl site 152 nucleotides upstream (Fig. 2A).
- the Notl probe yields a protected fragment of approximately 260 nucleotides whereas the Ncol probe yields a product of approximately 420 nucleotides.
- TATA independent transcription initiation can be directed by "initiator” (Inr) elements containing the consensus sequence PyPyA ⁇ (T/A)PyPy (Javahery et al, (1994) Mol Cell Biol (14(1):116-127). A perfect match to this consensus is found at position -420 relative to the translation initiation site. Inr sequence elements are frequently associated with adjacent Spl binding sites (Faber et al, 1993, J. Biol. Chem. 268:9296-9301). Consistent with this, an Spl binding site is located at -40 relative to the Cdc25 A transcription initiation site and consensus Inr element.
- the Cdc25A luciferase construct was transfected into mammalian 293 kidney cells and ⁇ CI H460 lung cells in parallel with five other control constructs. These control constructs contained viral or house keeping gene promoters having little cell type specificity. As shown in Figure 3, the relative activity of the control constructs differs very little between the two cell types. However, although Cdc25A driven luciferase activity was detected in both cell types, it was at least ten times higher in kidney cells than lung cells relative to the panel of control reporter constructs.
- Cdc25A upstream sequences extending to approximately 1 Kb 5' of the transcription initiation site.
- tissue specific regulation of the murine Cdc25A promoter the autoregulation of the Cdc25A promoter was investigated. Accordingly, cells were cotransfected with the above-described mammalian luciferase reporter construct driven by the Cdc25A promoter and a plasmid encoding either a catalytically active Cdc25A phosphatase or a catalytically inactive phosphatase. Transcription from the Cdc25 A promoter was repressed by over-expression of catalytically active but not catalytically inactive Cdc25A phosphatase.
- Cdc25A can affect the expression of genes containing binding sites for the transcriptional repressor Cutl (Coqueret, O., et al, (1998) EMBO Journal 17, 4680-4694).
- Cdc25A can dephosphorylate Cutl thereby increasing its affinity for binding sites in promoters such as the p21/Waf gene.
- Cdc25A phosphatase is capable of regulating the Cdc25 A promoter. Accordingly, an investigation of Cdc25 A-mediated gene regulation of a number of different eukaryotic promoters was conducted in addition to analysis of Cdc25 A autoregulation. In particular, Cdc25 A was assayed for the ability to regulate the promoter of an important cell cycle gene, i.e., p21, the phosphoglycerate kinase (pGK) promoter, the promoter of a tissue restricted gene, i.e., ⁇ -globin, and a viral promoter derived from SN40.
- an important cell cycle gene i.e., p21
- pGK phosphoglycerate kinase
- mammalian cells were co-transfected with one of several reporter constructs and a plasmid encoding either a catalytically active or catalytically inactive Cdc25 phosphatase. Following transfection, cells were harvested, and reporter gene activity as a function of luciferase activity was determined as described in the materials and methods subsection above.
- Cdc25A As shown in Figure 4A, catalytically active Cdc25A was shown to repress p21 promoter expression in transient transfection experiments. Similarly, the Cdc25 A promoter was inhibited by catalytically active Cdc25A but not catalytically inactive Cdc25A. Sequence analysis of the Cdc25A promoter revealed the presence of consensus Cutl binding sites at -625, -551 and -482 (Andres, V., et al, (1994) Genes Dev 8(2):245- 257). This indicated that Cdc25A expression could repress its own expression through a feed-back mechanism.
- Cdc25A could affect the gene transcription of other promoters
- a viral promoter derived from SN40 simian virus 40
- Fig 4 lower panel
- Cdc25A to regulate not only different cellular promoters, such as its own promoter (but not all cellular promoters, see, e.g., the globin promoter), but also viral promoters, such as is exemplified using the SN40 promoter.
- the assay has wide utility in screening modulators of Cdc25-mediated gene regulation.
- the viral promoter SN40 may be used because of the unambiguous signal that can be assayed and because an inhibitor of Cdc25A will rescue signal output, i.e., reporter gene expression. Because the amount of Cdc25A repression of this promoter is 42-fold, even weak or partial inhibitors of Cdc25 A activity can be readily assayed.
- the assay provides a control that can accurately identify compounds that are false positives (e.g., compounds that rescue the signal but also increase the signal in the test reaction) or false negatives (e.g., compounds that produce no signal but also lower the control signal, e.g., cytotoxic compounds) and this insures that inappropriate compounds are not further investigated and that candidate compounds or not erroneously dismissed.
- false positives e.g., compounds that rescue the signal but also increase the signal in the test reaction
- false negatives e.g., compounds that produce no signal but also lower the control signal, e.g., cytotoxic compounds
- any art recognized compound or library of compounds containing, e.g., a test compound that is protein based, carbohydrate based, lipid based, nucleic acid based, natural organic based, synthetically derived organic based, or antibody based may be screened as a candidate compound that affects Cdc25- medated regulation of a promoter such as, e.g., the SN40 promoter. Accordingly, any of a number of art recognized high throughput assay techniques may be used in conducting the assay.
- Cdc25A RNA levels were measured during the cell cycle of murine cells synchronized with a double thymidine block (Pagano, M. (ed.) Cell Cycle - Materials and Methods. New York: Springer-Nerlag, 1995).
- Figure 5 shows that, relative to the level of Cdc25A mRNA in cells arrested at Gl/S (0 hours), Cdc25A mRNA levels peak at 9 hours after release corresponding roughly to the time when most cells are in G2 or M phase. It was also observed that mRNA levels begin to drop off as cells continue to finish the first cell cycle after release.
- Cdc25A protein levels are Cell cycle regulated in rat NRK cells (Jinno, S., et al, (1994) EMBO Journal 13, 1549-1556).
- mice were prepared as described in Example 7.
- a vector was constructed containing a cassette (tNT) designed to simultaneously insert the coding sequences of the tetracycline trans-activator (Gossen, M., et al, (1993) Trends Biochem Sci 18(12):471-475), under control of the Cdc25A promoter and place the adjacent coding sequences of the Cdc25A gene under the control of the tetracycline response element tet-o-7 (Gossen, M., et al. (1993) Trends Biochem Sci 18(12):471-475) ( Figure 6).
- the second construct was expected to conditionally express Cdc25A based on the presence or absence of tetracycline.
- the embryonic cell line ELI was electroporated with each of these constructs and placed under selection for G418 resistance (negative selection was not used). Surprisingly, the construct containing the tNT insertion frequency was high (over 25% (14/54)) ( Figure 6). Although recombination between one arm of the conventional targeting vector and the Cdc25A locus was detected, no homologous recombinants were identified among 210 G418 resistant clones ( Figure 6).
- Cyclin Dependent Kinase activity controls cell division in eukaryotes and is positively regulated by CDC25, a family of dual specificity phosphatases.
- CDC25 Cyclin Dependent Kinase
- three Cdc25 genes, Cdc25A, B and C have been identified and are expressed in an overlapping yet distinct manner during development (Sadhu, K., et al. (1990) PNAS USA 87:5139-5143; Kakizuka, A., et al. (1992) Genes and Development 6:578-590; Wickramasinghe, D., et al. (1995) Development 121:2047-2056; Wu, S., et al. (1995) £>ev Biol 170:195-206).
- Cdc25A deficient mice were generated. A lethal phenotype is observed in Cdc25A deficient embryos in contrast to that of Cdc25B mutants that remain viable. These results indicate that Cdc25 A is essential and is not redundant for early mouse development, in contrast to that of Cdc25B, unequivocally distinguishing the unique role played by these individual family members.
- the Cdc25A locus was targeted by site directed mutagenesis in embryonic stem cells. Exon 1 was disrupted by insertion of a PGK-Neomycin r (PGK-NEO 1 ) cassette containing three polyadenylation signals and translation termination codons in all three reading frames.
- the targeting vector which contained 1.3kb and 3.2kb of 5' and 3' homology regions respectively ( Figure 7), was electroporated into Embryonic Stem (ES) cells and selected for resistance to 300 ⁇ g/ml G418. No negative selection was performed. Homologous recombination in these clones was identified by Southern blot analysis and 3 independent cell lines were expanded.
- control crosses with wildtype and heterozygous mice do not display embryonic lethality at E7.5 in contrast to the heterozygous intercross embryos.
- Cdc25 A expression (wildtype or heterozygous) is correlated with development of the embryo while the lack of Cdc25A expression is directly correlated with early embryonic lethality. Therefore, Cdc25A is essential and is not redundant for embryonic development. Since phenotypes have been identified in mice heterozygous for other cell cycle genes, we examined cell cycle profiles and DNA damage response in mice heterozygous for Cdc25A (A. Clarke et al. (1992) Nature 359: 328-330; L. Donehower et al, (1992) Nature 356: 215-221; T. Jacks et /.(1992) Nature 359: 295-300).
- Cdc25A is essential for early embryonic development. At E7.5 overall developmental arrest is observed in mutant embryos suggesting that Cdc25A plays a critical role at this time of rapid proliferation. These results further distinguish the role of Cdc25A from that of Cdc25B. Since Cdc25B has been implicated in a role at Gl/S, compensation for the lack of Cdc25A function by Cdc25B at G,/S would be predicted. However, the Cdc25A mutant embryos are not compensated for by Cdc25B, although it could be argued that the low level of Cdc25B expressed in these embryos is insufficient for compensation.
- Cdc25A mutant phenotype is in sharp contrast to that of Cdc25B.
- Cdc25B is not essential or is redundant in embryonic development.
- Cdc25B -/- mice develop into adult animals and do not display a mitotic phenotype.
- Cdc25A plays a central role in early embryogenesis co-incident with tissue proliferation for subsequent development and differentiation. Zygotic expression of Cdc25 A occurs most likely at the blastocyst stage of development (D. Wickramasinghe et al, (1995) Development 121:2047-2056). Therefore, Cdc25A homozygous mutants probably survive preimplantation development, due to maternally provided Cdc25A. Alternatively, Cdc25A is not essential for these early embryonic divisions. Maternal support of early development has been documented extensively and survival of pre-implantation embryos is not unique in mouse knockout analysis (Telford, N., et al, (1990) Mol ReprodDev 26:90- 100).
- cyclin A2 -/- embryos express the protein in blastocysts.
- the cyclin A2 is most likely derived from maternal stores and supports embryonic development up to E6.5 (Murphy, M. et al. (1997) Nature Genetics 15:83-86).
- knockout embryos of genes critical for cell division and DNA damage repair such as BRCA1, BRCA2 and RAD51 display early embryonic lethal phenotypes ranging from E6.5-8.5 (Gowen, L., et al. (1996) Nature Genetics 12: 191-194).
- Cdc25A plays during mouse development that is temporally coincident with rapid proliferation. Since Cdc25A has been implicated in numerous human cancers, these mutants extend a framework to examine genetic interactions with other cell cycle regulators and tumor suppressors in creating a malignant state. In particular, these cells and resultant animals provide valuable tools for assaying Cdc25-mediated gene regulation.
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