Complementary genomic screens identify SERCA as a therapeutic target in NOTCH1 mutated cancer - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2013 Mar 18;23(3):390-405.

doi: 10.1016/j.ccr.2013.01.015. Epub 2013 Feb 21.

Anne Carlton, Kenneth N Ross, Michele Markstein, Kostandin Pajcini, Angela H Su, Norbert Perrimon, Warren S Pear, Andrew L Kung, Stephen C Blacklow, Jon C Aster, Kimberly Stegmaier

Affiliations

Complementary genomic screens identify SERCA as a therapeutic target in NOTCH1 mutated cancer

Giovanni Roti et al. Cancer Cell. 2013.

Abstract

Notch1 is a rational therapeutic target in several human cancers, but as a transcriptional regulator, it poses a drug discovery challenge. To identify Notch1 modulators, we performed two cell-based, high-throughput screens for small-molecule inhibitors and cDNA enhancers of a NOTCH1 allele bearing a leukemia-associated mutation. Sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) channels emerged at the intersection of these complementary screens. SERCA inhibition preferentially impairs the maturation and activity of mutated Notch1 receptors and induces a G0/G1 arrest in NOTCH1-mutated human leukemia cells. A small-molecule SERCA inhibitor has on-target activity in two mouse models of human leukemia and interferes with Notch signaling in Drosophila. These studies "credential" SERCA as a therapeutic target in cancers associated with NOTCH1 mutations.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1. Identification of SERCA at the intersection of two high-throughput screens

(A) Notch1 inhibitory modulators were identified using GE-HTS in DND41 cells, and these results were integrated with results from a cDNA library screen for factors enhancing the signaling activity of the leukemogenic NOTCH1 allele, L1601PΔP. (B) Notch1 off signature genes derived from the expression profiling of T-ALL cell lines treated with Cpd E. The columns represent individual cell lines treated in duplicate with Cpd E (0.5 μM) or vehicle for 24 hr. The rows represent the 28 genes selected for the Notch off signature. Dark red indicates high gene expression and dark blue indicates low gene expression by Affymetrix microarray profiling. (C) The x-axis indicates the number of methods (summed score, weighted summed score, naïve Bayes, KNN and SVM) and the y-axis the fraction of chemicals that scored for the number of methods. SERCA inhibitors are indicated. The number of compounds scoring by the indicated number of methods is noted above each column. (D) Notch1 gain-of-function primary screen data for the negative (empty vector) and positive (MAML) controls versus SERCA-encoding cDNAs hits. Depicted is the fold-induction of luciferase signal for each replicate normalized to the population median of reporter readout values of pcDNA3-L1601PΔP (n=184). (E) Retesting of cDNAs scoring in the Notch-sensitive luciferase reporter. Luciferase activity is expressed as relative activity compared to the pcDNA3 control. Errors bars denote the mean ± SD of 10 replicates. Statistical significance relative to pcDNA3 (*p<0.05) and to pcDNA3-L1601PΔP (#p<0.05; ##p<0.01) was determined by Student’s t-test. See also Figure S1 and Table S1.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Validation of SERCA as a Notch1 modulator

(A) Induction of the Notch1 off Score (weighted summed score) measured by GE-HTS in DND41 (left) and MOLT4 (right) cells treated with thapsigargin in 2-fold dilution for 72 hr. Error bars denote the mean ± SD of 12 replicates for vehicle-treated (DMSO 0.06%) cells and 6 replicates for thapsigargin-treated cells. (B) Expression of indicated Notch1 target genes in DND41 treated in 2-fold dliution for 24 hr was determined by qRT-PCR. Error bars indicate the mean ± SD of 3 replicates. Data were analyzed using the ΔΔCT method and plotted as a percentage relative to the control gene RPL13A. (C) Effects of thapsigargin on the activation of a Notch1 luciferase reporter by L1601PΔP in U2OS cells. Normalized luciferase activity relative to a Renilla control was expressed as a percentage of vehicle treatment. Error bars denote mean ± SD of 4 replicates. Statistical significance (*p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001) in all panels was determined by one-way ANOVA using Bonferroni’s correction for multiple comparison testing.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Thapsigargin demonstrates anti-Notch1 and anti-leukemia properties in T-ALL in vitro

(A) Effect of thapsigargin treatment (6 days) on cell cycle of T-ALL cell lines, as assessed by measurement of DNA content on the viable fraction of cells. (B) Effect of thapsigargin treatment for 24 hr on cell size as measured by forward scatter flow cytometry. (C) Effect of thapsigargin treatment on cell growth (left) and induction of apoptosis (right). Error bars denote mean ± SD of 4 replicates. Annexin V/propidium iodide staining of T-ALL cells following 72 hr of treatment with 10 nM thapsigargin.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Thapsigargin demonstrates Notch1 on-target activity in vitro

(A) Effect of 24 hr of thapsigargin treatment on the ICN1 level in T-ALL cells. The immunoblot was stained with anti-ICN1 antibody. (B) ICN1 level in MigR1- or MigR1-ICN1-transduced cells. ICN1 is detected using an anti-ICN1 antibody. (C) The weighted summed score fold induction is shown for the Notch1 off signature after treatment of cells with thapsigargin or Cpd E for 48 hr. Error bars indicate the mean ± SD of 12 replicates for vehicle-treated and 6 replicates for GSI- or thapsigargin-treated cells. Statistical significance (***p<0.001) was determined by one-way ANOVA using Bonferroni’s correction for multiple comparison testing. (D) Effect of thapsigargin on the growth of MigR1- or MigR1-ICN1-transduced DND41 cells. Normalized data are plotted relative to time 0. Error bars indicate mean ± SD of 4 replicates. Statistical significance (***p<0.001) was determined by two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s correction for multiple comparison testing. (E) Effect of 3 days of thapsigargin treatment on DNA content of MigR1- or MigR1-ICN1-transduced MOLT4 cells. Error bars indicate mean ± SD of 2 replicates with results expressed relative to vehicle treatment. Statistical significance was determined by Student’s t-test (**p<0.01). (F) Effect of 3 days of thapsigargin treatment on apoptosis of MigR1- or MigR1-ICN1-transduced DND41 cells. Error bars indicate mean ± SD of 2 replicates with results expressed relative to vehicle. Statistical significance was determined by Student’s t-test (**p<0.01).

Figure 5

Figure 5. Thapsigargin impairs Notch1 maturation in T-ALL cell lines

(A) Effect of thapsigargin treatment (24 hr) on Notch1 processing in T-ALL cell lines all with HD mutations (DND41 and ALL/SIL (L1594PΔPEST), KOPTK1 and MOLT4 (L1601PΔPEST), and PF382 (L1575PΔPEST). The blot was stained with an antibody against the C-terminus of Notch1 that recognizes both the furin-processed Notch1 transmembrane subunit (TM) and the unprocessed Notch1 precursor (FL). (B, C) Effect of thapsigargin treatment (24 hr) on Notch1 cell surface staining, as assessed by flow cytometry (B) and staining of non-permeabilized cells (C). Scale bar represents 10 μm. (D) Effect of thapsigargin treatment (24 hr) on the subcellular localization of Notch1. Double-immunofluorescence staining of permeabilized DND41 cells stained with anti-Notch1 (green) and Giantin (red) is shown. Co-localization is indicated by yellow signal. Scale bar represents 10 μm. See also Figure S2.

Figure 6

Figure 6. SERCA inhibition causes Notch loss-of-function in vivo

(A–C) Immunofluorescence staining of Drosophila midguts expressing GFP (green) and stained with anti-Delta (membrane red), anti-prospero (nuclear red) and DAPI (blue) is depicted. Treatment was with DAPT (400 μM) or Cpd E (100 μM) for 7 days in (A) and with cyclopiazonic acid (1 mM) or thapsigargin (100 μM) for 7 days in (B). In (C) effects of knockdown of Ca-P60A are shown. Scale bars represent 75 μm. (D) Effect of thapsigargin on the growth of xenografted MOLT4 tumors. Error bars indicate mean ± SD of 6 replicates for the thapsigargin-treated and 9 replicates for the vehicle-treated mice. Statistical significance (**p<0.01; ***p<0.001) was determined by two-way ANOVA using Bonferroni’s correction for multiple comparison testing. (E) Effect of thapsigargin treatment on ICN1 levels in xenografted MOLT4 tumors was measured by western blotting, and statistical significance was determined by Student’s t-test (*p<0.05). Error bars represent the mean ± SD of 6 replicates for each group. (F, G) Effect of thapsigargin on the growth of DND41 cells transduced with MigR1 (F) or MigR1-ICN1 (G) xenografted in NSG mice. Error bars indicate mean ± SD of replicates for each cohort. Statistical significance was determined by Student’s t-test as indicated See also Figure S3.

Figure 7

Figure 7. Notch1 Ca2+ binding modules are required for the anti-Notch1 activity of thapsigargin

(A) Effect of SERCA co-expression on the activity of ΔEGFΔLNR in a Notch reporter assay. Normalized firefly luciferase activity was expressed as fold induction relative to the empty plasmid. Error bars denote the mean ± SD of 10 replicates. Statistical significance relative to pcDNA3 (***p<0.001) and to pcDNA3-ΔEGFΔLNR (###p<0.001) was determined by one-way ANOVA using Bonferroni’s correction for multiple comparison testing. (B, C) Effects of thapsigargin or Cpd E on the activity of ΔEGFΔLNR (B) and ICN1 (C) in a Notch reporter assay. Assay conditions and interpretations were as in (A). Errors bars denote mean ± SD of 4 replicates. Statistical significance (***p<0.001) was determined by one-way ANOVA using Bonferroni’s correction for multiple comparison testing. (D, E) The ICN1 protein level in SUPT1 cells treated for 24 hr as indicated was determined using immunoblots stained with anti-ICN1 antibody. (F) Ligand-mediated activation of Notch activity was determined using U2OS cells stably (Notch1 and Notch2) or transiently (L1601PΔP) expressing Notch-Gal4 fusion receptors and treated as indicated. Normalized Gal4 firefly luciferase activity was expressed relative to vehicle treated control. Errors bars denote mean ± SD of 4 replicates. Statistical significance (**p<0.01, *** p<0.001) was determined by Student’s t-test.

Figure 8

Figure 8. NOTCH1 mutational status influences the sensitivity to thapsigargin

(A, B) Effect of thapsigargin treatment (6 hr) on processing of HD mutant (A) or wild-type (B) Notch1. Notch1 was detected with an antibody against the C-terminus of Notch1 that recognizes the furin-processed Notch1 transmembrane subunit (TM). (C) Effect of thapsigargin treatment (24 hr) on Notch1 cell surface staining, as assessed by flow cytometry. (D) The relative growth of thapsigargin-treated T-ALL cell lines with wild-type (LOUCY, MOLT16, SUPT13) or rearranged alleles (SUPT1) of NOTCH1 versus those with HD mutations (ALL/SIL, DND41, KOPTK1, MOLT4, PF382). The line in the box plots represents the median. The upper edge (hinge) of the box indicates the 75th percentile of the data set, and the lower hinge the 25th percentile. The ends of the vertical line indicate the minimum and the maximum data values. Statistical significance was determined by Student’s t-test (*p<0.05). (E) Effect of thapsigargin treatment on cell cycle progression in Notch1 wild-type cell lines, as assessed by measurement of DNA content on the viable fraction of cells. (F) Effect of thapsigargin treatment (1 nM) on apoptosis induction as assessed by the lumininescence Caspase 3/7 assay. Errors bars denote mean ± SD of 4 replicates. Statistical significance (***p<0.001) was determined by one-way ANOVA using Bonferroni’s correction for multiple comparison testing.

Comment in

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