The Prolyl Isomerase Pin1 Acts Synergistically with CDK2 to Regulate the Basal Activity of Estrogen Receptor α in Breast Cancer

In hormone receptor-positive breast cancers, most tumors in the early stages of development depend on the activity of the estrogen receptor and its ligand, estradiol. Anti-estrogens, such as tamoxifen, have been used as the first line of therapy for over three decades due to the fact that they elicit cell cycle arrest. Unfortunately, after an initial period, most cells become resistant to hormonal therapy. Peptidylprolyl isomerase 1 (Pin1), a protein overexpressed in many tumor types including breast, has been demonstrated to modulate ERalpha activity and is involved in resistance to hormonal therapy. Here we show a new mechanism through which CDK2 drives an ERalpha-Pin1 interaction under hormone- and growth factor-free conditions. The PI3K/AKT pathway is necessary to activate CDK2, which phosphorylates ERalphaSer294, and mediates the binding between Pin1 and ERalpha. Site-directed mutagenesis demonstrated that ERalphaSer294 is essential for Pin1-ERalpha interaction and modulates ERalpha phosphorylation on Ser118 and Ser167, dimerization and activity. These results open up new drug treatment opportunities for breast cancer patients who are resistant to anti-estrogen therapy. © 2013 Lucchetti et al

Coordinated interaction of multifunctional members of the p53 family determines many key processes in multicellular organisms

For the first time, p53 was found in complex with the viral large T-antigen in cells transformed with the small DNA virus SV40. p53 cDNA was cloned in the early 1980s, and the full-length p53 gene was cloned soon afterwards. The p53 family is comprised of three genes—TP53, TP63, and TP73—each of which is expressed as a set of structurally and functionally different isoforms. All of them intensely interact with each other, forming a united functional network of proteins. The review discusses the evolution of the p53 family and the significance of all its members in embryo development, reproduction, regeneration, regulation of aging and lifespan, and defense against cancer. Special attention is paid to the role of poorly studied members of the p53 family, p63 and p73, in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Different isoforms of these proteins might exert opposite effects on these processes

Method for Monitoring of Managing the Modernization of Regional Economy

This paper proposes a new approach for monitoring of managing the modernisation of regional economic. The model built on proposed methodology will make it possible to smooth out the influence of non-urban areas on the unevenness of economic activity in spatial development. This paper has two goals. The first is to provide a new compilation of data on spatial distribution of economic activity at the sub-regional level. This data set allows us to monitoring of different indicators within macroregions such as Siberia. The second goal is to construct an instrument that helps to overcome the endogeneity problem using new economic geography hypothesis about the mechanisms of distribution of economic activity. Section 2 describes the data and method that we have proposed, discusses the construction of the Theil indexes using these data at the sub-federal and the sub-regional level. Section 3 presents the correlations between spatial distribution of economic activity and local market potential, discusses the robustness of the results; and the last section concludes

ΔNp73α regulates MDR1 expression by inhibiting p53 function

The p73 protein is a transcription factor and member of the p53 protein family that expresses as a complex variety of isoforms. ΔNp73α is an N-terminally truncated isoform of p73. We found that ΔNp73 protein is upregulated in human gastric carcinoma suggesting that ΔNp73 may play an oncogenic role in these tumors. Although it has been shown that ΔNp73α inhibits apoptosis and counteracts the effect of chemotherapeutic drugs, the underlying mechanism by which this p73 isoform contributes to chemotherapeutic drug response remains to be explored. We found that ΔNp73α upregulates MDR1 mRNA and p-glycoprotein (p-gp), which is involved in chemotherapeutic drug transport. This p-gp upregulation was accompanied by increased p-gp functional activity in gastric cancer cells. Our data suggest that upregulation of MDR1 by ΔNp73α is mediated by interaction with p53 at the MDR1 promoter