The ubiquitin E3 ligase ITCH enhances breast tumor progression by inhibiting the Hippo tumor suppressor pathway

The Hippo kinase pathway is emerging as a conserved signaling pathway that is essential for organ growth and tumorigenesis. Recently, we reported that the ubiquitin E3 ligase ITCH negatively regulates LATS1, thereby increasing YAP activity, which leads to increased cell proliferation and decreased apoptosis. Here, we investigated the role of ITCH in breast tumorigenesis. In particular, we show that ITCH enhances epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) through boosting YAP oncogenic function. By contrast, a point mutation in the catalytic domain or WW1 domain of ITCH abolished its EMT-mediated effects. Furthermore, while overexpression of ITCH expression in breast cells is associated with increased incidence of mammary tumor formation and progression, its knockdown inhibited breast cancer cell tumorigenicity and metastasis. Importantly, YAP knockdown was able to attenuate ITCH pro-tumorigenic functions. Lastly, we found that ITCH expression is significantly upregulated in invasive and metastatic breast cancer cases and is associated with worse survival. Together, our results reveal that ITCH pro-tumorigenic functions in breast cancer are mediated, at least in part, through inactivation of the Hippo tumor suppressor pathway.We would like to thank all the Aqeilan lab members for fruitful discussion and technical help. This work was supported by grant funds from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF 12-0542) to R.I.A

NEDD4 E3 ligase inhibits the activity of the Hippo pathway by targeting LATS1 for degradation

Proper regulation of cell proliferation, cell apoptosis, and cell death are vital for the development and survival of living organisms. Failure or dysfunction of any of these processes can have devastating effects, including cancer. The Hippo pathway, first discovered in Drosophila, has been found to be a major growth-regulatory signaling pathway that controls these crucial processes and has been implicated in cell-progress regulation and organ size determination. Abnormal regulation of this pathway has been found in several cancer types. However, the mechanisms that regulate the pathway and its core members yet have to be elucidated. One of the main core components of this pathway is LATS1, a serine/threonine kinase. Therefore, understanding how LATS1 activity is regulated is expected to shed light on new mechanisms that regulate the Hippo pathway. In the current work, we identified several potential LATS1 regulators and proved that NEDD4 E3 ubiquitin ligase controls LATS1 stability. We demonstrate that NEDD4 directly interacts with LATS1, leading to ubiquitination and decreased levels of LATS1 and, thus, increased YAP localization in the nucleus, which subsequently increases the transcriptional activity of YAP. As such, we show that NEDD4 acts as an additional regulator of the Hippo pathway on the protein level via interactions between WW domain-containing and PP xY motif-containing proteins. These findings might be applied in the development of new therapeutic approaches through the activation of LATS1

Tumor-Targeted Fluorescent Proteinoid Nanocapsules Encapsulating Synergistic Drugs for Personalized Cancer Therapy

Personalized cancer treatment based on specific mutations offers targeted therapy and is preferred over “standard” chemotherapy. Proteinoid polymers produced by thermal step-growth polymerization of amino acids may form nanocapsules (NCs) that encapsulate drugs overcoming miscibility problems and allowing passive targeted delivery with reduced side effects. The arginine-glycine-glutamic acid (RGD) sequence is known for its preferential attraction to αvβ3 integrin, which is highly expressed on neovascular endothelial cells that support tumor growth. Here, tumor-targeted RGD-based proteinoid NCs entrapping a synergistic combination of Palbociclib (Pal) and Alpelisib (Alp) were synthesized by self-assembly to induce the reduction of tumor cell growth in different types of cancers. The diameters of the hollow and drug encapsulating poly(RGD) NCs were 34 ± 5 and 22 ± 3 nm, respectively; thereby, their drug targeted efficiency is due to both passive and active targeting. The encapsulation yield of Pal and Alp was 70 and 90%, respectively. In vitro experiments with A549, MCF7 and HCT116 human cancer cells demonstrate a synergistic effect of Pal and Alp, controlled release and dose dependence. Preliminary results in a 3D tumor spheroid model with cells derived from patient-derived xenografts of colon cancer illustrate disassembly of spheroids, indicating that the NCs have therapeutic potential

Engineering of Doxorubicin-Encapsulating and TRAIL-Conjugated Poly(RGD) Proteinoid Nanocapsules for Drug Delivery Applications

Proteinoids are non-toxic biodegradable polymers prepared by thermal step-growth polymerization of amino acids. Here, P(RGD) proteinoids and proteinoid nanocapsules (NCs) based on D-arginine, glycine, and L-aspartic acid were synthesized and characterized for targeted tumor therapy. Doxorubicin (Dox), a chemotherapeutic drug used for treatment of a wide range of cancers, known for its adverse side effects, was encapsulated during self-assembly to form Dox/P(RGD) NCs. In addition, tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), which can initiate apoptosis in most tumor cells but undergoes fast enzyme degradation, was stabilized by covalent conjugation to hollow P(RGD) NCs. The effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) conjugation was also studied. Cytotoxicity tests on CAOV-3 ovarian cancer cells demonstrated that Dox/P(RGD) and TRAIL-P(RGD) NCs were as effective as free Dox and TRAIL with cell viability of 2% and 10%, respectively, while PEGylated NCs were less effective. Drug-bearing P(RGD) NCs offer controlled release with reduced side effects for improved therapy