Testing of the Survivin Suppressant YM155 in a Large Panel of Drug-Resistant Neuroblastoma Cell Lines

The survivin suppressant YM155 is a drug candidate for neuroblastoma. Here, we tested YM155 in 101 neuroblastoma cell lines (19 parental cell lines, 82 drug-adapted sublines). Seventy seven (77) cell lines displayed YM155 IC$_{50}$s in the range of clinical YM155 concentrations. ABCB1 was an important determinant of YM155 resistance. The activity of the ABCB1 inhibitor zosuquidar ranged from being similar to that of the structurally different ABCB1 inhibitor verapamil to being 65-fold higher. ABCB1 sequence variations may be responsible for this, suggesting that the design of variant-specific ABCB1 inhibitors may be possible. Further, we showed that ABCC1 confers YM155 resistance. Previously, p53 depletion had resulted in decreased YM155 sensitivity. However, $TP53$-mutant cells were not generally less sensitive to YM155 than $TP53$ wild-type cells in this study. Finally, YM155 cross-resistance profiles differed between cells adapted to drugs as similar as cisplatin and carboplatin. In conclusion, the large cell line panel was necessary to reveal an unanticipated complexity of the YM155 response in neuroblastoma cell lines with acquired drug resistance. Novel findings include that ABCC1 mediates YM155 resistance and that YM155 cross-resistance profiles differ between cell lines adapted to drugs as similar as cisplatin and carboplatin

YM155-Adapted Cancer Cell Lines Reveal Drug-Induced Heterogeneity and Enable the Identification of Biomarker Candidates for the Acquired Resistance Setting

Survivin is a drug target and its suppressant YM155 a drug candidate mainly investigated for high-risk neuroblastoma. Findings from one YM155-adapted subline of the neuroblastoma cell line UKF-NB-3 had suggested that increased ABCB1 (mediates YM155 efflux) levels, decreased SLC35F2 (mediates YM155 uptake) levels, decreased survivin levels, and TP53 mutations indicate YM155 resistance. Here, the investigation of 10 additional YM155-adapted UKF-NB-3 sublines only confirmed the roles of ABCB1 and SLC35F2. However, cellular ABCB1 and SLC35F2 levels did not indicate YM155 sensitivity in YM155-naïve cells, as indicated by drug response data derived from the Cancer Therapeutics Response Portal (CTRP) and the Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC) databases. Moreover, the resistant sublines were characterized by a remarkable heterogeneity. Only seven sublines developed on-target resistance as indicated by resistance to RNAi-mediated survivin depletion. The sublines also varied in their response to other anti-cancer drugs. In conclusion, cancer cell populations of limited intrinsic heterogeneity can develop various resistance phenotypes in response to treatment. Therefore, individualized therapies will require monitoring of cancer cell evolution in response to treatment. Moreover, biomarkers can indicate resistance formation in the acquired resistance setting, even when they are not predictive in the intrinsic resistance setting

K 1-6: an asymmetric planetary nebula with a binary central star

We present new imaging data and archival multiwavelength observations of the little studied emission nebula K 1-6 and its central star. Narrow-band images in H-alpha (+ [NII]) and [OIII] taken with the Faulkes Telescope North reveal a stratified, asymmetric, elliptical nebula surrounding a central star which has the colours of a late G- or early K-type subgiant or giant. GALEX ultraviolet images reveal a very hot subdwarf or white dwarf coincident in position with this star. The cooler, optically dominant star is strongly variable with a period of 21.312 +/- 0.008 days, and is possibly a high amplitude member of the RS CVn class, although an FK Com classification is also possible. Archival ROSAT data provide good evidence that the cool star has an active corona. We conclude that K 1-6 is most likely an old bona fide planetary nebula at a distance of ~1.0 kpc, interacting with the interstellar medium, and containing a binary or ternary central star. The observations and data analyses reported in this paper were conducted in conjunction with Year 11 high school students as part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant science education project, denoted Space To Grow, conducted jointly by professional astronomers, educational researchers, teachers, and high-school students.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted by the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA

The Eleventh and Twelfth Data Releases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Final Data from SDSS-III

The third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) took data from 2008 to 2014 using the original SDSS wide-field imager, the original and an upgraded multi-object fiber-fed optical spectrograph, a new near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, and a novel optical interferometer. All of the data from SDSS-III are now made public. In particular, this paper describes Data Release 11 (DR11) including all data acquired through 2013 July, and Data Release 12 (DR12) adding data acquired through 2014 July (including all data included in previous data releases), marking the end of SDSS-III observing. Relative to our previous public release (DR10), DR12 adds one million new spectra of galaxies and quasars from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) over an additional 3000 deg2 of sky, more than triples the number of H-band spectra of stars as part of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), and includes repeated accurate radial velocity measurements of 5500 stars from the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The APOGEE outputs now include the measured abundances of 15 different elements for each star. In total, SDSS-III added 5200 deg2 of ugriz imaging; 155,520 spectra of 138,099 stars as part of the Sloan Exploration of Galactic Understanding and Evolution 2 (SEGUE-2) survey; 2,497,484 BOSS spectra of 1,372,737 galaxies, 294,512 quasars, and 247,216 stars over 9376 deg2; 618,080 APOGEE spectra of 156,593 stars; and 197,040 MARVELS spectra of 5513 stars. Since its first light in 1998, SDSS has imaged over 1/3 of the Celestial sphere in five bands and obtained over five million astronomical spectra. \ua9 2015. The American Astronomical Society

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the Second Phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since 2014 July. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the 14th from SDSS overall (making this Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes the data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (2014–2016 July) public. Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey; the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data-driven machine-learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from the SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS web site (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020 and will be followed by SDSS-V

Untersuchung eines Survivin-Inhibitors an chemosensitiven und chemoresistenten Neuroblastomzellen und nähere Charakterisierung des Wirkmechanismus

In dieser Arbeit wurde YM155 anhand eines Neuroblastom-Zellmodells bezüglich seiner antitumoralen Wirkung, sowie möglicher Resistenzmechanismen untersucht. Mit Hilfe eines Viabilitäts-‚Screenings‘ wurde eine Auswahl von 113 chemosensitiven und chemoresistenten Neuroblastomzellen auf mögliche Kreuzresistenzen gegen YM155 untersucht. Hinsichtlich der IC50 Werte gegen YM155, lagen insgesamt 74 % der untersuchten Zelllinien im therapeutisch erreichbaren Bereich von unter 50 nM. Zusätzlich wurden Neuroblastom-, Mammakarzinom- und Prostatakarzinomzellen an eine klinisch relevante YM155 Konzentration adaptiert. Diese zeigten wiederum, dass durch die Adaptierung hervorgerufene Expressionsänderung des ABC-Transporters ABCB1 und des ‚solute carrier‘ Protein SLC35F2 eine bedeutsame Rolle hinsichtlich des Resistenzmechanismus gegen YM155 spielen. Durch den Einsatz von spezifischen ABCB1-Inhibitoren, als auch durch siRNA-vermittelte Reduzierung von ABCB1 konnte eine Abhängigkeit für die Wirksamkeit YM155 von ABCB1 in Neuroblastomzellen bestätigt werden. Des Weiteren wurde in den untersuchten Zelllinien ein Zusammenhang zwischen der Wirkung von YM155 und der Expression des ‚solute carrier‘ Proteins SLC35F2 hergestellt. Dazu wurden Zellen mit verminderter SLC35F2 Expression verwendet, welche durch Transduktion mit einem für eine SLC35F2 spezifische shRNA kodierenden Vektor etabliert wurden. Dabei führte eine verminderte SLC35F2 Expression zu einer starken Minderung der Sensitivität gegen YM155. Das Zusammenspiel dieser beiden Transporter und der damit verbundene Resistenzmechanismus gegen YM155, konnte in fast allen etablierten YM155-resistenten Zelllinien (UKF-NB-3rYM15520, 22RV1rYM155300, PC-3rYM15520, HCC-1806rYM15520 und MDA-MB-231rYM15520) gezeigt werden. Wobei diese Zellen unabhängig von der Tumorentität als Resistenzmechanismus gegen YM155 entweder eine signifikant induzierte ABCB1 Expression (verstärkter YM155 Efflux) und/oder eine verminderte SLC35F2 Expression (verringerter YM155 Influx) entwickelten. Außerdem konnte mit Hilfe der p53-depletierten Zelllinie UKF-NB-3pc-p53 eine Abhängigkeit der YM155 Wirkung vom Tumorsuppressor p53 nachgewiesen werden, wobei es durch die Depletierung von p53 zu einer verminderten Sensitivität der Zellen gegen YM155 kam. Zudem kam es durch die Nutlin-3 hervorgerufene p53 Aktivierung und Akkumulierung zu einer Verstärkung der YM155 Wirkung in den untersuchten Zellen. Diese Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass der p53 Status von Zellen einen Einfluss auf deren YM155 Resistenz haben kann. Da in der Behandlung von Neuroblastomen neben der Chemotherapie auch Bestrahlung eingesetzt wird, wurde zusätzlich untersucht ob eine Adaptierung von Neuroblastomzellen an YM155 zu einer verminderten Sensitivität gegen Bestrahlung führen kann. Da die im Rahmen dieser Arbeit untersuchten UKF-NB-3 Zelllinien (UKF-NB-3 und UKF-NB-3rYM15520) eine ähnliche Sensitivität gegenüber der Bestrahlung aufwiesen, konnte kein Zusammenhang zwischen einer Adaptierung an YM155 und der Ausbildung einer Bestrahlungsresistenz gezeigt werden. Ein weiterer wichtiger Teil dieser Arbeit war es, den primären Wirkmechanismus von YM155 in Neuroblastomzellen zu untersuchen. In vorangegangenen Studien wurde die vom Hersteller beschriebene Wirkung von YM155 als Survivin-Inhibitor in Frage gestellt. Stattdessen soll der primäre Apoptose-induzierende Effekt in erster Linie durch DNA-Schäden hervorgerufen werden, während die Survivin Inhibierung lediglich darauf folgen soll. In einer zeitlichen und konzentrationsabhängigen Kinetik der YM155 Behandlung konnte in UKF-NB-3 Zellen der genaue Zeitpunkt der Survivin-Inhibierung und der Induktion der DNA-Schadensantwort ermittelt werden. Dabei konnte in der vorliegenden Arbeit gezeigt werden, dass in Neuroblastomzellen als Antwort auf die YM155 Behandlung zuerst eine Survivin-Inhibierung erfolgt, und die DNA-Schadensantwort als Folge dieser induziert wird. Darüber hinaus belegte die siRNA-vermittelte Survivin-Inhibierung in UKF-NB-3 und UKF-NB-6, dass eine fehlende Survivin Expression die DNA-Schadensantwort induziert. Zusammenfassend konnte in dieser Arbeit erstmals in YM155 adaptierten Neuroblastomzellen der Resistenzmechanismus gegen YM155 näher untersucht werden und darüber hinaus wurde demonstriert, dass die Wirkung von YM155 in Neuroblastomzellen nicht auf die Induktion der DNA-Schadensantwort beruht, sondern primär auf die Survivin-Inhibierung zurückzuführen ist

ABCB1 as predominant resistance mechanism in cells with acquired SNS-032 resistance

The CDK inhibitor SNS-032 had previously exerted promising anti-neuroblastoma activity via CDK7 and 9 inhibition. ABCB1 expression was identified as major determinant of SNS-032 resistance. Here, we investigated the role of ABCB1 in acquired SNS-032 resistance. In contrast to ABCB1-expressing UKF-NB-3 sub-lines resistant to other ABCB1 substrates, SNS-032-adapted UKF-NB-3 (UKF-NB-3rSNS- 032300nM) cells remained sensitive to the non-ABCB1 substrate cisplatin and were completely re-sensitized to cytotoxic ABCB1 substrates by ABCB1 inhibition. Moreover, UKF-NB-3rSNS-032300nM cells remained similarly sensitive to CDK7 and 9 inhibition as UKF-NB-3 cells. In contrast, SHEPrSNS-0322000nM, the SNS-032-resistant sub-line of the neuroblastoma cell line SHEP, displayed low level SNS-032 resistance also when ABCB1 was inhibited. This discrepancy may be explained by the higher SNS-032 concentrations that were used to establish SHEPrSNS-0322000nM cells, since SHEP cells intrinsically express ABCB1 and are less sensitive to SNS-032 (IC50 912 nM) than UKF-NB-3 cells (IC50 153 nM). In conclusion, we show that ABCB1 expression represents the primary (sometimes exclusive) resistance mechanism in neuroblastoma cells with acquired resistance to SNS-032. Thus, ABCB1 inhibitors may increase the SNS-032 efficacy in ABCB1-expressing cells and prolong or avoid resistance formation

Identification of flubendazole as potential anti-neuroblastoma compound in a large cell line screen.

Flubendazole was shown to exert anti-leukaemia and anti-myeloma activity through inhibition of microtubule function. Here, flubendazole was tested for its effects on the viability of in total 461 cancer cell lines. Neuroblastoma was identified as highly flubendazole-sensitive cancer entity in a screen of 321 cell lines from 26 cancer entities. Flubendazole also reduced the viability of five primary neuroblastoma samples in nanomolar concentrations thought to be achievable in humans and inhibited vessel formation and neuroblastoma tumour growth in the chick chorioallantoic membrane assay. Resistance acquisition is a major problem in high-risk neuroblastoma. 119 cell lines from a panel of 140 neuroblastoma cell lines with acquired resistance to various anti-cancer drugs were sensitive to flubendazole in nanomolar concentrations. Tubulin-binding agent-resistant cell lines displayed the highest flubendazole IC50 and IC90 values but differences between drug classes did not reach statistical significance. Flubendazole induced p53-mediated apoptosis. The siRNA-mediated depletion of the p53 targets p21, BAX, or PUMA reduced the neuroblastoma cell sensitivity to flubendazole with PUMA depletion resulting in the most pronounced effects. The MDM2 inhibitor and p53 activator nutlin-3 increased flubendazole efficacy while RNAi-mediated p53-depletion reduced its activity. In conclusion, flubendazole represents a potential treatment option for neuroblastoma including therapy-refractory cells

A Large Number of Protein Expression Changes Occur Early in Life and Precede Phenotype Onset in a Mouse Model for Huntington Disease*S⃞

Huntington disease (HD) is fatal in humans within 15–20 years of symptomatic disease. Although late stage HD has been studied extensively, protein expression changes that occur at the early stages of disease and during disease progression have not been reported. In this study, we used a large two-dimensional gel/mass spectrometry-based proteomics approach to investigate HD-induced protein expression alterations and their kinetics at very early stages and during the course of disease. The murine HD model R6/2 was investigated at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 weeks of age, corresponding to absence of disease and early, intermediate, and late stage HD. Unexpectedly the most HD stage-specific protein changes (71–100%) as well as a drastic alteration (almost 6% of the proteome) in protein expression occurred already as early as 2 weeks of age. Early changes included mainly the up-regulation of proteins involved in glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and the down-regulation of the actin cytoskeleton. This suggests a period of highly variable protein expression that precedes the onset of HD phenotypes. Although an up-regulation of glycolysis/gluconeogenesis-related protein alterations remained dominant during HD progression, late stage alterations at 12 weeks showed an up-regulation of proteins involved in proteasomal function. The early changes in HD coincide with a peak in protein alteration during normal mouse development at 2 weeks of age that may be responsible for these massive changes. Protein and mRNA data sets showed a large overlap on the level of affected pathways but not single proteins/mRNAs. Our observations suggest that HD is characterized by a highly dynamic disease pathology not represented by linear protein concentration alterations over the course of disease