Synthetic lethal short hairpin RNA screening reveals that ring finger protein 183 confers resistance to trametinib in colorectal cancer cells

Background: The mitogen-activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2(MEK1/2) inhibitor trametinib has shown promising therapeutic effects on melanoma, but its efficacy on colorectal cancer(CRC) is limited. Synthetic lethality arises with a combination of two or more separate gene mutations that causes cell death, whereas individual mutations keep cells alive. This study aimed to identify the genes responsible for resistance to trametinib in CRC cells,using a synthetic lethal short hairpin RNA(shRNA) screening approach.Methods: We infected HT29 cells with a pooled lentiviral shRNA library and applied next-generation sequencing to identify shRNAs with reduced abundance after 8-day treatment of 20 nmol/L trametinib. HCT116 and HT29 cells were used in validation studies. Stable ring finger protein 183(RNF183)-overexpressing cell lines were generated by pcDNA4-myc/his-RNF183 transfection. Stable RNF 183-knockdown cell lines were generated by infection of lentiviruses that express RNF183 shRNA, and small interference RNA(siRNA) was used to knock down RNF183 transiently.Quantitative real-time PCR was used to determine the mRNA expression. Western blotting, immunohistochemical analysis, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) were used to evaluate the protein abundance. MTT assay,colony formation assay, and subcutaneous xenograft tumor growth model were used to evaluate cell proliferation.Results: In the primary screening, we found that the abundance of RNF183 shRNA was markedly reduced after treatment with trametinib. Trametinib induced the expression of RNF183, which conferred resistance to drug-induced cell growth repression and apoptotic and non-apoptotic cell deaths. Moreover, interleukin-8(IL-8) was a downstream gene of RNF183 and was required for the function of RNF183 in facilitating cell growth. Additionally, elevated RNF183 expression partly reduced the inhibitory effect of trametinib on IL-8 expression. Finally, xenograft tumor model showed the synergism of RNF183 knockdown and trametinib in repressing the growth of CRC cells in vivo.Conclusion: The RNF183-IL-8 axis is responsible for the resistance of CRC cells to the MEK1/2 inhibitor trametinib and may serve as a candidate target for combined therapy for CRC.

Constructing recombinant replication-defective adenoviral vectors that express glucose transporter-1 through in vitro ligation

BACKGROUND： We constructed a homologous recombination bacterial method based on the pAdEasy system, a widely used system, for generating recombinant adenoviral vectors that express glucose transporter- 1 （GLUT 1） in rats, OBJECTIVE： This study was designed to investigate the feasibility of generating recombinant replication-defective adenoviral vectors that express GLUT1 in rats by in vitro ligation based on the Adeno-X^TM system. DESIGN： An in vitro cell-based experiment. SETTING： This study was performed at the Linbaixin Medical Research Center of the Second Hospital Affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University and Central Laboratory for Prevention and Treatment of Tumor, Sun Yat-sen University between January and August 2004. MATERIALS： Male, adult, Sprague Dawley rats were used to extract total RNA from brain tissue. E. coli DH5 a and human embryonic kidney 293 cells （HEK293 cells） used in the present study were cryo-preserved by the Second Hospital Affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University. Rabbit anti-rat GLUT1 polyclonal antibody （Chemicon, U.S.A.） and primers （Shanghai Boya Bioengineering Co., Ltd） were also used. METHODS： E1/E3-deleted replication-defective adenoviral vectors were used. Using in vitro ligation, the target gene was first sub-cloned into a shuttle vector plasmid to obtain the fragment containing target gene expression cassettes by enzyme digestion. Subsequently, the fragment was co-transformed with linearized adenoviral backbone vector into the E. coli strain. The recombinant adenoviral plasmid was transfected into HEK293 cells to assembly recombinant adenoviral vectors with replication capabilities. The procedure was repeated several times for recombinant adenoviral vectors amplification. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： Efficiency of recombinant adenoviral vectors to express the target gene was measured by gene and protein expression through polymerase chain reaction and Western Blot assays, respectively. RESULTS： Results demonstrated that recombinant adenoviral vectors successfully expressed GLUT1 protein, with a relative molecular mass of 55000 in HEK293 cells. These results suggest that recombinant adenoviral vectors obtained by homologous bacterial recombination feature high efficiency, rapidness, and simplicity. CONCLUSION： We successfully amplified the rat GLUT1 gene and constructed replication-defective adenoviral vectors expressing GLUT1. The replication-defective adenoviral vectors proved to successfully express the target gene in HEK293 cells.

Translational oncology toward benefiting cancer patients:the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center experience

Cancer is a leading cause of death in China with an estima- tion of nearly 2 million deaths every year （Chen and Fu, 2011b）. Matter of a public health importance in China and worldwide, the scientific community is still facing many obstacles to eradicate cancer： complexity of a mul- ti-factorial disease with organ-based specificities, high fail- ure rate of many anti-cancer drugs in clinical trials, lack of understanding of the cancer genesis factors.