| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Regular Articles |
1 Institute for Drug Development, Cancer Therapy and Research Center, San Antonio, Texas; and 2 Cytokinetics, Inc., South San Francisco, California
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Kinesin motor proteins play multiple roles in microtubule-dependent intracellular trafficking. All members of the kinesin superfamily share a catalytic "motor" domain of
350450 amino acids that is responsible for movement along the microtubule. This compact domain mediates interaction with microtubules and with ATP, and translates energy released by ATP hydrolysis into motile force (2)
. Regions outside the motor domains of kinesin family members are quite divergent and play important roles in translating force generated by the motor domain to specific intracellular cargos (3)
. Several kinesins play essential roles in mitotic spindle assembly and function (1)
.
In organisms ranging from fungi to humans, the mitotic kinesin KSP and closely related kinesins of the BimC subfamily (4) function at the earliest stages of mitosis to mediate centrosome separation and formation of a bipolar mitotic spindle (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) . Failure of KSP function leads to cell cycle arrest in mitosis with a monopolar mitotic spindle (5 , 6 , 9) . KSP expression is most abundant in proliferating human tissues, including thymus, tonsils, testis, esophageal epithelium, and bone marrow, and is absent from postmitotic human central nervous system neurons (see Supplementary Fig. 1), consistent with an exclusive role for KSP in cell proliferation. These data suggest that KSP would be an attractive target for the discovery of novel and specific antimitotic cancer therapies that should not disrupt microtubule-based cellular processes, such as neuronal transport, that are unrelated to proliferation.
We describe here the identification and characterization of CK0106023, a potent and specific allosteric inhibitor of KSP ATPase activity, and demonstrate that CK0106023 exhibits antitumor activity.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Steady-state measurements of ATPase activity were performed with a pyruvate kinaselactate dehydrogenase detection system that coupled the appearance of ADP with oxidation of NADH. Absorbance changes were monitored at 340 nm. All biochemical experiments were performed in PEM25 buffer [25 mM Pipes/KOH (pH 6.8), 2 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EGTA] supplemented with 10 µM Taxol for experiments involving microtubules. Rates of ADP release were measured in a stopped-flow apparatus (Hi-Tech Scientific); the decrease in fluorescence of MANT-ATP (Molecular Probes) was monitored, as described previously (14) . Rates of Pi release were measured in a stopped-flow apparatus, using bacterial phosphate binding protein modified with 7-diethylamino-3-((((2 maleimidyl)ethyl)amino)carbonyl)coumarin (MDCC) dye as described previously (15) . Ki estimates of KSP inhibitors were extracted from the doseresponse curves, with explicit correction for enzyme concentration (16) .
We monitored tubulin polymerization by measuring changes in absorbance at 340 nm (17) . The assay was performed in 100-µl volumes in 96-well half-area microtiter plates (Costar), using a microplate reader (Molecular Devices, Inc.) with the incubation temperature set at 37°C.
CK0106023 enantiomers were separated by chiral phase preparative HPLC on a Chiralpak-AD column [amylose tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) coated on a 10-µm silica gel substrate; 250 x 20 mm (length x inside diameter); Chiral Technologies, Inc., Exton, PA] with ethyl acetatehexanes (7:3, v/v) as eluent.
Cell Biology.
All cells were cultured in 10% FCS in RPMI 1640 in 5% CO2. We assessed 48-h growth inhibition by serial dilution of CK0106023 relative to DMSO-treated cells in 96-well microtiter plates, using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (Promega Corp., Madison, WI) according to the manufacturers instructions. Cell growth was represented as the ratio of absorbance of treated cells to DMSO control, plotted by concentration and fitted to a four-parameter curve. Concentrations at which cellular growth was inhibited by 50% were extrapolated from the curve fit.
The DNA content of HeLa cells cultured in the presence or absence of 1 µM CK0106023 for 24 h was assessed by propidium iodide staining and flow cytometry (FACSCaliber; BD Biosciences Immunocytometry Systems).
Immunofluorescence images were collected of HeLa cells treated for 24 h with 1 µM CK0106023, fixed with 2% formaldehyde, permeabilized, and stained with DM1-
(Sigma), anti-
-tubulin (Sigma), and 1 µg/ml 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (Sigma); and with Alexa 488 secondary goat antirabbit IgG (Molecular Probes) and Rhodamine-X goat antimouse IgG (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, Inc.). Images were collected with a DeltaVision Restoration Microscopy System (Applied Precision) at a magnification of x600. Z stacks (0.2 µm) were collected, and out of focus information was removed by constrained iterative deconvolution. Z stacks were then compressed into to a single image plane.
Tumor Studies.
All drugs were formulated in 10% ethanol10% cremaphor in water and administered by i.p. injection. Antitumor efficacy was assessed in female nude mice that had received s.c. trochar implants containing fragments of human SKOV3 tumors harvested from nude mice hosts. Animals were pair-matched into treatment and control groups of eight mice each and daily 5x dosing was begun with vehicle, 20 mg/kg paclitaxel, or CK0106023 at 25 and 50 mg/kg. Mice were weighed twice weekly, and tumor measurements were taken. The results were converted to tumor mass (mg) by the formula: Width2 x Length/2. All mice were sacrificed when mean tumor mass in the vehicle control group reached 1 g. Tumors were excised and weighed, and the percentage of tumor growth inhibition was calculated relative to the vehicle control group. Statistical significance was calculated by use of a two-sample t test. Tumors shrinking to masses less than the mass recorded on day 1 were scored as partial regressions.
Sections of formalin-fixed tumors were prepared from mice sacrificed 1 day after the last of four daily 50 mg/kg doses of CK0106023 or vehicle. Sections were stained with H&E and visualized by bright-field microscopy.
Expression Profiling.
Tissues were obtained from the Cooperative Human Tissue Network (Philadelphia, PA) and National Disease Research Interchange (Philadelphia, PA). NT-2 cells and differentiated NT2-N neurons were obtained from Layton BioScience (Atherton, CA) and prepared as described by Pleasure and Lee (18)
. Total RNA was extracted with a ToTALLY RNA kit (Ambion; Austin, TX) according to the manufacturers protocol. DNase-treated total RNA was reverse-transcribed with random hexamers, and real-time quantitative PCR TaqMan assays were performed with KSP- or ß-glucuronidase-specific primers on the GeneAmp 5700 Sequence Detection System (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA), using the manufacturers standard curve method. KSP mRNA levels were expressed relative to endogenous levels of ß-glucuronidase mRNA and normalized to the KSP:ß-glucuronidase expression level in proliferating HeLa cells (HeLa = 1000). Extracts of NT2 and postmitotic NT2-N cells (18)
were immunoblotted using antibodies directed against KSP/Eg5 (19)
, against
-tubulin (DM1-
), and against proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PC10; Sigma-Aldrich, Inc.). SE were calculated for each group of samples measured.
| RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
-tubulin, a centrosomal marker, revealed the presence of two centrosomes at the center of these figures (Fig. 1C
|
|
We found that CK0106023 inhibition of KSP motor domain ATPase was due to dramatic slowing of the rate of ADP release (Fig. 3)
. Rates of ADP release were monitored under transient conditions by use of MANT-ADP, a fluorescent ADP analog that exhibits enhanced fluorescence when bound to enzyme and less fluorescence when free in solution (14)
. The changes in MANT-ADP fluorescence observed over time after rapid mixing with microtubules in the presence and absence of (R)-CK0106023 are displayed on a log scale in Fig. 3A
to accommodate the dramatically different observed rates of release. The decreased rate of ADP release induced by (R)-CK0106023 is reflected by the rightward shift of the curve depicting changes in MANT-ADP fluorescence over time compared with control (Fig. 3A)
. This shift corresponds to a 60-fold reduction in the rate of ADP release observed in the presence of microtubules (Table 2)
. Interestingly, CK0106023 also inhibited the basal rate of ADP release to a similar degree, indicating that the effect is not dependent on the presence of microtubules (Table 2)
. We observed no effect on the rate of Pi release (Fig. 3B)
. These findings are consistent with observations made under steady-state conditions demonstrating that CK0106023 is uncompetitive with ATP and noncompetitive with microtubules (see Supplementary Fig. 3
). Together, these data indicate that CK0106023 is an allosteric inhibitor of KSP motor domain function that specifically slows ADP release and does not directly disrupt KSP motor domain binding to microtubules or inhibit binding to or hydrolysis of ATP.
|
|
50 mg/kg. Doses of 50 and 25 mg/kg were administered daily for 5 days to nude mice bearing xenografts of the human ovarian carcinoma SKOV3. Paclitaxel at its maximum tolerated dose (20 mg/kg) served as a positive control.
CK0106023 administered at 25 mg/kg resulted in 71% tumor growth inhibition (Table 3
, Fig. 4A
), comparable to that produced by paclitaxel at its maximum tolerated dose (73% tumor growth inhibition; Fig. 4
). The difference between the mean final tumor weights in animals receiving CK0106023 and those receiving vehicle control was statistically significant (P < 0.05). No statistical difference was detected between mean final tumor weights in animals receiving paclitaxel or 25 mg/kg CK0106023. One animal receiving 25 mg/kg experienced a partial tumor regression, with 56% tumor shrinkage relative to the tumor weight at the start of dosing. At 25 mg/kg, CK0106023 did not induce changes in body weight significantly different from the control group, whereas animals receiving paclitaxel experienced a nadir of nearly 9% weight loss on day 8, significantly more severe than observed in either the control or 25 mg/kg CK0106023 groups (P < 0.04). A dose of 50 mg/kg resulted in the death of two animals on day 8 and thus was above the maximum tolerated dose. However, partial tumor regressions were observed in all six surviving animals, producing mean tumor shrinkage of 55%. Mean body weight loss of these six animals was 11% on day 8. Recovery of body weight in all surviving animals suggested that the toxicities induced by both CK0106023 and paclitaxel are reversible.
|
|
CK0106023 is the first agent targeting a mitotic kinesin with demonstrated antitumor activity. The profile of KSP mRNA expression in normal human tissues and the absence of KSP protein from postmitotic neurons are consistent with an exclusive role for KSP in cell proliferation. These data, together with the biochemical specificity of CK0106023, suggest that specific inhibitors of KSP may have clinical utility in the treatment of cancer.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Note: Supplementary data for this article can be found at Cancer Research Online (http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org).
Requests for reprints: Kenneth W. Wood, Cytokinetics, Inc., 280 East Grand Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080. E-mail: kwood{at}cytokinetics.com
Received 12/ 8/03. Revised 2/29/04. Accepted 2/25/04.
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
T. C. Krzysiak, M. Grabe, and S. P. Gilbert Getting in Sync with Dimeric Eg5: INITIATION AND REGULATION OF THE PROCESSIVE RUN J. Biol. Chem., January 25, 2008; 283(4): 2078 - 2087. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
Y. Furukawa, T. Shimada, H. Furuta, S. Matsuno, A. Kusuyama, A. Doi, M. Nishi, H. Sasaki, T. Sanke, and K. Nanjo Polymorphisms in the IDE-KIF11-HHEX Gene Locus Are Reproducibly Associated with Type 2 Diabetes in a Japanese Population J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., January 1, 2008; 93(1): 310 - 314. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. M.R. Bhat and V. Setaluri Microtubule-Associated Proteins as Targets in Cancer Chemotherapy Clin. Cancer Res., May 15, 2007; 13(10): 2849 - 2854. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. Tripathy Capecitabine in Combination with Novel Targeted Agents in the Management of Metastatic Breast Cancer: Underlying Rationale and Results of Clinical Trials Oncologist, April 1, 2007; 12(4): 375 - 389. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
U. Vijapurkar, W. Wang, and R. Herbst Potentiation of Kinesin Spindle Protein Inhibitor-Induced Cell Death by Modulation of Mitochondrial and Death Receptor Apoptotic Pathways Cancer Res., January 1, 2007; 67(1): 237 - 245. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
T. C. Krzysiak and S. P. Gilbert Dimeric Eg5 Maintains Processivity through Alternating-site Catalysis with Rate-limiting ATP Hydrolysis J. Biol. Chem., December 22, 2006; 281(51): 39444 - 39454. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. M. Chin and R. Herbst Induction of apoptosis by monastrol, an inhibitor of the mitotic kinesin Eg5, is independent of the spindle checkpoint. Mol. Cancer Ther., October 1, 2006; 5(10): 2580 - 2591. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. H. Wilson Novel Therapeutic Developments Other Than EGFR and VEGF Inhibition in Colorectal Cancer Oncologist, October 1, 2006; 11(9): 1018 - 1024. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. A. Skoufias, S. DeBonis, Y. Saoudi, L. Lebeau, I. Crevel, R. Cross, R. H. Wade, D. Hackney, and F. Kozielski S-Trityl-L-cysteine Is a Reversible, Tight Binding Inhibitor of the Human Kinesin Eg5 That Specifically Blocks Mitotic Progression J. Biol. Chem., June 30, 2006; 281(26): 17559 - 17569. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Liu, R. Aneja, C. Liu, L. Sun, J. Gao, H. Wang, J.-T. Dong, V. Sarli, A. Giannis, H. C. Joshi, et al. Inhibition of the Mitotic Kinesin Eg5 Up-regulates Hsp70 through the Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase/Akt Pathway in Multiple Myeloma Cells J. Biol. Chem., June 30, 2006; 281(26): 18090 - 18097. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. S. Ricci and W.-X. Zong Chemotherapeutic approaches for targeting cell death pathways. Oncologist, April 1, 2006; 11(4): 342 - 357. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
Z. Maliga, J. Xing, H. Cheung, L. J. Juszczak, J. M. Friedman, and S. S. Rosenfeld A Pathway of Structural Changes Produced by Monastrol Binding to Eg5 J. Biol. Chem., March 24, 2006; 281(12): 7977 - 7982. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. J. Pienta and D. Bradley Mechanisms underlying the development of androgen-independent prostate cancer. Clin. Cancer Res., March 15, 2006; 12(6): 1665 - 1671. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. Koller, S. Propp, H. Zhang, C. Zhao, X. Xiao, M. Chang, S. A. Hirsch, P. J. Shepard, S. Koo, C. Murphy, et al. Use of a Chemically Modified Antisense Oligonucleotide Library to Identify and Validate Eg5 (Kinesin-Like 1) as a Target for Antineoplastic Drug Development Cancer Res., February 15, 2006; 66(4): 2059 - 2066. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. K. Schwartz and M. A. Shah Targeting the Cell Cycle: A New Approach to Cancer Therapy J. Clin. Oncol., December 20, 2005; 23(36): 9408 - 9421. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. D. Loberg, C. J. Logothetis, E. T. Keller, and K. J. Pienta Pathogenesis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer Bone Metastases: Targeting the Lethal Phenotype J. Clin. Oncol., November 10, 2005; 23(32): 8232 - 8241. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Wallqvist, R. Huang, D. G. Covell, A. V. Roschke, K. S. Gelhaus, and I. R. Kirsch Drugs aimed at targeting characteristic karyotypic phenotypes of cancer cells Mol. Cancer Ther., October 1, 2005; 4(10): 1559 - 1568. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. Goshima and R. D. Vale Cell Cycle-dependent Dynamics and Regulation of Mitotic Kinesins in Drosophila S2 Cells Mol. Biol. Cell, August 1, 2005; 16(8): 3896 - 3907. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Zhu, J. Zhao, M. Bibikova, J. D. Leverson, E. Bossy-Wetzel, J.-B. Fan, R. T. Abraham, and W. Jiang Functional Analysis of Human Microtubule-based Motor Proteins, the Kinesins and Dyneins, in Mitosis/Cytokinesis Using RNA Interference Mol. Biol. Cell, July 1, 2005; 16(7): 3187 - 3199. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. Claus, U. Lenschow, T. Kulz, A. Kotitschke, D. Meiske, H.-J. Thiesen, and P. Lorenz Congenital heart block associated with a maternal anti-HsEg5-like autoantibody Rheumatology, May 1, 2005; 44(5): 691 - 693. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. C. Cochran, J. E. Gatial III, T. M. Kapoor, and S. P. Gilbert Monastrol Inhibition of the Mitotic Kinesin Eg5 J. Biol. Chem., April 1, 2005; 280(13): 12658 - 12667. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. D. Belmont Mitotic Kinesins as Targets for Anticancer Therapy Am. Assoc. Cancer Res. Educ. Book, April 1, 2005; 2005(1): 173 - 177. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. I. Marcus, U. Peters, S. L. Thomas, S. Garrett, A. Zelnak, T. M. Kapoor, and P. Giannakakou Mitotic Kinesin Inhibitors Induce Mitotic Arrest and Cell Death in Taxol-resistant and -sensitive Cancer Cells J. Biol. Chem., March 25, 2005; 280(12): 11569 - 11577. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Kung, D. M. Kenski, S. H. Dickerson, R. W. Howson, L. F. Kuyper, H. D. Madhani, and K. M. Shokat Chemical genomic profiling to identify intracellular targets of a multiplex kinase inhibitor PNAS, March 8, 2005; 102(10): 3587 - 3592. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. Carvajal, C. Tovar, H. Yang, B. T. Vu, D. C. Heimbrook, and L. T. Vassilev Activation of p53 by MDM2 Antagonists Can Protect Proliferating Cells from Mitotic Inhibitors Cancer Res., March 1, 2005; 65(5): 1918 - 1924. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. DeBonis, D. A. Skoufias, L. Lebeau, R. Lopez, G. Robin, R. L. Margolis, R. H. Wade, and F. Kozielski In vitro screening for inhibitors of the human mitotic kinesin Eg5 with antimitotic and antitumor activities Mol. Cancer Ther., September 1, 2004; 3(9): 1079 - 1090. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||