The retinoblastoma tumour-suppressor protein Rb inhibits cell proliferation by repressing a subset of genes that are controlled by the E2F family of transcription factors and which are involved in progression from the G1 to the S phase of the cell cycle. Rb, which is recruited to target promoters by E2F1, represses transcription by masking the E2F1 transactivation domain and by inhibiting surrounding enhancer elements, an active repression that could be crucial for the proper control of progression through the cell cycle. Some transcriptional regulators act by acetylating or deacetylating the tails protruding from the core histones, thereby modulating the local structure of chromatin: for example, some transcriptional repressors function through the recruitment of histone deacetylases. We show here that the histone deacetylase HDAC1 physically interacts and cooperates with Rb. In HDAC1, the sequence involved is an LXCXE motif, similar to that used by viral transforming proteins to contact Rb. Our results strongly suggest that the Rb/HDAC1 complex is a key element in the control of cell proliferation and differentiation and that it is a likely target for transforming viruses.

The platinum derivative cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II), best known as cisplatin, is currently employed for the clinical management of patients affected by testicular, ovarian, head and neck, colorectal, bladder and lung cancers. For a long time, the antineoplastic effects of cisplatin have been fully ascribed to its ability to generate unrepairable DNA lesions, hence inducing either a permanent proliferative arrest known as cellular senescence or the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. Accumulating evidence now suggests that the cytostatic and cytotoxic activity of cisplatin involves both a nuclear and a cytoplasmic component. Despite the unresolved issues regarding its mechanism of action, the administration of cisplatin is generally associated with high rates of clinical responses. However, in the vast majority of cases, malignant cells exposed to cisplatin activate a multipronged adaptive response that renders them less susceptible to the antiproliferative and cytotoxic effects of the drug, and eventually resume proliferation. Thus, a large fraction of cisplatin-treated patients is destined to experience therapeutic failure and tumor recurrence. Throughout the last four decades great efforts have been devoted to the characterization of the molecular mechanisms whereby neoplastic cells progressively lose their sensitivity to cisplatin. The advent of high-content and high-throughput screening technologies has accelerated the discovery of cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic pathways that may be targeted to prevent or reverse cisplatin resistance in cancer patients. Still, the multifactorial and redundant nature of this phenomenon poses a significant barrier against the identification of effective chemosensitization strategies. Here, we discuss recent systems biology studies aimed at deconvoluting the complex circuitries that underpin cisplatin resistance, and how their findings might drive the development of rational approaches to tackle this clinically relevant problem.