We reported that Cullin4B-Ring E3 ligase complex (CRL4B) is physically associated with Polycomb-repressive complex 2 (PRC2). We showed that CRL4B possesses an intrinsic transcription repressive activity by promoting H2AK119 monoubiquitination. Ablation of Cul4b or depletion of CUL4B, the main component of CRL4B, resulted in loss of not only H2AK119 monoubiquitination but also H3K27 trimethylation, leading to derepression of target genes that are critically involved in cell growth and migration. We demonstrated that CUL4B promotes cell proliferation, invasion, and tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo and found that its expression is markedly upregulated in various human cancers. Our data indicate that CUL4B promotes tumorigenesis, supporting the pursuit of CUL4B as a target for cancer therapy.

Granulin epithelin precursor (GEP) has been implicated in development, tissue regeneration, tumorigenesis, and inflammation. Herein we report that GEP stimulates chondrocyte differentiation from mesenchymal stem cells in vitro and endochondral ossification ex vivo, and GEP-knockdown mice display skeleton defects. Similar to bone morphogenic protein (BMP) 2, application of the recombinant GEP accelerates rabbit cartilage repair in vivo. GEP is a key downstream molecule of BMP2, and it is required for BMP2-mediated chondrocyte differentiation. We also show that GEP activates chondrocyte differentiation through Erk1/2 signaling and that JunB transcription factor is one of key downstream molecules of GEP in chondrocyte differentiation. Collectively, these findings reveal a novel critical role of GEP growth factor in chondrocyte differentiation and the molecular events both in vivo and in vitro.

Activation of Wnt/β-catenin signalling is frequently observed in many types of cancer including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We recently reported that cullin 4B (CUL4B), a scaffold protein that assembles CRL4B ubiquitin ligase complexes, is overexpressed in many types of solid tumours and contributes to epigenetic silencing of tumour suppressors. In this study, we characterized the function of CUL4B in HCC and investigated whether CUL4B is involved in the regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signalling. CUL4B and β-catenin were frequently up-regulated and positively correlated in HCC tissues. CUL4B activated Wnt/β-catenin signalling by protecting β-catenin from GSK3-mediated degradation, achieved through CUL4B-mediated epigenetic silencing of Wnt pathway antagonists. Knockdown of CUL4B resulted in the up-regulation of Wnt signal antagonists such as DKK1 and PPP2R2B. Simultaneous knockdown of PPP2R2B partially reversed the down-regulation of β-catenin signalling caused by CUL4B depletion. Furthermore, CRL4B promoted the recruitment and/or retention of PRC2 at the promoters of Wnt antagonists and CUL4B knockdown decreased the retention of PRC2 components as well as H3K27me3. Knockdown of CUL4B reduced the proliferation, colony formation, and invasiveness of HCC cells in vitro and inhibited tumour growth in vivo, and these effects were attenuated by introduction of exogenous β-catenin or simultaneous knockdown of PPP2R2B. Conversely, ectopic expression of CUL4B enhanced the proliferation and invasiveness of HCC cells. We conclude that CUL4B can up-regulate Wnt/β-catenin signalling in human HCC through transcriptionally repressing Wnt antagonists and thus contributes to the malignancy of HCC.

Cullin-RING ligases (CRLs) complexes participate in the regulation of diverse cellular processes, including cell cycle progression, transcription, signal transduction and development. Serving as the scaffold protein, cullins are crucial for the assembly of ligase complexes, which recognize and target various substrates for proteosomal degradation. Mutations in human CUL4B, one of the eight members in cullin family, are one of the major causes of X-linked mental retardation. We here report the generation and characterization of Cul4b knockout mice, in which exons 3 to 5 were deleted. In contrast to the survival to adulthood of human hemizygous males with CUL4B null mutation, Cul4b null mouse embryos show severe developmental arrest and usually die before embryonic day 9.5 (E9.5). Accumulation of cyclin E, a CRL (CUL4B) substrate, was observed in Cul4b null embryos. Cul4b heterozygotes were recovered at a reduced ratio and exhibited a severe developmental delay. The placentas in Cul4b heterozygotes were disorganized and were impaired in vascularization, which may contribute to the developmental delay. As in human CUL4B heterozygotes, Cul4b null cells were selected against in Cul4b heterozygotes, leading to various degrees of skewed X-inactivation in different tissues. Together, our results showed that CUL4B is indispensable for embryonic development in the mouse.

Cullin 4B (CUL4B), a scaffold protein that assembles CRL4B ubiquitin ligase complexes, is overexpressed in many types of cancers and represses many tumor suppressors through epigenetic mechanisms. However, the mechanisms by which CUL4B is upregulated remain to be elucidated. Here, we show that CUL4B is upregulated in non‐small‐cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) tissues and is critically required for cell proliferation and migration in vitro and for xenograft tumor formation in vivo. We found that microRNA‐194 (miR‐194) and CUL4B protein were inversely correlated in cancer specimens and demonstrated that miR‐194 could downregulate CUL4B by directly targeting its 3′‐UTR. We also showed that CUL4B could be negatively regulated by p53 in a miR‐194‐dependent manner. miR‐194 was further shown to attenuate the malignant phenotype of lung cancer cells by downregulating CUL4B. Interestingly, CRL4B also epigenetically represses miR‐194 by catalyzing monoubiquitination at H2AK119 and by coordinating with PRC2 to promote trimethylation at H3K27 at the gene clusters encoding miR‐194. RBX1, another component in CRL4B complex, is also targeted by miR‐194 in NSCLC cells. Our results thus establish a double‐negative feedback loop between miR‐194 and CRL4B, dysregulation of which contributes to tumorigenesis. The function of miR‐194 as a negative regulator of CUL4B has therapeutic implications in lung cancer.

Figure 1. CUL4B deficiency in pancreatic δ cells impairs glucose metabolism. (A and B)Western blots and quantitative data for CUL4A and CUL4B protein levels in islets from 12-week-old diabetic db/db mice and their heterozygous littermates (db/+). n = 6 mice per group. Representative Western blots from at least 3 independent experiments are shown. (C) Immunostaining for CUL4B (green) and somatostatin (SST, red) in pancreatic sections from db/db and db/+ mice. Scale bar: 100 μm. n = 6 mice per group; 4-7 random areas were selected from each islet section, and 10 sections were randomly selected from each mouse. Insulininduced decreases in blood glucose levels were significantly lower in Sst-Cre +/-Cul4b fl/Y mice than in their WT littermates, and they did not return to baseline levels at the 2-hour time point, whereas the levels of their WT littermates did (n = 9-11). *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001. db/db mice were compared with their db/+ littermates, and Sst-Cre +/-Cul4b fl/Y mice were compared with their WT littermates. Error bars in F represent mean ± SD; other bars represent mean ± SEM. All data were analyzed using 1-way ANOVA. The Journal of Clinical Investigation R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E2 6 3 3 jci.orgVolume 127 Number 7 July 2017mental Figure 1E). Immunofluorescence also showed no significant differences in islet or β or δ cell numbers between +/-mice, the knockout mice exhibited increased glucose levels after 2 hours of feeding following a 16-hour fast ( Figure 1G). Accordingly, during a glucose tolerance test, the blood glucose levels of Sst-Cre +/-Cul4b fl/Y mice were 33% and 30% higher at 30 minutes and 120 minutes, respectively, than those of the control group consisting of both Sst-Cre +/-and Cul4b fl/Y mice ( Figure 1H). In addition, during the insulin tolerance test, the blood glucose levels of Sst-Cre +/-Cul4b fl/Y mice unexpectedly decreased more dramatically and rapidly than those of the Sst-Cre +/-control mice in response to insulin stimulation ( Figure 1I). Insulin and somatostatin content as well as kidney, brain, heart, liver, and stomach weights were not found to be significantly different between the mice was 140% and 40% higher than that of Sst-Cre +/-mice at 5 minutes and 60 minutes, respectively ( Figure 2H). In contrast to the results found for the Sst-Cre +/-Cul4b fl/Y mice, CUL4B defistrated that CRL4 ubiquitinates WD repeat-containing protein 5 (WDR5), a core subunit of H3K4 methyltransferase complexes, for degradation in the nucleus, thereby promoting increased H3K4 methylation levels (30). However, whether CUL4B or its E3 ligase complex CRL4B-PRC2 participates in the functioning or development of Langerhans islets has not been studied. In this study, we found that CUL4B expression levels are decreased in db/db mice. Therefore, we crossed mice expressing Cre under the insulin II promotor (Ins2-Cre) and mice expressing Cre under the somatostatin promoter (Sst-Cre) with Cul4b fl/fl mice to characterize CUL4B functions in specific cell types of the islet circuit. Although In...

DMP1 mutations in autosomal recessive hypophosphatemic rickets (ARHR) patients and mice lacking Dmp1 display an overlapping pathophysiology, such as hypophosphatemia. However, subtle differences exist between the mouse model and human ARHR patients. These differences could be due to a species specificity of human versus mouse, or it may be that the mutant DMP1 in humans maintains partial function of DMP1. In this study we report a deformed tooth phenotype in a human DMP1 deletion mutation case. Unexpectedly, the deletion of nucleotides 1484 to 1490 (c.1484_1490delCTATCAC, delMut, resulting in replacement of the last 18 residues with 33 random amino acids) showed a severe dentin and enamel defect similar to a dentinogenesis imperfecta (DI) III–like phenotype. To address the molecular mechanism behind this phenotype, we generated delMut transgenic mice with the endogenous Dmp1 gene removed. These mutant mice did not recapture the abnormal phenotype observed in the human patient but displayed a mild rachitic tooth phenotype in comparison with that in the Dmp1-null mice, suggesting that the DI III–like phenotype may be due to an as-yet-undetermined acquired gene modifier. The mechanism studies showed that the mutant fragment maintains partial function of DMP1 such as stimulating MAP kinase signaling in vitro. Last, the in vitro and in vivo data support a role of odontoblasts in the control of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF-23) regulation during early postnatal development, although this regulation on Pi homeostasis is likely limited. © 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

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