Delivery of cytoplasmic vesicles to discrete plasma-membrane domains is critical for establishing and maintaining cell polarity, neurite differentiation and regulated exocytosis. The exocyst is a multisubunit complex required for vectorial targeting of a subset of secretory vesicles. Mechanisms that regulate the activity of this complex in mammals are unknown. Here we show that Sec5, an integral component of the exocyst, is a direct target for activated Ral GTPases. Ral GTPases regulate targeting of basolateral proteins in epithelial cells, secretagogue-dependent exocytosis in neuroendocrine cells and assembly of exocyst complexes. These observations define Ral GTPases as critical regulators of vesicle trafficking.

Ral GTPases have been implicated as mediators of Ras-induced signal transduction from observations that

The Raf family of serine/threonine protein kinases is intimately involved in the transmission of cell regulatory signals controlling proliferation and differentiation. The best characterized Raf substrates are MEK1 and MEK2. The activation of MEK1/2 by Raf is required to mediate many of the cellular responses to Raf activation, suggesting that MEK1/2 are the dominant Raf effector proteins. However, accumulating evidence suggests that there are additional Raf substrates and that subsets of Raf-induced regulatory events are mediated independently of Raf activation of MEK1/2. To examine the possibility that there is bifurcation at the level of Raf in activation of MEK1/2-dependent and MEK1/2-independent cell regulatory events, we engineered a kinase-active Raf1 variant (RafBXB(T481A)) with an amino acid substitution that disrupts MEK1 binding. We find that disruption of MEK1/2 association uncouples Raf from activation of ERK1/2, induction of serum-response element-dependent gene expression, and induction of growth and morphological transformation. However, activation of NF-B-dependent gene expression and induction of neurite differentiation were unimpaired. In addition, Raf-dependent activation of p90 ribosomal S6 kinase was only slightly impaired. These results support the hypothesis that Raf kinases utilize multiple downstream effectors to regulate distinct cellular activities.

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Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is an important endogenous inhibitor of urokinase-type plasminogen activator. Its action in tumor angiogenesis is complicated, varying with experimental setting and its cellular origin. To further understand the mechanism of the effect of PAI-1 on tumor angiogenesis, especially newly established tumor vasculature in early tumor progression, stable transfectants (TO-PAI-1) of the human prostate adenocarcinoma, PC3, were generated in which PAI-1 expression is under the control of the tetracycline-responsive promoter (Tet-On system). The TO-PAI-1 transfectants exhibit tight inducibility of expression of biologically active PAI-1 in vitro. Induction of PAI-1 expression in nude mice resulted in significant inhibition of tumor growth. This inhibition appears to be due to the effect of PAI-1 on angiogenesis, because it is manifested by an initial wave of tumor endothelial apoptosis accompanied by induction of tumor cell apoptosis and inhibition of tumor cell proliferation. Similar endothelial apoptosis is observed in vitro when human microvascular endothelial cells are physically cocultivated with TO-PAI-1 cells on vitronectin-coated plate. Taken together, these data show for the first time that PAI-1 induces endothelial apoptosis in the newly established tumor vasculature.

To our knowledge this study is the first to demonstrate that intravesical treatment with PAI-1 significantly inhibits tumor progression in an in vivo model of bladder cancer. Further clinical development is warranted for using PAI-1 directly or in combination with current standards, such as bacillus Calmette-Guerin or interferon.

13093 Background: Clinical studies show that LMWHs improve survival in cancer patients. There is compelling and mounting evidence that non-anticoagulation factors are at play, and that these may be contributing in a major way to improved patient outcome. Methods and Results: Dalteparin, enoxaparin, and tinzaparin were tested for their in vivo ability to inhibit tumor lines engineered for aggressive angiogenesis-driven growth. Therapeutic daily doses of drug administered the day following tumor inoculation resulted in significant angiogenesis and tumor inhibition. We previously showed that LMWHs inhibit fibroblast growth factor (FGF) -induced mitogenesis of Tumor Derived Endothelial Cells (TDECs) in a time and concentration dependent manner in vitro. We now show that this endothelial inhibition occurs through LMWHs-mediated reduction of phosphorylation and down stream signaling through ERK. The potency of LMWH was significantly reduced when TDECs were pretreated with heparinase- suggesting that the molecular target for LMWH may be the cell surface, low affinity FGF receptor system. Both our in vivo and in vitro studies demonstrate that angiogenesis and tumor inhibition are greatest for dalteparin > tinzaparin > enoxaparin. Clues to the heparin-TDECs interaction comes from tracking the real-time movement of FGF using a highly fluorescent nanocrystal bead decorated on its surface with FGF. High resolution video-microscopy shows FGF binding onto TDEC surfaces, but once heparin enters the environment, FGF detaches from the TDECs and migrates to the heparin. This ultimately results in significant TDEC growth inhibition as compared to controls. Conclusion: LMWH treatment at pharmacologic doses significantly blunts tumor growth and angiogenesis. This inhibition resides in part via heparin’s ability to sequester FGF from the low affinity receptor system on tumor endothelial cells. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

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