Ras-induced malignant transformation requiresRas proteins are plasma membrane-associated GTPases that function as relay switches transducing biological information from extracellular signals to the nucleus (for review, see Refs.

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Although recent evidence supports a tumor-suppressive role for the GTPase RhoB, little is known about its regulation by signal transduction pathways. Here we demonstrate that Ras downregulates RhoB expression by a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-and Akt-but not Mek-dependent mechanism. Furthermore, genetic and pharmacological blockade of PI3K/Akt results in upregulation of RhoB expression. We also provide evidence for the importance of the downregulation of RhoB in oncogenesis by demonstrating that RhoB antagonizes Ras/PI3K/Akt malignancy. Ectopic expression of RhoB, but not the close relative RhoA, inhibits Ras, PI3K, and Akt induction of transformation, migration, and invasion and induces apoptosis and anoikis. Finally, RhoB inhibits melanoma metastasis to the lung in a mouse model. These studies identify suppression of RhoB as a mechanism by which the Ras/PI3K/Akt pathway induces tumor survival, transformation, invasion, and metastasis.

Whereas the GTPase RhoA has been shown to promote proliferation and malignant transformation, the involvement of RhoB in these processes is not well understood. In this manuscript RhoB is shown to be a potent suppressor of transformation and human tumor growth in nude mice. In several human cancer cell lines, RhoA promotes focus formation whereas RhoB is as potent as the tumor suppressor p53 at inhibiting transformation in this assay. RhoB is both farnesylated (F) and geranylgeranylated (GG), and RhoB-F has been suggested as a target for the antitumor activity of farnesyltransferase inhibitors. Here we demonstrate that both RhoB-F and RhoB-GG inhibit anchorage-dependent and -independent growth, induce apoptosis, inhibit constitutive activation of Erk and insulin-like growth factor-1 stimulation of Akt, and suppress tumor growth in nude mice. The data demonstrate that RhoB is a potent suppressor of human tumor growth and that RhoB-F is not a target for farnesyltransferase inhibitors.

The ability of Ras oncoproteins to cause malignant transformation requires their post-translational modi®ca-tions by prenyl groups. Because K-Ras can be both farnesylated and geranylgeranylated it is not known whether both farnesyltransferase and geranylgeranyltransferase I inhibitors are required for suppressing human tumor growth in whole animals. In this paper we report that oncogenic Ras processing, MAP kinase activation and growth in nude mice are inhibited by the farnesyltransferase inhibitor FTI-276 in H-and N-Ras transformed NIH3T3 cells; whereas in K B -Ras transformed NIH3T3 cells both FTI-276 and the geranylgeranyltransferase I inhibitor GGTI-297 are required for inhibition. Furthermore, human lung A-549 and Calu-1 carcinoma cell lines were found to co-express H-, N-and K-Ras. In Calu-1 cells, the processing of H-and N-Ras is inhibited greatly by FTI-276 but only partially by GGTI-297 whereas K-Ras processing inhibition requires both FTI-276 and GGTI-297. In contrast, in A-549 cells the processing of H-and N-Ras is inhibited only by FTI-276 and K-Ras processing is resistant to co-treatment with FTI-276 and GGTI-297. Yet, the growth in nude mice of A-549 and Calu-1 xenografts, both of which express K-Ras mutations, is inhibited by FTI-276 (80% inhibition) and GGTI-297 (60%). Furthermore, FTI-276 inhibits tumor growth of NIH3T3 cells transformed by a form of oncogenic H-Ras that is exclusively geranylgeranylated and whose processing is resistant to this inhibitor. Taken together, the results demonstrate that both FTase and GGTase I inhibitors are required for inhibition of K-Ras processing but that each alone is su cient to suppress human tumor growth in nude mice.

The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (Rb) plays a vital role in regulating mammalian cell cycle progression and inactivation of Rb is necessary for entry into S phase. Rb is inactivated by phosphorylation upon growth factor stimulation of quiescent cells, facilitating the transition from G 1 phase to S phase. Although the signaling events after growth factor stimulation have been well characterized, it is not yet clear how these signals contact the cell cycle machinery. We had found previously that growth factor stimulation of quiescent cells lead to the direct binding of Raf-1 kinase to Rb, leading to its inactivation. Here we show that the Rb-Raf-1 interaction occurs prior to the activation of cyclin and/or cyclin-dependent kinases and facilitates normal cell cycle progression. Raf-1-mediated inactivation of Rb is independent of the mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade, as well as cyclin-dependent kinases. Binding of Raf-1 seemed to correlate with the dissociation of the chromatin remodeling protein Brg1 from Rb. Disruption of the Rb-Raf-1 interaction by a nine-amino-acid peptide inhibits Rb phosphorylation, cell proliferation, and vascular endothelial growth factor-mediated capillary tubule formation. Delivery of this peptide by a carrier molecule led to a 79% reduction in tumor volume and a 57% reduction in microvessel formation in nude mice. It appears that Raf-1 links mitogenic signaling to Rb and that disruption of this interaction could aid in controlling proliferative disorders.The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein, Rb, plays a vital role in regulating the mammalian cell proliferation and its inactivation facilitates S-phase entry (i.e., entry into S phase) (64). Rb is inactivated during normal cell cycle progression by a cascade of phosphorylation events mediated mainly by kinases associated with D and E type cyclins (45,55). Previous studies have shown that inhibition of Rb phosphorylation can lead to G 1 arrest and that phosphorylation site mutants of Rb have enhanced growth suppressive properties (2, 17, 31). The growth-inhibitory properties of Rb are primarily mediated by its interaction with the E2F family of transcription factors (10, 18); Rb binds to E2Fs 1, 2, and 3 and suppresses their transcriptional activity (4, 33). Inactivation of Rb by phosphorylation leads to the dissociation and activation of E2F, allowing the expression of many genes required for cell cycle progression and S-phase entry (5, 7, 48).In addition to its role in regulating cell proliferation, Rb affects chromatin structure and function as well (14,25,49). It has been shown recently that Rb induces heterochromatin formation and inhibition of E2F-regulated genes during cellular senescence (46). Further, Rb has been shown to localize to the chromatin and suppress abnormal endoreduplication that might occur after DNA damage (3). Rb has also been shown to possess antiapoptotic activity by repression of E2F1-regulated proapoptotic genes such as p73, Apaf-1, and caspase-3 (43, 51). These observations indicate that...

Recently we have shown that in fibroblasts (NIH 3T3and

Abeta peptides are naturally occurring peptides forming beta-sheet aggregates that constitute an integral component of senile plaques and vascular deposits in Alzheimer's disease. Since several peptides adopting a beta-sheet conformation have been shown to be anti-angiogenic, we investigated the effect of Abeta on angiogenesis. We show that in vitro, Abeta dose-dependently inhibits the formation of capillaries by human brain endothelial cells plated on Matrigel and stimulates capillary degeneration at high doses. Preparations of Abeta peptides containing a higher content of beta-sheet structures are more potently anti-angiogenic in vitro. Ex vivo, Abeta dose-dependently opposes angiogenesis in rat aortae and in human middle cerebral arteries. In vivo, Abeta dose dependently inhibits angiogenesis in the chick chorioallantoic membrane assay and suppresses bFGF-induced blood vessel formation in the corneal micropocket and Matrigel plug assays. Since angiogenesis is required for tumor growth, we explored the effect of Abeta on human glioblastoma (U87MG) and human lung adenocarcinoma (A549) tumors. We show that intra-tumoral injection of Abeta potently inhibits the growth and vascularization of human glioblastoma and human lung adenocarcinoma tumor xenografts in nude mice. Similarly to the intra-tumoral injection regimen, Abeta delivered intraperitoneally also suppressed the growth of human lung adenocarcinoma tumor xenografts. Altogether our data show that Abeta is an angiogenesis inhibitor.