Persistently activated or tyrosine-phosphorylated STAT3 (pSTAT3) is found in 50% of lung adenocarcinomas. pSTAT3 is found in primary adenocarcinomas and cell lines harboring somatic-activating mutations in the tyrosine kinase domain of EGFR. Treatment of cell lines with either an EGFR inhibitor or an src kinase inhibitor had no effect on pSTAT3 levels, whereas a pan-JAK inhibitor (P6) blocked activation of STAT3 and inhibited tumorigenesis. Cell lines expressing these persistently activated mutant EGFRs also produced high IL-6 levels, and blockade of the IL-6/gp130/JAK pathway led to a decrease in pSTAT3 levels. In addition, reduction of IL-6 levels by RNA interference led to a decrease in tumorigenesis. Introduction of persistently activated EGFR into immortalized breast epithelial cells led to tumorigenesis, IL-6 expression, and STAT3 activation, all of which could be inhibited with P6 or gp130 blockade. Furthermore, inhibition of EGFR activity in multiple cell lines partially blocked transcription of IL-6 and concurrently decreased production and release of IL-6. Finally, immunohistochemical analysis revealed a positive correlation between pSTAT3 and IL-6 positivity in primary lung adenocarcinomas. Therefore, mutant EGFR could activate the gp130/JAK/STAT3 pathway by means of IL-6 upregulation in primary human lung adenocarcinomas, making this pathway a potential target for cancer treatment.

Rickettsia are obligate intracellular bacteria that evade antimicrobial autophagy in the host cell cytosol by unknown mechanisms. Other cytosolic pathogens block different steps of autophagy targeting, including the initial step of polyubiquitin coat formation. One mechanism of evasion is to mobilize actin to the bacterial surface. Here, we show that actin mobilization is insufficient to block autophagy recognition of the pathogen Rickettsia parkeri. Instead, R. parkeri employs outer membrane protein B (OmpB) to block ubiquitylation of bacterial surface proteins, including OmpA, and subsequent recognition by autophagy receptors. OmpB is also required for the formation of a capsule-like layer. Although OmpB is dispensable for bacterial growth in endothelial cells, it is essential for R. parkeri to block autophagy in macrophages and to colonize mice because of its ability to promote autophagy evasion in immune cells. Our results indicate that OmpB acts as a protective shield to obstruct autophagy recognition, revealing a distinctive bacterial mechanism to evade antimicrobial autophagy.Users may view, print, copy, and download text and data-mine the content in such documents, for the purposes of academic research, subject always to the full Conditions of use:

Mammalian cells integrate mitogen and stress signaling prior to the end of G1 phase to decide whether or not to enter the cell cycle1–4. Before cells can replicate their DNA in S phase, they have to activate cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), induce an E2F transcription program, and inactivate an E3 ubiquitin ligase, the anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/CCdh1). It was recently shown that stress can return cells to quiescence after CDK2 activation and E2F induction but cannot after inactivation of APC/CCdh1, arguing that APC/CCdh1 inactivation is the point-of-no-return for cell cycle entry3. While rapid inactivation of APC/CCdh1 requires early mitotic inhibitor 1 (Emi1)3,5, the molecular mechanism controlling this cell cycle commitment step is unknown. Here we show that cell cycle commitment is mediated by an Emi1-APC/CCdh1 dual-negative feedback switch, in which Emi1 is both a substrate and an inhibitor of APC/CCdh1. The inactivation switch triggers a transition between a state with low Emi1 levels and high APC/CCdh1 activity during G1 to a state with high Emi1 levels and low APC/CCdh1 activity during S and G2. Cell-based analysis, in vitro reconstitution, and modeling data show that the underlying dual-negative feedback is bistable and represents a robust irreversible switch. Together, our study argues that mammalian cells commit to the cell cycle by increasing CDK2 activity and Emi1 mRNA expression to trigger a one-way APC/CCdh1 inactivation switch mediated by Emi1 transitioning from a substrate to an inhibitor of APC/CCdh1.

Formation of the inflammasome, a scaffolding complex that activates caspase-1, is important in numerous diseases. Pyroptotic cell death induced by anthrax lethal toxin (LT) is a model for inflammasome-mediated caspase-1 activation. We discovered 7-desacetoxy-6,7-dehydrogedunin (7DG) in a phenotypic screen as a small molecule that protects macrophages from LT-induced death. Using chemical proteomics, we identified protein kinase R (PKR) as the target of 7DG and show that RNAi knockdown of PKR phenocopies treatment with 7DG. Further, we show that PKR's role in ASC assembly and caspase-1 activation induced by several different inflammasome stimuli is independent of PKR's kinase activity, demonstrating that PKR has a previously uncharacterized role in caspase-1 activation and pyroptosis that is distinct from its reported kinase-dependent roles in apoptosis and inflammasome formation in lipopolysaccharide-primed cells. Remarkably, PKR has different roles in two distinct cell death pathways and has a broad role in inflammasome function relevant in other diseases.