REV-ERBα and REV-ERBβ nuclear receptors regulate several physiological processes, including circadian rhythm and metabolism. A previous study reported the REV-ERBα gene to be co-overexpressed with ERBB2 in breast cancer cell lines. Surprisingly, we found that several tumor types, including a number of breast cancer cell lines, predominantly express the REV-ERBβ variant. This pattern was independent of ERBB2 and ER status, and opposite to that of non-cancer mammary epithelial HMEC cells, in which REV-ERBα was the major variant. Consistent with this molecular profile, REV-ERB target genes in both circadian and metabolic pathways were derepressed upon silencing of REV-ERBβ, but not REV-ERBα. Strikingly, we found that REV-ERBβ is a determinant of sensitivity to chloroquine, a clinically relevant lysosomotropic agent that suppresses autophagy. The cytoprotective function of REV-ERBβ appears to operate downstream of autophagy blockade. Through compound screening, we identified ARN5187, a novel lysosomotropic REV-ERBβ ligand with a dual inhibitory activity toward REV-ERB-mediated transcriptional regulation and autophagy. Remarkably, although ARN5187 and chloroquine share similar lysosomotropic potency and have a similar effect on autophagy inhibition, ARN5187 is significantly more cytotoxic. Collectively, our results reveal that dual inhibition of REV-ERBβ and autophagy is an effective strategy for eliciting cytotoxicity in cancer cells. Furthermore, our discovery of a novel inhibitor compound of both REV-ERB and autophagy may provide a scaffold for the discovery of new multifunctional anticancer agents.

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Autophagy inhibition is emerging as a promising anticancer strategy. We recently reported that the circadian nuclear receptor REV-ERBβ plays an unexpected role in sustaining cancer cell survival when the autophagy flux is compromised. We also identified 4-[[[1-(2-fluorophenyl)cyclopentyl]amino]methyl]-2-[(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)methyl]phenol, 1 (ARN5187), as a novel dual inhibitor of REV-ERBβ and autophagy. 1 had improved cytotoxicity against BT-474 breast cancer cells compared to chloroquine, a clinically relevant autophagy inhibitor. Here, we present the results of structure-activity studies, based around 1, that disclose the first class of dual inhibitors of REV-ERBβ and autophagy. This study led to identification of 18 and 28, which were more effective REV-ERBβ antagonists than 1 and were more cytotoxic to BT-474. The combination of optimal chemical and structural moieties of these analogs generated 30, which elicited 15-fold greater REV-ERBβ inhibitory and cytotoxic activities compared to 1. Furthermore, 30 induced death in a panel of tumor cell lines at doses 5-50 times lower than an equitoxic amount of chloroquine but did not affect the viability of normal mammary epithelial cells.

H-Ras oncogene requires deregulation of additional oncogenes or inactivation of tumor suppressor proteins to increase cell proliferation rate and transform cells. In fact, the expression of the constitutively activated H-RasV12 induces cell growth arrest and premature senescence, which act like barriers in pre-neoplastic lesions. In our experimental model, human fibroblasts transfected with H-RasV12 show a dramatic modification of morphology. H-RasV12 expressing cells also show premature senescence followed by cell death, induced by autophagy and apoptosis. In this context, we provide evidence that in H-RasV12 expressing cells, the premature senescence is associated with cellular redox imbalance as well as with altered post-translation protein modification. In particular, redox imbalance is due to a strong reduction of total antioxidant capacity, and significant decrease of glutathione level. As the reversible addition of glutathione to cysteinyl residues of proteins is an important post-translational regulative modification, we investigated S-glutathionylation in cells expressing active H-Ras. In this contest we observed different S-glutathionylation patterns in control and H-RasV12 expressing cells. Particularly, the GAPDH enzyme showed S-glutathionylation increase and significant enzyme activity depletion in H-Ras V12 cells. In conclusion, we proposed that antioxidant defense reduction, glutathione depletion and subsequent modification of S-glutathionylation of target proteins contribute to arrest cell growth, leading to death of fibroblasts expressing constitutively active H-Ras oncogene, thus acting as oncogenic barriers that obstacle the progression of cell transformation.

The expression of constitutively active H-RasV12 oncogene has been described to induce proliferative arrest and premature senescence in many cell models. There are a number of studies indicating an association between senescence and lysosomal enzyme alterations, e.g. lysosomal β-galactosidase is the most widely used biomarker to detect senescence in cultured cells and we previously reported that H-RasV12 up-regulates lysosomal glycohydrolases enzymatic activity in human fibroblasts. Here we investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying lysosomal glycohydrolase β-hexosaminidase up-regulation in human fibroblasts expressing the constitutively active H-RasV12. We demonstrated that H-Ras activation increases β-hexosaminidase expression and secretion by a Raf/extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase dependent pathway, through a mechanism that relies on the activity of the transcription factor EB (TFEB). Because of the pivotal role of TFEB in the regulation of lysosomal system biogenesis and function, our results suggest that this could be a general mechanism to enhance lysosomal enzymes activity during oncogene-induced senescence.