Gap junctions comprise arrays of intercellular channels formed by connexin proteins and provide for the direct communication between adjacent cells. This type of intercellular communication permits the coordination of cellular activities and plays key roles in the control of cell growth and differentiation and in the maintenance of tissue homoeostasis. After more than 50 years, deciphering the links among connexins, gap junctions and cancer, researchers are now beginning to translate this knowledge to the clinic. The emergence of new strategies for connexin targeting, combined with an improved understanding of the molecular bases underlying the dysregulation of connexins during cancer development, offers novel opportunities for clinical applications. However, different connexin isoforms have diverse channel-dependent and-independent functions that are tissue and stage specific. This can elicit both pro-and anti-tumorigenic effects that engender significant challenges in the path towards personalised medicine. Here, we review the current understanding of the role of connexins and gap junctions in cancer, with particular focus on the recent progress made in determining their prognostic and therapeutic potential.

Chromosome condensation and the global repression of gene transcription1 are features of mitosis in most eukaryotes. The logic behind this phenomenon is that chromosome condensation prevents the activity of RNA polymerases. In budding yeast, however, transcription was proposed to be continuous during mitosis2. Here we show that Cdc14, a protein phosphatase required for nucleolar segregation3 and mitotic exit4, inhibits transcription of yeast ribosomal genes (rDNA) during anaphase. The phosphatase activity of Cdc14 is required for RNA polymerase I (Pol I) inhibition in vitro and in vivo. Moreover Cdc14-dependent inhibition involves nucleolar exclusion of Pol I subunits. We demonstrate that transcription inhibition is necessary for complete chromosome disjunction, because ribosomal RNA (rRNA) transcripts block condensin binding to rDNA, and show that bypassing the role of Cdc14 in nucleolar segregation requires in vivo degradation of nascent transcripts. Our results show that transcription interferes with chromosome condensation, not the reverse. We conclude that budding yeast, like most eukaryotes, inhibit Pol I transcription before segregation as a prerequisite for chromosome condensation and faithful genome separation.

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Objective This study investigated whether chondrocytes within the cartilage matrix have the capacity to communicate through intercellular connections mediated by voltage-gated gap junction (GJ) channels. Methods Frozen cartilage samples were used for immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry assays. Samples were embedded in cacodylate buffer before dehydration for scanning electron microscopy. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments and mass spectrometry (MS) were performed to identify proteins that interact with the C-terminal end of Cx43. GJ communication was studied through in situ electroporation, electrophysiology and dye injection experiments. A transwell layered culture system and MS were used to identify and quantify transferred amino acids. Results Microscopic images revealed the presence of multiple cellular projections connecting chondrocytes within the matrix. These projections were between 5 and 150 μm in length. MS data analysis indicated that the C-terminus of Cx43 interacts with several cytoskeletal proteins implicated in Cx trafficking and GJ assembly, including α-tubulin and β-tubulin, actin, and vinculin. Electrophysiology experiments demonstrated that 12-mer oligonucleotides could be transferred between chondrocytes within 12 min after injection. Glucose was homogeneously distributed within 22 and 35 min. No transfer was detected when glucose was electroporated into A549 cells, which have no GJs. Transwell layered culture systems coupled with MS analysis revealed connexins can mediate the transfer of L-lysine and L-arginine between chondrocytes. Conclusions This study reveals that intercellular connections between chondrocytes contain GJs that play a key role in cell-cell communication and a metabolic function by exchange of nutrients including glucose and essential amino acids. A three-dimensional cellular network mediated through GJs might mediate metabolic and physiological homeostasis to maintain cartilage tissue.

Kinases and phosphatases regulate mRNA synthesis through post-translational modification of the C-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II 1. In yeast, the phosphatase Cdc14 is required for mitotic exit 2,3 and for segregation of repetitive regions 4. Cdc14 is also a subunit of the silencing complex RENT 5,6, but no roles in transcription repression have been described. Here we report that inactivation of Cdc14 causes silencing defects at the intergenic spacer sequences (IGS) of ribosomal genes during interphase and at Y’ repeats in sub-telomeric regions during mitosis. We show that Cdc14 role in silencing is independent from the RENT deacetylase subunit Sir2. Instead, Cdc14 acts directly on RNA Polymerase II by targeting CTD phosphorylation at S2 and S5. We also find that Cdc14 role as a CTD phosphatase is conserved in humans. Finally, telomere segregation defects in cdc14 mutants 4 correlate with the presence of sub-telomeric Y’ elements and can be rescued by transcriptional inhibition of RNA Pol II.

Ribosome biogenesis requires transcription of structural RNAs. In budding yeast, ribosomal units contain both 35S and 5S RNA genes separated by intergenic spacer sequences (IGS) that are transcribed by RNAP-II. IGS transcripts cause instability by promoting unequal sister chromatid recombination between repeats and are thus rapidly degraded by the exosome. Whether RNAP-II within IGS regions plays any functional role is unknown. Here we demonstrate that the bulk of RNAP-II bound to IGS sites is blocked for elongation and hence remains in a poised or stalled configuration. We describe a novel role for these stalled RNAP-II complexes in the formation of cis-interactions between the IGS of rDNA. We show that this function separates 35S and 5S RNA genes into polymerase-specific chromatin loops and demonstrate that removal of stalled RNAP-II complexes causes displacement of RNAP-III from the 5S gene region and transcriptional downregulation of 5S rRNA by spreading of RNAP-I. We conclude that stalled RNAP-II plays an active role in the cis-organisation of ribosomal repeats providing domains of polymerase specificity in the nucleolar transcription environment.

Osteoarthritis (OA), a chronic disease characterized by articular cartilage degeneration, is a leading cause of disability and pain worldwide. In OA, chondrocytes in cartilage undergo phenotypic changes and senescence, restricting cartilage regeneration and favouring disease progression. Similar to other wound-healing disorders, chondrocytes from OA patients show a chronic increase in the gap junction channel protein connexin43 (Cx43), which regulates signal transduction through the exchange of elements or recruitment/release of signalling factors. Although immature or stem-like cells are present in cartilage from OA patients, their origin and role in disease progression are unknown. In this study, we found that Cx43 acts as a positive regulator of chondrocyte-mesenchymal transition. Overactive Cx43 largely maintains the immature phenotype by increasing nuclear translocation of Twist-1 and tissue remodelling and proinflammatory agents, such as MMPs and IL-1β, which in turn cause cellular senescence through upregulation of p53, p16INK4a and NF-κB, contributing to the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Downregulation of either Cx43 by CRISPR/Cas9 or Cx43-mediated gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) by carbenoxolone treatment triggered rediferentiation of osteoarthritic chondrocytes into a more differentiated state, associated with decreased synthesis of MMPs and proinflammatory factors, and reduced senescence. We have identified causal Cx43-sensitive circuit in chondrocytes that regulates dedifferentiation, redifferentiation and senescence. We propose that chondrocytes undergo chondrocyte-mesenchymal transition where increased Cx43-mediated GJIC during OA facilitates Twist-1 nuclear translocation as a novel mechanism involved in OA progression. These findings support the use of Cx43 as an appropriate therapeutic target to halt OA progression and to promote cartilage regeneration.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease and involves progressive degeneration of articular cartilage. The aim of this study was to investigate if chondrocytes from human articular cartilage express gap junction proteins called connexins (Cxs). We show that human chondrocytes in tissue express Cx43, Cx45, Cx32, and Cx46. We also find that primary chondrocytes from adults retain the capacity to form functional voltage-dependent gap junctions. Immunohistochemistry experiments in cartilage from OA patients revealed significantly elevated levels of Cx43 and Cx45 in the superficial zone and down through the next approximately 1000 μm of tissue. These zones corresponded with regions damaged in OA that also had high levels of proliferative cell nuclear antigen. An increased number of Cxs may help explain the increased proliferation of cells in clusters that finally lead to tissue homeostasis loss. Conversely, high levels of Cxs in OA cartilage reflect the increased number of adjacent cells in clusters that are able to interact directly by gap junctions as compared with hemichannels on single cells in normal cartilage. Our data provide strong evidence that OA patients have a loss of the usual ordered distribution of Cxs in the damaged zones and that the reductions in Cx43 levels are accompanied by the loss of correct Cx localization in the nondamaged areas.