Many human cancers express elevated levels of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), an enzyme responsible for the biosynthesis of prostaglandins. Available clinical data establish the protective effect of COX-2 inhibition on human cancer progression. However, despite these encouraging outcomes, the appearance of unwanted side effects remains a major hurdle for the general application of COX-2 inhibitors as effective cancer drugs. Hence, a better understanding of the molecular signals downstream of COX-2 is needed for the elucidation of drug targets that may improve cancer therapy. Here, we show that the COX-2 product prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) acts on cognate receptor EP4 to promote the migration of A549 lung cancer cells. Treatment with PGE 2 enhances tyrosine kinase c-Src activation, and blockade of c-Src activity represses the PGE 2 -mediated lung cancer cell migration. PGE 2 affects target cells by activating four receptors named EP1 to EP4. Use of EP subtype-selective ligand agonists suggested that EP4 mediates prostaglandin-induced A549 lung cancer cell migration, and this conclusion was confirmed using a short hairpin RNA approach to specifically knock down EP4 expression. Proximal EP4 effectors include heterotrimeric Gs and βArrestin proteins. Knockdown of βArrestin1 expression with shRNA significantly impaired the PGE 2 -induced c-Src activation and cell migration. Together, these results support the idea that increased expression of the COX-2 product PGE 2 in the lung tumor microenvironment may initiate a mitogenic signaling cascade composed of EP4, βArrestin1, and c-Src which mediates cancer cell migration. Selective targeting of EP4 with a ligand antagonist may provide an efficient approach to better manage patients with advanced lung cancer. Mol Cancer Res; 8(4); 569-77. ©2010 AACR.

Prognosis for patients with early stage kidney cancer has improved, but the treatment options for patients with locally advanced disease and metastasis remain few. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate invasion and metastasis is critical for developing successful therapies to treat these patients. Proinflammatory prostaglandin E 2 plays an important role in cancer initiation and progression via activation of cognate EP receptors that belong to the superfamily of G proteincoupled receptors. Here we report that prostaglandin E 2 promotes renal cancer cell invasion through a signal transduction pathway that encompasses EP4 and small GTPase Rap. Inactivation of Rap signaling with Rap1GAP, like inhibition of EP4 signaling with ligand antagonist or knockdown with shRNA, reduces the kidney cancer cell invasion. Human kidney cells evidence increased EP4 and decreased Rap1GAP expression levels in the malignant compared with benign samples. These results support the idea that targeted inhibition of EP4 signaling and restoration of Rap1GAP expression constitute a new strategy to control kidney cancer progression.

eNOS-mediated S-nitrosylation of dynamin2 promotes infection of epithelial cells by E. coli.

Dynamin2 is a large GTPase that regulates vesicle trafficking, and the GTPase activity of dynamin2 is required for the multistep process of adenovirus infection. Activity of dynamin2 may be regulated by post-translational phosphorylation and S-nitrosylation modifications. In this study, we demonstrate a role for dynamin2 S-nitrosylation in adenovirus infection of epithelial cells. We show that adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) infection augments production of nitric oxide (NO) in epithelial cells and causes the S-nitrosylation of dynamin2, mainly on cysteine 86 (C86) and 607 (C607) residues. Forced overexpression of dynamin2 bearing C86A and/or C607A mutations decreases Ad5 infection. Diminishing NO synthesis by RNAiinduced knockdown of endogenous endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) expression attenuates virus infection of target cells. Ad5 infection promotes the kinetically dynamic S-nitrosylation of dynamin2 and eNOS: there is a rapid decrease in eNOS S-nitrosylation and a concomitant increase in the dynamin2 S-nitrosylation. These results support the hypothesis that dynamin2 S-nitrosylation following eNOS activation facilitates adenovirus infection of host epithelial cells.

CXCR4, the primary receptor for CXCL12, plays a critical role in the development of hematopoietic, vascular, central nervous, and immune systems by mediating directional migration of precursor cells. This mechanism promotes homing of tumor cells to metastatic sites that secrete CXCL12, and CXCR4 expression is a negative prognostic factor in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). To elucidate mechanisms that regulate CXCR4 signaling, we used a proteomic approach to identify proteins physically associated with CXCR4. Analysis of CXCR4 immune complexes identified nucleophosmin (NPM), which was confirmed by reciprocal coimmunoprecipitation for NPM. Constitutively active CXCR4 variants bound higher levels of NPM than the wild-type receptor, which was reversed by T140, an inverse agonist. NPM binding to CXCR4 localized interactions to the C terminus and cytoplasmic loop (CL)-3, but not CL-1 or CL-2. Alanine scanning mutagenesis demonstrated that positively charged amino acids in CL-3 were critical for NPM binding. Recombinant NPM decreased GTP binding in membrane fractions after activation of CXCR4 by CXCL12. Suppression of NPM expression enhanced chemotactic responses to CXCL12, and, conversely, overexpression of a cytosolic NPM mutant reduced chemotaxis induced by CXCL12. This study provides evidence for a novel role for NPM as a negative regulator of CXCR4 signaling induced by CXCL12 that may be relevant to the biology of AML.