No abstract

Targeting multiple components of the MAPK pathway can prolong the survival of patients with BRAFV600E melanoma. This approach is not curative, as some BRAF-mutated melanoma cells are intrinsically resistant to MAPK inhibitors (MAPKi). At the systemic level, our knowledge of how signaling pathways underlie drug resistance needs to be further expanded. Here, we have shown that intrinsically resistant BRAF-mutated melanoma cells with a low basal level of mitochondrial biogenesis depend on this process to survive MAPKi. Intrinsically resistant cells exploited an integrated stress response, exhibited an increase in mitochondrial DNA content, and required oxidative phosphorylation to meet their bioenergetic needs. We determined that intrinsically resistant cells rely on the genes encoding TFAM, which controls mitochondrial genome replication and transcription, and TRAP1, which regulates mitochondrial protein folding. Therefore, we targeted mitochondrial biogenesis with a mitochondrium-targeted, small-molecule HSP90 inhibitor (Gamitrinib), which eradicated intrinsically resistant cells and augmented the efficacy of MAPKi by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction and inhibiting tumor bioenergetics. A subset of tumor biopsies from patients with disease progression despite MAPKi treatment showed increased mitochondrial biogenesis and tumor bioenergetics. A subset of acquired drug-resistant melanoma cell lines was sensitive to Gamitrinib. Our study establishes mitochondrial biogenesis, coupled with aberrant tumor bioenergetics, as a potential therapy escape mechanism and paves the way for a rationale-based combinatorial strategy to improve the efficacy of MAPKi.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of many diseases. The retrograde signaling initiated by dysfunctional mitochondria can bring about global changes in gene expression that alters cell morphology and function. Typically, this is attributed to disruption of important mitochondrial functions, such as ATP production, integration of metabolism, calcium homeostasis and regulation of apoptosis. Recent studies showed that in addition to these factors, mitochondrial dynamics might play an important role in stress signaling. Normal mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles whose size, shape and network are controlled by cell physiology. Defective mitochondrial dynamics play important roles in human diseases. Mitochondrial DNA defects and defective mitochondrial function have been reported in many cancers. Recent studies show that increased mitochondrial fission is a pro-tumorigenic phenotype. In this paper, we have explored the current understanding of the role of mitochondrial dynamics in pathologies. We present new data on mitochondrial dynamics and dysfunction to illustrate a causal link between mitochondrial DNA defects, excessive fission, mitochondrial retrograde signaling and cancer progression.

We have investigated the effects of hypoxia and myocardial ischemia/reperfusion on the structure and function of cytochrome c oxidase (CcO). Hypoxia (0.1% O 2 for 10 h) and cAMP-mediated inhibition of CcO activity were accompanied by hyperphosphorylation of subunits I, IVi1, and Vb and markedly increased reactive O 2 species production by the enzyme complex in an in vitro system that uses reduced cytochrome c as an electron donor. Both subunit phosphorylation and enzyme activity were effectively reversed by 50 nM H89 or 50 nM myristoylated peptide inhibitor (MPI), specific inhibitors of protein kinase A, but not by inhibitors of protein kinase C. In rabbit hearts subjected to global and focal ischemia, CcO activity was inhibited in a time-dependent manner and was accompanied by hyperphosphorylation as in hypoxia. Additionally, CcO activity and subunit phosphorylation in the ischemic heart were nearly completely reversed by H89 or MPI added to the perfusion medium. Hyperphosphorylation of subunits I, IVi1, and Vb was accompanied by reduced subunit contents of the immunoprecipitated CcO complex. Most interestingly, both H89 and MPI added to the perfusion medium dramatically reduced the ischemia/reperfusion injury to the myocardial tissue. Our results pointed to an exciting possibility of using CcO activity modulators for controlling myocardial injury associated with ischemia and oxidative stress conditions. Cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) 3 is the terminal oxidase of the mitochondrial electron transport chain, whose activity is modulated in response to O 2 tension and the work load of the tissue (1-6). This rate-limiting enzyme is an important site of regulation of mitochondrial respiration and oxidative phosphorylation (7). In the yeast, altered CcO activity in response to aerobic and anaerobic conditions is associated with the differential expression of the two isologs of the CcO Vb gene (8), although the precise mechanism by which the mammalian CcO modulates its activity remains unknown. Mitochondrial electron transport chain complexes are major sources of cellular ROS under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions (9, 10). Hypoxia-tolerant and hypoxia-sensitive human glioma cells exhibit distinct patterns of mitochondrial function in response to hypoxia (9, 11). Submitochondrial particles exposed to hypoxic conditions in vitro show reduced CcO activity (1,10,12). Some studies also suggest that the myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury is manifested through altered CcO activity and reduced mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (13,14).Protein kinases have been suggested to play a role in the modulation of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (15), although the roles of different cellular components in mediating this injury remain unclear. The presence of PKA and PKC activities in the mitochondrial inner membrane-matrix compartment and the role of PKC-mediated phosphorylation in the regulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase activity are well established (16). An 18-kDa subunit of the NADH dehydrogenase (complex I) (17)...

Whole-exome sequencing and autozygosity mapping studies, independently performed in subjects with defective combined mitochondrial OXPHOS-enzyme deficiencies, identified a total of nine disease-segregating FBXL4 mutations in seven unrelated mitochondrial disease families, composed of six singletons and three siblings. All subjects manifested early-onset lactic acidemia, hypotonia, and developmental delay caused by severe encephalomyopathy consistently associated with progressive cerebral atrophy and variable involvement of the white matter, deep gray nuclei, and brainstem structures. A wide range of other multisystem features were variably seen, including dysmorphism, skeletal abnormalities, poor growth, gastrointestinal dysmotility, renal tubular acidosis, seizures, and episodic metabolic failure. Mitochondrial respiratory chain deficiency was present in muscle or fibroblasts of all tested individuals, together with markedly reduced oxygen consumption rate and hyperfragmentation of the mitochondrial network in cultured cells. In muscle and fibroblasts from several subjects, substantially decreased mtDNA content was observed. FBXL4 is a member of the F-box family of proteins, some of which are involved in phosphorylation-dependent ubiquitination and/or G protein receptor coupling. We also demonstrate that FBXL4 is targeted to mitochondria and localizes in the intermembrane space, where it participates in an approximately 400 kDa protein complex. These data strongly support a role for FBXL4 in controlling bioenergetic homeostasis and mtDNA maintenance. FBXL4 mutations are a recurrent cause of mitochondrial encephalomyopathy onset in early infancy.

Here we report that ferricytochrome c (cyt c 3+ ) induces oxidation of hydroethidine (HE) and mitochondria-targeted hydroethidine (Mito-HE or MitoSOX ™ Red) forming highly characteristic homo-and heterodimeric products. Using a HPLC-electrochemical (EC) method, several products were detected from cyt c 3+ -catalyzed oxidation of HE and Mito-HE and characterized by mass spectrometry and NMR techniques as follows: homodimers (HE-HE, E + -E + ; Mito-HE-Mito-HE, Mito-E + -Mito-E + ) and heterodimers (HE-E + and Mito-HE-Mito-E + ), as well as the monomeric ethidium (E + ) and mito-ethidium (Mito-E + ). Similar products were detected when HE and Mito-HE were incubated with mitochondria. In contrast, mitochondria depleted of cyt c 3+ were much less effective in oxidizing HE or Mito-HE to corresponding dimeric products. Unlike E + or Mito-E + , the dimeric analogs (E + -E + and Mito-E + -Mito-E + ) were not fluorescent. Superoxide ( ) or Fremy's salt react with Mito-HE to form a product, 2-hydroxy-mito-ethidium (2-OH-Mito-E + ) that was detected by HPLC. We conclude that HPLC-EC but not the confocal and fluorescence microscopy is a viable technique for measuring superoxide and cyt c 3+ -dependent oxidation products of HE and Mito-HE in cells. Superoxide detection using HE and Mito-HE could be severely compromised due to their propensity to undergo oxidation.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is used for treating various cancers. Its clinical use is, however, limited by its dose-limiting cardiomyopathy. The exact mechanism of DOX-induced cardiomyopathy still remains unknown. The goals were to investigate the molecular mechanism of DOX-induced cardiomyopathy and cardioprotection by mitoquinone (Mito-Q), a triphenylphosphonium-conjugated analog of coenzyme Q, using a rat model. Rats were treated with DOX, Mito-Q, and DOX plus Mito-Q for 12 weeks. The left ventricular function as measured by two-dimensional echocardiography decreased in DOX-treated rats but was preserved during Mito-Q plus DOX treatment. Using low-temperature ex vivo electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), a time-dependent decrease in heme signal was detected in heart tissues isolated from rats administered with a cumulative dose of DOX. DOX attenuated the EPR signals characteristic of the exchange interaction between cytochrome c oxidase (CcO)-Fe(III) heme a3 and CuB. DOX and Mito-Q together restored these EPR signals and the CcO activity in heart tissues. DOX strongly downregulated the stable expression of the CcO subunits II and Va and had a slight inhibitory effect on CcO subunit I gene expression. Mito-Q restored CcO subunit II and Va expressions in DOX-treated rats. These results suggest a novel cardioprotection mechanism by Mito-Q during DOX-induced cardiomyopathy involving CcO.

Metastatic breast tumors undergo epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which renders them resistant to therapies targeted to the primary cancers. The mechanistic link between mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) reduction, often seen in breast cancer patients, and EMT is unknown. We demonstrate that reducing mtDNA content in human mammary epithelial cells (hMECs) activates Calcineurin (Cn)-dependent mitochondrial retrograde signaling pathway, which induces EMT-like reprogramming to fibroblastic morphology, loss of cell polarity, contact inhibition and acquired migratory and invasive phenotype. Notably, mtDNA reduction generates breast cancer stem cells. In addition to retrograde signaling markers, there is an induction of mesenchymal genes but loss of epithelial markers in these cells. The changes are reversed by either restoring the mtDNA content or knockdown of CnAα mRNA, indicating the causal role of retrograde signaling in EMT. Our results point to a new therapeutic strategy for metastatic breast cancers targeted to the mitochondrial retrograde signaling pathway for abrogating EMT and attenuating cancer stem cells, which evade conventional therapies. We report a novel regulatory mechanism by which low mtDNA content generates EMT and cancer stem cells in hMECs.