CIP2A immunopositivity is a predictor of survival for some subgroups of gastric cancer patients. CIP2A and MYC appear to be regulated in a positive feedback loop, wherein they promote each other's expression and gastric cancer cell proliferation.

Senescence induction contributes to cancer therapy responses and is crucial for p53-mediated tumor suppression. However, whether p53 inactivation actively suppresses senescence induction has been unclear. Here, we show that E2F1 overexpression, due to p53 or p21 inactivation, promotes expression of human oncoprotein CIP2A, which in turn, by inhibiting PP2A activity, increases stabilizing serine 364 phosphorylation of E2F1. Several lines of evidence show that increased activity of E2F1-CIP2A feedback renders breast cancer cells resistant to senescence induction. Importantly, mammary tumorigenesis is impaired in a CIP2A-defi cient mouse model, and CIP2A-defi cient tumors display markers of senescence induction. Moreover, high CIP2A expression predicts for poor prognosis in a subgroup of patients with breast cancer treated with senescence-inducing chemotherapy. Together, these results implicate the E2F1-CIP2A feedback loop as a key determinant of breast cancer cell sensitivity to senescence induction. This feedback loop also constitutes a promising prosenescence target for therapy of cancers with an inactivated p53-p21 pathway. SIGNIFICANCE:It has been recently realized that most currently used chemotherapies exert their therapeutic effect at least partly by induction of terminal cell arrest, senescence. However, the mechanisms by which cell-intrinsic senescence sensitivity is determined are poorly understood. Results of this study identify the E2F1-CIP2A positive feedback loop as a key determinant of breast cancer cell sensitivity to senescence and growth arrest induction. Our data also indicate that this newly characterized interplay between 2 frequently overexpressed oncoproteins constitutes a promising prosenescence target for therapy of cancers with inactivated p53 and p21. Finally, these results may also facilitate novel stratifi cation strategies for selection of patients to receive senescence-inducing cancer therapies. Cancer Discov; 3(2);

Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) complexes function as tumor suppressors by inhibiting the activity of several critical oncogenic signaling pathways. Consequently, inhibition of the PP2A phosphatase activity is one of many prerequisites for the transformation of normal human cells into cancerous cells. However, mechanisms for PP2A inactivation in human cancers are poorly understood. The aberrant expression of cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A (CIP2A), a recently identified endogenous PP2A inhibitor in malignant cells, is one such mechanism. Various independent studies have validated CIP2A's role in promoting tumor growth and resistance to apoptosis and senescence-inducing therapies. Notably, high CIP2A expression predicts poor patient prognosis in several human cancer types. Among the oncogenic proteins dephosphorylated by PP2A, the MYC oncoprotein, which is phosphorylated at serine 62, has surfaced as a marker for the oncogenic activity of CIP2A. The positivefeedback loop between CIP2A and MYC augments the activity of MYC in cancer cells. In addition, CIP2A promotes the phosphorylation and activity of additional oncoproteins, including E2F1 and AKT. However, CIP2A is not essential for normal mouse growth and development. These findings indicate that CIP2A is a novel anticancer target based on PP2A reactivation and inhibition of the oncogenic activity of its downstream effectors. The potential approaches and feasibility of targeting CIP2A are discussed here. Cancer Res; 73(22); 6548-53. Ó2013 AACR.

Millions of DNA-damaging lesions occur every day in each cell of our bodies due to various stresses. The failure to detect and accurately repair these lesions can give rise to cells with high levels of endogenous DNA damage, deleterious mutations, or genomic aberrations. Such genomic instability can lead to the activation of specific signaling pathways, including the DNA damage response (DDR) pathway. Constitutive activation of DDR proteins has been observed in human tumor specimens from different cancer stages, including precancerous and metastatic cancers, although not in normal tissues. The tumor-suppressive role of DDR activity during the premalignant stage has been studied, and strong evidence is emerging for an oncogenic role for DDR proteins such as DNA-PK and CHK1 during the later stages of tumor development. However, the majority of current cancer therapies induce DNA damage, potentially exacerbating protumorigenic genomic instability and enabling the development of resistance. Therefore, elucidating the molecular basis of DNA damagemediated genomic instability and its role in tumorigenesis is critical. Finally, I discuss the potential existence of distinct DNA damage thresholds at various stages of tumorigenesis and what the ramifications of such thresholds would be, including the ambiguous role of the DDR pathway in human cancers, therapyinduced malignancies, and enhanced therapies.