The CEBPA gene is mutated in 9% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Selective expression of a short 30 kDa C/EBPα translational isoform, termed p30, represents the most common type of CEBPA mutations in AML. The molecular mechanisms underlying p30-mediated transformation remain incompletely understood. We show that C/EBPα p30, but not the normal p42 isoform, preferentially interacts with Wdr5, a key component of SET/MLL histone-methyltransferase complexes. Accordingly, p30-bound genomic regions were enriched for MLL-dependent H3K4me3 marks. The p30-dependent increase in self-renewal and inhibition of myeloid differentiation required Wdr5, as its down-regulation inhibited proliferation and restored differentiation in p30-dependent AML models. OICR-9429 is a novel small-molecule antagonist of the Wdr5-MLL interaction. This compound selectively inhibited proliferation and induced differentiation in p30-expressing human AML cells. Our data reveal the mechanism of p30-dependent transformation and establish the essential p30-cofactor Wdr5 as a therapeutic target in CEBPA-mutant AML.

Protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) play a crucial role in a variety of biological processes. Overexpression of PRMTs has been implicated in various human diseases including cancer. Consequently, selective small-molecule inhibitors of PRMTs have been pursued by both academia and pharmaceutical industry as chemical tools for testing biological and therapeutic hypotheses. PRMTs are divided into three categories: type I PRMTs which catalyze mono- and asymmetric dimethylation of arginine residues, type II PRMTs which catalyze mono- and symmetric dimethylation of arginine residues, and type III PRMT which catalyzes only monomethylation of arginine residues. Here, we report the discovery of a potent, selective and cell-active inhibitor of human type I PRMTs, MS023, and characterization of this inhibitor in a battery of biochemical, biophysical and cellular assays. MS023 displayed high potency for type I PRMTs including PRMT1, 3, 4, 6 and 8, but was completely inactive against type II and type III PRMTs, protein lysine methyltransferases and DNA methyltransferases. A crystal structure of PRMT6 in complex with MS023 revealed that MS023 binds the substrate binding site. MS023 potently decreased cellular levels of histone arginine asymmetric dimethylation. It also reduced global levels of arginine asymmetric dimethylation and concurrently increased levels of arginine monomethylation and symmetric dimethylation in cells. We also developed MS094, a close analog of MS023, which was inactive in biochemical and cellular assays, as a negative control for chemical biology studies. MS023 and MS094 are useful chemical tools for investigating the role of type I PRMTs in health and disease.

Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) play pivotal roles in the calcium-signaling pathway in plants, ciliates and apicomplexan parasites, and comprise a CaMK-like kinase domain regulated by a calcium-binding domain in the C-terminus. To understand this intramolecular mechanism of activation, we solved the structures of the autoinhibited (apo) and activated (calcium-bound) conformations of CDPKs from the apicomplexan parasites Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium parvum. In the apo form, the C-terminal CDPK activation domain (CAD) resembles a calmodulin protein with an unexpected long helix in the N-terminus that inhibits the kinase domain in the same manner as CaMKII. Calcium binding triggers the reorganization of the CAD into a highly intricate fold, leading to its relocation around the base of the kinase domain to a site remote from the substrate-binding site. This large conformational change constitutes a distinct mechanism in calcium signal transduction pathways.