These studies allow dissociation of the contribution and consequences of uncoupling of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and cyclooxygenase inhibition in the pathophysiology of NSAID enteropathy. While uncoupling of enterocyte mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation leads to increased intestinal permeability and low grade inflammation, concurrent decreases in mucosal prostanoids appear to be important in the development of ulcers.

Mechanical loading of bone explants stimulates prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) and prostacyclin (PGI 2 ) release and increases glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity. This response is blocked by indomethacin and imitated by exogenous PGs. In the experiments reported here, primary cultures of rat long bone-derived osteoblast-like cells were exposed to a dynamic strain and exogenous PGs in the culture dish. Strain (3400 , 600 cycles, 1 Hz) caused an immediate release of PGI 2 into the culture medium but had no effect on PGE 2 . Strain also caused an increase in G6PD activity per cell and an increase in the smallest transcript of insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) (IGF-II T3) but had no effect on the expression of transforming growth factor-␤1 (TGF-␤1). Indomethacin inhibited strain-induced release of PGI 2 and suppressed strain-induced stimulation of IGF-II T3 transcript. PGI 2 (1 M) increased G6PD activity and mRNA levels of all three transcripts of IGF-II but had no effect on the mRNA levels of IGF-I or TGF-␤1. PGE 2 (1 M) stimulated G6PD activity and caused a marked increase in IGF-I and the largest transcript of IGF-II (IGF-II T1) but had no effect on the IGF-II transcripts T2 and T3 or on TGF-␤1 mRNA levels. These findings show similarities in response between osteoblast-like cells strained in monolayer culture and bone cells in loaded bone explants in situ. They provide support for a role for IGF-II and PGI 2 in the early strain-related response of osteoblasts in loading-related bone modeling/remodeling. (J Bone Miner Res 1997;12:769-777)

We have reported previously that human prostate-derived sterile 20-like kinase (PSK) 1 alters actin cytoskeletal organization and binds to microtubules, regulating their organization and stability. We have shown a structurally related protein kinase PSK2, which lacks a microtubule-binding site, activated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and induced apoptotic morphological changes that include cell contraction, membrane blebbing, and apoptotic body formation. Apoptotic stimuli increased the catalytic activity of endogenous PSK2 and JNK, and dominant negative JNK or a physiological inhibitor of JNK blocked these apoptotic morphological responses to PSK2, demonstrating a requirement for JNK. PSK2 also stimulated the cleavage of Rho kinase-1 (ROCK-I), and the activity of ROCK-I was required for PSK2 to induce cell contraction and membrane blebbing. The activation of caspases was also needed for the induction of membrane blebbing by PSK2, which was itself a substrate for caspase 3. PSK2 therefore regulates apoptotic morphology associated with the execution phase of apoptosis, which involves dynamic reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton, via downstream targets that include JNK and ROCK-I. Our findings suggest that PSKs form a subgroup of sterile 20 (STE20)-like kinases that regulate different cytoskeletal processes.

Thousand-and-one amino acid kinases (TAOK) 1 and 2 are activated catalytically during mitosis and can contribute to mitotic cell rounding and spindle positioning. Here, we characterize a compound that inhibits TAOK1 and TAOK2 activity with IC values of 11 to 15 nmol/L, is ATP-competitive, and targets these kinases selectively. TAOK inhibition or depletion in centrosome-amplified SKBR3 or BT549 breast cancer cell models increases the mitotic population, the percentages of mitotic cells displaying amplified centrosomes and multipolar spindles, induces cell death, and inhibits cell growth. In contrast, nontumorigenic and dividing bipolar MCF-10A breast cells appear less dependent on TAOK activity and can complete mitosis and proliferate in the presence of the TAOK inhibitor. We demonstrate that TAOK1 and TAOK2 localize to the cytoplasm and centrosomes respectively during mitosis. Live cell imaging shows that the TAOK inhibitor prolongs the duration of mitosis in SKBR3 cells, increases mitotic cell death, and reduces the percentages of cells exiting mitosis, whereas MCF-10A cells continue to divide and proliferate. Over 80% of breast cancer tissues display supernumerary centrosomes, and tumor cells frequently cluster extra centrosomes to avoid multipolar mitoses and associated cell death. Consequently, drugs that stimulate centrosome declustering and induce multipolarity are likely to target dividing centrosome-amplified cancer cells preferentially, while sparing normal bipolar cells. Our results demonstrate that TAOK inhibition can enhance centrosome declustering and mitotic catastrophe in cancer cells, and these proteins may therefore offer novel therapeutic targets suitable for drug inhibition and the potential treatment of breast cancers, where supernumerary centrosomes occur. .