Current treatments of sporadic Burkitt's lymphoma (sBL) are associated with severe toxicities. A better understanding of sBL formation would facilitate development of less toxic therapies. The etiology of sBL remains, however, largely unknown, C-MYC up-regulation being the only lesion known to occur in all sBL cases. Several studies examining the role of C-MYC in the pathogenesis of BL have concluded that C-MYC translocation is not the only critical event and that additional unidentified factors are expected to be involved in the formation of this tumor. We herein report that a gene distinct from C-MYC, E2F1, is involved in the formation of all or most sBL tumors. We found that E2F1 is highly expressed in Burkitt's lymphoma cell lines and sBL lymphoma specimens. Our data indicate that its elevated expression is not merely the consequence of the presence of more cycling cells in this tumor relative to other cell lines or to other neoplasias. In fact, we show that reduction of its expression in sBL cells inhibits tumor formation and decreases their proliferation rate. We also provide data suggesting that E2F1 collaborates with C-MYC in sBL formation. E2F1 expression downregulation did not affect, however, the proliferation of human primary diploid fibroblasts. Because E2F1 is not needed for cell proliferation of normal cells, our results reveal E2F1 as a promising therapeutic target for sBL. [Cancer Res 2009;69(9):4052-8]

Antibody cancer therapies rely on systemically accessible targets and suitable antibodies that exert a functional activity or deliver a payload to the tumor site. Here, we present proof-of-principle of in vivo selection of human antibodies in tumor-bearing mice that identified a tumor-specific antibody able to deliver a payload and unveils the target antigen. By using an ex vivo enrichment process against freshly disaggregated tumors to purge the repertoire, in combination with in vivo biopanning at optimized phage circulation time, we have identified a human domain antibody capable of mediating selective localization of phage to human prostate cancer xenografts. Affinity chromatography followed by mass spectrometry analysis showed that the antibody recognizes the proteasome activator complex PA28. The specificity of soluble antibody was confirmed by demonstrating its binding to the active human PA28αβ complex. Whereas systemically administered control phage was confined in the lumen of blood vessels of both normal tissues and tumors, the selected phage spread from tumor vessels into the perivascular tumor parenchyma. In these areas, the selected phage partially colocalized with PA28 complex. Furthermore, we found that the expression of the α subunit of PA28 [proteasome activator complex subunit 1 (PSME1)] is elevated in primary and metastatic human prostate cancer and used anti-PSME1 antibodies to show that PSME1 is an accessible marker in mouse xenograft tumors. These results support the use of PA28 as a tumor marker and a potential target for therapeutic intervention in prostate cancer.phage library | phage display | single domain antibody | physiological selection | tumor-associated antigen

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Although C-MYC is overexpressed in a number of tumors, the mechanisms governing its expression in normal or tumor cells are not completely understood. Recruitment of the Retinoblastoma protein family members to gene promoters by E2F factors has a dominant negative effect on their activity during the G(0) and G(1) phases of the cell cycle. Despite the presence of an E2F-binding site on the C-MYC promoter, it escapes the repressive effect of E2F-Retinoblastoma complexes through unknown mechanisms during exit from quiescence. We hypothesized that occupancy of E2F elements by factors distinct from E2F might account for this escape. To test this hypothesis, we investigated whether the E2F element in the C-MYC promoter is regulated differently than E2F elements in promoters that are activated at the G(1)-S transition. Employing gel shift analysis, the E2F element from the C-MYC promoter was found to form a unique non-E2F complex, referred to as E2F C-MYC Specific (EMYCS), which is not observed with E2F elements from several other promoters. The DNA contact residues for EMYCS are distinct but overlapping with residues required for binding of E2F proteins. Finally, the approximate estimated molecular weight of the DNA-binding component of EMCYS is 105 kDa. Functional studies indicate that EMYCS has transcriptional transactivation capacity and suggest that it is required to activate the C-MYC promoter during exit from quiescence.