Many diseases, especially cancers, result from aberrant or overexpression of pathogenic proteins. Specific inhibitors against these proteins have shown remarkable therapeutic effects, but these are limited mainly to enzymes. An alternative approach that may have utility in drug development relies on selective degradation of pathogenic proteins via small chimeric molecules linking an E3 ubiquitin ligase to the targeted protein for proteasomal degradation. To this end, we recently developed a protein knockdown system based on hybrid small molecule SNIPERs (pecific and ongeneticAP-dependent roteinasers) that recruit inhibitor of the apoptosis protein (IAP) ubiquitin ligases to specifically degrade targeted proteins. Here, we extend our previous study to show a proof of concept of the SNIPER technology By incorporating a high affinity IAP ligand, we developed a novel SNIPER against estrogen receptor α (ERα), SNIPER(ER)-87, that has a potent protein knockdown activity. The SNIPER(ER) reduced ERα levels in tumor xenografts and suppressed the growth of ERα-positive breast tumors in mice. Mechanistically, it preferentially recruits X-linked IAP (XIAP) rather than cellular IAP1, to degrade ERα via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. With this IAP ligand, potent SNIPERs against other pathogenic proteins, BCR-ABL, bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4), and phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) could also be developed. These results indicate that forced ubiquitylation by SNIPERs is a useful method to achieve efficient protein knockdown with potential therapeutic activities and could also be applied to study the role of ubiquitylation in many cellular processes.

In an effort to elucidate the physiologic role of ABCA7, we generated mice lacking this transporter (Abca7 ؊/؊ mice). Homozygous null mice were produced from intercrosses of heterozygous null mice at the expected Mendelian frequency and developed normally without any obvious phenotypic abnormalities. Cholesterol and phospholipid efflux stimulated by apolipoprotein A-I from macrophages isolated from wild type and Abca7 ؊/؊ mice did not differ, suggesting that these activities may not be central to the physiological role of the transporter in vivo. Abca7 ؊/؊ females, but not males, had significantly less visceral fat and lower total serum and high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels than wild type, gender-matched littermates. ABCA7 expression was detected in hippocampal and cortical neurons by in situ hybridization and in brain and white adipose tissue by Western blotting. Induction of adipocyte differentiation from 3T3 fibroblasts in culture led to a marked increase in ABCA7 expression. These studies suggest that ABCA7 plays a novel role in lipid and fat metabolism that Abca7 ؊/؊ mice can be used to elucidate.

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ABCA1 mediates release of cellular cholesterol and phospholipid to form high density lipoprotein (HDL).The three different mutants in the first extracellular domain of human ABCA1 associated with Tangier disease, R587W, W590S, and Q597R, were examined for their subcellular localization and function by using ABCA1-GFP fusion protein stably expressed in HEK293 cells. ABCA1-GFP expressed in HEK293 was fully functional for apoA-I-mediated HDL assembly. Immunostaining and confocal microscopic analyses demonstrated that ABCA1-GFP was mainly localized to the plasma membrane (PM) but also substantially in intracellular compartments. All three mutant ABCA1-GFPs showed no or little apoA-I-mediated HDL assembly. R587W and Q597R were associated with impaired processing of oligosaccharide from high mannose type to complex type and failed to be localized to the PM, whereas W590S did not show such dysfunctions. Vanadate-induced nucleotide trapping was examined to elucidate the mechanism for the dysfunction in the W590S mutant. Photoaffinity labeling of W590S with 8-azido-[␣-32 P]ATP was stimulated by adding ortho-vanadate in the presence of Mn 2؉ as much as in the presence of wildtype ABCA1. These results suggest that the defect of HDL assembly in R587W and Q597R is due to the impaired localization to the PM, whereas W590S has a functional defect other than the initial ATP binding and hydrolysis.Cholesterol is not catabolized in the peripheral cells and therefore mostly released and transported to the liver for conversion to bile acids to maintain cholesterol homeostasis. The same pathway may also remove cholesterol that has pathologically accumulated in the cells such as an initial stage of atherosclerosis. Assembly of high density lipoprotein (HDL) 1 particles by helical apolipoproteins with cellular lipid has been recognized as one of the major mechanisms for cellular cholesterol release (1, 2). The importance of this active cholesterolreleasing pathway in regulating cholesterol homeostasis became apparent by the finding that it is impaired in the cells from patients with Tangier disease, a genetic deficiency of circulating HDL (3, 4). Mutations were identified in ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) of the Tangier disease (TD) patients (5-7), but the molecular mechanism of ABCA1 in the apolipoprotein-mediated HDL assembly remains unclear. Although direct interaction between ABCA1 and apoA-I at the cell surface has been suggested on the basis of chemical crosslinking experiments (8, 9), an indirect role of ABCA1 in the apoA-I binding to the cell was also proposed by a model that ABCA1 induces phosphatidylserine exofacial flopping to generate the microenvironment required for the docking of apoA-I at the cell surface (10). The predominant substrates of the ABCA1-mediated lipid release reaction are still to be determined for the HDL assembly reaction (11, 12). More than 30 mutations have been mapped in the ABCA1 gene in patients with familial hypoalphalipoproteinemia (FHA) and TD (5-7, 13-15). Many mutations have been ...