B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is a neoplastic disorder characterized by accumulation of B lymphocytes due to uncontrolled growth and resistance to apoptosis. Analysis of B cells freshly isolated from 40 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia demonstrated that the Src kinase Lyn, the switch molecule that couples the B cell receptor to downstream signaling, displays anomalous properties. Lyn is remarkably overexpressed at the protein level in leukemic cells as compared with normal B lymphocytes, with a substantial aliquot of the kinase anomalously present in the cytosol. Whereas in normal B lymphocytes Lyn activation is dependent on B cell-receptor stimulation, in resting malignant cells, the constitutive activity of the kinase accounts for high basal protein tyrosine phosphorylation and low responsiveness to IgM ligation. Addition of the Lyn inhibitors PP2 and SU6656 to leukemic cell cultures restores cell apoptosis, and treatment of malignant cells with drugs that induce cell apoptosis decreases both activity and amount of the tyrosine kinase. These findings suggest a direct correlation between high basal Lyn activity and defects in the induction of apoptosis in leukemic cells. They also support a critical role for Lyn in B-CLL pathogenesis and identify this tyrosine kinase as a potential therapeutic target.

A systematic analysis reveals that out of 20 protein kinases examined, specific for either Ser/Thr or Tyr, the majority are extremely sensitive to staurosporine, with IC,,, values in the low nanomolar range. A few of them however, notably protein kinases CKI and CK2, mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase and protein-tyrosine kinase CSK, are relatively refractory to staurosporine inhibition, exhibiting IC,,, values in the micromolar range. With all protein kinases tested. namely PKA, CKI, CK2, MAP kinase (ERK-I), c-Fgr, Lyn, CSK and TPK-IIB/p38.'", staurosporine inhibition was competitive with respect to ATP, regardless of its inhibitory power. In contrast, either uncompetitive or noncompetitive kinetics of inhibition with respect to the phosphoacceptor substrate were exhibited by Ser/Thr and Tyr-specific protein kinases, respectively, consistent with a different mechanism of catalysis by these two sub-families of kinases. Computer modeling based on PKA crystal structure in conjunction with sequence analysis suggest that the low sensitivity to staurosporine of CK2 may be accounted for by the bulky nature of three residues, Va166, P h e l l 3 and Ile174 which are homologous to PKA Ala70, Met120 and Thr183, respectively. In contrast these PKA residues are either conserved or replaced by smaller ones in protein kinases highly sensitive to staurosporine inhibition. On the other hand, His160 which is homologous to PKA Glu170, appears to be responsible for the unique behaviour of CK2 with respect to a staurosporine derivative (CGP44171A) bearing a negatively charged benzoyl substituent: while CGP44171A is 10-100-fold less effective than staurosporine against PKA and most of the other protein kinases tested, it is actually more effective than staurosporine for CK2 inhibition, but it looses part of its efficacy if it is tested on a CK2 mutant (H160D) in which His160 has been replaced by Asp.It can be concluded from these data that the catalytic sites of protein kinases are divergent enough as to allow a competitive inhibitor like staurosporine to be fairly selective, a feature that can be enhanced by suitable modifications designed based on the structure of the catalytic site of the kinase.

Casein kinase 2 (CK2) is a ubiquitous, essential, and highly pleiotropic protein kinase whose abnormally high constitutive activity is suspected to underlie its pathogenic potential in neoplasia and infective diseases. Thus, CK2 inhibitors designed to dissect the signaling pathways affected by this kinase, in perspective, may give rise to pharmacological tools. One of the most successful CK2 inhibitors is TBB (4,5,6,7-tetrabromobenzotriazole). Here we show that its inhibitory properties can be markedly improved by generating adducts in which N(2) is replaced by a carbon atom bound to a variety of polar functions. The most efficient inhibitor is 4,5,6,7-tetrabromo-2-(dimethylamino)benzimidazole (2c) followed by the methylsulfanyl (8), isopropylamino (2e), and amino (2a) congeners. All these compounds display K(i) values <100 nM (40 nM in the case of 2c). 2c induces apoptosis of Jurkat cells more readily than TBB (DC(50) value 2.7 vs 17 microM) and, unlike TBB, it does not display any side effect on mitochondria polarization up to 10 microM concentration. Molecular modeling of the CK2-2c complex, based on the crystal structure of the CK2-TBB complex suggests that a number of additional apolar contacts between its two methyl groups and hydrophobic residues nearby could account for its superior inhibitory properties. Consequently, 2c is even more susceptible than TBB to mutations of the unique hydrophobic residues V66 and/or I174 to alanine. We propose to adopt 2c as first choice CK2 inhibitor instead of TBB, especially for in cell studies.