In this paper we present the finding that lovastatin arrests cells by inhibiting the proteasome, which results in the accumulation of p21 and p27, leading to G 1 arrest. Lovastatin is an inhibitor of hydroxymethyl glutaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme in cholesterol synthesis. Previously, we reported that lovastatin can be used to arrest cultured cells in the G 1 phase of the cell cycle, resulting in the stabilization of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CKIs) p21 and p27. In this report we show that this stabilization of p21 and p27 may be the result of a previously unknown function of the pro-drug, ␤-lactone ring form of lovastatin to inhibit the proteasome degradation of these CKIs. The lovastatin mixture used in this study is 80% open-ring form and 20% pro-drug, ␤-lactone form. We show that while the lovastatin open-ring form and pravastatin (a lovastatin analogue, 100% open ring) inhibit the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme, lovastatin pro-drug inhibits the proteasome but does not inhibit HMG-CoA reductase. In addition, many of the properties of proteasome inhibition by the prodrug are the same as the specific proteasome inhibitor lactacystin. Lastly, mevalonate (used to rescue cells from lovastatin arrest) unexpectedly abrogates the lactacystin and lovastatin pro-drug inhibition of the proteasome. Mevalonate increases the activity of the proteasome, which results in degradation of the CKIs, allowing lovastatin-and lactacystinarrested cells to resume cell division. The lovastatin-mediated inhibition of the proteasome suggests a unique mechanism for the chemopreventative effects of this agent seen in human cancer.

Previously, we reported that lovastatin, a potent inhibitor of the enzyme HMG CoA reductase also acts as an antimitogenic agent by arresting cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle resulting in cell cycle-independent alteration of cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors (CKIs). In the present study we have investigated the nature of the CKIs (p21 and p27) alterations resulting in G1 arrest in both normal and tumor breast cell lines by lovastatin. We show that even though lovastatin treatment causes G1 arrest in a wide variety of normal and tumor breast cells irrespective of their p53 or pRb status, the p21 and p27 protein levels are not increased in all cell lines treated suggesting that the increase in p21 and p27 protein expression per se is not necessary for lovastatin mediated G1 arrest. However, the binding of p21 and p27 to CDK2 increases signi®cantly following treatment of cells with lovastatin leading to inhibition of CDK2 activity and a subsequent arrest of cells in G1. The increased CKI binding to CDK2 is achieved by the redistribution of both p21 and p27 from CDK4 to CDK2 complexes subsequent to decreases in CDK4 and cyclin D3 expression following lovastatin treatment. Lastly, we show that lovastatin treatment of 76N-E6 breast cell line with an altered p53 pathway also results in G1 arrest and similar redistribution of CKIs from CDK4 to CDK2 as observed in other breast cell lines examined. These observations suggest that lovastatin induced G1 arrest of breast cell lines is through a p53 independent pathway and is mediated by decreased CDK2 activity through redistribution of CKIs from CDK4 to CDK2.

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The goal of the present study was to determine if regulatory regions of the c-fos gene were responsive to electromagnetic field exposure. The research design used transfected cells to increase the sensitivity of assays designed to identify changes following exposure. HeLa cells were transiently transfected with plasmids containing upstream regulating regions of c-fos up to -700 base pairs, coupled with the prokaryotic reporter gene CAT. Cells were exposed to an environmentally relevant EMF of 60 Hz at 60 mGrms. CAT expression above control levels in transfected cells (region +42 to -700 bp) was observed following 5 min exposure to the electromagnetic field, with a peak at 20 min. The expression was at basal levels following 40 min exposure. Deletion analysis of upstream DNA narrowed the responsive region to 138 base pairs from -363 to -225, which contains the SRE/AP-1 sites.