No abstract

Despite detailed knowledge of the components of the spindle assembly checkpoint, a molecular explanation of how cells die after prolonged spindle checkpoint activation, and thus how microtubule inhibitors and other antimitotic drugs ultimately elicit their lethal effects, has yet to emerge. Mitotically arrested cells typically display extensive phosphorylation of two key antiapoptotic proteins, Bcl-x L and Bcl-2, and evidence suggests that phosphorylation disables their antiapoptotic activity. However, the responsible kinase has remained elusive. In this report, evidence is presented that cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1)/cyclin B catalyzes mitoticarrest-induced Bcl-x L /Bcl-2 phosphorylation. Furthermore, we show that CDK1 transiently and incompletely phosphorylates these proteins during normal mitosis. When mitosis is prolonged in the absence of microtubule inhibition, Bcl-x L and Bcl-2 become highly phosphorylated. Transient overexpression of nondegradable cyclin B1 caused apoptotic death, which was blocked by a phosphodefective Bcl-x L mutant but not by a phosphomimetic Bcl-x L mutant, confirming Bcl-x L as a key target of proapoptotic CDK1 signaling. These findings suggest a model whereby a switch in the duration of CDK1 activation, from transient during mitosis to sustained during mitotic arrest, dramatically increases the extent of Bcl-x L /Bcl-2 phosphorylation, resulting in inactivation of their antiapoptotic function. Thus, phosphorylation of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins acts as a sensor for CDK1 signal duration and as a functional link coupling mitotic arrest to apoptosis.

The c-Jun NH 2 -terminal kinase (JNK) subgroup of mitogen-activated protein kinases has been implicated largely in stress responses, but an increasing body of evidence has suggested that JNK also plays a role in cell proliferation and survival. We examined the effect of JNK inhibition, using either SP600125 or specific antisense oligonucleotides, on cell proliferation and cell cycle progression. SP600125 was selective for JNK in vitro and in vivo versus other kinases tested including ERK, p38, cyclin-dependent protein kinase 1 (CDK1), and CDK2. SP600125 inhibited JNK activity and KB-3 cell proliferation with the same dose dependence, suggesting that inhibition of proliferation was a direct consequence of JNK inhibition. Inhibition of proliferation by SP600125 was associated with an increase in the G 2 -M and apoptotic fractions of cells but was not associated with p53 or p21 induction. Antisense oligonucleotides to JNK2 but not JNK1 caused highly significant inhibition of cell proliferation. Wild-type mouse fibroblasts responded similarly with proliferation inhibition and apoptosis induction, whereas c-jun ؊/؊ fibroblasts were refractory to the effects of SP600125, suggesting that JNK signaling to c-Jun is required for cell proliferation. Studies in synchronized KB-3 cells indicated that SP600125 delayed transit time through S and G 2 -M phases. Correspondingly, JNK activity increased in late S phase and peaked in late G 2 phase. During synchronous mitotic progression, cyclin B levels increased concomitant with phosphorylation of c-Jun, H1 histone, and Bcl-2. In the presence of SP600125, mitotic progression was prolonged, and c-Jun phosphorylation was inhibited, but neither H1 nor Bcl-2 phosphorylation was inhibited. However, the CDK inhibitor roscovitine inhibited mitotic Bcl-2 phosphorylation. These results indicate that JNK, and more specifically the JNK2 isoform, plays a key role in cell proliferation and cell cycle progression. In addition, conclusive evidence is presented that a kinase other than JNK, most likely CDK1 or a CDK1-regulated kinase, is responsible for mitotic Bcl-2 phosphorylation.

No abstract

To assess the role of phosphorylation of the human multidrug resistance MDR1 gene product P-glycoprotein for its drug transport activity, phosphorylation sites within its linker region were subjected to mutational analysis. We constructed a 5A mutant, in which serines at positions 661, 667, 671, 675, and 683 were replaced by nonphosphorylatable alanine residues, and a 5D mutant carrying aspartic acid residues at the respective positions to mimic permanently phosphorylated serine residues. Transfection studies revealed that both mutants were targeted properly to the cell surface and conferred multidrug resistance by diminishing drug accumulation. In contrast to wild-type P-glycoprotein, the overexpressed 5A and the 5D mutants exhibited no detectable levels of phosphorylation, either in vivo following metabolic labeling of cells with [ 32 P]orthophosphate or in vitro in phosphorylation assays with protein kinase C, cAMP-dependent protein kinase, or a P-glycoprotein-specific protein kinase purified from multidrugresistant KB-V1 cells. These results reconfirm that the major P-glycoprotein phosphorylation sites are located within the linker region. Furthermore, the first direct evidence is provided that phosphorylation/dephosphorylation mechanisms do not play an essential role in the establishment of the multidrug resistance phenotype mediated by human P-glycoprotein.