M.Iwabuchi and K.Ohsumi contributed equally to this workTo investigate the regulatory mechanisms of the cell cycle transition from M phase to M phase in meiotic cycles, a Xenopus oocyte extract that performs the M±M transition has been developed. Using the meiotic extract, we found that a low level of Cdc2 activity remained at the exit of meiosis I (MI), due to incomplete degradation of cyclin B. The inactivation of the residual Cdc2 activity induced both entry into S phase and tyrosine phosphorylation on Cdc2 after MI. Quantitative analysis demonstrated that a considerable amount of Wee1 was present at the MI exit and Cdc2 inhibitory phosphorylation during this period was suppressed by the dominance of Cdc2 over Wee1. Consistently, the addition of more than a critical amount of Wee1 to the extract induced Cdc2 inhibitory phosphorylation, changing the M±M transition into an M±S±M transition. Thus, the Cdc2 activity remaining at MI exit is required for suppressing entry into S phase during the meiotic M±M transition period.

Meiotic cell cycles differ from mitotic cell cycles in that the former lack S-phase in the interphase between meiosis I and meiosis II. To obtain clues for mechanisms involved in the cell cycle regulation unique to meiosis, we have examined changes in chromosomal morphology and H1 kinase activity during a meiotic period from metaphase I (MI) to metaphase II (MII) in Xenopus oocytes. Using populations of oocytes that underwent germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) within a 10 minute interval, we found that the kinase activity declined gradually during the 60 minute period after GVBD and then increased steadily during the following 80 minute interval, showing remarkable differences from the rapid drop and biphasic increase of the kinase activity in intermitotic periods (Solomon et al. (1990) Cell 63, 1013–1024; Dasso and Newport (1990) Cell 61, 811–823). We also found that the exit from MI lagged, by more than 30 minutes, behind the time of lowest H1 kinase activity, whereas the two events took place concomitantly at the end of meiosis II and mitosis. Consequently, the H1 kinase activity was already increasing during the first meiotic division. When H1 kinase activation at MII was delayed by a transient inhibition of protein synthesis after GVBD, oocytes were able to support formation of interphase nuclei and DNA replication between the first meiotic division and the MII arrest, indicating that the cell cycle entered S-phase between meiosis I and meiosis II. These results strongly suggest that the machinery required for entering S-phase has been established in maturing oocytes by the end of meiosis I.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The activated B-cell diffuse large B-cell-like lymphoma (ABC-DLBCL) correlates with poor prognosis. The B-cell receptor signaling pathway is known to be dysregulated in NHL/CLL and given BTK is a downstream mediator of BCR signaling, BTK constitutes an interesting and obvious therapeutic target. Given the high potency and selectivity of the BTK inhibitor, ONO/GS-4059, it was hypothesized that, the anti-tumor activity of ONO/GS-4059 could be further enhanced by combining it with the anti-CD20 Abs, rituximab (RTX) or obinutuzumab (GA101). ONO/GS-4059 combined with GA101 or RTX was significantly better than the respective monotherapy with tumor growth inhibition (TGI) of 90% for the GA101 combination and 86% for the RTX combination. In contrast, ibrutinib (PCI-32765) combined with RTX did not result in improved efficacy compared with respective monotherapy. Taken together these data indicate that the combination of ONO/GS-4059 with rituximab and particularly obinutuzumab may be an effective treatment for ABC-DLBCL.