The CtBP transcriptional corepressors promote cancer cell survival and migration/invasion. CtBP senses cellular metabolism via a regulatory dehydrogenase domain, and is antagonized by p14/p19(ARF) tumor suppressors. The CtBP dehydrogenase substrate 4-methylthio-2-oxobutyric acid (MTOB) can act as a CtBP inhibitor at high concentrations, and is cytotoxic to cancer cells. MTOB induced apoptosis was p53-independent, correlated with the derepression of the proapoptotic CtBP repression target Bik, and was rescued by CtBP overexpression or Bik silencing. MTOB did not induce apoptosis in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), but was increasingly cytotoxic to immortalized and transformed MEFs, suggesting that CtBP inhibition may provide a suitable therapeutic index for cancer therapy. In human colon cancer cell peritoneal xenografts, MTOB treatment decreased tumor burden and induced tumor cell apoptosis. To verify the potential utility of CtBP as a therapeutic target in human cancer, the expression of CtBP and its negative regulator ARF was studied in a series of resected human colon adenocarcinomas. CtBP and ARF levels were inversely-correlated, with elevated CtBP levels (compared with adjacent normal tissue) observed in greater than 60% of specimens, with ARF absent in nearly all specimens exhibiting elevated CtBP levels. Targeting CtBP may represent a useful therapeutic strategy in human malignancies.

ARF, a potent tumor suppressor, positively regulates p53 by antagonizing MDM2, a negative regulator of p53, which in turn, results in either apoptosis or cell cycle arrest. ARF also suppresses the proliferation of cells lacking p53, and loss of ARF in p53-null mice, compared with ARF-null or p53-null mice, results in a broadened tumor spectrum and decreased tumor latency. This evidence suggests that ARF exerts both p53-dependent and p53-independent tumor suppressor activity. However, the molecular pathway and mechanism of ARF’s p53-independent tumor suppressor activity is not understood. The antiapoptotic, metabolically regulated, transcriptional corepressor C-terminal binding protein 2 (CtBP2) has been identified as a specific target of ARF’s p53-independent tumor suppression. CtBPs are phosphoproteins with PLDLS-binding motif and NADH-binding central dehydrogenase domains. ARF interacts with CtBP1 and CtBP2 both in vitro and in vivo, and induces their proteasome-mediated degradation, resulting in p53-independent apoptosis in colon cancer cells. ARF’s ability to target CtBP2 for degradation, and its induction of p53-independent apoptosis requires an intact interaction with CtBP2, and phosphorylation at S428 of CtBP2. As targets for inhibition by ARF, CtBPs are candidate oncogenes, and their expression is elevated in a majority of human colorectal adenocarcinomas specimens in comparison to normal adjacent tissue. Relevant to its targeting by ARF, there is an inverse correlation between ARF and CtBP expression, and CtBP2 is completely absent in a subset of colorectal adenocarcinomas that retains high levels of ARF protein. CtBPs are activated under conditions of metabolic stress, such as hypoxia, and they repress epithelial and proapoptotic genes. BH3-only genes such as Bik, Bim and Bmf have been identified as mediators of ARF-induced, CtBP2-mediated p53-indpendent apoptosis. CtBP2 repressed BH3-only genes in a tissue specific manner through BKLF (Basic kruppel like factor)-binding elements. ARF regulation of BH3-only genes also required intact interaction with CtBP2. ARF antagonism of CtBP repression of Bik and other BH3-only genes may play a critical role in ARF-induced p53-independent apoptosis, and in turn, tumor suppression. To study the physiologic effect of ARF/CtBP2 interaction at the organismal level, the p19ArfL46D knock-in mice, in which the Arf/CtBP2 interaction was abrogated, was generated. Analysis of the primary cells derived from these mice, revealed that the Arf/CtBP2 interaction contributes to regulation of cell growth and cell migration. Overexpression of CtBP in human tumors, and ARF antagonism of CtBP repression of BH3-only gene expression and CtBP-mediated cell migration may therefore play a critical role in the p53-independent tumor suppressor function/s of ARF.

Aging is the single most common risk factor for cancer. Peripheral and marrow-derived stem cells are long lived and are candidate cells for the cancer-initiating cell. Repeated rounds of replication are likely required for accumulation of the necessary genetic mutations. Based on the facts that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) transform with higher frequency than other cell types, and tumors in aged C57BL/6 mice are frequently fibrosarcomas, we used a genetically tagged bone marrow (BM) transplant model to show that aged mice develop MSC-derived fibrosarcomas. We further show that, with aging, MSCs spontaneously transform in culture and, when placed into our mouse model, recapitulated the naturally occurring fibrosarcomas of the aged mice with gene expression changes and p53 mutation similar to the in vivo model. Spontaneously transformed MSCs contribute directly to the tumor, tumor vasculature, and tumor adipose tissue, recruit additional host BM-derived cells (BMDC) to the area, and fuse with the host BMDC. Unfused transformed MSCs act as the cancer stem cell and are able to form tumors in successive mice, whereas fusion restores a nonmalignant phenotype. These data suggest that MSCs may play a key role in age-related tumors, and fusion with host cells restores a nonmalignant phenotype, thereby providing a mechanism for regulating tumor cell activity.

The alternative reading frame (ARF) tumor suppressor exerts both p53-dependent and p53-independent activities critical to the prevention of cancer in mice and humans. Recent evidence from mouse models suggests that when p53 is absent, further loss of ARF can widen the tumor spectrum, and potentiate invasion and metastasis. A major target of the p53-independent activity of ARF is the COOH-terminal binding protein (CtBP) family of metabolically regulated transcriptional corepressors, which are degraded upon acute exposure to the ARF protein. CtBPs are activated under conditions of metabolic stress, such as hypoxia, to repress epithelial and proapoptotic genes, and can mediate hypoxia-induced migration of cancer cells. The possibility that ARF could suppress tumor cell migration as part of its p53-independent activities was thus explored. Small-interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of ARF in human lung carcinoma cells led to increased cell migration, especially during hypoxia, and this effect was blocked by concomitant treatment with CtBP2 siRNA. Introduction of ARF into p53 and ARF-null human colon cancer cells inhibited hypoxia-induced migration. Furthermore, overexpression of CtBP2 in ARF-expressing cells enhanced cell migration, and an ARF mutant defective in CtBP-family binding was impaired in its ability to inhibit cell migration induced by CtBP2. ARF depletion or CtBP2 overexpression was associated with decreased PTEN expression and activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway, and a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor blocked CtBP2-mediated cell migration. Thus, ARF can suppress cell migration by antagonizing CtBP2 and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway, and these data may explain the increased aggressiveness of ARF-null tumors in mouse models.

ARF encodes a potent tumor suppressor that antagonizes MDM2, a negative regulator of p53. ARF also suppresses the proliferation of cells lacking p53, and loss of ARF in p53-null mice, compared with ARF or p53 singly null mice, results in a broadened tumor spectrum and decreased tumor latency. To investigate the mechanism of p53-independent tumor suppression by ARF, potential interacting proteins were identified by yeast two-hybrid screen. The antiapoptotic transcriptional corepressor C-terminal binding protein 2 (CtBP2) was identified, and ARF interactions with both CtBP1 and CtBP2 were confirmed in vitro and in vivo. Interaction with ARF resulted in proteasome-dependent CtBP degradation. Both ARF-induced CtBP degradation and CtBP small interfering RNA led to p53-independent apoptosis in colon cancer cells. ARF induction of apoptosis was dependent on its ability to interact with CtBP, and reversal of ARF-induced CtBP depletion by CtBP overexpression abrogated ARF-induced apoptosis. CtBP proteins represent putative targets for p53-independent tumor suppression by ARF.