Andrographolide Inhibits Epstein–Barr Virus Lytic Reactivation in EBV-Positive Cancer Cell Lines through the Modulation of Epigenetic-Related Proteins

Reactivation of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is associated with EBV-associated malignancies and is considered to be a benefit target for treatment. Andrographolide is claimed to have antiviral and anti-tumor activities. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of andrographolide on the inhibition of EBV lytic reactivation in EBV-positive cancer cells. The cytotoxicity of andrographolide was firstly evaluated in EBV-positive cancer cells; P3HR1, AGS-EBV and HONE1-EBV cells, using an MTT assay. Herein, the spontaneous expression of EBV lytic genes; BALF5, BRLF1 and BZLF1, was significantly inhibited in andrographolide-treated cells. Accordingly, andrographolide inhibited the expression of Zta and viral production in sodium butyrate (NaB)-induced EBV lytic reactivation. Additionally, proteomics and bioinformatics analysis revealed the differentially expressed proteins that inhibit EBV lytic reactivation in all treated cell lines were functionally related with the histone modifications and chromatin organization, such as histone H3-K9 modification and histone H3-K27 methylation. Taken together, andrographolide inhibits EBV reactivation in EBV-positive cancer cells by inhibiting EBV lytic genes, probably, through the histone modifications.     

Promising Chemotherapy for Malignant Pediatric Brain Tumor in Recent Biological Insights

Brain tumors are the most widespread malignancies in children around the world. Chemotherapy plays a critical role in the treatment of these tumors. Although the current chemotherapy process has a remarkable outcome for a certain subtype of brain tumor, improving patient survival is still a major challenge. Further intensive treatment with conventional non-specific chemotherapy could cause additional adverse reactions without significant advancement in survival. Recently, patient derived brain tumor, xenograft, and whole genome analysis using deep sequencing technology has made a significant contribution to our understanding of cancer treatment. This realization has changed the focus to new agents, targeting the molecular pathways that are critical to tumor survival or proliferation. Thus, many novel drugs targeting epigenetic regulators or tyrosine kinase have been developed. These selective drugs may have less toxicity in normal cells and are expected to be more effective than non-specific chemotherapeutics. This review will summarize the latest novel targets and corresponding candidate drugs, which are promising chemotherapy for brain tumors according to the biological insights.     

Enzyme-Instructed Assemblies Enable Mitochondria Localization of Histone H2B in Cancer Cells

Presently, little is known of how the inter-organelle crosstalk impacts cancer cells owing to the lack of approaches that can manipulate inter-organelle communication in cancer cells. We found that a negatively charged, enzyme cleavable peptide (MitoFlag) enables the trafficking of histone protein H2B, a nuclear protein, to the mitochondria in cancer cells. MitoFlag interacts with the nuclear location sequence of H2B to block it from entering the nucleus. A protease on the mitochondria cleaves the Flag from the MitoFlag/H2B complex to form assemblies that retain H2B on the mitochondria and facilitate H2B entering the mitochondria. Adding NLS, replacing aspartic acid by glutamic acid residues, or changing the l - to d -aspartic acid residue on MitoFlag abolishes the trafficking of H2B into mitochondria of HeLa cells. As the first example of the enzyme-instructed self-assembly of a synthetic peptide for trafficking endogenous proteins, this work provides insights for understanding and manipulating inter-organelle communication in cells.     

Recognition of Dimethylarginine Analogues by Tandem Tudor Domain Protein Spindlin1

Epigenetic readout of the combinatorial posttranslational modification comprised of trimethyllysine and asymmetric dimethylarginine (H3K4me3R8me2a) takes place via biomolecular recognition of tandem Tudor-domain-containing protein Spindlin1. Through comparative thermodynamic data and molecular dynamics simulations, we sought to explore the binding scope of asymmetric dimethylarginine mimics by Spindlin1. Herein, we provide evidence that the biomolecular recognition of H3K4me2R8me2a is not significantly affected when R8me2a is replaced by dimethylarginine analogues, implying that the binding of K4me3 provides the major binding contribution. High-energy water molecules inside both aromatic cages of the ligand binding sites contribute to the reader–histone association upon displacement by histone peptide, with the K4me3 hydration site being lower in free energy due to a flip of Trp151.     

Target Design of Novel Histone Deacetylase 6 Selective Inhibitors with 2-Mercaptoquinazolinone as the Cap Moiety

Epigenetic alterations found in all human cancers are promising targets for anticancer therapy. In this sense, histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) are interesting anticancer agents that play an important role in the epigenetic regulation of cancer cells. Here, we report 15 novel hydroxamic acid-based histone deacetylase inhibitors with quinazolinone core structures. Five compounds exhibited antiproliferative activity with IC₅₀ values of 3.4–37.8 µM. Compound 8 with a 2-mercaptoquinazolinone cap moiety displayed the highest antiproliferative efficacy against MCF-7 cells. For the HDAC6 target selectivity study, compound 8 displayed an IC₅₀ value of 2.3 µM, which is 29.3 times higher than those of HDAC3, HDAC4, HDAC8, and HDAC11. Western blot assay proved that compound 8 strongly inhibited tubulin acetylation, a substrate of HDAC6. Compound 8 also displayed stronger inhibition activity against HDAC11 than the control drug Belinostat. The inhibitory mechanism of action of compound 8 on HDAC enzymes was then explored using molecular docking study. The data revealed a high binding affinity (−7.92 kcal/mol) of compound 8 toward HDAC6. In addition, dock pose analysis also proved that compound 8 might serve as a potent inhibitor of HDAC11.     

乙酰鸟氨酸脱乙酰酶固定化细胞拆分D,L-缬氨酸

报道了一种利用具有乙酰鸟氨酸脱乙酰酶活性的固定化细胞拆分D,L-缬氨酸的新方法. 该酶促反应最适条件: pH=6, 反应温度50 ℃, 底物N-乙酰-D,L-缬氨酸浓度200 mmol/L, 固定化细胞用量0.2 g/mL(或100 U/mL). 0.1 mmol/L CoCl₂条件对该酶促反应有显著的激活作用. 在以上条件下反应2～3 h, 测得产物L-缬氨酸浓度95 mmol/L. 该固定化细胞连续10次使用, 平均转化率为90.8%(以N-乙酰-L-缬氨酸计), 显示出了良好的工业化应用前景.     

Apicidin选择性抑制ClassⅠ HDACs分子动力学研究

采用模拟方法研究组蛋白脱乙酰酶抑制剂(Apicidin)选择性抑制组蛋白去乙酰化酶(Histone deacetylases, HDACs)中的HDAC1和HDAC8. 通过HDAC8晶体结构同源模建HDAC1三维结构模型, 将Apicidin分别与HDAC1和HDAC8对接并进行分子动力学模拟, 结果表明, HDAC1活性口袋入口处的Arg270是Apicidin-HDAC1形成稳定结构的重要因素; HDAC1中Tyr303及His178与Apicidin形成2个持续存在的氢键, 而在HDAC8中未发现, 这是Apicidin选择性抑制HDAC1高于HDAC8的另一重要原因.     

同源模建和分子对接研究HDAC1/HDAC8的选择性

组蛋白去乙酰化酶(HDACs)是近年来治疗肿瘤的重要靶标之一.由于HDACs包含多种亚型,且各亚型的生理功能存在一定的差异,其选择性抑制剂的开发已成为当前的研发热点.我们通过同源模建的HDAC1结构,与已有的HDAC8晶体结构的活性位点进行比较分析,探讨了对两者选择性有重要影响的残基,为基于受体的选择性抑制剂研究提供重要信息.同时选择了52个HDAC抑制剂,分别建立了HDAC1、HDAC8的活性值与对接打分值的线性回归模型.所建的HDAC1和HDAC8的线性构效关系模型的非交叉验证系数R2分别为0.82和0.80,表明具有一定的统计学意义.利用所建模型对已设计合成的化合物进行了预测,预测结果对HDAC1、HDAC8选择性抑制剂的优化改造提供了一定的指导意义.     

5-Aza-2′-deoxycytidine reactivates the CDH1 gene without influencing methylation of the entire CpG island or histone modification in a human cancer cell line

It is well-recognized that DNA methylation and histone modifications play critical roles in epigenetic regulation of gene activity through the alteration of chromatin structure. Recent studies have shown that in a subset of cancer cells, the silencing of the human E-cadherin (CDH1) gene is associated with hypermethylation of the CpG island. However, the associated molecular mechanism remains unclear. To understand the mechanism, we have investigated the alteration of CpG island methylation and histone modifications during the reactivation of the CDH1 gene by treatment with 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC). Although the CDH1 gene expression was recovered by treatment with 5-aza-dC in a liver cancer cell line Li21, the methylation status of the entire CpG island and acetylation and methylation status of associated histones were not significantly altered. These results demonstrate that the silenced CDH1 gene can be reactivated without apparent alteration of histone modification or CpG island methylation.     

Interactions between DNA and histones－ a dynamic process of nucleosome formation

We have studied the dynamic process of interactions between a DNA chain and a histone octamer by numerical simulations.It is found that DNA indeed may wrap around the histone octamer about two turns as in the actual situations.The simulation shows that the interaction potential between DNA and histone is a key factor for the wrapping of DNA,and the temperature is also an important parameter in the process.