CDK5 Inhibition Resolves PKA/cAMP-Independent Activation of CREB1 Signaling in Glioma Stem Cells

Subhas Mukherjee*, Carol Tucker-Burden, Emily Kaissi, Austin Newsam, Hithardhi Duggireddy, Monica Chau, Changming Zhang, Bhakti Diwedi, Manali Rupji, Sandra Seby, Jeanne Kowalski, Jun Kong, Renee Read, Daniel J. Brat

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cancer stem cells promote neoplastic growth, in part by deregulating asymmetric cell division and enhancing self-renewal. To uncover mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets in glioma stem cell (GSC) self-renewal, we performed a genetic suppressor screen for kinases to reverse the tumor phenotype of our Drosophila brain tumor model and identified dCdk5 as a critical regulator. CDK5, the human ortholog of dCdk5 (79% identity), is aberrantly activated in GBMs and tightly aligned with both chromosome 7 gains and stem cell markers affecting tumor-propagation. Our investigation revealed that pharmaceutical inhibition of CDK5 prevents GSC self-renewal in vitro and in xenografted tumors, at least partially by suppressing CREB1 activation independently of PKA/cAMP. Finally, our TCGA GBM data analysis revealed that CDK5, stem cell, and asymmetric cell division markers segregate within non-mesenchymal patient clusters, which may indicate preferential dependence on CDK5 signaling and sensitivity to its inhibition in this group. Glioblastoma is the most common and deadliest form of brain tumor and can withstand current therapies due to the resilience of glioma stem cells (GSCs). Mukherjee et al. examine Cdk5 and its role in promoting stemness in asymmetric division of brain tumor stem cells in Drosophila and mice.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1651-1664
Number of pages14
JournalCell Reports
Volume23
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - May 8 2018

Funding

We thank Drs. Kenneth Moberg, Erwin Van Meir, Zixu Mao, Adam Marcus (Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University), Mario Suva (Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University), and Monica Venere (Cleveland Clinic) for their valuable guidance. We thank Dr. Cheng-Yu Lee (Univ. of Michigan) for the Mira antibody. Our special thanks go to Drs. James Bibb (University of Alabama) and Dr. Karin Pozo (UT Southwestern) for advice on the CDK5 inhibitor CP681301. We thank Pfizer for providing the CDK5 inhibitor. We especially thank Dr. Ernestine Mahar, Dr. Edmund Waller, Dr. Melissa Gilbert-Ross, Dr. Anna Kenney, Dr. Neil Anthony, Dr. Abhinav Dey, Dr. Bing Yu, Dr. Debanjan Bhattacharya, Dr. Satoru Osuka, Zhaobin Zhang, Diane Alexis, and Jennifer Sheldon for their assistance with flow cytometry, confocal imaging, fly stocks, and mouse colony maintenance. Finally, we thank the Emory Integrated Cellular Imaging Core, Emory Cancer Pathology and Tissue Core, Winship Bioinformatics and Statistics Core facility, Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center, and the Division for Animal Resources for their advice and contributions to this manuscript. This work was also supported by US Public Health Service NIH (R01 CA176659 and CA149107 to D.J.B. and K25CA181503 to J.K.), the Winship Cancer Institute NCI Cancer Center (P30CA138292), and the Georgia Research Alliance (to D.J.B.). We thank Drs. Kenneth Moberg, Erwin Van Meir, Zixu Mao, Adam Marcus (Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University), Mario Suva (Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University), and Monica Venere (Cleveland Clinic) for their valuable guidance. We thank Dr. Cheng-Yu Lee (Univ. of Michigan) for the Mira antibody. Our special thanks go to Drs. James Bibb (University of Alabama) and Dr. Karin Pozo (UT Southwestern) for advice on the CDK5 inhibitor CP681301. We thank Pfizer for providing the CDK5 inhibitor. We especially thank Dr. Ernestine Mahar, Dr. Edmund Waller, Dr. Melissa Gilbert-Ross, Dr. Anna Kenney, Dr. Neil Anthony, Dr. Abhinav Dey, Dr. Bing Yu, Dr. Debanjan Bhattacharya, Dr. Satoru Osuka, Zhaobin Zhang, Diane Alexis, and Jennifer Sheldon for their assistance with flow cytometry, confocal imaging, fly stocks, and mouse colony maintenance. Finally, we thank the Emory Integrated Cellular Imaging Core, Emory Cancer Pathology and Tissue Core, Winship Bioinformatics and Statistics Core facility, Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center, and the Division for Animal Resources for their advice and contributions to this manuscript. This work was also supported by US Public Health Service NIH ( R01 CA176659 and CA149107 to D.J.B. and K25CA181503 to J.K.), the Winship Cancer Institute NCI Cancer Center ( P30CA138292 ), and the Georgia Research Allianc e (to D.J.B.).

Keywords

  • asymmetric cell division
  • CDK5
  • CREB1
  • GBM non-mesenchymal subtypes
  • glioma stem cells
  • self-renewal

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

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