Retinoblastoma pathway dysregulation causes DNA methyltransferase 1 overexpression in cancer via MAD2-mediated inhibition of the anaphase-promoting complex
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY
Authors: Agoston, Agoston T.; Argani, Pedram; De Marzo, Angelo M.; Hicks, Jessica L.; Nelson, William G.
Abstract
We have examined the mechanism of normal DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) degradation as well as its mechanism of dysregulation in cancer. We have previously reported that DNMT1 protein levels were elevated and abnormally stabilized because of defective degradation through its N-terminal destruction domain. Here, we report that DNMT1 was abnormally stabilized in several cancer cell lines and that, in cells with normal DNMT1 destruction, depletion of CDC20 or FZR1 (two substrate recognition adaptor components of the an aphase-promoting complex) resulted in stabilization of DNMT1 that was partially dependent on die N-terminal. destruction domain, thus implicating this cell cycle regulator in the destruction of DNMT1. MAD2, an inhibitor of CDC20, was shown to stabilize DNMT1 levels, and overexpression of MAD2, a consequence of retinoblastoma (RB) pathway dysregulation, was shown to correlate with impaired G, phase DNMT1 destruction and RB inactivation by hyperphosphorylation in several normal and cancer cell lines. Furthermore, in a series of 85 cases of human breast cancer, a moderately strong, but highly significant, correlation between MAD2 and DNMT1 immunohistochemical staining was observed, yielding a Spearman rank order correlation coefficient of 0.37 (P < 0.001). This suggests that RB pathway inactivation, a common dysfunction in cancer cells, may be the underlying cause of DNMT1 dysregulation.
APC(FZR1) prevents nondisjunction in mouse oocytes by controlling meiotic spindle assembly timing
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF THE CELL
Authors: Holt, Janet E.; Lane, Simon I. R.; Jennings, Phoebe; Garcia-Higuera, Irene; Moreno, Sergio; Jones, Keith T.
Abstract
FZR1 is an anaphase-promoting complex (APC) activator best known for its role in the mitotic cell cycle at M-phase exit, in G1, and in maintaining genome integrity. Previous studies also established that it prevents meiotic resumption, equivalent to the G2/M transition. Here we report that mouse oocytes lacking FZR1 undergo passage through meiosis I that is accelerated by similar to 1 h, and this is due to an earlier onset of spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) satisfaction and APC(CDC20) activity. However, loss of FZR1 did not compromise SAC functionality; instead, earlier SAC satisfaction was achieved because the bipolar meiotic spindle was assembled more quickly in the absence of FZR1. This novel regulation of spindle assembly by FZR1 led to premature bivalent attachment to microtubules and loss of kinetochore-bound MAD2. Bivalents, however, were observed to congress poorly, leading to nondisjunction rates of 25%. We conclude that in mouse oocytes FZR1 controls the timing of assembly of the bipolar spindle and in so doing the timing of SAC satisfaction and APC(CDC20) activity. This study implicates FZR1 as a major regulator of prometaphase whose activity helps to prevent chromosome nondisjunction.