Mouse Anti Human Protein Phosphatase 2A Hybridoma [DQUD-QQ3B-3]

Cross-Reacting Material 197 (CRM197) is a diphtheria toxin non-toxic mutant that has shown antitumor activity in mice and humans. It is still unclear whether this anti-tumorigenic effect depends on its strong inflammatory-immunological property, its ability to inhibit heparin-binding epidermal growth factor (HB-EGF), or even its possible weak toxicity. CRM197 is utilized as a specific inhibitor of HB-ECF that competes for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), overexpressed in colorectal cancer and implicated in its progression. In this study we evaluate the effects of CRM197 on HT-29 human colon cancer cell line behaviour and, for CRM197 recognized ability to inhibit HB-EGF, its possible influence on EGFR activation. In particular, while HT-29 does not show any reduction of viability after CRM197 treatment (MTT modified assay), or changes in cell cycle distribution (flow cytometry), in EGFR localization, phospho-EGFR detected signals (immunohistochemistry) or in morphology (scanning electron microscopy, SEM) they show a change in the gene expression profile by microarray analysis (cDNA microarray SS-H19k8). The overexpression of genes like protein phosphatase 2, catalytic subunit, alpha isozyme (PPP2CA), guanine nucleotide-binding protein G subunit alpha-1(GNAI1) and butyrophilin, subfamily 2, member A1 (BTN2A1) has been confirmed with real-time-qPCR. This is the first study where the CRM197 treatment on HT-29 shows a possible scarce implication of endogenous HB-EGF on EGFR expression and cancer cell development. At the same time, our results show the alteration of a specific and selected number of genes.

Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is one of the most abundant serine-threonine phosphatases in mammalian cells. PP2A is a hetero-trimeric holoenzyme participating in a variety of physiological processes whose deregulation is often associated to cancer. The specificity and activity of this phosphatase is tightly modulated by a family of regulatory B subunits that dock the catalytic subunit to the substrates. Here we characterize a novel and unconventional molecular mechanism controlling the activity of the tumor suppressor PP2A. By applying a mass spectrometry-based interactomics approach, we identified novel PP2A interacting proteins. Unexpectedly we found that a significant number of RAB proteins associate with the PP2A scaffold subunit (PPP2R1A), but not with the catalytic subunit (PPP2CA). Such interactions occur in vitro and in vivo in specific subcellular compartments. Notably we demonstrated that one of these RAB proteins, RAB9, competes with the catalytic subunit PPP2CA in binding to PPP2R1A. This competitive association has an important role in controlling the PP2A catalytic activity, which is compromised in several solid tumors and leukemias.