DNA replication licensing factor MCM7 (EC 3.6.4.12) (CDC47 homolog) (P1.1-MCM3) [CDC47] [MCM2]

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A multidimensional systems biology analysis of cellular senescence in aging and disease.

Cellular senescence, a permanent state of replicative arrest in otherwise proliferating cells, is a hallmark of aging and has been linked to aging-related diseases. Many genes play a role in cellular senescence, yet a comprehensive understanding of its pathways is still lacking. We develop CellAge (http://genomics.senescence.info/cells), a manually curated database of 279 human genes driving cellular senescence, and perform various integrative analyses. Genes inducing cellular senescence tend to be overexpressed with age in human tissues and are significantly overrepresented in anti-longevity and tumor-suppressor genes, while genes inhibiting cellular senescence overlap with pro-longevity and oncogenes. Furthermore, cellular senescence genes are strongly conserved in mammals but not in invertebrates. We also build cellular senescence protein-protein interaction and co-expression networks. Clusters in the networks are enriched for cell cycle and immunological processes. Network topological parameters also reveal novel potential cellular senescence regulators. Using siRNAs, we observe that all 26 candidates tested induce at least one marker of senescence with 13 genes (C9orf40, CDC25A, CDCA4, CKAP2, GTF3C4, HAUS4, IMMT, MCM7, MTHFD2, MYBL2, NEK2, NIPA2, and TCEB3) decreasing cell number, activating p16/p21, and undergoing morphological changes that resemble cellular senescence. Overall, our work provides a benchmark resource for researchers to study cellular senescence, and our systems biology analyses reveal new insights and gene regulators of cellular senescence.


Keywords

  • Biogerontology
  • Cancer
  • Genetics
  • Longevity
  • Transcriptome


Changes in MCM2-7 proteins at senescence.

Cellular aging is characterized by the loss of DNA replication capability and is mainly brought about by various changes in chromatin structure. Here, we examined changes in MCM2-7 proteins, which act as a replicative DNA helicase, during aging of human WI38 fibroblasts at the single-cell level. We used nuclear accumulation of p21 as a marker of senescent cells, and examined changes in MCM2-7 by western blot analysis. First, we found that senescent cells are enriched for cells with a DNA content higher than 4N. Second, the levels of MCM2, MCM3, MCM4 and MCM6 proteins decreased in senescent cells. Third, cytoplasmic localization of MCM2 and MCM7 was observed in senescent cells, from an analysis of MCM2-7 except for MCM5. Consistent with this finding, fragmented MCM2 was predominant in these cells. These age-dependent changes in MCM2-7, a protein complex that directly affects cellular DNA replication, may play a critical role in cellular senescence.

MeSH Terms

  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Cellular Senescence
  • DNA Replication
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Humans
  • Minichromosome Maintenance Complex Component 2
  • Minichromosome Maintenance Complex Component 3
  • Minichromosome Maintenance Complex Component 4
  • Minichromosome Maintenance Complex Component 6
  • Minichromosome Maintenance Complex Component 7
  • Multiprotein Complexes
  • Single-Cell Analysis
  • p21-Activated Kinases

Keywords

  • DNA content
  • MCM2–7 proteins
  • cellular aging
  • cellular localization
  • protein degradation


Inhibition of CIP2A attenuates tumor progression by inducing cell cycle arrest and promoting cellular senescence in hepatocellular carcinoma.

CIP2A is a recent identified oncogene that inhibits protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and stabilizes c-Myc in cancer cells. To investigate the potential oncogenic role and prognostic value of CIP2A, we comprehensively analyzed the CIP2A expression levels in pan-cancer and observed high expression level of CIP2A in majority cancer types, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Based on a validation cohort including 60 HCC and 20 non-tumorous tissue samples, we further confirmed the high mRNA and protein expression levels of CIP2A in HCC, and found high CIP2A mRNA expression level was associated with unfavorable overall and recurrence-free survival in patients with HCC. Mechanistic investigations revealed that inhibition of CIP2A significantly attenuated cellular proliferation in vitro and tumourigenicity in vivo. Bioinformatic analysis suggested that CIP2A might be involved in regulating cell cycle. Our experimental data further confirmed CIP2A knockdown induced cell cycle arrest at G1 phase. We found accumulated cellular senescence in HCC cells with CIP2A knockdown, companying expression changes of senescence associated proteins (p21, CDK2, CDK4, cyclin D1, MCM7 and FoxM1). Mechanistically, CIP2A knockdown repressed FoxM1 expression and induced FoxM1 dephosphorylation. Moreover, inhibition of PP2A by phosphatase inhibitor rescued the repression of FoxM1. Taken together, our results showed that CIP2A was highly expressed in HCC. Inhibition of CIP2A induced cell cycle arrest and promoted cellular senescence via repressing FoxM1 transcriptional activity, suggesting a potential anti-cancer target for patients with HCC.

MeSH Terms

  • Autoantigens
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular
  • Cell Cycle Checkpoints
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cellular Senescence
  • Disease Progression
  • Forkhead Box Protein M1
  • Gene Expression
  • Gene Knockdown Techniques
  • Hep G2 Cells
  • Humans
  • Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
  • Liver Neoplasms
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Oncogenes
  • Prognosis
  • RNA, Messenger
  • RNA, Neoplasm

Keywords

  • CIP2A
  • Cell cycle
  • Cellular senescence
  • FoxM1
  • Hepatocellular carcinoma


Proton irradiation impacts age-driven modulations of cancer progression influenced by immune system transcriptome modifications from splenic tissue.

Age plays a crucial role in the interplay between tumor and host, with additional impact due to irradiation. Proton irradiation of tumors induces biological modulations including inhibition of angiogenic and immune factors critical to 'hallmark' processes impacting tumor development. Proton irradiation has also provided promising results for proton therapy in cancer due to targeting advantages. Additionally, protons may contribute to the carcinogenesis risk from space travel (due to the high proportion of high-energy protons in space radiation). Through a systems biology approach, we investigated how host tissue (i.e. splenic tissue) of tumor-bearing mice was altered with age, with or without whole-body proton exposure. Transcriptome analysis was performed on splenic tissue from adolescent (68-day) versus old (736-day) C57BL/6 male mice injected with Lewis lung carcinoma cells with or without three fractionations of 0.5 Gy (1-GeV) proton irradiation. Global transcriptome analysis indicated that proton irradiation of adolescent hosts caused significant signaling changes within splenic tissues that support carcinogenesis within the mice, as compared with older subjects. Increases in cell cycling and immunosuppression in irradiated adolescent hosts with CDK2, MCM7, CD74 and RUVBL2 indicated these were the key genes involved in the regulatory changes in the host environment response (i.e. the spleen). Collectively, these results suggest that a significant biological component of proton irradiation is modulated by host age through promotion of carcinogenesis in adolescence and resistance to immunosuppression, carcinogenesis and genetic perturbation associated with advancing age.

MeSH Terms

  • Age Factors
  • Animals
  • Carcinoma, Lewis Lung
  • Cell Cycle
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Disease Progression
  • Humans
  • Immune System
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Neoplasm Transplantation
  • Neoplasms
  • Protons
  • Radiation, Ionizing
  • Spleen
  • Transcriptome

Keywords

  • aging and cancer
  • bioinformatics
  • immunosuppression
  • protons
  • spleen
  • transcriptome analysis
  • tumor microenvironment
  • tumor progression