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Semisynthesis reveals apoptin as a tumour-selective protein prodrug that causes cytoskeletal collapse
Apoptin is a small viral protein capable of inducing cell death selectively in cancer cells. Despite its potential as an anticancer agent, relatively little is known about its mechanism of toxicity and cancer-selectivity. Previous experiments suggest that cancer-selective phosphorylation modulates a...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
The Royal Society of Chemistry
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10074440/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37035694 http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d2sc04481a |
Sumario: | Apoptin is a small viral protein capable of inducing cell death selectively in cancer cells. Despite its potential as an anticancer agent, relatively little is known about its mechanism of toxicity and cancer-selectivity. Previous experiments suggest that cancer-selective phosphorylation modulates apoptin toxicity, although a lack of chemical tools has hampered the dissection of underlying mechanisms. Here, we describe structure–function studies with site-specifically phosphorylated apoptin (apoptin-T108ph) in living cells which revealed that Thr108 phosphorylation is the selectivity switch for apoptin toxicity. Mechanistic investigations link T108ph to actin binding, cytoskeletal disruption and downstream inhibition of anoikis-resistance as well as cancer cell invasion. These results establish apoptin as a protein pro-drug, selectively activated in cancer cells by phosphorylation, which disrupts the cytoskeleton and promotes cell death. We anticipate that this mechanism provides a framework for the design of next generation anticancer proteins with enhanced selectivity and potency. |
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