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Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are believed to be maintained within a microenvironmental niche. Here we used polymer microarrays for the rapid and efficient identification of glioma CSC (GSC) niche mimicries and identified a urethane-based synthetic polymer, upon which two groups of niche components, namely extracellular matrices (ECMs) and iron are revealed. In cultures, side population (SP) cells, defined as GSCs in the rat C6 glioma cell line, are more efficiently sustained in the presence of their differentiated progenies expressing higher levels of ECMs and transferrin, while in xenografts, ECMs are supplied by the vascular endothelial cells (VECs), including SP cell-derived ones with distinctively greater ability to retain xenobiotics than host VECs. Iron is stored in tumor infiltrating host macrophages (Mφs), whose protumoral activity is potently enhanced by SP cell-secreted soluble factor(s). Finally, coexpression of ECM-, iron-, and Mφ-related genes is found to be predictive of glioma patients' outcome. Our polymer-based approach reveals the intrinsic capacities of GSCs, to adapt the environment to organize a self-advantageous microenvironment niche, for their maintenance and expansion, which redefines the current concept of anti-CSC niche therapy and has the potential to accelerate cancer therapy development. Stem Cells 2016;34:1151-1162., (© 2016 AlphaMed Press.)

Mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) maintains the expression of cellular memory genes during development, while leukemic MLL fusion proteins aberrantly maintain expression of hematopoietic stem cell program genes such as HOXA9 to cause leukemia. However, the molecular mechanism of gene activation is unclear. Here we show that only two functional modules are necessary and sufficient for target recognition: those that bind to non-methylated CpGs and di-/tri-methylated histone H3 lysine 36 (H3K36me2/3). An artificial protein composed of the two targeting modules and an interaction domain for AF4-family coactivators can functionally substitute for MLL fusion proteins. Because H3K36me2/3 markers are indicative of active transcription, MLL fusion proteins target previously active CpG-rich genes and activate transcription by recruiting coactivators thereto. Our results indicate that such chromatin context-dependent gene activation is the fundamental mechanism by which MLL fusion proteins maintain the expression of the cellular memory/hematopoietic stem cell program genes.

E1A, the early region 1A transcription unit of human adenovirus, exhibits multiple functions that regulate the expression of some cellular genes and promote cell growth and division. We found that E1A stimulated c-jun gene expression at least fifty-fold in rat 3Y1 cells in a serum-independent manner, concomitantly with E1A down-regulation of jun B expression. The E1A-dependent induction of c-jun transcription resulted in increase amount of cJun/AP1. This induction was mediated by the enhancement of the binding activity of the transcription factor cJun/AP1 to an AP1 binding site in the c-jun promoter. Additionally, this induction can be repressed by introducing junB into the cells. Taken collectively, these results suggest that the differential expression of two closely related proteins greatly expands their cellular regulation. Induction of c-jun expression by E1A as well as c-jun autoregulation may amplify the action of E1A during adenovirus infection. Therefore, some of the biological effects of E1A may include mediating the constitutive activation of c-jun, which is important in transcriptional regulation and oncogenic transformation.

The 2.0 kb-long nucleotide sequences of the promoter regions of two closely related class I genes of the mouse major histocompatibility complex (H-2Kb and H-2Kbm1) have been determined and compared. The promoter sequence of the H-2Kbm1 gene differs from that of the H-2Kb gene by a single deletion of a 'C' at position -456 in the upstream region of H-2Kbm1 gene. The actual existence of this deletion of a single base in genomic DNA has been verified by genomic DNA hybridization, using oligonucleotide probes specific for H-2Kbm1 or H-2Kb respectively. The effect on the enhancer activity of H-2Kbm1 promoter region of the difference at position -456 has been analyzed by the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) assay, using appropriate DdeI fragments (-533 to -408 for H-2Kbm1; -534 to -408 for H-2Kb) cloned downstream of pH-2(367)CAT gene construct. The CAT activity determined by the H-2Kbm1 fragment was about 3-fold higher than that of H-2Kb, a result which probably accounts for the higher level of the H-2Kbm1 transcript and antigen in lymph node cells.