Oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes Flashcards
what are viral oncogenes?
- Viral genomes are very simple, with a few genes – these genes perturb the normal regulatory signals of cells and can induce cancer
- tumour viruses have developed extremely potent genes to perturb the complex regulatory circuitry of the host cells that they infect
- enough to drive the tumour phenotype
in the past, how was cancer considered to be induced?
tumour viruses suspected to be the cause of many human cancers – thought cancer was an infectious disease
- Cancer was considered to be an infectious disease which could be transmitted from one animal to another
how was Rous Sarcoma Virus found to cause sarcoma?
- sarcoma from chicken was isolated and homogenised into small chunks of tissue, and then ground up
- filtrate was collected by passing the tissue through a fine-pore filter
- the filtrate was then injected into a young chicken
- this young chicken then developed a sarcoma
- the time of induction of the sarcoma became predictable when the filtrate was injected into multiple chickens
how can RSV transform cells in culture?
chicken embryo fibroblasts infected with RSV show cancerous phenotypes:
- foci appear after infection
- fibroblasts gain a metabolism similar to tumours isolated from animals
- under microscope, the transformed cell resembled the chicken sarcomas
what is cell transformation?
conversion of a normal cell into a cancer cell; it can be accomplished into a Petri dish
why was cell transformation useful in studying RSV?
- provided a chance to study the consequences of RSV infection in cultured cells
- Cancer is caused by cells that can’t function correctly – don’t need an organism to study cancer, can do in vitro
- Not a disease of abnormally developing tissues & can be studied at the level of individual cells
is the continued presence of RSV required to maintain cell transformation into a sarcoma?
RSV particle transforms the progenitor cells and all their descendants - the virus must be present all the time to maintain the transformed phenotype
what evidence proves that RSV must be present at all times to maintain the transformed phenotype?
Temperature-sensitive (ts) RSV mutant-partially defective proteins, can function at the permissive temperature:
- Chicken embryo fibroblasts at 41 degrees cells lost the transformed shape and reverted to the shape and growth of cells that have never been infected with RSV
- transformed state is lost when the cells are kept at the non-permissive temperature (41C)
- ts RSV capable of transforming cells at 37 but not 41 degrees.
- The continued actions of the viral ts protein is required to maintain the transformed phenotype – virus must always be present to induce cancer
-The viral transforming gene was required to both initiate and maintain the transformed phenotype of the infected cells
what are the 9 key phenotypes of transformed/cancer cells?
- Altered morphology (rounded shape)
- Loss of contact inhibition (ability to grow over one another to form foci)
- Ability to grow without attachment to substrate (anchorage independence)
- Ability to proliferate indefinitely (immortalisation)
- Reduced requirement for mitogenic growth factors
- High saturation density (large number of cells grow in culture dish) – can form packed tumours
- Inability to halt proliferation in the absence of growth factors
- Increased uptake of glucose
- Tumorigenicity
what is the genome of the RSV?
3 genes coding for viral components:
- gag (virion nucleoprotein core)
- pol (reverse transcriptase & integrase)
- env (glycoprotein spikes of the virion) required for viral replication
- + 1 additional gene (unknown).
o Gag, pol, env = viral constituents
how were the functions of the RSV genes discovered? what were the functions of the genes?
Use of mutant viruses to reveal the functions of the genes:
- When the 3 viral constituent genes are abolished, there is no viral replication, but can still transform the infected fibroblast
- When the unknown viral gene was removed, there is normal viral replication, and no cancer transformation of the infected fibroblast
The unknown RSV gene is cancer-inducing: this gene was called src
do only RSV-infected cells contain a src-related sequence in their genome?
NO: src is present in the genome of normal organisms:
- c-src (cellular-src) and the viral src (v-src) are closely related and act as a potent oncogene = a gene capable of transforming a normal cell into a tumour cell.
- c-src is a proto-oncogene = a precursor of an active oncogene
what is a proto-oncogene?
Proto-oncogene: the genomes of normal vertebrates can carry a gene that has the potential, under certain circumstances, to induce cell transformation and thus cancer
do viruses cause the vast majority of cancers?
no, mutagens do
how is cancer caused?
cancer is induced by mutagens
what are mutagens? give examples:
physical or chemical agents that induce cancer through their ability to mutate growth-controlling genes
- Examples: UV light, X-rays, base analogs, DNA intercalating agents
why do chemically transformed cells become cancerous?
chemically transformed from mutagens cells carry mutated genes - the mutated genes responsible for the aberrant growth of these cells
how were mutated genes identified in cancers?
transfection:
- If a transforming gene is present in the donor DNA, it may become incorporated in the genome of one of the recipient cells and transform the latter
- these will form foci
- . Tumour formation in mice to confirm the transformed state of these cells.
- As a control, DNA from normal, non-transformed cells does not induce transformation
- Donor tumour DNA carried one or several genetic elements able to convert a normal cell into a tumorigenic one
are one or more genes mutated in cancer?
Only ~0.1% of the donor DNA became established in the recipient cell genome
- Very low probability of 2 independent, genetically unlinked, donor genes both being introduced into a single recipient cell - 1 in a million
- therefore only 1 gene is responsible for the transformation
what is the term used to describe the mutated gene in cancer?
oncogene
what did the transfection experiments detect?
Oncogenes detected by transfection were derived from pre-existing normal cellular genes lacking oncogenic function (proto-oncogenes) - similar scenario to the viral oncogenes
can viruses and mutagens activate the same proto-oncogenes?
Yes:
DNA probes for retroviral-associated oncogenes on cells transfected with tumour cell DNA:
- A number of proto-oncogenes were found in activated, oncogenic form in human tumour genomes
how can a proto-oncogene be activated to become an oncogene?
- by a mutation in the genetic sequence
- the sequence is identical between the 2 genes, except for one single codon which had been mutated in the oncogene
how were the changes in genetic sequences between proto-oncogenes and oncogenes discovered?
Normal gene and oncogene were cleaved by restriction enzymes & recombinant genes made by ligation:
- transforming activity using transfection-focus assay
- mutation responsible for oncogene activation localised to a 350bp fragment.
- Sequence was determined
- 1 single nucleotide difference, resulting in the substitution of a Gly to a Valine at the 12th codon
- Sequence is identical between the 2 genes, except for one single codon which had been mutated in the oncogene
how do mutagens and viral proteins cause cancer?
they induce mutations
- they do not directly cause cancer themselves
what is Ras?
Ras is a small GTPase
- Ras cycles between active GTP-bound and inactive GDP-bound
what accessory proteins regulate Ras GTPase?
- GEF = guanine nucleotide exchange factors – catalyses exchange of GDP to GTP
- GAP = GTPase-activating proteins – hydrolyses GTP to GDP
what is the normal function of Ras is normal cells?
In normal cells, under growth factor influence, Ras promotes cell division and proliferation when active, and when there are no growth factors, Ras will be bound to GDP and inactive, so proliferative signalling will be off
what does a mutation in Ras result in?
Ras G12V or G12C (mutation at G12 position) = Ras unable to hydrolyse GTP to GDP, so is constitutively active and cannot be turned off
how is the function of Ras changed when it is in its oncogenic form?
If Ras is in its oncogenic form, then it is always bound to GTP and therefore proliferative signalling is always on, even in absence of growth factors
what are the 3 ras proto-oncogenes present in the human genome?
- H-ras
- K-ras
- N-ras
in which codons may point mutations in Ras occur to induce cancer?
point mutation in one of three codons: 12 most frequent, than 13 and 61
~20% of all tumours have undergone an activating mutation in one of the RAS genes
which ras mutation is most commonly mutated in tumours?
- Mutations in K-ras are the most frequent drivers of tumour development across the spectrum of human cancers
- K-RasG12C mutation is most prevalent in lung cancers
what is the name of the K-ras inhibitor?
AMG 510
how does the AMG 510 KRAS inhibitor effect K-ras?
AMG 510 inhibitor forms a covalent bond with GDP-bound KRASG12C high specificity for the mutant protein
- Prevents K-rasG12C from binding to GTP
- AMG 510 is specific for G12C Ras mutation only
why does AMG 510 not affect normal cells?
as normal cells do not have the Ras G12C mutation
- AMG 510 is specific for G12C Ras mutation only
what effects does AMG 510 KRAS inhibitor have on cancers?
- AMG 510 inhibits downstream signalling and cell proliferation in lung cancer cell lines in vitro
- AMG 510 inhibits tumour growth in mice - tumour regression in 8/10 mice
- AMG 510 efficiency improves in combination with standard chemotherapy (carboplatin) or a drug that inhibits MEK, which acts downstream of Ras