Drugs affecting prelamin A processing: Effects on heterochromatin organization
- IGM-CNR, Unit of Bologna, c/o IOR, Via di Barbiano 1/10 I-40136 Bologna (Italy)
- Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena (Italy)
- Department of Biopathology and Diagnostic Imaging, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome (Italy)
- Max F. Perutz Laboratories, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna (Austria)
Increasing interest in drugs acting on prelamin A has derived from the finding of prelamin A involvement in severe laminopathies. Amelioration of the nuclear morphology by inhibitors of prelamin A farnesylation has been widely reported in progeroid laminopathies. We investigated the effects on chromatin organization of two drugs inhibiting prelamin A processing by an ultrastructural and biochemical approach. The farnesyltransferase inhibitor FTI-277 and the non-peptidomimetic drug N-acetyl-S-farnesyl-L-cysteine methylester (AFCMe) were administered to cultured control human fibroblasts for 6 or 18 h. FTI-277 interferes with protein farnesylation causing accumulation of non-farnesylated prelamin A, while AFCMe impairs the last cleavage of the lamin A precursor and is expected to accumulate farnesylated prelamin A. FTI-277 caused redistribution of heterochromatin domains at the nuclear interior, while AFCMe caused loss of heterochromatin domains, increase of nuclear size and nuclear lamina thickening. At the biochemical level, heterochromatin-associated proteins and LAP2{alpha} were clustered at the nuclear interior following FTI-277 treatment, while they were unevenly distributed or absent in AFCMe-treated nuclei. The reported effects show that chromatin is an immediate target of FTI-277 and AFCMe and that dramatic remodeling of chromatin domains occurs following treatment with the drugs. These effects appear to depend, at least in part, on the accumulation of prelamin A forms, since impairment of prelamin A accumulation, here obtained by 5-azadeoxycytidine treatment, abolishes the chromatin effects. These results may be used to evaluate downstream effects of FTIs or other prelamin A inhibitors potentially useful for the therapy of laminopathies.
- OSTI ID:
- 21045931
- Journal Information:
- Experimental Cell Research, Vol. 314, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2007.11.012; PII: S0014-4827(07)00550-2; Copyright (c) 2007 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0014-4827
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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