Pooled shRNA screen for sensitizers to inhibition of the mitotic regulator polo-like kinase (PLK1)

Liu-Sullivan, N., Zhang, J., Bakleh, A., Marchica, J., Li, J., Siolas, D., Laquerre, S., Degenhardt, Y. Y., Wooster, R., Chang, K., Hannon, G. J., Powers, S. (December 2011) Pooled shRNA screen for sensitizers to inhibition of the mitotic regulator polo-like kinase (PLK1). Oncotarget, 2 (12). pp. 1254-64. ISSN 1949-2553 (Electronic) 1949-2553 (Linking)

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22248814

Abstract

RNAi screening holds the promise of systemizing the search for combination therapeutic strategies. Here we performed a pooled shRNA library screen to look for promising targets to inhibit in combination with inhibition of the mitotic regulator polo-like kinase (PLK1). The library contained ~4,500 shRNAs targeting various signaling and cancer-related genes and was screened in four lung cancer cell lines using both high (IC80) and low (IC20) amounts of the PLK1 inhibitor GSK461364. The relative abundance of cells containing individual shRNAs following drug treatment was determined by microarray analysis, using the mock treatment replicates as the normalizing reference. Overall, the inferred influences of individual shRNAs in both high and low drug treatment were remarkably similar in all four cell lines and involved a large percentage of the library. To investigate which functional categories of shRNAs were most prominent in influencing drug response, we used statistical analysis of microarrays (SAM) in combination with a filter for genes that had two or more concordant shRNAs. The most significant functional categories that came out of this analysis included receptor tyrosine kinases and nuclear hormone receptors. Through individual validation experiments, we determined that the two shRNAs from the library targeting the nuclear retinoic acid receptor gene RARA did indeed silence RARA expression and as predicted conferred resistance to GSK461364. This led us to test whether activation of RARA receptor with retinoids could sensitize cells to GSK461364. We found that retinoids did increase the drug sensitivity and enhanced the ability of PLK1 inhibition to induce mitotic arrest and apoptosis. These results suggest that retinoids could be used to enhance the effectiveness of GSK461364 and provide further evidence that RNAi screens can be effective tools to identify combination target strategies.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > analysis and processing > microarray gene expression processing
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > RNAi
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > analysis and processing > Sequence Data Processing
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > Mapping and Rendering > Sequence Rendering
bioinformatics > computational biology
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > databases > databases
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > genes, structure and function > gene silencing
diseases & disorders > cancer > cancer types > lung cancer
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > shRNA
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL Cancer Center Program > Cancer Genetics
CSHL Cancer Center Shared Resources > Bioinformatics Service
CSHL Cancer Center Shared Resources > DNA Sequencing Service
CSHL Cancer Center Shared Resources > Microarray Service
CSHL Post Doctoral Fellows
CSHL labs > Hannon lab
CSHL labs > Powers lab
CSHL Cancer Center Shared Resources > Functional Genomics and Genetics Service
Depositing User: Editor Margaret Fantz
Date: December 2011
Date Deposited: 16 Apr 2012 19:16
Last Modified: 30 Oct 2015 16:40
PMCID: PMC3282082
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/26117

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