Abstract 1733: Development of chemical tools to study the endogenous Hsp70 interactome in malignant cells
Authors: Rodina Anna A. , Taldone Tony , Kang Yanlong , Patel Pallav , Koren John , Yan Pengrong , DaGama Gomes Erica , Yang Chenghua , Patel Maulik , Shrestha Liza , Ochiana Stefan , Maharaj Ronnie , Gozman Alexander , Cox Marc , Erdjument-Bromage Hediye , Hendrickson Ronald , Cerchietti Leandro , Melnick Ari , Guzman Monica , Chiosis Gabriela 
Published: August 2015

Background: Heat shock protein 70 family members play an important role in cancer. They are up-regulated in wide variety of tumors and the increased Hsp70 protein expression correlates with metastases, resistance to treatment and poor prognosis. Multiple mechanisms explain cancer cells dependence on Hsp70, such as inhibition of apoptosis by Hsp70, induction of autophagy and control of stability of onco-proteins. These Hsp70 activities are mediated in cancer by its ability to chaperone and interact with a large number of proteins in a cell-specific, context dependent manner.

Hypothesis: Reagents that enable the capture of tumor-specific Hsp70 complexes facilitate the identification of context-dependent Hsp70 interactomes.

Results: Our laboratory recently reported the identification of a novel allosteric site located in the nucleotide binding domain of Hsp70 (Chem Biol 2013). It has also reported the discovery of ligands that bind to the allosteric pocket of Hsp70, inhibit its function in cancer cells and result in anti-cancer activity (J Med Chem 2013). Structure-activity relationship studies in this ligand series gave insights on the attachment of specific linkers for the design of Hsp70-related chemical tools. Here we present the design of Hsp70-directed reagents and use biochemical and cell-based methods to validate Hsp70-directed affinity purification probes. We demonstrate that these tools lock Hsp70 in complex with onco-client proteins and effectively isolate Hsp70 complexes for identification through biochemical techniques. Using these tools we provide proof-of-concept analyses that glimpse into the complex roles played by Hsp70 in maintaining a multitude of cell-specific malignancy-driving proteins.

Significance: The knowledge derived from the use of such reagents will be extremely valuable not only to understand tumor-specific roles of Hsp70 and associated mechanisms but also to develop rational strategies for the clinical implementation of these agents to cancer treatment. They may also provide clues on the altered functional proteome in individual tumors, a quest yet elusive by today's proteomics methods.

Citation Format: Anna A. Rodina, Tony Taldone, Yanlong Kang, Pallav Patel, John Koren, Pengrong Yan, Erica DaGama Gomes, Chenghua Yang, Maulik Patel, Liza Shrestha, Stefan Ochiana, Ronnie Maharaj, Alexander Gozman, Marc Cox, Hediye Erdjument-Bromage, Ronald Hendrickson, Leandro Cerchietti, Ari Melnick, Monica Guzman, Gabriela Chiosis. Development of chemical tools to study the endogenous Hsp70 interactome in malignant cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1733. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1733