N⁶A-methyladenosine (m⁶A) post-transcriptional modification, the most abundant internal RNA modification, is catalyzed by the METTL3-14 methyltransferase complex. Recently, attention has been drawn to the METTL3-14 complex regarding its significant roles in the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), attracting the potential of novel therapeutic targets for the disease. Herein, we report the identification and characterization of eltrombopag as a selective allosteric inhibitor of the METTL3-14 complex. Eltrombopag exhibited selective inhibitory activity in the most active catalytic form of the METTL3-14 complex by direct binding, and the mechanism of inhibition was confirmed as a noncompetitive inhibition by interacting at a putative allosteric binding site in METTL3, which was predicted by cavity search and molecular docking studies. At a cellular level, eltrombopag displayed anti-proliferative effects in the relevant AML cell line, MOLM-13, in correlation with a reduction in m⁶A levels. Molecular mechanism studies of eltrombopag using m⁶A-seq analysis provided further evidence of its cellular function by determining the hypomethylation of leukemogenic genes in eltrombopag-treated MOLM-13 cells and the overlapping of the pattern with those of METTL3-knockdown MOLM-13 cells. In conclusion, eltrombopag was first disclosed as a functional METTL3-14 allosteric inhibitor in AML cells, which could be utilized for the further development of novel anti-AML therapy.

The ratio control of 4R-Tau/3R-Tau by alternative splicing of Tau exon 10 is important for maintaining brain functions. In this study, we show that hnRNP A1 knockdown induces inclusion of endogenous Tau exon 10, conversely, overexpression of hnRNP A1 promotes exon 10 skipping of Tau. In addition, hnRNP A1 inhibits splicing of intron 9, but not intron 10. Furthermore, hnRNP A1 directly interacts with the 3′ splice site of exon 10 to regulate its functions in alternative splicing. Finally, gene ontology analysis demonstrates that hnRNP A1-induced splicing and gene expression targets a subset of genes with neuronal function.

Aberrant alternative splicing (AS) is a hallmark of cancer and a potential target for novel anti-cancer therapeutics. Breast cancer-associated AS events are known to be linked to disease progression, metastasis, and survival of breast cancer patients. To identify altered AS programs occurring in metastatic breast cancer, we perform a global analysis of AS events by using RNA-mediated oligonucleotide annealing, selection, and ligation coupled with next-generation sequencing (RASL-seq). We demonstrate that, relative to low-metastatic, high-metastatic breast cancer cells show different AS choices in genes related to cancer progression. Supporting a global reshape of cancer-related splicing profiles in metastatic breast cancer we found an enrichment of RNA-binding motifs recognized by several splicing regulators, which have aberrant expression levels or activity during breast cancer progression, including SRSF1. Among SRSF1-regulated targets we found DCUN1D5, a gene for which skipping of exon 4 in its pre-mRNA introduces a premature termination codon (PTC), thus generating an unstable transcript degraded by nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). Significantly, distinct breast cancer subtypes show different DCUN1D5 isoform ratios with metastatic breast cancer expressing the highest level of the NMD-insensitive DCUN1D5 mRNA, thus showing high DCUN1D5 expression levels, which are ultimately associated with poor overall and relapse-free survival in breast cancer patients. Collectively, our results reveal global AS features of metastatic breast tumors, which open new possibilities for the treatment of these aggressive tumor types.

Alternative splicing (AS) is an important posttranscriptional regulatory process. Damaged or unnecessary cells need to be removed though apoptosis to maintain physiological processes. Caspase-2 pre-mRNA produces pro-apoptotic long mRNA and anti-apoptotic short mRNA isoforms through AS. How AS of Caspase-2 is regulated remains unclear. In the present study, we identified a novel regulatory protein SRSF9 for AS of Caspase-2 cassette exon 9. Knock-down (KD) of SRSF9 increased inclusion of cassette exon and on the other hand, overexpression of SRSF9 decreased inclusion of this exon. Deletion mutagenesis demonstrated that exon 9, parts of intron 9, exon 8 and exon 10 were not required for the role of SRSF9 in Caspase-2 AS. However, deletion and substitution mutation analysis revealed that AGGAG sequence located at exon 10 provided functional target for SRSF9. In addition, RNA-pulldown mediated immunoblotting analysis showed that SRSF9 interacted with this sequence. Gene ontology analysis of RNA-seq from SRSF9 KD cells demonstrates that SRSF9 could regulate AS of a subset of apoptosis related genes. Collectively, our results reveal a basis for regulation of Caspase-2 AS.

Here we show that the serine/arginine rich splicing factor 2 (SRSF2) promotes cryptic 3′ splice-site (3′AG′) usage during cassette exon exclusion in survival of motor neuron (SMN2) minigenes. Deletion of the 3′AG′ (3′AG′1), its associated branch point (BP′) and polypyrimidine tract (PPT′) sequences directs SRSF2 to promote a second 3′AG′ (3′AG′2) with less conserved associated region for intron splicing. Furthermore, deletion of both 3′AG′1 and 3′AG′2 and their associated sequences triggered usage of a third 3′AG′3 that has very weak associated sequences. Interestingly, when intron splicing was directed to the 3′AG′ cryptic splice-sites, intron splicing from the canonical 3′AG splice-site was reduced along with a decrease in cassette exon inclusion. Moreover, multiple SRSF2 binding sites within the intron are responsible for 3′AG′ activation. We conclude that SRSF2 facilitates exon exclusion by activating a cryptic 3′AG′ and inhibiting downstream intron splicing.

CD44 is a transmembrane glycoprotein involved in cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions. Several CD44 protein isoforms are generated in human through alternative splicing regulation of nine variable exons encoding for the extracellular juxta-membrane region. While the CD44 splicing variants have been described to be involved in cancer progression and development, the regulatory mechanism(s) underlying their production remain unclear. Here, we identify Tra2β and SRSF9 as proteins with opposite roles in regulating CD44 exon v10 splicing. While Tra2β promotes v10 inclusion, SRSF9 inhibits its inclusion. Mechanistically, we found that both proteins are able to target v10 exon, with GAAGAAG sequence being the binding site for Tra2β and AAGAC that for SRSF9. Collectively, our data add a novel layer of complexity to the sequential series of events involved in the regulation of CD44 splicing.