The insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) plays a pivotal role in transformation, growth, and survival of malignant cells, and has emerged as a general and promising target for cancer treatment. However, no fully selective IGF-1R inhibitors have thus far been found. This is explained by the fact that IGF-1R is highly homologous to the insulin receptor, coinhibition of which may cause diabetic response. The receptors are both tyrosine kinases, and their ATP binding sites are identical, implying that ATP inhibitors cannot discriminate between them. Therefore, the current strategy has been to identify compounds interfering with receptor autophosphorylation at the substrate level. In this study we investigated the effects of cyclolignans and related molecules on IGF-1R activity. We report that certain cyclolignans are potent and selective inhibitors of tyrosine phosphorylation of the IGF-1R. Of particular interest was picropodophyllin (PPP), which is almost nontoxic (LD₅₀ >500 mg/kg in rodents). PPP efficiently blocked IGF-1R activity, reduced pAkt and phosphorylated extracellular signal regulated kinase 1 and 2 (pErk1/2), induced apoptosis in cultured IGF-1R-positive tumor cells, and caused complete tumor regression in xenografted and allografted mice. PPP did not affect the insulin receptor or compete with ATP in an in vitro kinase assay, suggesting that it may inhibit IGF-1R autophosphorylation at the substrate level. This is also in agreement with our molecular model of how the cyclolignans may act on the IGF-1R kinase. Our results open the possibility to use PPP or related compounds with inhibitory effects on IGF-1R as lead compounds in development of anticancer agents.

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) signalling is highly implicated in cancer. In this signalling the IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) is unquestionable, the predominating single factor. IGF-1R is crucial for tumour transformation and survival of malignant cell, but is only partially involved in normal cell growth. This is in part due to the interactions with oncogenes. Recent findings suggest a close interplay with the p53/MDM2 pathway. Disturbances in components in the p53/MDM2/IGF-1R network may cause IGF-1R upregulation and growth advantage for the cancer cell. Targeting of IGF-1R is more and more seen as a promising option for future cancer therapy. Single chain antibodies and small molecules with selective effects on IGF-1R dependent malignant growth are of particular interest. Forthcoming clinical trials are welcome and will indeed be the only way to evaluate the impact of IGF-1R targeting in human cancer.

The insulin-like growth factor type 1 receptor (IGF-1R) plays a key role in the development and progression of cancer; however, therapeutics targeting it have had disappointing results in the clinic. As a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK), IGF-1R is traditionally described as an ON/OFF system, with ligand stabilizing the ON state and exclusive kinase-dependent signaling activation. Newly added to the traditional model, ubiquitin-mediated receptor downregulation and degradation was originally described as a response to ligand/receptor interaction and thus inseparable from kinase signaling activation. Yet, the classical model has proven over-simplified and insufficient to explain experimental evidence accumulated over the last decade, including kinase-independent signaling, unbalanced signaling, or dissociation between signaling and receptor downregulation. Based on the recent findings that IGF-1R “borrows” components of G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling, including β-arrestins and G-protein-related kinases, we discuss the emerging paradigm for the IGF-1R as a functional RTK/GPCR hybrid, which integrates the kinase signaling with the IGF-1R canonical GPCR characteristics. The contradictions to the classical IGF-1R signaling concept as well as the design of anti-IGF-1R therapeutics treatment are considered in the light of this paradigm shift and we advocate recognition of IGF-1R as a valid target for cancer treatment.

Recently, p53 was demonstrated to affect the expression of the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R), a receptor tyrosine kinase that plays a crucial role in growth and survival of cancer cells. However, the underlying mechanisms for interaction between p53 and IGF-1R are still not fully understood. One of the challenging questions remaining to be answered is why the wild-type p53, which per se represses the transcription of the IGF-1R gene, in overexpressed form is necessary for a high IGF-1R expression. In this study, we show that inhibition of p53 causes ubiquitination and down-regulation, through increased degradation, of the IGF-1R in human malignant melanoma cells. This effect, which was independent of the p53 status (i.e., wild type or mutated), was prevented if Mdm2 was coinhibited. Similar results were obtained in UV-irradiated human melanocytes (harboring wild-type p53), in which level of the IGF-1R increased after up-regulation of p53. Interestingly, the basal ubiquitination of the IGF-1R in untreated cells also depended on Mdm2. We could prove that Mdm2 physically associates with IGF-1R and that Mdm2 causes IGF-1R ubiquitination in an in vitro assay. Taken together our data provide evidence that Mdm2 serves as a ligase in ubiquitination of the IGF-1R and thereby causes its degradation by the proteasome system. Consequently, by sequestering Mdm2 in the cell nuclei, the level of p53 may indirectly influence the expression of IGF-1R. This role of Mdm2 and p53 represents an unexpected mechanism for the regulation of IGF-1R and cell growth.

The insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) plays important roles in physiological growth and aging as well as promoting several crucial functions in cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in expression and down-regulation of IGF-1R are still poorly understood. Here we provide evidence that β-arrestin, otherwise known to be involved in the regulation of G protein-coupled receptors, serves as an adaptor to bring the oncoprotein E3 ubiquitin ligase MDM2 to the IGF-1R. In this way, β-arrestin acts as a crucial component in the ubiquitination and down-regulation of the receptor. Both MDM2 and β-arrestin co-immunoprecipitated with the IGF-1R. The β-arrestin isoform 1 appeared to be more strongly associated with the receptor than isoform 2, and in a molecular context it was 4-fold more efficient in inducing polyubiquitination of IGF-1R, a reaction that required the presence of β-arrestin and MDM2. Ligand stimulation accelerated IGF-1R ubiquitination. In mouse P6 cells (overexpressing human IGF-1R) absence of β-arrestin 1, but not of β-arrestin 2, blocked ubiquitination of IGF-1R. Conversely, in the two studied human melanoma cell lines both β-arrestin isoforms seemed to be involved in IGF-1R ubiquitination. However, because depletion of β-arrestin 1 almost completely eliminated degradation, and IGF-1 induced down-regulation of the receptor in these cells, whereas β-arrestin 2 only had a partial effect, β-arrestin 1 seems to the more important isoform in affecting the expression of IGF-1R. To our knowledge this is the first study demonstrating a defined molecular role of β-arrestin with direct relevance to cell growth and cancer.

The world of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) is composed of an enormous and growing number of transcripts, ranging in length from tens of bases to tens of kilobases, involved in all biological processes and altered in expression and/or function in many types of human disorders. The premise of this review is the concept that ncRNAs, like many large proteins, have a multidomain architecture that organizes them spatially and functionally. As ncRNAs are beginning to be imprecisely classified into functional families, we review here how their structural properties might inform their functions with focus on structural architecture–function relationships. We will describe the properties of “interactor elements” (IEs) involved in direct physical interaction with nucleic acids, proteins, or lipids and of “structural elements” (SEs) directing their wiring within the “ncRNA interactor networks” through the emergence of secondary and/or tertiary structures. We suggest that spectrums of “letters” (ncRNA elements) are assembled into “words” (ncRNA domains) that are further organized into “phrases” (complete ncRNA structures) with functional meaning (signaling output) through complex “sentences” (the ncRNA interactor networks). This semiotic analogy can guide the exploitation of ncRNAs as new therapeutic targets through the development of IE-blockers and/or SE-lockers that will change the interactor partners’ spectrum of proteins, RNAs, DNAs, or lipids and consequently influence disease phenotypes.