Clinical evidence has established that concomitant traumatic brain injury (TBI) accelerates bone healing, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. This study shows that after TBI, injured neurons, mainly those in the hippocampus, release osteogenic microRNA (miRNA)-enriched small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), which targeted osteoprogenitors in bone to stimulate bone formation. We show that miR-328a-3p and miR-150-5p, enriched in the sEVs after TBI, promote osteogenesis by directly targeting the 3′UTR of FOXO4 or CBL, respectively, and hydrogel carrying miR-328a-3p-containing sEVs efficiently repaires bone defects in rats. Importantly, increased fibronectin expression on sEVs surface contributes to targeting of osteoprogenitors in bone by TBI sEVs, thereby implying that modification of the sEVs surface fibronectin could be used in bone-targeted drug delivery. Together, our work unveils a role of central regulation in bone formation and a clear link between injured neurons and osteogenitors, both in animals and clinical settings.

Summary Although protein kinase D3 (PKD3) has been shown to contribute to prostate cancer cell growth and survival, the role of PKD in prostate cancer cell motility remains unclear. Here, we show that PKD2 and PKD3 promote nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) expression/activation, which are crucial for prostate cancer cell invasion. Silencing of endogenous PKD2 and/or PKD3 markedly decreased prostate cancer cell migration and invasion, reduced uPA and uPA receptor (uPAR) expression and increased plasminogen activator inhibitor-2 (PAI-2) expression. These results were further substantiated by the finding that PKD2 and PKD3 promoted the activity of uPA and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9). Furthermore, depletion of PKD2 and/or PKD3 decreased the level of binding of the p65 subunit of NF-κB to the promoter of the gene encoding uPA (PLAU), suppressing transcriptional activation of uPA. Endogenous PKD2 and PKD3 interacted with inhibitor of NF-κB (IκB) kinase β (IKKβ); PKD2 mainly regulated the phosphorylated IKK (pIKK)-phosphorylated IκB (pIκB)-IκB degradation cascade, p65 nuclear translocation, and phosphorylation of Ser276 on p65, whereas PKD3 was responsible for the phosphorylation of Ser536 on p65. Conversely, inhibition of uPA transactivation by PKD3 silencing was rescued by constitutive Ser536 p65 phosphorylation, and reduced tumor cell invasion resulting from PKD2 or PKD3 silencing was rescued by ectopic expression of p65. Interestingly, PKD3 interacted with histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1), suppressing HDAC1 expression and decreasing its binding to the uPA promoter. Moreover, depletion of HDAC1 resulted in recovery of uPA transactivation in PKD3-knockdown cells. Taken together, these data suggest that PKD2 and PKD3 coordinate to promote prostate cancer cell invasion through p65 NF-κB- and HDAC1-mediated expression and activation of uPA.

The evolutionarily conserved mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) forms two functionally distinct complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2. mTORC1, consisting of mTOR, raptor, and mLST8 (GβL), is sensitive to rapamycin and thought to control autonomous cell growth in response to nutrient availability and growth factors. mTORC2, containing the core components mTOR, mLST8, Rictor, mSIN1, and Protor1/2 is largely insensitive to rapamycin. mTORC2 specifically senses growth factors and regulates cell proliferation, metabolism, actin rearrangement, and survival. Dysregulation of mTOR signaling often occurs in a variety of human malignant diseases, rendering it a crucial and validated target in cancer treatment. However, the effectiveness of rapamycin as single-agent therapy is suppressed, in part, by the numerous strong mTORC1-dependent negative feedback loops. Although preclinical and clinical studies of ATP-competitive mTOR inhibitors that target both mTORC1 and mTORC2 have shown greater effectiveness than rapalogs for cancer treatment, the mTORC1 inhibition-induced negative feedback activation of PI3- K/PDK1 and Akt (Thr308) may be sufficient to promote cell survival. Recent cancer biology studies indicated that mTORC2 is a promising target, since its activity is essential for the development of a number of cancers. These studies provide a rationale for developing inhibitors specifically targeting mTORC2, which do not perturb the mTORC1- dependent negative feedback loops and have a more acceptable therapeutic window. This review summarizes the present understanding of mTORC2 signaling and functions, especially tumorigenic functions, highlighting the current status and future perspectives for targeting mTORC2 in cancer treatment.