Chk1 targeting in medulloblastoma cells

Accepted Manuscript Multiple DNA damage-dependent and DNA damage-independent stress responses define the outcome of ATR/Chk1 targeting in medulloblastoma cells Katharina Krüger, Katharina Geist, Fabian Stuhldreier, Lena Schumacher, Lena Blümel, Marc Remke, Sebastian Wesselborg, Björn Stork, Nicolaj Klöcker, Stefanie Bormann, Wynand P. Roos, Sebastian Honnen, Gerhard Fritz PII:

S0304-3835(18)30336-7

DOI:

10.1016/j.canlet.2018.05.011

Reference:

CAN 13895

To appear in:

Cancer Letters

Received Date: 21 December 2017 Revised Date:

3 May 2018

Accepted Date: 8 May 2018

Please cite this article as: K. Krüger, K. Geist, F. Stuhldreier, L. Schumacher, L. Blümel, M. Remke, S. Wesselborg, B. Stork, N. Klöcker, S. Bormann, W.P. Roos, S. Honnen, G. Fritz, Multiple DNA damagedependent and DNA damage-independent stress responses define the outcome of ATR/Chk1 targeting in medulloblastoma cells, Cancer Letters (2018), doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2018.05.011. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Abstract Targeting of oncogene-driven replicative stress as therapeutic option for high-risk medullobastoma was assessed using a panel of medulloblastoma cells differing in their cMyc expression [i.e. group SHH (c-Myc low) vs. group 3 (c-Myc high)]. High c-Myc levels were associated with hypersensitivity to pharmacological Chk1 and ATR inhibition but not to CDK inhibition nor to conventional (genotoxic) anticancer therapeutics. The enhanced

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sensitivity of group 3 medulloblastoma cells to Chk1 inhibitors likely results from enhanced damage to intracellular organelles, elevated replicative stress and DNA damage and activation of apoptosis/necrosis. Furthermore, Chk1 inhibition differentially affected c-Myc expression and functions. In c-Myc high cells, Chk1 blockage decreased c-Myc and p-

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GSK3α protein and increased p21 and GADD45A mRNA expression. By contrast, c-Myc low cells revealed increased p-GSK3β protein and CHOP and DUSP1 mRNA levels. Inhibition of Chk1 sensitized medulloblastoma cells to additional replication stress evoked by cisplatin

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independent of c-Myc. Importantly, Chk1 inhibition only caused minor toxicity in primary rat neurons in vitro. Collectively, targeting of ATR/Chk1 effectively triggers death in high-risk medulloblastoma, potentiates the anticancer efficacy of cisplatin and is well tolerated in non-

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cancerous neuronal cells.

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Resubmitted to Cancer Letters – CAN-D-18-00006-R2

Multiple DNA damage-dependent and DNA damage-independent stress responses define the outcome of ATR/Chk1 targeting in medulloblastoma cells Katharina Krüger1*, Katharina Geist1*, Fabian Stuhldreier2, Lena Schumacher1, Lena Blümel3, Marc Remke3, Sebastian Wesselborg2, Björn Stork2, Nicolaj Klöcker4, Stefanie Bormann1,

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Wynand P. Roos5, Sebastian Honnen1 and Gerhard Fritz1 1

Institute of Toxicology, 2Institute of Molecular Medicine I, 3Clinic of Pediatric

Oncology/Neuro-Oncology, 4Institute of Neurophysiology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine

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University Düsseldorf, Moorenstrasse 5, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany; 5Institute of

Toxicology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Obere Zahlbacher Str. 67, 55131 Mainz,

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Germany.

* Equal contribution

Corresponding author Gerhard Fritz Institute of Toxicology

Moorenstrasse 5 40225 Düsseldorf Phone: +49-211-8113022

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Fax: +49-211-8113013

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Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

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E-mail: [email protected]

Words in the abstract: 185 Number of figures: 7 Number of tables: 1

Keywords: Checkpoint kinase, DNA damage response, DNA repair, medulloblastoma

Short running title: Stress responses triggered by Chk1 inhibition in medulloblastoma

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Abstract

Targeting of oncogene-driven replicative stress as therapeutic option for high-risk medullobastoma was assessed using a panel of medulloblastoma cells differing in their cMyc expression [i.e. group SHH (c-Myc low) vs. group 3 (c-Myc high)]. High c-Myc levels were associated with hypersensitivity to pharmacological Chk1 and ATR inhibition but not to CDK inhibition nor to conventional (genotoxic) anticancer therapeutics. The enhanced sensitivity of group 3 medulloblastoma cells to Chk1 inhibitors likely results from enhanced

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damage to intracellular organelles, elevated replicative stress and DNA damage and activation of apoptosis/necrosis. Furthermore, Chk1 inhibition differentially affected c-Myc expression and functions. In c-Myc high cells, Chk1 blockage decreased c-Myc and pGSK3α protein and increased p21 and GADD45A mRNA expression. By contrast, c-Myc low

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cells revealed increased p-GSK3β protein and CHOP and DUSP1 mRNA levels. Inhibition of Chk1 sensitized medulloblastoma cells to additional replication stress evoked by cisplatin independent of c-Myc. Importantly, Chk1 inhibition only caused minor toxicity in primary rat

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neurons in vitro. Collectively, targeting of ATR/Chk1 effectively triggers death in high-risk medulloblastoma, potentiates the anticancer efficacy of cisplatin and is well tolerated in non-

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cancerous neuronal cells.

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Highlights

- Group-3 medulloblastoma cells are hypersensitive to Chk1 inhibiton. - Chk1 inhibition damages intracellular organelles and stimulates DDR and apoptosis. - Chk1 inhibition lowers c-Myc levels and affects c-Myc-regulated gene expression. - Inhibition of Chk1 potentiates cisplatin-induced DSBs formation and cytotoxicity. - Chk1 inhibition is well tolerated in primary rat neuronal cells.

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Abbreviations:

5-FU, 5-fluorouracil; 53BP1, p53 binding protein 1; Akt, protein kinase B; ATM, ataxia telangiectasia mutated; ATR, ataxia telangiectasia mutated and Rad3-related; Baf A1, bafilomycin A1; Cdk, cyclin dependent protein kinase; Chk, checkpoint kinase; CisPt,

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cisplatin; DDR, DNA damage response; DSBs, DNA double-strand breaks; GSK-3, glycogen synthase kinase 3; H2AX, histone H2AX; γH2AX, S139 phosphorylated H2AX; KAP1, KRABassociated protein 1; NER, nucleotide excision repair; PARP1, Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase

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type 1; RPA32, replication protein A2; Wee1, nuclear protein tyrosine kinase regulating G2

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checkpoint.

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1. Introduction

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant embryonal pediatric brain tumour [1]. It is grouped on the basis of various clinical parameters into average-risk and high-risk disease [2]. While five-year disease free survival rate of about 80% is achieved in average-risk patients, the prognosis of high-risk patients remains poor [3]. The treatment of children with medulloblastoma is particularly problematic as even the majority of survivors (about 60%) suffer from severe long-term neurologic, endocrinologic and cognitive sequelae resulting

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from radiotherapy and aggressive chemotherapy [4, 5]. Therefore, a major goal for improving medulloblastoma therapy is the implementation of a novel treatment regimen, preferably oncogene-related targeting approaches that favour personalized medicine and, importantly, that pay particular particular attention to the prevention of long-term neurotoxic side effects.

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Cytogenetic studies and comparative genomic hybridization have identified multiple chromosomal aberrations, especially mutations affecting chromosome 17, which are related to disease progression in medulloblastoma [6, 7]. Gene amplification of MYC family

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members, especially the oncogene c-Myc, which code for transcription factors acting as key regulators of cell cycle progression, proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis [8, 9], is associated with a poor outcome of patients suffering from medulloblastoma [10-12].

The conventional (genotoxic) anticancer drug cisplatin (CisPt) is part of the current treatment regimen of medulloblastoma [13] and is known to provoke substantial central and peripheral

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neurotoxicity [14-16]. It forms DNA intrastrand crosslinks (GpG and ApG) [17, 18] that lead to a distortion of the DNA double helix, resulting in transcription and replication blockage [19, 20]. As a consequence of stalled replication forks, DNA single (SSBs) and double-strand breaks (DSBs) may arise as secondary lesions [21]. Both DSBs and stalled replication forks

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are potent activators of the DNA damage response (DDR) [22, 23] and efficiently trigger cell death pathways [24]. The PI3-like kinases ATM and ATR play key roles in the regulation of

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the DDR [25, 26]. They phosphorylate numerous substrates, among others checkpoint kinases (e.g. Chk1, Chk2) and p53. Thereby, the balance of highly complex survival and death-related signalling pathways is affected [27].

Bearing in mind the severe neurotoxic side effects of CisPt-based therapy and its limited therapeutic efficacy in medulloblastoma treatment, alternative therapeutic concepts are required. In view of the growing significance of personalized medicine and related concepts, targeting c-Myc in high-risk medulloblastoma would be ideal but has not been achieved to date. Due to the global transcriptional regulatory role of c-Myc, it has pleiotropic effects on many cellular processes [28, 29]. For instance, c-Myc regulates DNA replication by controlling the expression of genes involved in S-phase entry and progression such as cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs), cyclins and CDK inhibitors [30-35]. In addition, it ensures the

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cell´s supply of metabolites required for DNA replication by regulating genes involved in purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis [36]. Overexpression of oncogenes such as c-Myc or Ras is known to evoke replicative stress [8, 37, 38], especially during the early stages of tumorigenesis [39]. Correspondingly, their overexpression is associated with the activation of the DDR [39-42]. Intriguingly, while c-Myc activation can cause robust replicative stress, cMyc also controls pathways that limit the extent of replicative stress in order to avoid detrimental genetic instability and to ensure efficient proliferation [30]. Recently, it was shown

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that the activation of the DDR is able to function as a tumour suppressor mechanism and can counteract cancer progression [43, 44]. One mechanism that is of particular relevance in this context is the ATR/Chk1 pathway, which becomes activated by single-stranded DNA arising from stalled replication forks caused by replication stress or as an intermediate of DNA repair

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processes [45, 46]. By stimulating the ATR/Chk1 pathway, c-Myc is believed to promote the stability and tolerance of stalled replication fork [8]. Since ATR counteracts DNA damage resulting from replicative stress [39, 47], its therapeutic targeting is considered as a feasible

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anticancer strategy for c-Myc oncogene addicted tumors [38]. Indeed, pharmacological inhibition of Chk1 stimulated apoptosis in B-cell lymphomas, pancreatic tumour cells and neuroblastoma cells overexpressing Myc [38, 48-51]. Moreover, ATR is known to be relevant for medulloblastoma formation [52] and inhibition of ATR triggers DNA damage and cell death in medulloblastoma [53].

we

comparatively

investigated

the

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Here,

stress

responses

of

well-established

medulloblastoma group sonic hedgehog (SHH; low c-Myc expression) and medulloblastoma group 3 cells (high c-Myc expression) [54] following treatment with pharmacological inhibitors of ATR/Chk1-regulated signalling pathways. Moreover, we investigated putative modulatory

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effects of low non-toxic doses of the Chk1 inhibitor on CisPt-triggered stress responses. Last but not least, adverse (neuro)toxic effects that might result from the pharmacological

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inhibition of Chk1-regulated pathways were investigated using non-malignant primary neuronal cells in vitro and C. elegans in vivo.

2. Materials and Methods

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2.1. Materials UW228-2 and HD-MB03 medulloblastoma cells were purchased from the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Culture (DSMZ) (Braunschweig, Germany). Cisplatin (CisPt) was obtained from the pharmaceutical department of the University Hospital Düsseldorf and originates from TEVA (Ulm, Germany). The following antibodies were used: antibodies detecting Ser139 phosphorylated histone H2AX (γH2AX), (Millipore (Billerica, MA, USA)),

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ERK2, p-JNK, PARP-1 (Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA, USA)), LC3B, 53BP1, pp53, p-Chk1, p-p38, p-ATR, p-GSK3, p70S6K, GAPDH, Talin-1 (Cell Signaling (Denvers, MA, USA)), p-Chk2, p-ATM (Abcam (Cambridge, UK)), MAP2, β-actin, vinculin (Sigma Aldrich Life Science (Darmstadt, Germany)) p-RPA32 and p-KAP1 (Bethyl Laboratories

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(Montgomery, AL, USA)), caspase-7 (Becton Dickinson (Heidelberg, Germany)), caspase-3 (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, USA), Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP1) (Enzo Life Science (Lörrach, Germany)). The fluorescent antibodies Alexa Flour 488 and 546 were

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obtained from Life Technologies (Carlsbad, CA, USA). Horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibodies were purchased from Rockland (Gilbertsville, PA, USA). The ATM/ATR inhibitor VE-822 and the Wee1 kinase inhibitor MK-1775 were obtained from Selleckchem (Munich, Germany), lovastatin, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor roscovitine, the pan (i.e. Chk1 and Chk2) checkpoint kinase (Chk) inhibitor AZD-7762, the pan-caspase inhibitor N-(2Quinolyl)-L-valyl-L-aspartyl-(2,6-difluorophenoxy)

methylketone

(QVD),

the

autophagy

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inhibitor bafilomycin A1 (Baf A1), the broad-specificity kinase inhibitor staurosporine (STS), the c-Myc inhibitor 10058-F4 and 5-FU were from Sigma Aldrich Life Science (Darmstadt, Germany), the Rad51 inhibitor RI-1 from Calbiochem (San Diego, CA, United States), the Chk1-specific inhibitor LY2603618, DNA ligase IV inhibitor SCR7 were from Apexbio

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(Houston, TX, USA). c-Myc antibody and rapamycin were from Thermo Fischer Scientific (Oberhausen, Germany). The profluorescent caspase-3 substrate Ac-DEVD-AMC was

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obtained from Biomol (Hamburg, Germany). 2.2. Cell culture

UW228-2 cells were grown in DMEM (Sigma (Steinheim, Germany)), while HD-MB03 cells were cultured in RPMI (Sigma (Steinheim, Germany)), both containing 10% of fetal calf serum (FCS) (PAA Laboratories (Cölbe, Germany)) and 1% penicillin/streptomycin (Sigma (Steinheim, Germany)). Unless stated otherwise, treatment of logarithmically growing cells was performed 24 h after seeding. Hippocampal neurons were isolated from rat embryos (E18) from pregnant Wistar rats (Janvier, France). After dissection, single hippocampal cells were obtained following tryptic digestion (0.05% Trypsin in PBS, 37oC, 10 min). The hippocampal cells were cultured on coverslips coated with Poly-D-Lysin in borate-buffer (pH 8.4) with equilibrated Neurobasal medium (Life Technologies (Carlsbad, CA, USA))

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containing 5% of fetal calf serum (FCS) (Biochrom (Berlin, Germany)). Experiments were performed after 14 days of culture. Glial cells were isolated from the cortices of the same rat and were cultured in DMEM + Glutamax (Life Technologies (Carlsbad, CA, USA)) containing 10% of horse serum (Life Technologies (Carlsbad, CA, USA)). Downregulation of Chk1 by siRNA Apart from pharmacological inhibition of Chk1, genetic downregulation of Chk1 was achieved

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by siRNA-based approach. Cells were transiently transfected by lipofection using four individual siRNAs (each 20 pmol), which target different sequences in the Chk1 RNA (GeneSolution siRNA, Quiagen, Hilden (Cat. No. 1027416)). Two days after transfection, the

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viability of the cells was analyzed using the Alamar blue assay as described before. 2.3. Analysis of cell cycle distribution and proliferation

Cell cycle distribution was analysed by flow cytometry. Adherent cells were trypsinized and

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combined with the non-attached cells in the medium. Following centrifugation (800xg, 5 min, RT), cells were fixed with ice-cold ethanol (-20 °C, ≥ 20 min). After centrifugation (800xg, 5 min, 4°C) and RNase A digestion (1 µg/µl, 1 h at RT) propidium iodide (Sigma (Steinheim, Germany)) was added and cells were subjected to flow cytometric analysis (Becton Dickinson (Heidelberg, Germany)). Cells containing sub-diploid amounts of DNA (subG1) were considered as apoptotic. To analyse the influence of drug treatments on S-phases, the

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incorporation of 5-Ethynyl-2´-deoxyuridine (EdU) was measured using the “EdU-Click 488” Kit (PANATecs GmbH (Heilbronn, Germany)). After an EdU pulse (30 min after CisPt treatment or 2 h during AZD-7762 treatment), cells were fixed and the percentage of EdU

microscope).

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positive cells were quantified by fluorescence microscopy (Olympus BX43 fluorescence

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2.4. Determination of cell viability and cytotoxicity In general, cell viability was determined using the Alamar blue assay [55], which reflects mitochondrial activity. Viable cells are characterized by effective mitochondrial metabolization of the non-fluorescent dye resazurin (Sigma, Steinheim, Germany) to fluorescent resorufin (excitation: 535 nm, emission: 590 nm, 5 flashes, integration time: 20 µs). Relative viability in the untreated controls was set to 100%. In addition, the Neutral red assay, which measures the integrity of lysosomal membranes, was also used. To this end, cells were incubated with a neutral red solution (0.01% of neutral red) in an atmosphere containing 5% CO2 for 90 minutes, then fixed with a solution of 1% formaldehyde / 1% calcium chloride. Neutral red taken up by the cells was extracted (50% ethanol/1% of acetic acid., 15 min, RT) and absorbance (540 nm) was measured. Moreover, the release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) from cells into the supernatant, which occurs upon leakage of the outer cell membrane in the

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course of necrosis, was used to determine cytotoxicity. To this end, the Cytotoxicity Detection Kit (Hoffmann-La Roche (Basel, Switzerland)) was used according to the manufacturer´s protocol. The absorbance (490-520 nm) is indicative of the amount of LDH. 2.5. Analysis of activation of caspases, apoptosis and necrosis Caspase-3 activity, which is a hallmark of apoptotic death, was analysed by measuring the cleavage of the fluorescent caspase-3 substrate N-acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-aminomethyl(Ac-DEVD-AMC)

as

previously

described

[56].

The

release

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coumarin

of

aminomethylcoumarin was measured at 37°C for 150 min using a pre-heated multiplate reader (Synergy Mx, BioTek) (Ex 360 nm, Em 450 nm). Data points shown are the mean ± SD of triplicates. Values are normalized to DMSO (0.1% v/v) treated cells (100%). Moreover,

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apoptosis was detected by analysing the cleavage of PARP protein and pro-caspase-3 and 7 by Western blot analysis. In addition, cell death was analysed by flowcytometric measurement of propidium iodide uptake. Here, the kinase inhibitor staurosporine (2.5 µM,

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STS) was used as positive control to trigger apoptotic cell death. To discriminate between apoptotic and necrotic cells an additional co-treatment with the pan-caspase inhibitor QVD was performed. After the incubation period, cells were incubated with 50 mg/ml propidium iodide in phosphate buffered saline for at least 30 min and uptake of propidium iodide by cells with compromised membrane integrity were determined by flow cytometry.

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2.6. Analysis of mitochondrial function and autophagy Uptake of the fluorescent dye into mitochondria was determined by flow cytometry-based analysis using the MitoGreen green-fluorescent mitochondrial dye Kit (PromoKine, Heidelberg, Germany). In addition, cleavage of the mitochondrial fusion protein OPA-1 and

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conversion of LC3 protein, a marker of autophagosomes, were analysed by Western blot. For control, cotreatment with bafilomycin A1, which is an inhibitor of the lysosomal proton

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pump and thereby blocks fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes, was performed.

2.7. Analysis of DNA damage induction and repair To analyse the formation of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) the level of S139 phosphorylated H2AX (γH2AX), which is a surrogate marker of DNA damage [57, 58], was assayed by western blot or by immunocytochemistry-based analysis of nuclear γH2AX foci. Furthermore, the number of nuclear 53BP1 foci, which is another marker of DSBs, was determined by immunocytochemistry. To this end, cells were fixed with 4% formaldehyde in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) (MERCK, Darmstadt, Germany) (15 min, RT) followed by incubation with ice-cold methanol (≥ 20 min, -20°C). After blocking (1 h, RT; blocking solution: 5% BSA (MERCK, Darmstadt, Germany) in PBS/0.3% Triton X-100 (Sigma, Steinheim, Germany)), incubation with γH2AX antibody and 53BP1 antibody was performed

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(1:500, over night, 4°C). After incubation with the secondary fluorescence-labelled antibody (1:500, 1 h, RT, in the dark), cells were mounted in Vectashield (Vector Laboratories (Burlingame, CA, USA)) containing DAPI. Nuclear γH2AX and 53BP1 foci were scored microscopically (Olympus BX43 fluorescence microscope) and the number of colocalized nuclear γH2AX and 53BP1 foci was determined. The decrease in the number of nuclear

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γH2AX/53BP1 foci over time is indicative of DSB repair. 2.8. Western blot analysis

The activation of the DDR as well as the activation of caspases were investigated by Western blot analysis. To this end total cell extracts were obtained by lysing an equal number of cells in Roti®-Load buffer (Carl Roth GmbH (Karlsruhe, Germany)) (5 min, RT).

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After sonication (EpiShear™ Probe sonicator, Active Motif, La Hulpe, Belgium) proteins were denatured by heating (5 min, 95°C) and separated by SDS-PAGE (6% or 12.5% gel). Proteins were transferred onto a nitrocellulose membrane (GE Healthcare, Little Chalfont,

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UK) via the Protean Mini Cell System (BioRad (München, Germany)). The membrane was blocked with 5% non-fat milk in TBS/0.1% Tween 20 (MERCK, Darmstadt, Germany) (2 h, RT) and incubated with the corresponding primary antibody (1:1000, over night, 4°C). After washing with TBS/0.1% Tween 20 the secondary (peroxidase-conjugated) antibody was added (1:2000, 2 h, RT). For visualization of the bound antibodies the Fusion FX7 imaging system (PeqLab, Erlangen, Germany) was used. Alternatively, IRDye800-conjugated

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secondary antibodies (LI-COR Biosciences #926-32210/11) were used and bands were visualized with an infrared imaging system.

2.9. Quantitative real-time PCR-based mRNA expression analyses

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Total RNA was purified using the RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). The reverse transcriptase (RT) reaction was performed by use of the OmniScript Kit (Qiagen) with 2 µg of

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mRNA. For each PCR reaction 40 ng of cDNA and 0.25 µM of the corresponding primers (Eurofins MWG Synthesis GmbH, Ebersberg, Germany) were used. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis was performed in triplicates employing the QPCR-SYBR Green Fluorescein Mix (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dreieich, Germany) and a CFX96 Real-Time System (BioRad, Munich, Germany) with the Bio-Rad CFX Manager 3.1 software. PCR runs (35-40 cycles) were done as follows: 95°C - 10 min; 95°C -15 s; 60°C - 30 s; 72°C - 40 s; 72°C - 10 min. Following the PCR reactions, melting curves were analysed to ensure the specificity of the amplification reaction. mRNA levels of β-actin and GAPDH were used for normalization. Unless stated otherwise, relative mRNA expression of untreated cells was set to 1.0.

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Apoptotic germ cell corpses are visualized via CED-1::GFP (MD701 bcIs39 [lim-7p::ced1::GFP + lin-15(+)]), which accumulates around apoptotic cells during engulfment [59]. The number of apoptotic germ cell corpse in the gonads (anterior or posterior) was counted in at least 10 nematodes per condition in anaesthetized (25 mM sodium azide) individuals using a BX43 fluorescence microscope (Olympus). Cisplatin (100 µM) was used as a positive control to induce apoptotic germ cell corpse. To determine developmental timing, the N2 (Variation

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Bristol) strain was used. More than 40 embryos at the same developmental stage were used per experimental group. The developmental stage of all individuals was determined using a binocular microscope (Zeiss, Stemi 2000) 24 h, 48 h and 72 h after drug treatment. Data

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shown were obtained from three independent experiments. 2.12. Statistical analysis

For statistical analysis the unpaired two-tailed Student's t-test, One-way or Two-way ANOVA

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with Bonferroni’s post-hoc test were applied using GraphPad Prism 5.01 software. p-values ≤ 0.05 were considered as significant and were marked with an asterisk. Statistical analyses were performed between treated vs. corresponding untreated control cells as well as

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between different treatment groups.

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3. Results

3.1 Sensitivity of medulloblastoma cells to pharmacological inhibition of replicative stress responses regulated by checkpoint kinases High-risk therapy resistant medulloblastomas are characterised by high expression levels of the oncogene c-Myc [54]. As c-Myc promotes replicative stress, the role of the intra-S-phase checkpoint regulatory kinases Chk1 and ATR for the tolerance of c-Myc-mediated replication stress was investigated. To this end, several medulloblastoma group SHH cells (UW228-2,

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ONS76 and DAOY), which are reported to express low levels of c-Myc, were compared with a panel of medulloblastoma group 3 cells (HD-MB03, D283 and Med8A) expressing high levels of c-Myc [54, 60] as to their response to the Chk1 inhibitor AZD-7762. The anticipated differences in c-Myc protein and mRNA expression levels between SHH and group 3

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medulloblastoma cell lines were confirmed by Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR (see figure 1A for UW228-2 and HD-MB03 and supplementary figure S1A for DAOY, ONS76, Med8A and D283). All group 3 medulloblastoma cells expressing high levels of c-Myc

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revealed enhanced sensitivity to the Chk1 inhibitor AZD-7762 as compared to SHH group cells (Fig. 1B for UW228-2 and HD-MB03; supplementary Fig. S1B for DAOY, ONS76, Med8A and D283). Substantially higher sensitivity of HD-MB03 cells was also observed when cellular viability, as reflected by mitochondrial activity, was analysed at earlier time points (i.e. 24 h and 48 h) (supplementary Table 1). In order to verify that the hypersensitivity of group 3 medulloblastoma cells to the Chk1 inhibitor AZD-7762 is really due to Chk1

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inhibition and not due to unknown off-target effects of the inhibitor, UW228-2 and HD-MB03 were exposed to a second type of Chk1 inhibitor (i.e. LY-2603618 (Prexasertib)). Again, HDMB03 cells expressing high c-Myc levels revealed higher sensitivity to LY-2603618 than UW228-2 cells (Table 1). Moreover, genetic targeting of Chk1 using four different siRNAs

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again revealed a significantly higher sensitivity of HD-MB03 cells (Fig. 1C). Hence, both pharmacological and genetic inhibition of Chk1 consistantly caused preferential toxicity in

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high c-Myc medulloblastoma cells. As Chk1 activation is dependent of ATR, we next tested whether also inhibition of ATR using the inhibitor VE-822 causes preferential cytotoxicity in the c-Myc overexpressing medulloblastoma cells. This was in fact the case as HD-MB03 cells were significantly more sensitive to ATR inhibition than UW228-2 cells (Table 1). These findings point to a pro-survival role of ATR/Chk1 signalling especially under situation of high expression c-Myc.

Signalling from ATR, and likely Chk1, stimulate the bypass and the repair of replication blocking DNA lesions. In an effort to determine whether c-Myc overexpressing medulloblastoma cells rely on DSB repair by homologous recombination (HR) or nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) for tolerating c-Myc-mediated replication stress, UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were exposed to the Rad51 (a component of HR) inhibitor RI-1 and the

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DNA ligase IV (a component of NHEJ) inhibitor SCR7 (Table 1). Both inhibitors were shown to attenuate the repair of IR-induced DSBs as analyzed on the level of nuclear γH2AX foci (data not shown). No significant differences in the sensitivity of both cell lines following inhibition of HR and NHEJ were detected (Table 1). To gain further support for the hypothesis that c-Myc overexpression cells do not require enhanced DSB repair activity for survival, the two medulloblastoma cell lines were exposed to DNA damaging agents that induce DNA lesions which require HR and NHEJ for effective repair. Measuring loss of cell

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viability following treatment with CisPt or ionizing radiation (IR), which are part of the conventional treatment regimen used for medulloblastoma therapy, we found no significant differences between the two medulloblastoma cell lines (Fig. 1D and 1E). Because antimetabolites are considered as prototypical inducers of replicative stress responses in a

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DNA lesion-independent manner [61, 62], we additionally investigated the cell’s response to the pyrimidine analogue 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Again, the medulloblastoma cell lines did not

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differ from each other regarding their sensitivity to the antimetabolite 5-FU (Fig. 1F).

In order to determine whether the tolerance of c-Myc overexpression in group 3 medulloblastoma cells might be dependent of the cell cycle regulatory kinases Wee-1 kinase and CDKs or oncogenic Ras, the following experiments were performed. UW228-2 and HDMB03 cells were exposed to the Wee-1 kinase inhibitor MK-1775 and the CDKs inhibitor roscovitine and cell viability was quantified (Table 1). As concluded from the IC50, HD-MB03

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cells were cross-sensitive to MK-1775. By contrast, a significant difference in the sensitivity to roscovitine was not observed (Table 1). HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) are reported to trigger cell death in different types of tumour cells [63, 64], including cells harbouring oncogenic Ras [65, 66]. HD-MB03 medulloblastoma cells revealed higher

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sensitivity to lovastatin as concluded from the significantly lower IC50 value (Table 1). Collectively, the data show that medulloblastoma group 3 cells that express high levels of c-

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Myc require ATR/Chk1 signalling for their survival and are slightly cross-sensitive to MK1775 and lovastatin.

3.2 Influence of Chk1 inhibition on apoptotic cell death In an effort to determine whether Chk1 inhibition leads to the activation of cell death by the apoptosis pathway, the following experiments were performed. Measuring the activation of caspases, we found a significantly higher stimulation of caspase activity in HD-MB03 cells following treatment with low AZD-7762 concentration (0.5 µM) as compared to UW288-2 cells (Fig. 2A). In line with this data, a substantial increase in the cleavage of PARP-1 as well as of pro-caspase-3 and pro-caspase-7, as indicated by the presence of their cleaved forms, was detectable in HD-MB03 cells (Fig. 2B). The amount of necrotic cells, which was analyzed by measuring the uptake of propidium iodide (PI) in the absence and presence of

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the pan-caspase inhibitor QVD, was significantly higher in both untreated and AZD-treated HD-MB03 cells as compared to UW228-2 cells (Fig. 2C). Measuring the integrity of the outer cell membrane by employing the LDH release assay, no significant AZD-7762-induced leakage of the cell membrane was found, neither in HD-MB03 nor in UW228-2 cells (Fig. 2D). These findings support the view that cytotoxicity of AZD-7762 is largely independent of the induction of outer-membrane leakage. Of note, however, the integrity of the lysosomal membrane was preferentially damaged in HD-MB03 cells following AZD-7762 treatment, as

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demonstrated by the neutral red assay (Fig. 2E). Collectively, these data show that Chk1 inhibition by AZD-7762 effectively triggers apoptosis and necrosis and damages intracellular membranes in high c-Myc expressing medulloblastoma cells. Cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry revealed a significant increase in SubG1 phase cells if HD-MB03 cells were

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treated with low dose (0.5 µM) of AZD-7762, whereas UW228-2 cells required higher AZD7762 concentrations (2.0 µM) to stimulate a significant response (Fig. 2F, lower part). This data further support the hypothesis of a preferential activation of apoptotic mechanisms in

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HD-MB03 cells by AZD-7762 treatment. Noteworthy, inhibition of Chk1 also caused the accumulation of HD-MB03 cells in S-phase, which was not observed in UW228-2 cells (Fig. 2F, upper part).

3.3 Influence of AZD-7762 on mechanisms of the DDR

HD-MB03 cells revealed a stronger activation of DDR mechanisms following treatment with

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low AZD-7762 doses (0.5 µM) than UW228-2 cells, as reflected on the protein levels of phosphorylated ATM, p53, γH2AX, Chk1 and RPA32 measured both 2 h and 24 h after drug exposure (Fig. 3A). The enhanced stimulation of replicative-stress associated DDR factors, in particular Chk1 and RPA32, in HD-MB03 cells following AZD-7762 treatment is in line with

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a more pronounced S-phase arrest occurring in these cells (see Fig. 2F). There was a significant increase in the percentage of γH2AX positive cells detectable in both HD-MB03

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(Fig. 3B) and UW228-2 cells (Fig. 3C) 24 h after high-dose AZD-7762 treatment. However, using low doses of AZD-7762, only HD-MB03 cells revealed a significant increase in the percentage of γH2AX positive cells (Fig. 3B and 3C). Measuring the number of γH2AX foci per nucleus, a statistically significant increase was detectable in HD-MB03 and UW228-2 cells 2 h after low dose and 24 h after high dose AZD treatment, respectively (supplementary Fig. S2A, S2B). The percentage of γH2AX pan-stained cells was substantially higher in AZD-treated HD-MB03 cells as compared to UW228-2 cells, indicating extensive DNA damage (supplementary Fig. S2C). Increased γH2AX pan staining was also reported following UV-exposure and was suggested to be independent of DSBs [67, 68].

Within 2 h of treatment, AZD-7762 did not affect the incorporation of EdU in both cell lines (supplementary Fig. S3). This indicates that the overall replicative activity of the cells was not

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majorly hampered upon Chk1 inhibition. The percentage of γH2AX positive cells within the EdU-labelled S-phase population remained unchanged by AZD-7762 treatment in UW228-2 cells (Fig. 3D) and was tendentially, yet statistically not significantly, increased in HD-MB03 cells (Fig. 3E). Measuring the mean γH2AX fluorescence of untreated S-phase population by flow cytometry, HD-MB03 cells did not reveal significantly higher levels under basal situation (data not shown). Yet, following low dose AZD-7762 treatment (i.e. 0.5 µM), HD-MB03 cells

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showed a significantly stronger increase in γH2AX fluorescence intensity as compared to UW228-2 cells (Fig. 3F). The opposite was found when high AZD concentration was used (Fig. 3F). Similar effects were observed when the mean γH2AX fluorescence of G2/M phase cells was examined (data not shown). The data indicate that low dose treatment with Chk1 inhibitor results in a preferential induction of DNA damage in high c-Myc expressing HD-

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MB03 medulloblastoma cells, leading to impaired viability and enhanced apoptotic/necrotic

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death.

3.4. Influence of AZD-7762 on mechanisms of autophagy and mitochondrial function Next we tested whether AZD-7762 hypersensitive HD-MB03 cells are cross-sensitive to pharmacological inhibitors of autophagy. Inhibition of the late phase of autophagy using the vacuolar-type H+-ATPase inhibitor bafilomycin A1 (Baf A1) indeed showed a preferential sensitivity of HD-MB03 cells to this drug (Fig. 4A). By contrast, targeting of mTOR kinase, which is an inhibitory player in the regulation of autophagy, by rapamycin, had no significant

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effect on the viability of both medulloblastoma cell lines (Fig. 4B). Baf A1 increased the levels of phosphatidylethanolamin-conjugated LC3B (LC3B-II), which is known to be recruited to autophagosomal membranes, in both UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells (Fig. 4C). This finding shows that both groups of medulloblastoma cells are able to activate autophagic processes.

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The levels of LC3B-II remained largely unchanged in HD-MB03 and UW228-2 cells following co-treatment with AZD-7762 (Fig. 4C), indicating that late autophagic processes are not

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majorly targeted by AZD-7762. Hence, we assume that the differential sensitivity of UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells to Baf A1 (see Fig. 4A) is likely related to mechanisms others than autophagy.

Regarding mitochondria, AZD-7762 causes a significant increase in p-AMPKα levels at early time point (i.e. 2 h) only in HD-MB03 cells, although a tendential increase in the mean was also found in UW228-2 cells (Fig. 4D). After 24 h of treatment, a further significant elevation of p-AMPKα protein levels was observed in low dose AZD-treated HD-MB03 cells (Fig. 4D), while UW2282 cells only showed a tendential increase of the mean (Fig. 4D). In addition, low dose of the Chk1 inhibitor (i.e. 0.5 µM) promoted the cleavage of the mitochondrial fusion protein OPA-1 in HD-MB03 cells at late time point (i.e. 24 h) (Fig. 4E). Using high dose of AZD-7762, HD-MB03 and UW228-2 cells revealed similar OPA-1 cleavage (Fig. 4D). In

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addition, the mitochondrial mass of both medulloblastoma cells was significantly elevated following AZD-7762 treatment (Fig. 4F). However, this increase was significantly stronger in HD-MB03 cells (Fig. 4E). Summarizing, this data together with the data obtained from the analysis of lysosomal membrane integrity (Fig. 2E) indicate that AZD-7762 disturbs vacuolar and mitochondrial homeostasis especially in c-Myc overexpressing medulloblastoma cells.

3.5. Impact of AZD-7762 on Myc protein stability and Myc-regulated gene expression

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Since c-Myc protein stability is regulated by proteasomal degradation involving GSK-3 [69, 70], we analysed the c-Myc protein level and the phosphorylation status of GSK-3 following AZD-7762 treatment. Upon inhibition of Chk1 a substantial decrease in c-Myc protein level in c-Myc overexpressing HD-MB03 cells was observed (Fig. 5A). The basal level of activated

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GSK-3 (p-GSK-3α and p-GSK-3β) was higher in UW228-2 cells as compared to HD-MB03 cells (Fig. 5B). This is in line with the fact that GSK-3-mediated phosphorylation of c-Myc promotes its degradation [69]. Interestingly however, while AZD-7762 treatment triggered a

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decrease in the level of phosphorylated p-GSK-3α in both medulloblastoma cell lines (Fig. 5B), it increased p-GSK-3β level in UW228-2 cells only (Fig. 5B). AZD-7762 did not affect the phosphorylation status of Akt kinase, which is known to inhibit GSK-3 [71]. Phosphorylation of p70S6 kinase, which can be regulated in a GSK-3-dependent manner [72], remained unaffected (Fig. 5C). Thus, reduction of p-GSK-3 protein levels resulting from Chk1 inhibition is independent of Akt and does not impact p70S6 kinase. Proteasomal inhibition by MG-132

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resulted in a massive increase in c-Myc protein levels (Fig. 5D), which is in line with what has been reported in literature [73]. Since MG-132 mediated stabilization of c-Myc was not majorly affected by AZD-7762 (Fig. 5D), we hypothesize that the AZD-7762 mediated decrease in basal c-Myc expression in HD-MB03 cells (Fig. 5A) is likely independent of

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accelerated proteasomal degradation.

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In a next step, we investigated the impact of AZD-7762 on the mRNA expression of a subset of genes which are known to be regulated in a c-Myc-dependent manner. The data show that Chk1 inhibition stimulates a large increase in the mRNA expression of CDKN1A (p21) and GADD45A, both of which limit cell proliferation, in HD-MB03 cells (Fig. 5E). The basal mRNA levels of ATF6, ERN1, SIRT4, CCND2, NPM1 and RPL23 were not affected by AZD-7762 (Fig. 5E) despite the observed downregulation of c-Myc protein level (see Fig. 5A). This might be due to the peculiar promotor binding activity of c-Myc, resulting in threshold concentrations of c-Myc regarding its function as transcription regulator [74]. With respect to UW228-2 cells, AZD-7762 selectively stimulated the mRNA expression of the transcription factor CHOP and the dual-specificity phosphatase DUSP1 (Fig. 5E). In conclusion, AZD7762 influences the turnover of c-Myc protein as well as c-Myc regulated gene expression and interferes with GSK-3 signalling. Pharmacological inhibition of c-Myc resulted in a

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stronger loss of viability in HD-MB03 cells as compared to UW228-2 cells (supplementary Fig. S4), supporting the view of oncogene addiction in HD-MB03 cells. The observed crosssensitivity of HD-MB03 cells to inhibition by Chk1- and c-Myc inhibitor further supports the idea that the sensitizing effect of AZD-7762 results from an interference with multiple mechanisms required for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis under the condition of high c-Myc expression.

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3.6. Inhibition of ATR/Chk1 signalling sensitizes medulloblastoma cells to CisPt-induced injury independent of c-Myc status

Having shown that medulloblastoma cells that overexpress c-Myc require ATR/Chk1 mediated signalling for their survival (Fig. 1B and Table 1), we asked the question whether

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Chk1 inhibition can sensitize medulloblastoma cells to conventional (i.e. genotoxic) anticancer therapeutics. To this end, UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were exposed to ionizing radiation or CisPt in the presence or absence of the Chk1 inhibitor AZD-7762. Cell death

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induced by ionizing radiation is independent of S-phase progression while, at low dose, cell death induced by CisPt is dependent on S-phase. With respect to CisPt, Chk1 inhibition sensitized both UW228-2 and HD-MB03 medulloblastoma cells to S-phase dependent cell kill (Fig. 6A). It should be noted that sensitization of HD-MB03 cell to CisPt was achieved at a 10 times lower AZD-7762 dose as compared to UW228 cells. By contrast, UW228-2 and HDMB03 did not differ in their sensitivity to ionizing radiation in the presence of AZD-7762 (data

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not shown), indicating that inhibition of Chk1 does not affect the sensitivity of medulloblastoma cells to DNA lesions triggering death in a S-phase independent manner.

Moreover, Chk1 inhibition with AZD-7762 pre-treatment significantly increased the level of

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DSBs induced by a CisPt pulse-treatment (for 6 h) in both medulloblastoma cell lines as shown on the level of nuclear γH2AX foci (Fig. 6B) and co-localization of γH2AX and 53BP1

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foci (supplementary Fig. S5). Regarding the activation status of the DDR, AZD-7762 preferentially increased the CisPt-stimulated phosphorylation of ATM and Chk1 as well as of RPA32 (Fig. 6C). The data show that pharmacological interference with ATR/Chk1 regulated replicative stress responses potentiates the genotoxic (i.e. DSB inducing) and cytotoxic effects of CisPt in medulloblastoma cells and that such potentiation is achieved by a 10 times lower AZD-7762 concentration in c-Myc overexpressing cells.

3.7 Effect of Chk1 inhibition on the viability of normal neuronal cells The data obtained demonstrate that pharmacological interference with ATR/Chk1-regulated replicative stress responses preferentially triggers multiple death-related pathways in medulloblastoma cells expressing high c-Myc protein levels and sensitizes medulloblastoma cells to CisPt. Aiming to exploit the sensitivity of medulloblastoma cells to Chk1 inhibitors in

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order to improve anticancer therapy, adverse effects of Chk1 targeting drugs on normal tissue should be excluded. Therefore, we investigated the influence of Chk1 inhibition on the viability of normal cells, employing primary neurons and glia cells isolated from rat embryos. As concluded from the expression of the neuron-specific marker MAP2, 75 % of the cells isolated were neurones (Fig. 7A). These primary rat neurons did not show a substantial toxic response after treatment with AZD-7762 doses of up to 5 µM for 72 h, while glial cells revealed moderate sensitivity at the highest concentration of AZD-7762 (Fig. 7B). Thus,

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normal rat brain cells are characterized by about 15-150-fold higher resistance to AZD-7762 (as concluded from the IC50 values) than human medulloblastoma cells. Moreover, pretreatment of neuronal cells with AZD-7762 did not increase their CisPt sensitivity (Fig. 7C). These findings argue for a reasonable therapeutic window of Chk inhibitors if used as mono-

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therapeutic or in combination with CisPt, at least regarding neurotoxicity. To further assess potential cytotoxic and genotoxic outcomes that might result from pharmacological targeting of Chk1, we employed the nematode C. elegans, which is an established model in

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neurobiology [75], genetic toxicology, including DNA repair and DNA damage response [7678] and toxicology in general [79]. We would like to point out that these experiments were performed merely to assess possible cytotoxic/genotoxic effects of the Chk1 inhibitor. The results obtained cannot be interpreted with regard to safety assessments in mammalian hosts. We found no substantial embryonal lethality of the drug in the worm (supplementary Fig. S6A), indicating that the compound does not exhibit distinct developmental toxicity in the

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nematode. Furthermore, we analysed fertility by monitoring the frequency of apoptotic death in the ovaries of the worm. The data obtained show that AZD-7762 causes a slight increase

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in apoptosis in the nematode if used at a concentration of ≥ 2 µM (supplementary Fig. S6B).

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4. Discussion

High-risk therapy resistant medulloblastomas are characterised by the expression of the oncogene c-Myc at high levels [54]. c-Myc is a key player in promoting cellular proliferation and DNA replication, leading to increased replication stress. On the other hand, c-Myc can also counterbalance replicative stress [30]. Here, the role of Chk1 and ATR in tolerating cMyc-mediated replication stress was addressed by comparative analysis of the stress response of medulloblastoma group SHH cells (UW228-2, ONS76 and DAOY), which

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express low levels of c-Myc, and medulloblastoma group 3 cells (HD-MB03, D283 and Med8A) expressing high levels of c-Myc [54, 60], following pharmacological inhibition of Chk1 by AZD-7762. Since high c-Myc level were found to predict hypersensitivity to pharmacological and genetic inhibition of Chk1, we hypothesize that functional ATR/Chk1

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signalling is essentially required for the maintenance of cell viability and the prevention of cell death caused by c-Myc-related replication stress. Data obtained from extensive analyses of cross-sensitivites to a selected subset of pharmacological inhibitors indicate that the pivotal

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pro-survival role of ATR/Chk1 signaling in medulloblastoma group 3 cells probably does not dependent on DNA repair by HR and NHEJ, nor on differential regulation of CDKs, while interference of ATR/Chk1 signaling with Wee-1 kinase or statin-sensitive pro-survival mechanisms can´t be ruled out. On the molecular level, hypersensitivity of group 3 medulloblastoma cells to Chk1 inhibition is due to enhanced caspase-3 and caspase-7 mediated apoptosis and necrosis as well as damage of mitochondrial and lysosomal

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membranes but not of the outer cell membrane. Extensive analyses of replicative stress responses (e.g. p-RPA32, p-Chk1) by western blot as well as immunohistochemical analysis and flow cytometry-based examination of the DNA damage marker γH2AX indicate that Chk1 inhibition disturbs c-Myc dependent mechanisms that are required for replication fork

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stability. In consequence, DNA damage arises which in turn triggers death pathways. Bearing in mind that c-Myc can be a cause of replicative stress but can also alleviate it [8,

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30], it is feasible that Chk1 inhibition either aggravates c-Myc-mediated replicative stress or mitigates c-Myc-related mechanisms that limit replicative stress.

Intriguingly, Chk1 inhibition caused a large decrease in c-Myc protein level in group 3 medulloblastoma cells, which was paralleled by a substantial reduction in p-GSK-3α protein level. This finding is in line with the fact that GSK-3-mediated phosphorylation of c-Myc is known to promote its degradation [69, 70]. Since Chk1 inhibition did not affect p-Akt and p70S6K levels, we speculate that the influence of Chk1 on the amount of p-GSK-3α protein is independent of Akt [71, 80] and does not affect 70S6K activity [72]. Assuming that HD-MB03 cells rely on high c-Myc levels for growth and survival (i.e. oncogene addiction), AZD-7762 mediated degradation of c-Myc might favour anti-proliferative and death-related mechanism. In line with this hypothesis, Chk1 inhibiton caused a substantial upregulation of the cell cycle

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inhibitory molecules p21 and GADD45 in group 3 medulloblastoma cells but not in SHH group cells. The complex alterations in gene expression observed upon Chk1 inhibition in group 3 versus SHH group medulloblastoma cells are likely attributable to the known threshold concentrations of c-Myc regarding its function as a transcription regulator [74].

In view of the fact that Chk1 expression is reported as an adverse prognostic marker for medulloblastoma [81], the data point to Chk1 inhibitory drugs as novel treatment option for

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high-risk group 3 medulloblastoma. In addition, Chk1 inhibition might also be useful in combination treatments involving cisplatin. Here, non-toxic concentrations of the Chk1 inhibitor AZD-7762 are able to sensitise both group 3 and SHH group medulloblastoma cells to cisplatin. This finding points to a broader usefulness of Chk1 targeting strategies to boost

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the anticancer efficacy of conventional anticancer drugs used for medulloblastoma therapy. ATR-regulated limitation of replicative stress is of outmost relevance for normal development, including neurogenesis, because it ensures genomic integrity [52, 82-84]. Bearing this in

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mind, adverse effects of pharmacological inhibitors of ATR/Chk1 signalling are feasible and, hence, were subject of our analyses as well. Fortunately, Chk1 inhibition revealed only minor toxicity in primary neuronal rat cells in vitro. This finding is indicative of a rationally low neurotoxicity and a broad therapeutic window of Chk1 inhibitory drugs. Of course, this hypothesis requires careful in vivo validation employing appropriate mammalian model systems. Accordingly, forthcoming preclinical in vivo studies employing orthotopic mouse tumour

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models are needed to scrutinize the potency of Chk1 and/or ATR specific inhibitors to (i) trigger a substantial killing response of medulloblastoma cells as a function of their c-Myc status, (ii) potentiate the CisPt-mediated anticancer efficacy towards medulloblastoma cells independent of their c-Myc expression levels and (iii) evoke substantial anticancer activity

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without causing considerable damage to neuronal cell types.

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Acknowledgement

The project was supported by the Duesseldorf School of Oncology (Medical Faculty of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany). We thank Andrea Müller for excellent technical support regarding the isolation of primary rat neuronal cells. C. elegans strains were provided by the CGC, which is funded by NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (P40OD010440).

Conflict of interest statement There are no potential conflicts of interest.

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FIGURES LEGENDS

Figure 1: Differential sensitivity of medulloblastoma cells expressing high or low cMyc levels to the Chk1 inhibitor AZD-7762. A: UW228-2 and HD-MB03 medulloblastoma cells expressing either low or high mRNA and protein levels of c-Myc, respectively. Relative c-myc mRNA expression of UW228-2 cells was set to 1.0. The morphology of the cells is shown on the left-hand side.

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B: Logarithmically growing UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were incubated with different concentrations of the Chk1 inhibitor AZD-7762 for 72 h. Cell viability was measured using the Alamar Blue assay. Results are expressed as viable cells in percent of the untreated control, which was set to 100%. Data shown are the mean ± SD from 3 independent experiments

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each performed in octuplicate. Based on the viability data, IC50 and IC80 were determined. *, p≤0.05; **, p≤0.01 (UW228-2 vs. HD-MB03). Data obtained from analysing viability at earlier time points are shown in supplementary table 1.

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C: Genetic downregulation of Chk1 was performed by transfection of Chk1-specific siRNA, using four individual siRNA probes as described in Methods. 48 h after siRNA transfection (20 pmol), cell viability was determined as described under B. Data shown are the mean ± SD from two independent experiments each performed in quadruplicate. *, p≤0.05; **, p≤0.01.

D-F: Logarithmically growing UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were treated with different

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concentrations of cisplatin (CisPt) (C), ionizing radiation (D) or 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) (E). Cell viability was measured using the Alamar Blue assay 72 h later. Results are expressed as viable cells in percent of the untreated control, which was set to 100%. Data shown are the mean ± SD from 3 independent experiments each performed in quadruplicate (IR) or

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octuplicate (CisPt and 5-FU).

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Figure 2: Influence of Chk inhibition by AZD-7762 on mechanisms of cell death. A: Logarithmically growing UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were incubated with different concentrations of the Chk1 inhibitor AZD-7762 for 24 h. Activation of caspases was determined by caspase assay as described in methods. Results are expressed as DEVDase activity in percent of DMSO treated control, which was set to 100 %. Data shown are the mean ± SD from 3 independent experiments each performed in triplicate. **, p≤0.01; *, p≤0.05 (treated vs. corresponding untreated control; UW228-2 vs. HD-MB03).. Ns, not significant. B: Logarithmically growing UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were incubated with different concentrations of the Chk1 inhibitor AZD-7762. 2 h or 24 h later cleavage of PARP and procaspase-3 (cl-caspase-3) and pro-caspase-7 (cl-caspase-7) was analyzed by western blot. ERK2 expression was used as protein loading control.

C:

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Propidium iodide (PI) uptake was analyzed 24 h after AZD-7762 treatment in the

presence and absence of the pan-caspase inhibitor QVD as described in methods. Data shown are from three independent experiments each performed in triplicate. The upper part of the figure shows the morphology of medulloblastoma cells treated for 24 h with different concentrations of AZD-7762. **, p≤0.01; *p≤0.05 (UW228-2 vs. HD-MB03). D, E: Logarithmically growing human medulloblastoma cells (UW228-2 and HD-MB03) were incubated with different concentrations of the Chk1 inhibitor AZD-7762 for 24 h before cell

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membrane integrity was determined by use of the LDH assay (D) or the Neutral red assay (E). Data shown are the mean ± SD from two independent experiments each performed in quadruplicate. *, **; p≤0.05 and p≤0.01, respectively. **, p≤0.01; *, p≤0.05 (treated vs. corresponding untreated control; UW228-2 vs. HD-MB03)..

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F: UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were incubated with different concentrations of the Chk1 inhibitor AZD-7762 for 24 h before subG1 fraction was determined by flow cytometry. Upper part: Representative flow cytometry-based cell cycle analysis. Lower part: Quantitative data

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shown are the mean ± SD from two independent experiments each performed in duplicate. ***, p≤0.001; **, p≤0.01; *, p≤0.05 (treated vs. corresponding untreated control; UW228-2 vs. HD-MB03).

Figure 3: Activation of the DNA damage response (DDR) and formation of DSBs following AZD-7762 treatment.

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A: UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were treated with 0.5 µM or 2.0 µM of AZD-7762. After incubation period of 2 h or 24 h cells were harvested for western blot analyses using phospho-specific antibodies as indicated. Data shown are representative of two independent experiments. Expression of Talin-1 and GAPDH was used as protein loading control.

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B, C: UW228-2 (B) and HD-MB03 (C) cells were treated for 2 h or 24 h with 0.5 µM or 2.0 µM of AZD-7762. The formation of nuclear γH2AX foci was analysed by immunocytochemistry.

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Left part: representative microscopic pictures; right part: data shown are the mean ± SD from 2 to 3 independent experiments each performed in duplicate with each ≥ 50 nuclei being analysed per single experiment. Con: untreated control. **, p≤0.01; *, p≤0.05 (treated vs. corresponding untreated control). Ns, not significant. D, E: UW228-2 (D) and HD-MB03 (E) cells were pulse-treated with 0.5 µM or 2.0 µM of AZD7762 for 2 h. The frequency of γH2AX positive cells in the EdU positive cell population was calculated. Left parts: representative microscopic pictures; Right parts: data shown are the mean ± SD from 2-3 independent experiments each performed in duplicate with each ≥ 50 nuclei being analysed per single experiment. Con: untreated control. Ns, not significant. F: Mean γH2AX fluorescence of S-phase population of UW-228-2 and HD-MB03 cells following AZD-7762 treatment as analyzed by flow cytometry. Data shown (mean ± SD) are

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from two independent experiments each performed in duplicate. **, p≤0.01 (UW-228-2 vs. HD-MB03). Figure 4: Contribution of mechanisms of autophagy and mitochondrial homeostasis to AZD-7762-induced cytotoxicity in medulloblastoma cells. A, B: UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were treated with increasing concentrations of bafilomycin A1 (A) or rapamycin (B). After incubation period of 24 h, cell viability was

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determined using the Alamar blue assay. Data shown are the mean ± sd from at least two independent experiments each performed in quadruplicate. *, p≤0.05; **, p≤0.01 (UW-228-2 vs. HD-MB03).

C: UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were treated with different concentrations of AZD-7762.

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After an incubation period of 2 h or 24 h cells were harvested for analysis of LC3B-II expression by Western blot analysis. Treatment with Bafilomycin A1 (BafA1) and EBSS (Earle´s balanced salt solution) for 2 h was used as positive control to stimulate autophagy.

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The arrow points to the cleaved LC3B-II form.

D: To monitor the influence of AZD-7762 on mitochondrial function and homeostasis, the activation status of the AMP-regulated kinase (p-AMPKα) was analyzed by western blot analyses. Western blots were densitometrically analyzed using Image J. Relative p-AMPKα levels in the corresponding untreated controls was set to 1.0. Quantitative data shown are the mean ± SD from three independent experiments. *, p≤0.05 (AZD-treated vs.

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corresponding untreated control; UW228-2 vs. HD-MB03). Ns, not significant. E: Cleavage of the mitochondrial fusion regulator OPA-1 was analyzed by Western blot analysis. The mitochondrial uncoupling agent CCCP (10 µM, 2 h) was used for positive

OPA-1 proteins.

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control. The arrows point to the uncleaved (upper arrow) and CCCP-cleaved (lower arrow)

F: Mitochondrial mass was analyzed by MitoTracker green staining 24 h after AZD-7762

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treatment (2 µM) as described in methods. Representative flow cytometry-based data are shown on the left. On the right hand, quantitative data (mean ± sd) obtained from three independent experiments each performed in duplicate are shown. *, p≤0.05; **, p≤0.01 (treated vs. corresponding untreated control; UW228-2 vs. HD-MB03).

Figure 5: AZD-7762 affects c-Myc protein stability and modulates mRNA expression of prototypical c-Myc regulated genes. A-C: Medulloblastoma cells were treated with 0.5 µM or 2.0 µM of AZD-7762 for 24 h before the protein expression level of c-Myc (A) and phosphorylation status of GSK-3 (B), Akt, p70S6K and ERK (C) were analyzed by western blot. β-actin, ERK2 and GAPDH protein expression were monitored as protein loading control.

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D: Influence of inhibition of proteasomal degradation mechanisms by MG-132 and protein biosynthesis inhibition by anisomycin on protein levels of c-Myc in HD-MB03 cells. E: Analysis of mRNA expression of a subset of c-Myc regulated genes was analyzed in UW228-2 and HD-MB03 medulloblastoma cells 16 h after treatment with 2 µM AZD-7762 by quantitative realtime PCR. Data shown are mean values from triplicate determinations from one experiment.

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Figure 6: Chk1 inhibition sensitizes UW228-2 and HB-MB03 medulloblastoma cells to CisPt-induced cell death and augments CisPt-induced formation of DSB.

A: UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were pre-treated or not with 0.5 µM and 2.0 µM (UW-228-2) or 0.05 µM and 0.2 µM (HB-MB03) of AZD-7762 for 2 h following 72 h of CisPt treatment in

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the absence of AZD-7762. Cell viability was measured using the Alamar Blue assay. Results are expressed as viable cells in percent of the untreated control, which was set to 100 %. Data shown are the mean ± sd from 3 independent experiments each performed in

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octuplicate. For statistical analysis the 2way ANOVA with Bonferroni's post test was applied. #: statistical significance of AZD-7762 vs. untreated control; *: statistical significance of AZD7762 + CisPt vs. CisPt. ***: p ≤ 0.001; **: p ≤ 0.01; *, #: p ≤ 0.05.

B: UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were pre-treated or not with different concentrations of AZD-7762 for 2 h. Afterwards, treatment with CisPt (4 µM) was performed for 6 h in the absence of AZD-7762. Directly after CisPt treatment (2 h + 6 h) or after further post-

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incubation period of 24 h (2 h + 6 h + 24 h) in the absence of CisPt, the number of nuclear γH2AX foci was analyzed by immunocytochemistry. Upper part: representative microscopic pictures; lower part: data shown are the mean ± sd from 2 to 3 independent experiments each performed in duplicate with each ≥ 50 nuclei being analysed per single experiment.

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Con: untreated control. For statistical analysis theTwo-way ANOVA with Bonferroni's posttest was applied. *: statistical significance of AZD-7762 + CisPt vs. CisPt. ***: p ≤ 0.001; **: p

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≤ 0.01.

C: UW228-2 and HD-MB03 cells were pre-treated or not with different concentrations of AZD-7762 for 2 h. Afterwards, pulse-treatment with CisPt (4 µM) was performed for 6 h in the absence of AZD-7762. Directly after CisPt treatment (2 h + 6 h) or after a further postincubation period of 24 h (2 h + 6 h + 24 h) in the absence of CisPt, the activation status of a selected subset of DDR factors was investigated by western blot analysis using phosphospecific antibodies as indicated. Protein expression of Talin-1, GAPDH, ERK2 and β-actin were determined as a loading control.

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Figure 7: Influence of Chk1 inhibition on cell viability of primary rat neuronal cells in vitro. A: Purity of the primary neuronal cell population was determined by analysing the expression of the neuronal marker protein MAP2 by immunocytochemistry. B: Primary rat neurons and glial cells were treated with different concentrations of AZD-7762 for 72 h before cell viability was measured using the Alamar Blue assay. Results are expressed as viable cells in percent of the untreated control, which was set to 100%. Data

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shown are the mean ± SD from three independent experiments each performed in triplicate. **, p≤0.01 (neuronal cells vs. glia cells).

C: Primary rat neurons were pre-treated with 0.05 µM or 0.5 µM of AZD-7762 for 2 h followed by CisPt treatment. Cell viability was measured 72 h later using the Alamar Blue assay.

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Results are expressed as viable cells in percent of the untreated control, which was set to 100%. Data shown are the mean ± SD from three independent experiments each performed in quadruplicate. Ns, no significant difference as compared to the corresponding CisPt

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controls.

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Table 1: Effect of pharmacological modulators of DDR and DNA repair on the viability of medulloblastoma cells. Human medulloblastoma cells (UW228-2 and HD-MB03) were incubated with different concentrations of pharmacological inhibitors of the DDR (ATM/ATR inhibitor VE-822, Chk1 inhibitor LY-2603618, Wee1 kinase inhibitor MK-1775), DNA DSB repair mechanisms (RAD51 inhibitor RI-1 or DNA ligase IV inhibitor SCR7), the Cdk inhibitor roscovitine or the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor lovastatin for 72 h. Cell viability was measured using the

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Alamar Blue assay. Viability was calculated in percent of the untreated control, which was set to 100 %. IC50 data shown are based on the results of ≥ three independent experiments each determinable; ns, not significant.

VE-822 LY-2603618

Dose

Cell line UW228-2 HD-MB03

IC50 3.5 ± 0.9 µM

0.4 ± 0.3 µM**

IC80 9.5 ± 3.5 µM

1.8 ± 2.4 µM*

IC50

> 2.0 µM

IC80

> 5.0 µM 0.5 ± 0.1 µM

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Inhibitor

nd

0.2 ± 0.2µM

nd

0.5 ± 0.5 µM

0.2 ± 0.1 µM*

MK-1775

IC50

0.6 ± 0.2 µM

Roscovitine

IC80 1.0 ± 0.2 µM IC50 31 ± 3.1 µM

IC80 44 ± 11.3 µM

40 ± 2.0 µM

IC50 44 ± 11.3 µM

23 ± 13.6 µM

IC80 58 ± 11.5 µM

34 ± 12.8 µM

ns

ns

22 ± 9.3µM

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ns ns ns

IC50 230 ± 100 µM 211 ± 220 µMns IC80 335 ± 139 µM 290 ± 270 µMns

Lovastatin

IC50 2.8 ± 0.8 µM

1.0 ± 0.8 µM*

IC80 4.5 ± 0.6 µM

2.7 ± 1.2 µM

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performed in quadruplicate. **, p≤0.01; *, p≤0.05 (UW228-2 vs. HD-MB03); nd, not

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Highlights - Group-3 medulloblastoma cells are hypersensitive to Chk1 inhibiton. - Chk1 inhibition damages intracellular organelles and stimulates DDR and apoptosis. - Chk1 inhibition lowers c-Myc levels and affects c-Myc-regulated gene expression. - Inhibition of Chk1 potentiates cisplatin-induced DSBs formation and cytotoxicity.

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- Chk1 inhibition is well tolerated in primary rat neuronal cells.