ΔΨm and Immune Responses to Disease

Each cell contains hundreds to thousands of mitochondria, each with hundreds of electron transport chain complexes (ETC) that deliver ATP as the cells primary energy source and the central dogma of eukaryote existence. ETC function's, on the inner mitochondrial membrane, are sensitive to change in electric charge represented as mitochondrial polarization and mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm). The large responsive surface area of the outer and inner membrane promotes remodeling and protein interactions that may lead to cellular diseases including cancer.

Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) causes mitochondria to relocate, to bind the nucleus and efficiently shuttle elements that enable fast DNA transcription and signaling that, under certain conditions, may suppress the pro inflammatory immune response. TNF signaling to mitochondrial PINK1 stabilizes ubiquitin chains that result in mitochondrial relocation and shuttling activated p65 that increases NF-κB transcription in the nucleus. This anti-apoptotic response resembles the feed forward activation loop in Pink1/Parkin-dependent mitophagy as an independent defense against accumulation of dysfunctional mitochondria, that under physiological conditions integrate their roles in innate immune signaling and stress. 

Enhanced activation of NF-κB by TNF, via mutant p53, concomitantly suppressed the pro-apoptotic effect of TNF leading to increased invasiveness of cancer cells. Accordingly mutant p53 may directly affect nuclear accumulation and retention of p65 upon cytokine exposure as mutant p53 overexpression and nuclear p65 staining in tumors strongly correlated.

Stresses elicited by aneuploid states in cells mediate interaction between Natural Killer (NK) cells. In highly aneuploid cancer cell lines NF-κB signaling is upregulated and activated promoting immune clearance by NK cells, but anti-correlated with expression of immune signaling genes, due to decreased leukocyte infiltrates in high-aneuploidy samples. Rapid NF-κB signaling may be preferentially selected because it antagonizes p53, known to inhibit the growth of highly aneuploid cells. Significantly increased mitochondrial DNA in aneuploid cells may result from increased fission of mitochondria, similar to that found in extreme ploidy during Oocyte development. Perhaps supporting the reason in embryonic stem cells (ESC) apoptosis occurs independent of p53 and protein kinase Akt3, the regulator of ESC apoptosis, suppresses p53 for the survival and proliferation of these stem cells.

A comprehensive metabolic analysis identified mitochondrial polarization as a gatekeeper of NK cell priming, activation, and function. Mitochondrial fusion and OXPHOS promote long-term persistence and improve cytokine production by NK cells. Hypoxic Tumor Micro Environments (TME) sustained NK cell activation of mTOR-Drp1, which resulted in excessive mitochondrial fission and fragmentation. Inhibition of fragmentation improved mitochondrial metabolism, survival and the antitumor capacity of NK cells. 

Mitochondrial biogenesis also requires the initiation of Drp1-driven fission. Whereas, fissions from dysfunction are associated with diminished ΔΨm and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), which are unchanged in this biogenesis. Depletion of p53 exaggerates fragmentation, but does not affect ΔΨm and ROS levels. Instead, p53 depletion activates mTORC1/4EBP1 signaling that regulates MTFP1 protein expression to govern Drp1-mediated fission. Thus, increased fission upon p53 loss can stimulate biogenesis, but not accumulation of damaged mitochondria. This may explain how mitochondrial integrity, in context of p53 deficiency induced fragmentation, may suppress immune signaling.

Downregulating p53 expression or elevating the molecular signature of mitochondrial fission correlates with aggressive tumor phenotypes and poor prognosis in cancer patients. Upon p53 loss, exaggerated fragmentation stimulates the activation of ERK1/2 signaling resulting in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition-like changes in cell morphology, accompanied by accelerated MMP9 expression and invasive cell migration. Notably, blocking the activation of mTORC1/MTFP1/Drp1/ERK1/2 axis completely abolishes the p53 deficiency-driven cellular morphological switch, MMP9 expression, and cancer cell dissemination. MMP-9 mediates Notch1 signaling via p53 to regulate apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and inflammation. 

Vascular remodeling, in the uterus, during pregnancy is controlled by small populations of conventional Natural Killer cells that acidify the extracellular matrix (ECM) with a2V-ATPase that activates MMP9, degrades the ECM and releases pro-angiogenesis growth factors stored in the ECM. Hypoxic TME's that sustain excessive mitochondrial fission-fragmentation in NK cells would cause a2V-ATP activated MMP9 to similarly promote angiogenesis akin to Blastocyst implantation.  

ΔΨm as a measure of functional integrity maybe the flawed alert, a blind spot for the 'canary in the mine' of a cells' ADP-ATP pipeline. Likewise the status of TP53, from transcription through p53 isoform, may signal wide ranging affects of ΔΨm that incorporate fragmentation, accumulating damaged mitochondria, mitophagy, apoptosis, normal immune signaling and response through to mitochondrial biogenesis, differentiation, angiogenesis, reduced immune signaling and response. This modal duality aligns known functions of NK cells that under physiological conditions promote angiogenesis growth (as in Blastocyst implantation and placental vascularization) or NK's classic, cytolytic role in the innate immune response. 

The delicate balance in health and sensitivity of at least TP53 DNA is known to result in DNA to DNA and/or upstream RNA/protein interactions that influence mechanics of molecules and responses to ΔΨm variations. Here we have highlighted links between NK cell function relative to  mitochondrial polarization, ΔΨm and p53 relative to mitochondrial fission and immune signaling. 

Retroviral Defense And Mitochondrial Offense

Chromosomal DNA has played host to the long game of viral insertions that repeat and continue as a genetic and epigenetic symbiosis along its phosphate and pentose sugar backbone. But, the bacterial origin of mitochondria and its hosted DNA also promotes its offense. 

Research suggests that retrovirus insertions evolved from a type of transposon called a retrotransposon. The evolutionary time scales of inherited, endogenous retroviruses (ERV) and the appearance of the zinc finger gene that binds its unique sequences occur over same time scales of primate evolution. Additionaly the zinc-finger genes that inactivate transposable elements are commonly located on chromosome 19. The recurrence of independent ERV invasions can be countered by a reservoir of zinc-finger repressors that are continuously generated on copy number variant (CNV) formation hotspots.

One of the more intiguing aspects of prevalent CNV hotspots on chromosome 19 are their proximity to killer immunoglobulin receptor gene's (KIR's) and other critical gene's of the innate immune system.

Frequently occuring DNA breaks can cause genomic instability, which is a hallmark of cancer. These breaks are over represented at G4 DNA quadruplexes within, hominid-specific, SVA retrotransposons and generally occur in tumors with mutations in tumor suppressor genes, such as TP53. Cancer mutational burden is shaped by G4 DNA, replication stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, that in lung adenocarcinoma downlregulates SPATA18, a mitochondrial eating protein (MIEAP) that contributes to mitophagy. 

Genetic variations, in non-coding regions can control the activity of conserved protein-coding genes resulting in the establishment of species-specific transcriptional networks. A chromosome 19 zinc finger, ZNF558 evolved as a suppressor of LINE-1 transposons, but has since been co-opted to singly regulate SPATA18. These variations are evident from a panel of 409 human lymphoblastoid cell lines where the lengths of the ZNF558 variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) negatively correlated with its expression. 

Colon cancer cells with p53 deletion were used to analyze deregulated p53 target genes in HCT116 p53 null cells compared to HCT116-p53 +/+ cells. SPATA18 was the most upregulted gene in the differential expression providing further insight to p53 and mitophagy via SPATA18-MIEAP.

p53 response elements (p53RE) can be shaped by long terminal repeats from endogenous retroviruses, long interspersed nuclear repeats, and ALU repeats in humans and fuzzy tandem repeats in mice. Further, p53 pervasively binds to p53REs derived from retrotransposons or other mobile genetic elements and can suppress transcription of retroelements. The p53- mediated mechanisms conferring protection from retroelements is also conserved through evolution. Certainly, p53 has been shown to have other roles in DNA  context, such as playing an important role in replication restart and replication fork progression. The absence of these p53-dependent processes can lead to further genomic instability. 

The frequency of variable length, long or short nucleotide repeats and their locations within a gene may be key to the repression of DNA sequences that would otherwise cause genomic instability or protein expressions that would eat bacterial mitochondria or destroy its cell host. 

The complexity of variable length insertions is made evident when exhaustively analyzing a simple length 12 sequence for the potential frequency of each of its variable length repeats starting from a minumum variable length of 8.

Then, for TGTGGGCCCACA(12)

All possible internal variable length combinations from and including length 8:

TGTGGGCC(8)|GTGGGCCC(8)|TGTGGGCCC(9)|TGGGCCCA(8)|GTGGGCCCA(9)|TGTGGGCCCA(10|GGGCCCAC(8)|TGGGCCCAC(9)|GTGGGCCCAC(10)|TGTGGGCCCAC(11)|GGCCCACA(8)|GGGCCCACA(9)|TGGGCCCACA(10)|GTGGGCCCACA(11)|TGTGGGCCCACA(12)

For example, reviewing length (8) only:

TGTGGGCC (8) occurs 5 times

GTGGGCCC (8) occurs 8 times

TGGGCCCA (8) occurs 9 times

GGGCCCAC (8) occurs 8 times

GGCCCACA (8) occurs 5 times

Any repeat can be ranked based on its ocurrence within all possible combinations of a given sequence, known as the repeats' iScore rank. This illustrates a potential useful statistical ranking that, subject to biology may describe a repeats inherency to be more or less effective, in increments of the gene sequence. 

Repression of the most active sequences, especially in context of repeats may result in genetic variation. 

Natural Killers at the Neuro-Immune Axis!

Much has been said about the role Natural Killer (NK) cells play in positively and negatively influencing events in tissues and cells. Summarized facts about the healthy state of NK cells in humans and animals explain how innate immune cells, including NK cells differ from adaptive immune cells. One significant feature of NK cells is that they can act independently of MHC antigen presentations and that makes them tantalizing, but enormously challenging for scientists seeking to embrace their  influence over cells and their killing capabilities.

The variety and combination of inhibitory and activating receptors differentially expressed by as many as 30,000 human NK cell subsets makes heterogeneity difficult to relate across different conditions, organs and tissue types. Notwithstanding, positive rates of overall patient survival resoundingly corelated to the presence of as few as one NK cell infiltrating a tumor in a microscopic field.  

Innate immune cells including NK and macrophages have also been directly tied to conditions of neurological pain and more specifically to afferent and efferent fibers that signal through the vagus nerve. In these models at the immune-neurological interface similarities exists and both organs must interact for proper function. 

In each of these organs communication is mediated by direct cellular contact eg. synapse formation and via soluble mediators like cytokines or neurotransmitters that also communicate bi-directionally between cells of each system. The nervous and immune systems can influence each other’s activity because immune cells express neurotransmitter receptors, and neurons express cytokine receptors. Immune cells can synthesize and release neurotransmitters themselves, thus using neurotransmitter-mediated pathways via autocrine and paracrine mechanisms. This may indicate that NK cells extend nerve end signaling further into tissues and at a cellular level. 

A recent paradigm in physiology describes the existence of neuro-immune cell units, at an organ-tissue level and identifies the enormous complexity inherent in this globally unifying approach that also connects neuro-immune-gut, at least in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson’s is a brain disorder where certain nerve cells slowly die and symptoms worsen. The risk of developing the condition increases with age, but in certain patients the illness is caused by defects in two proteins, PINK1 and parkin. NK cells are capable of homing to the central nervous system in neurological disorders that exhibit exacerbated inflammation and inhibit hyperactivated microglia. Recently, a study demonstrated that NK cells scavenge alpha-synuclein aggregates and systemic depletion of NK cells results in exacerbated neuropathology in a mouse model of alpha-synucleinopathy, making NK cells highly relevant in Parkinson’s disease.

We recently described a mechanism by which the sentinel state of NK cells is impaired and suggested the senescent phenotype, induced by age related mitophagy could be the primary cause. Increase in mitophagy (mitochondrial autophagy) is age-dependent and abrogated by PINK1 or parkin deficiency suggesting, in Parkinson's disease compromised mitophagy is associated with neurological degeneration. Further  PINK1 and Parkin, which are regulated by p53 specifically repress mitochondrial antigen presentation of both MHC classes. Therefore, excessive PINK1 or parkin increases rates of NK cell mitophagy and repress the presentation of mitochondrial antigens for MHC classes at the axis of this neuro-immune related disease.

The healthy state of NK cells at the axis of neuro-immune systems may indeed have more far reaching implications for the future of human diseases and therapies.

 

An Integrated P53 Puzzle - Glycolysis in Cancer, Diabetes and Immunity!

Oxygen poor, hypoxic tissue promotes a cellular shift in mitochondrial metabolism from OXPHOS to less energy efficient glycolysis. Each shift induces environmental, epigenetic and genetic factors that alter a cells response to insult, attack and disease. Endothelial tip cells at micro-vessel ends are predominantly glycolytic. However, deletion of PFKFB3, the critical regulator of glycolysis reduced the sprouting of micro-vessel tips and elevated PFKFB3 levels improved tip cell sprouting, direction and cell behavior.

In response to DNA damage p53 promotes nucleotide biosynthesis by repressing the expression of PFKFB3. This increases the flux of glucose, through the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) to increase nucleotide production, which results in more efficient repair of DNA damage and cell survival.

In Panc1 pancreatic cells, pro-apoptotic TGFβ1 enhanced PFKFB3 expression and stimulated glycolysis. Extracellular lactate induces endothelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) by remodeling the extracellular matrix and releasing activated TGFβ1.  TGFβ is a potent immunosuppressive cytokine that can impede development and function of natural killer (NK) and other immune cells. Furthermore, high extracellular lactate levels can contribute to immune evasion, thereby promoting tumor growth and metastasis. In tumor microenvironments glycolysis also leads to accumulated lactate, which stabilizes hypoxia inducible factor 1α (HIF-1) and upregulates the expression of anti-apoptotic, VEGF (in axis with NRP-1 dependency) resulting in angiogenesis and stimulation of cell migration. 

Hypoxia induces the loss of differentiation markers of several tumor types while increasing expression of embryonic markers such as transcription factors NANOG, OCT4, SOX2, and the Notch ligand. This reprogramming, toward a cancer stem phenotype is associated with increased tumorigenesis. In non-small cell lung carcinoma cells hypoxia increased NANOG expression that contributed to hypoxia-induced tumor cell resistance against cytotoxic lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated lysis.

Under stress the outer mitochondrial membrane incorporates Pink1, which binds and phosphorylates p53 at serine 392 and aids phagophore formation to enhance mitophagy. This reduces transport of p53-s392 to the nucleus where it would otherwise disrupt transcription of Nanog. p53 regulates Pink1 and Parkin, which regulate mitochondrial antigen presentation of both MHC classes. 

The development of type 1 diabetes involves a complex interaction between pancreatic β-cells and cells of the innate and adaptive immune systems. Analyses of the interactions between NK cells, NKT cells, dendritic cell populations and T cells have highlighted how these can influence the onset of autoimmunity. NK cells were observed in the pancreas, in NoD mice before T cell infiltration and are critically required in the pancreas for accelerated diabetes.

The islet in type 2 diabetes (T2D) is characterized by IAPP amyloid deposits, a protein co-expressed with insulin by β-cells. Human IAPP (hIAPP) misfolded protein stress activates HIF-1/PFKFB3 signaling, which increases glycolysis, mitochondrial fragmentation and perinuclear clustering, considered protective against increased cytosolic Ca2+, characteristic of amylin toxic oligomer stress. β-cells in adult humans are minimally replicative and fail to execute the second pro-regenerative phase of the HIF-1/PFKFB3 injury pathway. β-cells remain trapped in the pro-survival first phase of the HIF-1 injury repair response with a metabolism and mitochondrial network adapted to slow the rate of cell attrition at the expense of β-cell function. The senescent-like state may support the reduced NK cell activity and presence of more pro-inflammatory M1 macrophages in T2D

p53 deficient tumors can be metabolically reprogrammed and regressed by deleting isoforms of p63 or p73 to upregulate IAPP and amylin, which through the calcitonin receptor (CalcR) and receptor-activity-modifying-protein 3 (RAMP3) inhibit glycolysis, induce ROS and apoptosis. In epidermal keratinocytes p63 promotes glycolytic metabolism  by binding PFKFB3 consensus sites required for mRNA and protein expression.

Senescent cells typically upregulate anti-apoptotic pathways, and are preferentially susceptible to inhibition of these pro-survival mechanisms. This has been dubbed the ‘Achilles heel’ of senescent cells and may relate to the low mitochondrial membrane potential found in many senescent cells that ease the release of apoptosis-stimulating factors from mitochondria to promote survival. Similar weaknesses may be present through glycolysis in cancer, diabetes, other diseases and immune response.

Impotent Natural Killers by Cancer Stem Cells and Ageing

Cancer stem cells have been found, through various mechanisms to alter the sentinel function and innate, immune surveillance of Natural Killer cells (NK). In senescent cells that have stopped cell division, including in cancer stem cell niches and NK induced vascular remodeling (as found in the developing placenta) NK's sentinel vigilance is also reduced.

Senescence-associated mitochondrial dysfunction, a significant trigger of multiple dimensions of the senescent phenotype is caused by disruption of normal mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy). Mitophagy increases with aging and this age-dependent rise is abrogated by PINK1 or parkin deficiency. Deletion of a p53 response element on PINK1 promoter impacts p53-mediated PINK1 transcriptional repression. This p53-mediated negative regulation of autophagy has been found to be PINK1-dependent and constitutes a p53-PINK1 loop in nucleus and cytoplasm.

Further, mitophagy controls the activities of tumor suppressor p53 to regulate, at least hepatic cancer stem cells via Nanog. Prostate cancer cells escape NK attack by Nanog down-regulating ICAM1 (LFA1), to which NK would normally bind its target. In lung cancer NK have been found to limit the efficient clearance of senescent tumor cells from the mouse lung after p53 restoration. This indicated p53 may promote conditions for cellular survival and NK induced vascular remodeling or angiogenesis, necessary for the growth of tumors.

When under stress and inner mitochondrial membrane pressure gradient moves toward depolarization, Pink1 slots into the membrane, binds and phosphorylates p53 at Serine 392 (p53s392) and aids phagophore formation to enhance mitophagy. Mitophagy traps cytoplasmic p53s392, which reduces its transport to the nucleus where it would otherwise disrupt transcription of Nanog. (As illustrated below). 

Activated p53s392 nucleoside concentrations are effected by mitophagy

On the other hand, the sentinel function of NK may be subject to this PINK1 mediated mitochondrial switch. In prostate cancer cells Nanog promoted ICAM1 transcription required for NK binding target and cell killing. In prostate cancer cells Nanog over-expression restricts ICAM1, which promotes tumor formation. (As illustrated below). Investigating further, the direct functional link between p53 and ICAM-1 (CD54) in senescence and age-related disorders appears to be deeply integrated in mitophagy, senescence and immunity.

Nanog over-expression appears to be deterministic 

In stem cells where normal expression of Nanog transcribes ICAM1 and cancer stem cells where over-expression of Nanog restricts ICAM1, the variable PINK1-p53 switch may represent a "canary" that signals the state of  mitochondrial health to sentinel NK. However in some cancer cells where normal mitophagy is impaired and Nanog expression is restricted by p53s392, other p53 isoforms may directly promote the transcription of ICAM1.

In  two manipulation experiments using five different fibroblast cell lines that accelerated development of senescent associated secretory phenotypes a striking result was observed: oncogenic RAS expression, which causes genotoxic stress and senescence in normal cells, and functional loss of the p53 tumor suppressor protein. Both loss of p53 and gain of oncogenic RAS also exacerbated pro-malignant paracrine signaling activities. Experiments show that PINK1 and Parkin, which are regulated by p53 specifically regulate mitochondrial antigen presentation of both MHC classes.

So, the question is whether the p53-PINK1 mitochondrial switch acts as cell-health "canary" for sentinel NK, where its inherent variables and regulatory loop may be fertile ground for the challenges of developing cancers?