Human NDR Kinases Control G₁/S Cell Cycle Transition by Directly Regulating p21 Stability

Abstract

The G₁ phase of the cell cycle is an important integrator of internal and external cues, allowing a cell to decide whether to proliferate, differentiate, or die. Multiple protein kinases, among them the cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks), control G₁-phase progression and S-phase entry. With the regulation of apoptosis, centrosome duplication, and mitotic chromosome alignment downstream of the HIPPO pathway components MST1 and MST2, mammalian NDR kinases have been implicated to function in cell cycle-dependent processes. Although they are well characterized in terms of biochemical regulation and upstream signaling pathways, signaling mechanisms downstream of mammalian NDR kinases remain largely unknown. We identify here a role for human NDR in regulating the G₁/S transition. In G₁ phase, NDR kinases are activated by a third MST kinase (MST3). Significantly, interfering with NDR and MST3 kinase expression results in G₁ arrest and subsequent proliferation defects. Furthermore, we describe the first downstream signaling mechanisms by which NDR kinases regulate cell cycle progression. Our findings suggest that NDR kinases control protein stability of the cyclin-Cdk inhibitor protein p21 by direct phosphorylation. These findings establish a novel MST3-NDR-p21 axis as an important regulator of G₁/S progression of mammalian cells.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank B. Amati (European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy), N. Lamb (Institute de Génétique Humaine, Montpellier, France), B. Clurman (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA), C. V. Dang (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD), and N. Hynes and W. Filipowicz (Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland) for providing reagents. We thank Pier Morin, Jr. (Université de Moncton, Moncton, Canada), for critical comments on the manuscript.

This work was supported by the Swiss Cancer League. The Friedrich Miescher Institute is part of the Novartis Research Foundation.