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Inhibition of protein methylesterase 1 decreased cancerous phenotypes in endometrial adenocarcinoma cell lines and xenograft tumor models

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

Protein methylesterase 1 (PME-1) promotes cancerous phenotypes through the demethylation and inactivation of protein phosphatase 2A. We previously demonstrated that PME-1 overexpression promotes Akt, ERK, and may promote Wnt signaling and increases tumor burden in a xenograft model of endometrial cancer. Here, we show that covalent PME-1 inhibitors decrease cell proliferation and invasive growth in vitro but have no effect in vivo at the concentrations tested; however, depletion of PME-1 with shRNA in an endometrial cancer xenograft model significantly reduced tumor growth. Thus, discovery of more potent PME-1 inhibitors may be beneficial for the treatment of endometrial cancer.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Eli Mordechai for the financial support and express gratitude to Yanfang Li for the compound synthesis. The authors also wish to thank Drs. Maria Webb, Philip Stein, Andrew Cole, Brian McGuiness, Igor Pechik, and Martin Adelson for their helpful discussions.

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Correspondence to Lyndi M. Rice.

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All animal studies were conducted in compliance with Genesis Biotechnology Group, LLC IACUC-approved protocols.

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Pusey, M., Bail, S., Xu, Y. et al. Inhibition of protein methylesterase 1 decreased cancerous phenotypes in endometrial adenocarcinoma cell lines and xenograft tumor models. Tumor Biol. 37, 11835–11842 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-016-5036-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-016-5036-8

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