Name: Image Acquisition and Analysis for the Detection of Autophagy Protease ATG4B Using Luciferase Assay
Uploaded: 2023-06-30T12:10:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Image Acquisition and Analysis for the Detection of Autophagy Protease ATG4B Using Luciferase Assay at JoVE.com

image acquisition and analysis for the detection of autophagy protease atg4b using luciferase assay

Análise de triagem de alto rendimento para inibidor de autofagia de cisteína peptidase 4B

Autophagy is a conserved metabolic process that allows cells to keep intracellular homeostasis and respond to stress by degrading aged, defective, or unnecessary cellular contents via the lysosomes1,2,3. Under some pathophysiologic conditions, this process acts as a crucial cellular response to nutrient and oxygen deprivation, resulting in recycled nutrients and lipids, allowing the cells to adapt to their metabolic needs2,3,4. Autophagy has also been identified as a cellular stress response related to several diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders, pathogen infection, and various types of cancer. The function of autophagy in cancer is complex and dependent on the type, stage, and status of the tumor. It can suppress tumorigenesis through autophagic degradation of damaged cells, but can also promote the survival of advanced tumors by improving cell survival during stressful conditions, such as hypoxia, nutrient deprivation, and cytotoxic damage2,4,5,6.
Several studies have shown that autophagy inhibition provides a benefit as an anticancer strategy. Thus, the inhibition of critical steps, such as autophagosome formation or its fusion with the lysosome, could be an effective method for cancer control2,4,5,6. Growing evidence has shown that ATG4B is involved in certain pathological conditions, and it has gained attention as a potential anticancer target2,3,4. For instance, it was observed that colorectal cancer cells and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer cells had significantly higher ATG4B expression levels than adjacent normal cells2,4. In prostate cancer cells, inhibition of ATG4B resulted in a cell line-specific susceptibility to chemotherapy and radiotherapy7. Recently, strong evidence has emerged that pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is particularly vulnerable to ATG4B inhibition. For instance, in a genetically engineered mouse model, it was shown that intermittent loss of ATG4B function reduces PDAC tumor growth and increases survival3,4. Overall, ATG4B is highly overexpressed in some cancer types, is related to the progression of tumor, and is linked to cancer therapy resistance2,4,8.
The ATG4 cysteine proteases in mammals have four family members, ATG4A-ATG4D. These proteins exhibit some target selectivity toward the LC3/GABARAP (ATG8) family of proteins9,10,11 and may have additional functions not linked to their protease activity12,13. Furthermore, ATG4 functions in regulating a novel type of post-translational modification, the ATG8-ylation of proteins11,12. While ATG4B and its main substrate LC3B are the most widely studied, a picture is emerging that suggests a complex role for each subfamily member in the regulation of autophagic and non-autophagic processes. This is further corroborated by a complex network of post-translational modifications that regulate ATG4B activity via phosphorylation, acetylation, glycosylation, and nitrosylation9,10,11,12,13.
Several known ATG4B inhibitors have been published2,4,14,15. While these are suitable as research tools, their pharmacodynamic profile, selectivity, or potency have yet precluded them from development as preclinical candidates4,16. Overall, there is an urgent need to identify more potent and selective compounds. Often, the compounds are good biochemical inhibitors of protein function, yet their efficacy in cell-based assays is poor. There are multiple assays to monitor ATG4B activity, including biochemical methods and cell-based assays4. We have previously developed a simple, luminescence-based, high-throughput assay for monitoring ATG4B activity in cells8,17. This assay utilizes a luciferase protein from Gaussia princeps (GLUC) that is stable and active in the extracellular milieu and can be inducibly released from cells in response to ATG4B proteolytic activity18,19.
In this reporter construct, dNGLUC is linked to the actin cytoskeleton of cells. A protease-specific linker can be introduced between the &#946;-actin anchor and dNGLUC, turning the secretion dependent on cleavage of the linker. We used the full-length open reading frame of LC3B between &#946;-actin and dNGLUC, to be able to monitor LC3B cleavage17,18,19. Although the secretion mechanism of dNGLUC is poorly understood, it is specific for monitoring ATG4B activity, does not depend on overall autophagy as it occurs in ATG5 knockout cells, and is mediated by non-conventional mechanisms that do not require a classical signal peptide4,18,19. We have successfully used this reporter to screen small molecules and siRNA libraries, and have identified novel regulators of ATG4B activity, such as the Akt protein kinases8. This paper describes a detailed protocol for the use of this luciferase reporter in a semi-automated, high-throughput screening format.

Autor em destaque: Um ensaio seletivo baseado em luciferase para monitorar a atividade de ATG4B 27 em células 

Triagem de Drogas Baseadas em Células para Inibidores da Autofagia 4B Cisteína Peptidase Relacionada

The main aim of research in my lab is to understand the regulation of autophagy and in particular of the ATG4 cysteine protean and use this knowledge to develop small molecule inhibitors that target this pathway in particular for diseases such as pancreatic cancer. We use high content, high throughput screening technologies to identify drug targets as well as drug candidates and we focus on the ATG4 cysteine protease family because we think it's a very good drug target for various forms of cancer. We have been studying the ATG4 family members for quite some time now.We made significant discoveries into dysfunction of this protein family and cells. We've also identified novel post-translational mechanisms of regulation of the ATG4 family members and currently we are developing small molecule inhibitors and also activators of the ATG4 families for diseases such as cancer and neuro degeneration. There are not many assays to monitor ATG4 protease activity in cells.So we were one of the first to develop a luciferase based assay to monitor this activity. And our assay is quite unusual because it uses secreted, let's say phrase, therefore we don't need to license the cells and we can adapt this protocol easily to high throughput screening methods and lab automation. We have focused on the ATG4 B protein protease for quite some time now.We have generated knockout cell lines of the ATG4 family members. We have identified novel post-translational regulation mechanisms of ATG4, and ultimately we have also identified several novel small molecule compounds that could inhibit and even activate the ATG4 B protease. In the future, we'd like to continue our work on the ATG4 family members.We think that's quite a lot that is currently unknown and still remains to be uncovered. For example, how these proteins regulate autophagy in neurons is currently completely not understood. We'd also like to focus our work on validation of these small molecule compounds that we've identified and potentially to use activators in neurodegenerative diseases.

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Image Acquisition and Analysis for the Detection of Autophagy Protease ATG4B Using Luciferase Assay at JoVE.com

Image Acquisition and Analysis for the Detection of Autophagy Protease ATG4B Using Luciferase Assay  

Aquisição e análise de imagens para detecção de protease autofágica ATG4B utilizando ensaio de luciferase

Comece lançando o software operacional do microscópio. Na guia configuração, escolha o tipo de placa predefinido correto. Pressione ejetar para acessar o estágio da placa para posicioná-la e, em seguida, pressione a carga para carregar a placa no microscópio.Em seguida, escolha a objetiva de ar de 20 vezes com uma abertura numérica de 0,4. Ajuste o colar de correção da objetiva de ar de 20x para a espessura da chapa do tipo de placa escolhido. Defina a seleção de canal como Hoechst 33342 e ajuste os parâmetros de imagem para o canal Hoechst.Teste as configurações escolhidas selecionando um poço representativo dentro da placa. No layout definido, selecione todos os poços de placa e para campos. Em seguida, escolha a pasta correspondente em trabalhos on-line para transferir os dados para o software de análise on-line.As configurações do experimento são salvas. Na guia Executar experimento, a placa que será fotografada é nomeada e o processo de criação de imagens é iniciado. Para iniciar a análise de imagens, primeiro inicie o software, escolha as imagens para análise e, em seguida, clique na guia de análise de imagem para iniciar a segmentação de imagem.Em seguida, clique no sinal de mais na guia da imagem de entrada para adicionar um novo bloco de construção. Na lista, clique em encontrar núcleos. Escolha o método de segmentação mais apropriado depois de inspecionar os objetos segmentados na imagem.Ajuste os parâmetros de detecção dentro do método de segmentação. Clique em definir resultados e escolha a saída padrão como o método. Clique em salvar análise no banco de dados para salvar o pipeline de análise.Na guia de análise de lote, clique no pipeline salvo que aparecerá na opção de método. Em seguida, selecione os dados a serem analisados. Inicie a análise clicando em iniciar análise para gerar o conjunto de dados para números de célula.O ensaio baseado em células descrito baseia-se em uma leitura do repórter que reflete indiretamente as mudanças na atividade ATG4B, permitindo a detecção de inibidores e ativadores da atividade ATG4B. A razão entre a atividade de ATG4B de cada composto e sua viabilidade celular é utilizada como valor de corte para a identificação de inibidores de ATG4B. Razões maiores que um indicam possíveis ativadores de ATG4B e razões menores que um indicam possíveis inibidores de ATG4B.

Research

JoVE Journal

Biology

Image Acquisition and Analysis for the Detection of Autophagy Protease ATG4B Using Luciferase Assay

Cell-Based Drug Screening for Inhibitors of Autophagy Related 4B Cysteine Peptidase

Growing evidence has shown that high autophagic flux is related to tumor progression and cancer therapy resistance. Assaying individual autophagy proteins ...