¹Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. ²Current address Department of Research, Childhood leukemia Group, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. ³Current address Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.

Abstract

Tripeptidyl-peptidase II (TPPII) is a serine peptidase highly expressed in malignant Burkitt’s lymphoma cells (BL). We have previously shown that overexpression of TPPII correlates with chromosomal instability, centrosomal and mitotic spindle abnormalities and resistance to apoptosis induced by spindle poisons. Furthermore, TPPII knockdown by RNAi was associated with endoreplication and the accumulation of polynucleated cells that failed to complete cell division, indicating a role of TPPII in the cell cycle. Here we have applied a global approach of gene expression analysis to gain insights on the mechanism by which TPPII regulates this phenotype. mRNA profiling of control and TPPII knockdown BL cells identified one hundred and eighty five differentially expressed genes. Functional categorization of these genes high- lighted major physiological functions such as apoptosis, cell cycle progression, cytoskeleton remodeling, proteolysis, and signal transduction. Pathways and protein interactome analysis revealed a significant enrichment in components of MAP kinases signaling. These findings suggest that TPPII infl uences a wide network of signaling pathways that are regulated by MAPKs and exerts thereby a pleiotropic effect on biological processes associated with cell survival, proliferation and genomic instability.