Molecular alterations after Polo-like kinase 1 mRNA suppression versus pharmacologic inhibition in cancer cells

Multiple roles within mitosis have been assigned to Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk 1), making it an attractive candidate for mitotic targeting of cancer cells. We have employed chimeric antisense oligonucleotides to investigate the molecular alterations after targeted interference with Plk 1 in RKO human colon adenocarcinoma and PC3 prostate cancer cells. Suppression of Plk 1 mRNA resulted in a dramatic increase of the mitotic index followed by the onset of apoptosis. Mitotically arrested cells displayed randomly separated condensed chromosomes and the occurrence of multiple spindle poles with well-formed asters. Induction of apoptosis was strictly dependent on cell cycle progression: Genetically engineered RKO cells with inducible expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27^Kip1 were completely refractory to Plk 1 depletion-induced apoptosis when they were arrested in the G₁ phase of the cell cycle. Various mitotic markers, including MPM-2, cdc25c, cyclin B1, or phosphorylated histone H3, were investigated to explore the molecular consequences of Plk 1 depletion. Whereas most marker proteins showed similar alterations compared with treatment with paclitaxel, cdc25c was fully phosphorylated solely in paclitaxel-treated cells but only partially phosphorylated in Plk 1-depleted cells, although both treatments caused a profound mitotic arrest. This differential phosphorylation of cdc25c was used to test whether a pharmacologic inhibitor of Plk 1 would exert the same cellular effects as interference with Plk 1 on a mRNA level. It was found that the differential electrophoretic mobility of cdc25c can serve as a reliable molecular marker to track inhibition of Plk 1 by small-molecule inhibitors within a cell.