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Tumor Biology |
Laboratory of Experimental Carcinogenesis, Department of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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We have now investigated the mechanism by which mt-PCPH protects cells against stress. We show that mt-PCPH negatively regulates the stress-response pathway mediated by JNK (or SAPK) and reduces the intracellular ATP concentration. Signaling by the JNK pathway was restored, and the resistance to cisplatin-induced apoptosis was reversed in cells expressing mt-PCPH by supplementation with exogenous ATP. Together with our recent observation that PCPH possesses ATP diphosphohydrolase activity (4) , these results suggest that this protein promotes cell survival by depleting cells of ATP and thereby depriving protein kinases activated by stress of their phosphate donor.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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MEKK1 (5)
; and pAP1-Luc and pSRE-Luc luciferase reporter plasmids (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA). Luciferase activity was determined with an assay kit (Promega Corp., Madison, WI) and a Lumat LB9501 luminometer (Berthold; EG&G Wallac, Gaithersburg, MD). All other chemicals were obtained from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO) unless otherwise indicated.
Transfection Assays.
For trans-activation experiments, cells were transiently transfected with 3 µg of pcDNA3-mt-PCPH, 1 µg of H-rasVal12, v-raf, or
MEKK1 plasmids, and 0.7 µg of pAP1-Luc or pSRE-Luc with the use of Superfect (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). For treatment with EGF, transfected cells were incubated for 4 h in low-serum (0.1%) medium and then stimulated with EGF (100 ng/ml; Calbiochem, San Diego, CA) for up to 30 min. In cotransfection experiments, the total amount of DNA was kept constant by the addition of empty pcDNA3 vector. Each experiment was performed with triplicate cultures, which usually exhibited <1012% variation; data are presented as mean ± SE of values from at least three experiments.
EMSA.
EMSA analysis was performed with 5 µg of nuclear extract in a reaction mixture containing
30,000 cpm of 32P-labeled AP-1 consensus oligonucleotide (5'-CGCTTGATGAGTCAGCCGGGA-3'; Promega), 0.1 µg of poly(deoxyinosinic-deoxycytidylic acid), 40 mM HEPES (pH 7.0), 140 mM NaCl, 4 mM DTT, 0.01% NP40, BSA (100 µg/ml; Roche, Indianapolis, IN), and 4% Ficoll (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Piscataway, NJ). Protein-DNA complexes were resolved by electrophoresis on nondenaturing 6% polyacrylamide gels in Tris-borate-EDTA buffer and were visualized by autoradiography.
Immunoblot Analysis.
Cells were lysed by sonication in a solution containing 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 20 mM p-nitrophenyl phosphate, 1 mM EGTA, 50 mM NaF, 50 µM sodium orthovanadate, and 5 mM benzamidine. Lysates (50 µg of protein) were fractionated by SDS-PAGE on 415% gradient gels (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) and then subjected to immunoblot analysis as described (1
, 2)
. Immune complexes were detected with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibodies and chemiluminescence (ECL; Amersham Pharmacia Biotech). Primary antibodies included those to phospho-SEK1 (MKK4), phospho-JNK, phospho-ERK1 or -ERK2, phospho-p38, JNK, and p38 (New England Biolabs, Beverly, MA) as well as those to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (Trevigen, Gaithersburg, MD), enhanced GFP (Clontech, Palo Alto, CA), c-FOS (kindly provided by M. A. Avila, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain), and PCPH (367-10W; a polyclonal rabbit antiserum prepared with recombinant hamster wild-type PCPH; Ref. 1
).
Determination of Cellular ATP Content.
Cells were washed twice, and the total cellular ATP concentration was measured with a bioluminescence somatic cell assay system (Sigma), as recommended by the manufacturer.
Apoptosis Assays.
Transfected cells were incubated overnight in medium containing 0.5% serum and then treated with cisplatin (10 µg/ml) for 24 h. Cells were fixed in 80% ethanol, stained with propidium iodide (50 µg/ml), and analyzed by flow cytometry. The percentage of apoptotic cells was determined by integrating the area of the peak corresponding to cells with hypodiploid DNA in histograms of DNA content. Cells were also stained with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (0.5 µg/ml) and visualized by epifluorescence microscopy to detect nuclear changes typical of apoptosis.
| RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
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MEKK1), the upstream kinase shared by the JNK and p38 stress signaling pathways (6)
. Transfection with the
MEKK1 vector alone resulted in activation of the downstream kinases SEK1 (MKK4) and JNK, whereas transfection with the mt-PCPH vector alone had little effect on these kinases (Fig. 1A)
MEKK1 vector and pcDNA3-mt-PCPH resulted in marked inhibition by mt-PCPH of the activation of SEK1 and JNK induced by
MEKK1. The PCPH oncoprotein induced only slight inhibition of
MEKK1-induced p38 phosphorylation.
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MEKK1. Whereas transfection with pcDNA3-mt-PCPH alone had no effect on ERK1/2 phosphorylation, transfection with the
MEKK1 vector alone induced a 4.4-fold increase in this parameter. Coexpression of mt-PCPH, however, prevented ERK1/2 activation by
MEKK1 (Fig. 1A)We also examined the effect of mt-PCPH on stress signaling mediated by the activation of endogenous MEKK1. MEKK1 participates in the activation of ERK by EGF in COS-7 cells (10) . Consistent with this previous observation, EGF induced marked activation of ERK1/2 (5.7-fold) and SEK1 (2.4-fold) in COS-7 cells transiently transfected with pcDNA3. However, EGF had virtually no effect on the activation ERK1/2 (1.3-fold) and SEK1 (0.9-fold) in cells expressing mt-PCPH. Expression of mt-PCPH thus inhibited signaling by endogenous MEKK1.
The PCPH Oncoprotein Inhibits AP-1- and SRE-mediated Trans-activation and c-FOS Induction.
We examined trans-activation mediated by AP-1 and by the SRE as well as the induction of c-FOS expression as end points to determine the effects of mt-PCPH on gene expression in response to stress signaling (11)
. NIH 3T3 cells were transiently cotransfected with pcDNA3-mt-PCPH, the
MEKK1 vector, and reporter plasmids in which luciferase expression is regulated by AP-1 or by the SRE. Expression of mt-PCPH inhibited the increase in AP-1-mediated trans-activation induced by
MEKK1 (Fig. 1B)
. Trans-activation of the SRE-luciferase construct by
MEKK1 was also inhibited by mt-PCPH, although to a lesser extent than was AP-1-mediated trans-activation (29 versus 52% inhibition). Qualitatively similar results were obtained with transfected COS-7 and 293T cells (data not shown). MEKK1 induces c-Fos expression through the SRE (12)
. Expression of mt-PCPH inhibited by
60% the increase in the abundance of c-FOS induced by
MEKK1 in transfected NIH 3T3 cells (Fig. 1A
, bottom).
TPA activates both AP-1 (13)
and transcription factors that bind to the SRE (12)
. Moreover, through its interaction with specific isoforms of protein kinase C, TPA activates several kinases in stress signaling pathways (12)
. To examine the possible effect of mt-PCPH on TPA-induced trans-activation mediated by AP-1 or the SRE, we subjected NIH 3T3 cells to transient transfection with pAP1-Luc or pSRE-Luc together with pcDNA3 or pcDNA3-mt-PCPH. Cells were then treated with TPA (100 nM) for 24 h before determination of luciferase activity. Expression of mt-PCPH inhibited TPA-induced trans-activation mediated by AP-1 (by 58%) or by the SRE (by 56%; Table 1
). Similar results were obtained with COS-7 cells expressing mt-PCPH (65% inhibition for AP-1, 44% inhibition for the SRE).
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MEKK1 and luciferase activity were determined 48 h after transfection. The PCPH oncoprotein inhibited the increases in SRE-dependent luciferase activity induced by RASV12, v-RAF, or
MEKK1 (Fig. 2B)
The PCPH Oncoprotein Induces Depletion of Intracellular ATP.
Our present and previous (8)
data demonstrate that mt-PCPH inhibits various protein kinases that participate in mitogenic and stress-activated signaling pathways and, consequently, also inhibits the activation of transcription factors and the expression of early-response genes such as c-Fos. These inhibitory effects are unlikely to be mediated by direct interaction between mt-PCPH and each individual kinase. Moreover, expression of mt-PCPH had no effect on the steady-state abundance of any of the kinases that it inhibited (Fig. 1A
; Ref. 8
). We therefore investigated the possibility that mt-PCPH inhibits kinase activity by limiting the availability of the phosphate donor for these reactions, which for most kinases is ATP (14)
. This notion is also consistent with the intrinsic ATP diphosphohydrolase activity of mt-PCPH (4)
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We first determined the intracellular ATP content of exponentially growing, early-passage NIH 3T3 cells stably transfected with either pcDNA3-mt-PCPH or the empty vector. Cells expressing mt-PCPH contained
25% less ATP than did the control cells (Fig. 2C)
. As has been demonstrated in other systems (15)
, the ATP content of NIH 3T3 cells expressing mt-PCPH was restored to normal, or slightly above normal, levels by supplementing the culture medium with 50 µM ATP and maintaining this concentration for at least 48 h (Fig. 2C)
.
ATP Replenishment Restores Stress Sensitivity and StressResponse Signaling.
We next investigated the effect of ATP replenishment on the sensitivity of NIH 3T3 cells expressing mt-PCPH to cisplatin-induced apoptosis. Treatment with cisplatin (10 µg/ml) for 48 h induced apoptosis in
38% of control cells but in only
17% of cells expressing mt-PCPH (Fig. 3A)
. This inhibition of apoptosis by mt-PCPH was abolished in cells incubated in the presence of exogenous ATP. Supplementation with extracellular ATP also restored the sensitivity of cells expressing mt-PCPH to nutritional deprivation or ionizing radiation (data not shown), indicating that partial ATP depletion was responsible for the original development of resistance to these stimuli.
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MEKK1-induced activation of the JNK signaling pathway in transfected NIH 3T3 cells. The
MEKK1-induced activation of JNK1 as well as the ability of JNK to phosphorylate c-JUN in vitro were fully restored in cells expressing mt-PCPH by culture in the presence of ATP (Fig. 3B)
Expression of Wild-Type PCPH Has a Minimal Impact on Cell Survival.
Wild-type PCPH also possesses ATPase activity in vitro (4
, 8) , but its overexpression does not promote stress resistance in NIH 3T3 cells (3)
. To investigate this apparent discrepancy, we repeated all of the experiments described above with NIH 3T3 cells transfected with pcDNA3-PCPH, which encodes the wild-type protein (3)
. Ectopic expression of the normal PCPH protein had either no effect (activation of p54 or p46 JNK) or an inhibitory effect markedly less than that of mt-PCPH (activation of SEK1 or ERK1/2, induction of c-FOS, or trans-activation mediated by AP-1 or SRE) on stress signaling (Table 1)
. Similarly, expression of wild-type PCPH resulted in a reduction in cellular ATP content of only
5% (compared with the 24% decrease observed with mt-PCPH). Furthermore, wild-type PCPH did not confer resistance to cisplatin-induced apoptosis. These observations are thus consistent with our proposal that the marked depletion of cellular ATP induced by expression of mt-PCPH is responsible for the increase in cell survival observed on treatment with cisplatin.
The intracellular concentration of ATP affects both the susceptibility of cells to the induction of apoptosis (or necrosis) by various agents (17) and the set point of signal transduction pathways (18) . The existence of a threshold ATP concentration below which commitment to apoptosis is not possible has been proposed, although this proposal remains controversial. However, various components of the apoptotic machinery are differentially affected by changes in the cellular concentrations of nucleoside di- and triphosphates (17 , 19) . The reduction in the cellular ATP concentration caused by wild-type PCPH may thus not be sufficient to affect the induction of apoptosis, whereas mt-PCPH likely reduces the ATP concentration to a level below the required threshold for apoptotic death. The nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase activities of wild-type PCPH and mt-PCPH are similar in vitro (3 , 4 , 8) . It therefore remains unclear why these proteins exhibit markedly different effects on the intracellular ATP concentration. However, the subcellular localizations of the two proteins appear to differ (data not shown), so that they might have access to different ATP pools. It is also possible that the two proteins possess different affinities for ATP in vivo.
Our data suggest that detection of mt-PCPH in human tumors might facilitate optimization of therapy. Treatment with adenosine or nucleoside analogues might thus sensitize tumor cells to standard radio- or chemotherapy. Alternatively, given that the ATP content of tumor cells expressing mt-PCPH is presumably already reduced, it might be possible to reduce it further by recently proposed protocols (20) and thereby to induce necrotic cell death.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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1 This work was supported by USPHS Grant CA64472 from the National Cancer Institute. ![]()
2 Present address: Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Building 37, Room 2E26, 37 Convent Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892. ![]()
3 Present address: Division of Allergy, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, 10355 Science Center Drive, San Diego, CA 92121. ![]()
4 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Research Building, Room E215, 3970 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007. Phone: (202) 687-2102; Fax: (202) 687-2221; E-mail: notariov{at}georgetown.edu ![]()
5 The abbreviations used are: mt-PCPH, PCPH oncoprotein; JNK, c-JUN NH2-terminal kinase; EGF, epidermal growth factor; EMSA, electrophoretic mobility shift assay; GFP, green fluorescent protein; ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinase; MEKK, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase; SRE, serum response element; TPA, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate. ![]()
Received 9/ 2/01. Accepted 3/ 4/02.
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-tocopheryl succinateinduced apoptosis of human breast cancer cells. Cancer Res., 61: 6569-6576, 2001.This article has been cited by other articles:
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J. Villar, M. I. Arenas, C. M. MacCarthy, M. J. Blanquez, O. M. Tirado, and V. Notario PCPH/ENTPD5 Expression Enhances the Invasiveness of Human Prostate Cancer Cells by a Protein Kinase C{delta} Dependent Mechanism Cancer Res., November 15, 2007; 67(22): 10859 - 10868. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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O. M. Tirado, S. Mateo-Lozano, S. Sanders, L. E. Dettin, and V. Notario The PCPH Oncoprotein Antagonizes the Proapoptotic Role of the Mammalian Target of Rapamycin in the Response of Normal Fibroblasts to Ionizing Radiation Cancer Res., October 1, 2003; 63(19): 6290 - 6298. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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