RESUMO
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths and is the most occurring malignancy worldwide. Unraveling the molecular mechanisms involved in lung tumorigenesis will greatly improve therapy. During early tumorigenesis, rapid proliferating tumor cells require increased activity of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for protein synthesis, folding and secretion, thereby are subjected to ER stress. Ribosome-binding protein 1 (RRBP1) was originally identified as a ribosome-binding protein located on the rough ER and associated with unfolding protein response (UPR). In this report, we investigated the role of RRBP1 in lung cancer. RRBP1 was highly expressed in lung cancer tissue, as compared with adjacent normal tissues as assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using lung cancer tissue array (n=87). Knockdown of RRBP1 by short-hairpin RNAs caused ER stress and significantly reduced cell viability and tumorigenicity. This effect was associated with a significant reduction in the expression of glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78). UPR regulator GRP78, an anti-apoptotic protein that is widely upregulated in cancer, has a critical role in chemotherapy resistance in some cancers. According to our results, cells with a higher level of RRBP1 were more resistant to ER stress. Ectopic expression of RRBP1 alleviated apoptosis that was induced by the ER-stress agent tunicamycin, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) or doxorubicin via enhancing GRP78 protein expression. A strong correlation was observed between the expression of RRBP1 and GRP78 in tumor biopsies using the database GSE10072. Our results also indicated that RRBP1 may involve in the regulation of mRNA stability of UPR components including ATF6 and GRP78. Taken together, RRBP1 could alleviate ER stress and help cancer cell survive. RRBP1 is critical for tumor cell survival, which may make it a useful target in lung cancer treatment and a candidate for the development of new targeted therapeutics.
Assuntos
Apoptose , Estresse do Retículo Endoplasmático , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica , Proteínas de Choque Térmico/metabolismo , Espaço Intracelular/metabolismo , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Receptores Citoplasmáticos e Nucleares/genética , Animais , Apoptose/efeitos dos fármacos , Apoptose/genética , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Sobrevivência Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Sobrevivência Celular/genética , Transformação Celular Neoplásica , Doxorrubicina/farmacologia , Chaperona BiP do Retículo Endoplasmático , Estresse do Retículo Endoplasmático/efeitos dos fármacos , Estresse do Retículo Endoplasmático/genética , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica/efeitos dos fármacos , Técnicas de Silenciamento de Genes , Humanos , Espaço Intracelular/efeitos dos fármacos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , MAP Quinase Quinase 4/metabolismo , Masculino , Camundongos , RNA Interferente Pequeno/genética , Receptores Citoplasmáticos e Nucleares/deficiência , Tunicamicina/farmacologia , Proteínas Quinases p38 Ativadas por Mitógeno/metabolismoRESUMO
We integrated four gene expression profile data sets, namely two different pair-matched stage I lung adenocarcinoma data sets, secondary metastatic tumors vs benign tumors and lung tumor metastasizes to the brain, and we identified one kinase, T-LAK Cell-Originated Protein Kinase (TOPK), as a putative gene that promotes metastasis. To delineate the role of TOPK in lung cancer, we showed that overexpression of TOPK, but not a catalytically inactive form of TOPK, can enhance the migration and invasion of lung fibroblasts or cells with low TOPK expression. In addition, TOPK-induced cell migration was shown to be a PI3K/AKT-dependent event. TOPK concurrently promoted AKT phosphorylation at Ser(473) and decreased the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) levels, whereas TOPK knockdown had the reverse effects. LY294002, a PI3K inhibitor, did not inhibit the TOPK-induced decrease in PTEN, and co-expression of PTEN significantly reduced TOPK-induced AKT phosphorylation in a dose-dependent manner; these results indicate that the TOPK-mediated PTEN decrease has an upstream role in regulating PI3K/AKT-stimulated migration. Using immunohistochemical analysis of lung cancer tissue samples, we showed that a high TOPK expression level correlates strongly with reduced overall and disease-free survivals. Moreover, an inverse correlation between TOPK and PTEN expression was present and is consistent with the biochemical findings. Finally, a combination of high TOPK and low PTEN expression was inversely correlated with overall and disease-free survivals, independent of other pathologic staging factors. Our results suggest that TOPK is a potential therapeutic target in lung cancer that promotes cell migration by modulating a PI3K/PTEN/AKT-dependent signaling pathway; they also suggest that high TOPK expression, either alone or in combination with a low level of PTEN, may serve as a prognostic marker for lung cancer.