Loss of the respiratory enzyme citrate synthase directly links the Warburg effect to tumor malignancy.

To investigate whether altered energy metabolism induces the Warburg effect and results in tumor malignancy, the respiratory enzyme citrate synthase (CS) was examined, silenced, and the effects analyzed. In human cervical carcinoma cells, RNAi-mediated CS knockdown induced morphological changes characteristic of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). This switch accelerated cancer cell metastasis and proliferation in in vitro assays and in vivo tumor xenograft models. Notably, CS knockdown cells exhibited severe defects in respiratory activity and marked decreases in ATP production, but great increases in glycolytic metabolism. This malignant progression was due to activation of EMT-related regulators; altered energy metabolism resulted from deregulation of the p53/TIGAR and SCO2 pathways. This phenotypic change was completely reversed by p53 reactivation via treatment with proteasome inhibitor MG132 or co-knockdown of E3 ligase HDM2 and partially suppressed by ATP treatment. This study directly links the Warburg effect to tumor malignancy via induction of the EMT phenotype.

RB·E2F1 complex mediates DNA damage responses through transcriptional regulation of ZBRK1.

RB plays an essential role in DNA damage-induced growth arrest and regulates the expression of several factors essential for DNA repair machinery. However, how RB coordinates DNA damage response through transcriptional regulation of genes involved in growth arrest remains largely unexplored. We examined whether RB can mediate the response to DNA damage through modulation of ZBRK1, a zinc finger-containing transcriptional repressor that can modulate the expression of GADD45A, a DNA damage response gene, to induce cell cycle arrest in response to DNA damage. We found that the ZBRK1 promoter contains an authentic E2F-recognition sequence that specifically binds E2F1, but not E2F4 or E2F6, together with chromatin remodeling proteins CtIP and CtBP to form a repression complex that suppresses ZBRK1 transcription. Furthermore, loss of RB-mediated transcriptional repression led to an increase in ZBRK1 transcript levels, correlating with increased sensitivity to ultraviolet (UV) and methyl methanesulfonate-induced DNA damage. Taken together, these results suggest that the RB·CtIP (CtBP interacting protein)/CtBP (C terminus-binding protein) /E2F1 complex plays a critical role in ZBRK1 transcriptional repression, and loss of this repression may contribute to cellular sensitivity of DNA damage, ultimately leading to carcinogenesis.

ZBRK1 acts as a metastatic suppressor by directly regulating MMP9 in cervical cancer.

The BRCA1-interacted transcriptional repressor ZBRK1 has been associated with antiangiogenesis, but direct evidence of a tumor suppressor role has been lacking. In this study, we provide evidence of such a role in cervical carcinoma. ZBRK1 levels in cervical tumor cells were significantly lower than in normal cervical epithelial cells. In HeLa cervical cancer cells, enforced expression inhibited malignant growth, invasion, and metastasis in a variety of in vitro and in vivo assays. Expression of the metalloproteinase MMP9, which is known to be an important driver of invasion and metastasis, was found to be inversely correlated with ZBRK1 in tumor tissues and a target for repression in tumor cells. Our findings suggest that ZBRK1 acts to inhibit metastasis of cervical carcinoma, perhaps by modulating MMP9 expression.

Identification and characterization of the mitochondrial targeting sequence and mechanism in human citrate synthase.

Citrate synthase (CS), the first and rate-limiting enzyme of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, plays a decisive role in regulating energy generation of mitochondrial respiration. Most mitochondrial proteins are synthesized in the cytoplasm as preproteins with an amino (N)-terminal mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS) that directs mitochondria-specific sorting of the preprotein. However, the MTS and targeting mechanism of the human CS protein are not fully characterized. The human CS gene is a single nuclear gene which transcribes into two mRNA variants, isoform a (CSa) and b (CSb), by alternative splicing of exon 2. CSa encodes 466 amino acids, including a putative N-terminal MTS, while CSb expresses 400 residues with a shorter N terminus, lacking the MTS. Our results indicated that CSa is localized in the mitochondria and the N-terminal 27 amino acids, including a well-conserved RXY downward arrow (S/A) motif (the RHAS sequence), can efficiently target the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) into the mitochondria. Furthermore, site-directed mutagenesis analysis of the conserved basic amino acids and serine/threonine residues revealed that the R9 residue is essential but all serine/threonine residues are dispensable in the mitochondrial targeting function. Moreover, RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated gene silencing of the preprotein import receptors, including TOM20, TOM22, and TOM70, showed that all three preprotein import receptors are required for transporting CSa into the mitochondria. In conclusion, we have experimentally identified the mitochondrial targeting sequence of human CSa and elucidated its targeting mechanism. These results provide an important basis for the study of mitochondrial dysfunction due to aberrant CSa trafficking.