C10ORF10/DEPP, a transcriptional target of FOXO3, regulates ROS-sensitivity in human neuroblastoma.

BACKGROUND: FOXO transcription factors control cellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which critically contribute to cell survival and cell death in neuroblastoma. In the present study we investigated the regulation of C10orf10/DEPP by the transcription factor FOXO3. As a physiological function of C10orf10/DEPP has not been described so far we analyzed its effects on cellular ROS detoxification and death sensitization in human neuroblastoma cells. METHODS: The effect of DEPP on cellular ROS was measured by catalase activity assay and live cell fluorescence microscopy using the ROS-sensitive dye reduced MitoTracker Red CM-H2XROS. The cellular localization of DEPP was determined by confocal microscopy of EYFP-tagged DEPP, fluorescent peroxisomal- and mitochondrial probes and co-immunoprecipitation of the PEX7 receptor. RESULTS: We report for the first time that DEPP regulates ROS detoxification and localizes to peroxisomes and mitochondria in neuroblastoma cells. FOXO3-mediated apoptosis involves a biphasic ROS accumulation. Knockdown of DEPP prevented the primary and secondary ROS wave during FOXO3 activation and attenuated FOXO3- and H2O2-induced apoptosis. Conditional overexpression of DEPP elevates cellular ROS levels and sensitizes to H2O2 and etoposide-induced cell death. In neuronal cells, cellular ROS are mainly detoxified in peroxisomes by the enzyme CAT/catalase. As DEPP contains a peroxisomal-targeting-signal-type-2 (PTS2) sequence at its N-terminus that allows binding to the PEX7 receptor and import into peroxisomes, we analyzed the effect of DEPP on cellular detoxification by measuring enzyme activity of catalase. Catalase activity was reduced in DEPP-overexpressing cells and significantly increased in DEPP-knockdown cells. DEPP directly interacts with the PEX7 receptor and localizes to the peroxisomal compartment. In parallel, the expression of the transcription factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG), a critical regulator of catalase enzyme activity, was strongly upregulated in DEPP-knockdown cells. CONCLUSION: The combined data indicate that in neuroblastoma DEPP localizes to peroxisomes and mitochondria and impairs cellular ROS detoxification, which sensitizes tumor cells to ROS-induced cell death.

Discovery of Sanggenon G as a natural cell-permeable small-molecular weight inhibitor of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP).

Defects in the regulation of apoptosis are one main cause of cancer development and may result from overexpression of anti-apoptotic proteins such as the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP). XIAP is frequently overexpressed in human leukemia and prostate and breast tumors. Inhibition of apoptosis by XIAP is mainly coordinated through direct binding to the initiator caspase-9 via its baculovirus-IAP-repeat-3 (BIR3) domain. XIAP inhibits caspases directly making it to an attractive target for anti-cancer therapy. In the search for novel, non-peptidic XIAP inhibitors in this study we focused on the chemical constituents of sang bái pí (mulberry root bark). Most promising candidates of this plant were tested biochemically in vitro by a fluorescence polarization (FP) assay and in vivo via protein fragment complementation analysis (PCA). We identified the Diels Alder adduct Sanggenon G (SG1) as a novel, small-molecular weight inhibitor of XIAP. As shown by FP and PCA analyses, SG1 binds specifically to the BIR3 domain of XIAP with a binding affinity of 34.26 µM. Treatment of the transgenic leukemia cell line Molt3/XIAP with SG1 enhances caspase-8, -3 and -9 cleavage, displaces caspase-9 from XIAP as determined by immunoprecipitation experiments and sensitizes these cells to etoposide-induced apoptosis. SG1 not only sensitizes the XIAP-overexpressing leukemia cell line Molt3/XIAP to etoposide treatment but also different neuroblastoma cell lines endogenously expressing high XIAP levels. Taken together, Sanggenon G (SG1) is a novel, natural, non-peptidic, small-molecular inhibitor of XIAP that can serve as a starting point to develop a new class of improved XIAP inhibitors.