Molecular and Cellular Biology, December 2009, p. 6149-6169, Vol. 29, No. 23
0270-7306/09/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/MCB.01481-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Yun Dai,1,
Xin-Yan Pei,1 and
Steven Grant1,2,3,4*
Department of Medicine,1 Department of Biochemistry,2 Massey Cancer Center,3 Institute for Molecular Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 232984
Received 22 September 2008/ Returned for modification 28 December 2008/ Accepted 21 September 2009
The Bcl-2 antagonist ABT-737 kills transformed cells in association with displacement of Bim from Bcl-2. The histone deactetylase (HDAC) inhibitor suberoyl bis-hydroxamic acid (SBHA) was employed to determine whether and by what mechanism ABT-737 might interact with agents that upregulate Bim. Expression profiling of BH3-only proteins indicated that SBHA increased Bim, Puma, and Noxa expression, while SBHA concentrations that upregulated Bim significantly potentiated ABT-737 lethality. Concordance between SBHA-mediated Bim upregulation and interactions with ABT-737 was observed in various human leukemia and myeloma cells. SBHA-induced Bim was largely sequestered by Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, rather than Mcl-1; ABT-737 attenuated these interactions, thereby triggering Bak/Bax activation and mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization. Knockdown of Bim (but not Puma or Noxa) by shRNA or ectopic overexpression of Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, or Mcl-1 diminished Bax/Bak activation and apoptosis. Notably, ectopic expression of these antiapoptotic proteins disabled death signaling by sequestering different proapoptotic proteins, i.e., Bim by Bcl-2, both Bim and Bak by Bcl-xL, and Bak by Mcl-1. Together, these findings indicate that HDAC inhibitor-inducible Bim is primarily neutralized by Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, thus providing a mechanistic framework by which Bcl-2 antagonists potentiate the lethality of agents, such as HDAC inhibitors, which upregulate Bim.
Published ahead of print on 5 October 2009.
S.C. and Y.D. contributed equally to this work.
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