in Hypoxic Cells and Downregulation of the Hypoxia Marker Carbonic Anhydrase IX
Stefan Kaluz,1,2,
Michael I. Lerman,3 and Eric J. Stanbridge1*
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, College of Medicine, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California 92717,1 Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republic,2 and Laboratory of Immunobiology, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, Frederick, Maryland 217013
Received 9 December 2003/ Returned for modification 3 February 2004/ Accepted 8 April 2004
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
protein, resulting in considerably lower steady-state levels of HIF-1
protein in hypoxic MCF-7 cells but not in Saos-2 cells. Overexpression of HIF-1
relieved the MC-induced repression in MCF-7 cells, confirming regulation at the HIF-1
level. Similarly, CA9 promoter activity was downregulated by MC in HCT 116 p53+/+ but not the isogenic p53/ cells. Activated p53 decreased HIF-1
protein levels by accelerated proteasome-dependent degradation without affecting significantly HIF-1
transcription. In summary, our results demonstrate that the presence of wtp53 under hypoxic conditions has an insignificant effect on the stabilization of HIF-1
protein and HIF-1-dependent expression of CAIX. However, upon activation by DNA damage, wt p53 mediates an accelerated degradation of HIF-1
protein, resulting in reduced activation of CA9 transcription and, correspondingly, decreased levels of CAIX protein. A model outlining the quantitative relationship between p53, HIF-1
, and CAIX is presented. | INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
and the constitutively expressed HIF-1ß (also known as aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator) subunits (47). In the presence of oxygen, HIF-1
becomes hydroxylated in the oxygen-dependent degradation domain by a multimeric prolyl hydroxylase (22, 25). Binding of the tumor suppressor von Hippel-Lindau protein to the hydroxylated form of HIF-1
initiates ubiquitinylation, targeting to the proteasome, and rapid degradation of HIF-1
(37). In the absence of oxygen, degradation of HIF-1
does not occur and HIF-1 binds to hypoxia-response elements (HRE), thereby activating the expression of hypoxia-response genes (19, 42, 47). The mutual relationship between hypoxia and the tumor suppressor p53 has been the subject of several studies, but the underlying mechanisms remain ill defined (for reviews, see references 14 and 19). Although hypoxia-induced accumulation of p53 arrests replication in the absence of any detectable DNA-damage (33), this p53 is transcriptionally impaired (5, 33). It has been speculated that the more aggressive nature of hypoxic tumors and the frequent occurrence of p53 mutations in advanced stages of tumor development are the consequence of a selective pressure exerted by hypoxia. According to this theory, hypoxia induces p53-dependent apoptosis and will therefore counterselect cells with wild-type p53, thereby facilitating the clonal expansion of cells with mutant or otherwise-compromised p53 protein function (17).
The relationship between p53 and HIF-1 function was the subject of several earlier studies. It was reported that the loss of p53 in the colon carcinoma cell line HCT 116 enhances HIF-1
levels and augments HIF-1-dependent transcriptional activation in response to hypoxia (40). HIF-1-dependent transcription in a panel of prostate cell lines increased from low in normal epithelial to high in highly metastatic cells, and this observation was related to decreasing p53 activity in the same direction (41). In overexpression experiments, p53 was observed to downregulate HIF-stimulated transcription via competition for p300 coactivator (7). On the other hand, using the same isogenic HCT 116 p53+/+ and p53/ cells used in reference 40 no differences in hypoxic induction of hexokinase 1, adrenomedulin, and a number of other genes were found (18). Similarly, HIF-1
protein levels were comparable in hypoxic HCT 116 p53+/+ and p53/ cells (1). Furthermore, the presence of hypoxia-stabilized p53 did not have any effect on HIF-1
stabilization in RKO cells (18). Recent reviews of HIF-1
biology have drawn attention to these somewhat contradictory observations (19, 42).
Carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) is one of the emerging markers of tumor hypoxia (3, 23, 36). CAIX expression was found to correlate with lowered O2 tension in tumors (36) and may have prognostic significance in a variety of cancers (9, 15). Previously, CAIX (also known as MN) was identified in a large number of carcinomas but not in the corresponding healthy tissues (48, 50; also see reference 23 and references therein). Although its exact role in carcinogenesis is not known, it was suggested that tumor-associated transmembrane CA isozymes (CAIX and CAXII) may facilitate acidification of the extracellular milieu surrounding the cancer cells and in this way promote tumor growth and spread (23, 24).
We and others have shown that expression of CAIX is positively regulated by low O2 tension via the HRE in the CA9 promoter, immediately upstream of the transcription start (28, 48).
HIF(s) plays a crucial role in cellular adaptation to conditions of lowered oxygen supply (19, 42). In principle, by perturbing HIF activity p53 could lower the viability of hypoxic cells by not allowing them to accumulate sufficient levels of HIF-dependent effector molecules. The previous observations that there is an accumulation of transcriptionally impaired p53 under hypoxic conditions (5, 33) raise the question of whether this p53 is capable of regulating HIF-1-dependent transcription. Because of the number of apparently contradictory reports on the interplay between p53 and HIF-1 function (1, 7, 18, 40, 41), we wished to investigate the effects of the tumor suppressor p53 on expression of the endogenous hypoxia marker CAIX and CA9 promoter function. We asked the following questions. Is DNA damage required in addition to hypoxic conditions for p53 activation? Will p53 activation have any inhibitory effect on the activation of HIF-1-target genes? If there is an effect, is it at the level of transcriptional regulation or protein degradation? To address these questions we studied endogenous CAIX expression and CA9 promoter activity in wild-type (wt) p53 or p53-null cell lines in relation to p53 and HIF-1
functions under conditions of hypoxia (0.5%-1.0% O2) or a hypoxia-mimicking agent in the absence or presence of a DNA-damaging agent.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Plasmid constructions.
The [173,+31] and [46,+14] CA9 promoter fragments were cloned in pGL2 basic vector (Promega). 3xHRE-Luc and 3xPR1-Luc constructs were generated by cloning three copies of the CAAGACATACGTGCTGTCTCA HRE and TGGGTGGGGGAGGAGCAAGCC PR1 (27) sequences, respectively, into pLuc-MCS vector (Stratagene). The PG13-Luc construct contains a multimerized p53 consensus binding sequence (32). The pCEP-HIF-1
construct contains a HIF-1
cDNA inserted in the pCEP4 vector (43). wt p53 plus V143A, N247I, R273P, and L22Q/W23S mutant p53 cDNAs were expressed in the pCEP4 vector. The pRL-tk vector was obtained from Promega.
Cell lines and culture.
Human breast carcinoma MCF-7, containing wt p53 (7), and p53-null osteosarcoma Saos-2 (11) cell lines were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (BioWhittaker), supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (Life Technologies), 102 U of penicillin (Sigma) per ml, 102 µg of streptomycin (ICN) per ml, and 125 ng of amphotericin B (Sigma) per ml. The human colon cancer cell line HCT 116 p53+/+, containing wt p53, and its derivative HCT 116 p53/, which has both TP53 alleles disrupted (10), were cultured in McCoy's 5A medium supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum and penicillin-streptomycin. All cell lines were regularly tested for microbial contamination (44) and were uniformly negative. The effect of the DNA-damaging drug mitomycin C (MC) (Sigma) at 5 or 10 µg/ml (concentrations routinely used in a number of other studies; e.g., see reference 6) on endogenous CAIX expression was tested on cells that had been seeded at 10,000/cm2 and grown for 3 days. The cells were plated at 40,000/cm2, pretreated with MC for 2 h, and exposed to a 1% O2 environment in a PROOX in vitro chamber (BioSpherix), controlled by the PROOX instrument (model 110; BioSpherix), for 24 h in the presence of MC. Alternatively, following pretreatment with MC, CAIX expression was induced with 100 µM hypoxia-mimicking desferrioxamine mesylate (DFO) (Sigma) for 24 h. For cell density-dependent CAIX induction, the cells were plated at 160,000/cm2 and incubated in the presence of MC for 24 h. The mechanism of HIF-1
degradation in MC-treated cells was studied in MCF-7 cells pretreated with the proteasome inhibitor LLnV (Sigma) and MC for 90 min and then exposed to normoxic or hypoxic (1% O2) conditions for 18 h in the presence of both reagents.
MTT assay. MCF-7 and Saos-2 cells (20,000/100 µl) were transferred onto 96-well microtiter plates, incubated overnight, pretreated with MC for 2 h, and exposed to 1% O2 for 24 h in the presence of MC. Each control and MC concentration was run in triplicate. Cells were rinsed with phosphate-buffered saline, 100 µl of medium containing 25 µl of a 5-mg/ml stock solution of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) (Sigma) was added to each well, and the plates were incubated 4 h at 37°C. The cells were then lysed with 100 µl of lysis buffer (2% [wt/vol] sodium dodecyl sulfate, 50% [vol/vol] N,N-dimethylformamide, and 0.4% [vol/vol] glacial acetic acid) for 1 h at room temperature. The color development was read at 595 nm in a SpectraMax 340 Microplate Reader (Molecular Devices), and the data were expressed as the percent of the normoxic control.
Western blot analysis.
Western blot analysis of CAIX and ß-actin expression was performed as described previously (28). Additional antibodies used were: total p53 DO-1 (Santa Cruz Biotechnology), p-S15 and p-S20 phospho-p53 (Cell Signaling Technology), and HIF-1
(BD Bioscience). For these antibodies, the cells were lysed in lysis buffer I (20 mM Tris-Cl [pH 7.5], 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM Na2EDTA, 1 mM EGTA, 1% Triton, 2.5 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 mM ß-glycerophosphate, 1 mM Na3VO4, leupeptin [1 µg/ml], aprotinin [1 µg/ml], 25 mM NaF, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride) for 20 min on ice. Lysates were centrifuged (13,000 x g, 10 min, 4°C), and the protein concentration in supernatant was measured with a BCA protein assay kit (Pierce). The insoluble pellet remaining after the lysis in lysis buffer I was solubilized in lysis buffer II (62.5 mM Tris-Cl [pH 6.8], 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 10% glycerol, 50 mM dithiothreitol, 0.01% [wt/vol] bromophenol blue) by passing it through a 27-guage needle at least five times.
Transient-transfection assay. Cells were cotransfected with a CA9-driven firefly luciferase reporter construct and pRL-tk expressing Renilla luciferase (internal control for transfection efficiency) as described previously (28). Effects of cotransfected wt and mutant p53 (10 ng/12-well plate) on CA9 promoter activity were tested in HCT 116 p53/ cells. After exposure to the transfection mixture for 24 h, the cells were trypsinized, transferred to plates at a concentration of 40,000 cells/cm2, and allowed to adhere for 3 h. The cells were then pretreated with MC at 5 or 10 µg/ml for 2 h and exposed to 0.5% O2 or 100 µM DFO for 24 h in the presence of MC. Reporter assays were performed as described previously (28). Promoter activities were expressed as the average ratio of firefly to Renilla luciferase activities (± standard deviations [SD]) from at least three independent experiments.
Reverse transcription (RT)- and real-time PCR.
MCF-7 cells (6 x 105 plated at 40,000 cells/cm2) were pretreated with MC (10 µg/ml) for 2 h, followed by exposure to 1% O2 or 100 µM DFO for 16 h in the presence of MC. Total RNA was isolated with an RNeasy Mini Kit (QIAGEN), and cDNA was synthesized with ProtoScript first strand cDNA synthesis kit (New England Biolabs). cDNA fragments were amplified with the following primer pairs: HIF-1
(accession no. U22431), sense, GCAGCCAGATCTCGGCGAAG [101 to 120]; antisense, CTGTGTCCAGTTAGTTCAAACTG [420 to 398]; CA9 (accession no. NM_001216), sense, CTGTCACTGCTGCTTCTGAT [121 to 140]; antisense, TCCTCTCCAGGTAGATCCTC [321 to 301]; ß-actin (accession no. NM_001101), sense, ACAACGGCTCCGGCATGTGCAA [105 to 126]; antisense, CGGTTGGCCTTGGGGTTCAG [420 to 402]. PCRs were performed in GeneAmp PCR System 9700 (PE Applied Biosystems) for 30 cycles: 94°C for 30 s, 56°C for 30 s, and 72°C for 30 s. Products were analyzed on a 1.5% agarose gel.
Real-time PCR analysis was performed with the iCycler iQ Multicolor Real-Time PCR Detection System using SYBR Green Supermix (both Bio-Rad). Primers for HIF-1
were GCCGAGGAAGAACTATGAAC [558 to 577] (sense) and ATATTTGATGGGTGAGGAATGG [726 to 704] (antisense). The same ß-actin primers described above were used. cDNAs were amplified with the following profile: 95°C for 4 min and 40 cycles of 94°C for 10 s and 56°C for 30 s. The relative HIF-1
transcription for each sample was expressed as the ratio of HIF-1
and ß-actin values.
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
Effect of MC-inflicted DNA damage on CA9 promoter activity in wt and p53-null cell lines. Next, we studied whether wt p53 exerts its inhibitory effect on CAIX expression at the transcriptional level. To this end, we probed the effects of MC treatment on activity of the luciferase reporter construct, driven by the [46, +14] CA9 promoter fragment. In addition to the transcription start site, this CA9 fragment contains only two characterized regulatory elements: HRE (48) and the SP1/SP3-binding PR1 domain (31). Transient-transfection experiments confirmed induction of CA9 promoter activity by hypoxia (0.5% O2) and DFO in both MCF-7 and Saos-2 cells. A slightly higher magnitude of induction was observed in Saos-2 cells (Fig. 2). MC inhibited promoter activity in a dose-dependent manner in MCF-7 cells, whereas no inhibitory effect was seen in Saos-2 cells. Therefore, MC exerts its inhibitory effect on CAIX expression in a p53-dependent way by interfering with CA9 promoter inducibility, presumably by targeting transcription factors that are critical for CA9 promoter function.
|
|
levels in MCF-7 cells.
Having identified HRE as the primary target for the p53-mediated inhibitory effect on CA9 promoter activity, we wished to address the corresponding mechanism. In principle, HRE-dependent transcription can be modulated by two different mechanisms: (i) through availability of HIF-1
, the regulatable component of HIF-1 (47), or (ii) through regulation of p300/CBP that acts as an essential cofactor for HIF-1 (4, 7). To investigate these possibilities, we initially measured the amounts of HIF-1
protein in MC-treated MCF-7 cells by Western blotting. As expected, HIF-1
is undetectable in control cells, but it is readily stabilized in hypoxic cells (Fig. 4A). Regardless of the mode of induction, MC treatment decreased amounts of the HIF-1
protein in a dose-dependent manner in MCF-7 cells (Fig. 4A). Conversely, in p53-null Saos-2 cells MC treatment had no effect on the amount of stable HIF-1
protein (Fig. 4A). The conclusion that downregulation of HIF-1
is the primary cause of the inhibitory effect of activated wt p53 on the CA9 promoter was further strengthened by cotransfection experiments with HIF-1
cDNA. Overexpression of HIF-1
counteracts the inhibitory effect of MC treatment and confirms that the observed decreased CA9 promoter activity is due to decreased availability of HIF-1
(Fig. 4B). These results suggest that p53 downregulates HIF-1
protein levels either by inhibiting transcription of the HIF 1
gene and/or increasing the degradation rate of HIF-1
protein.
|
by the proteasome pathway without interfering with HIF-1
transcription.
Next, we investigated whether transcriptionally competent p53, induced by MC treatment, downregulates HIF-1
through repressing its transcription. RT-PCR revealed no differences in HIF-1
mRNA levels in control and MC-treated MCF-7 cells (Fig. 5A). This observation was further supported by the results of real-time PCR (Fig. 5B). HIF-1
transcription, normalized to ß-actin transcription and expressed in arbitrary units, was 2.36 ± 0.18 and 1.32 ± 0.2 for DFO- and DFO-MC-treated cells, respectively, and 1.89 ± 0.13 and 1.22 ± 0.1 for 1% O2- and 1% O2-MC-treated cells, respectively. Although real-time PCR indicated a decrease in HIF-1
transcription in MC-treated cells (1.79-fold for DFO and 1.55-fold for 1% O2), this decrease is not sufficient to account for the decreased overall HIF-1
protein levels under these conditions. In fact, the real-time PCR results indicate a greater (albeit modest) decrease in transcription in the DFO-MC cells than 1% O2-MC cells. However, the levels of HIF-1
protein (Fig. 4A) in the 1% O2-MC cells are significantly less than those in the DFO-MC cells.
|
by activated p53. Pretreatment with the proteasome inhibitor LLnV for 90 min followed by 1% hypoxia for 18 h resulted in a significant increase in the level of the HIF-1
protein (Fig. 5C). Surprisingly, HIF-1
levels detected in cells pretreated with LLnV and MC were significantly lower (Fig. 5C). This unexpected observation was elucidated when we found that under these conditions almost all of the HIF-1
protein was insoluble in lysis buffer I. Solubilization of the remaining insoluble fraction in lysis buffer II revealed the presence of considerable amounts of HIF-1
protein (Fig. 5C). The total amount of HIF-1
in the soluble and insoluble fractions was approximately the same, suggesting that proteasome function is required for p53-dependent downregulation of HIF-1
. Therefore, we conclude that acceleration of proteasome-mediated degradation is responsible for downregulation of HIF-1
by MC-activated p53.
The effect of MC-treatment on CA9 promoter activity in HCT 116 p53+/+ and p53/ cells.
Finally, we sought to strengthen our conclusions about the relationship between p53, HIF-1
, and CAIX in the pair of isogenic p53+/+ and p53/ HCT 116 cells. Despite the fact that neither cell line expressed endogenous CAIX, preliminary experiments indicated that an exogenous, transfected CA9 promoter activity was induced by hypoxic treatment in these cells (data not shown). Therefore, we studied CA9 promoter activation and the effect of MC treatment in parallel in transiently transfected HCT 116 p53+/+ and p53/ cells. Our results, illustrated in Fig. 6, show that under normoxic conditions the basal activity in the p53/ cells was approximately 1.5-fold higher than that in p53+/+ cells. Following the MC treatment, this basal activity was suppressed markedly in p53+/+ cells and unchanged in p53/ cells. In response to hypoxia (0.5% O2) or exposure to the hypoxia-mimicking DFO, strong induction (8-fold) of CA9 promoter activity was observed that was again higher (1.5-fold) in p53/ cells. Notably, MC elicited inhibition of promoter activity in the p53+/+ cells but not in the p53/ cells. Thus, the requirement for activated p53 for MC-induced inhibition of CA9 promoter observed in the paired p53+/+ and p53/ isogenic HCT 116 cells confirms our previous observation in the more genetically diverse MCF-7 and Saos-2 cells.
|
is dependent on p53 activation in HCT 116 cells.
Next we investigated the profile of HIF-1
response to MC treatment in HCT 116 p53+/+ and p53/ cells. MC decreased hypoxia- and DFO-induced HIF-1
levels in p53+/+ but not in p53/ HCT 116 cells (Fig. 7). Unlike in MCF-7 cells, total p53 protein levels were detected in control, hypoxic, and DFO-treated p53+/+ cells (Fig. 7). However, S15 phosphorylation on p53 (an indicator of p53 activation) occurred only following MC treatment (Fig. 7), thus confirming the correlation between activated p53 and decreased HIF-1
levels previously observed in MCF-7.
|
promoter itself.
|
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
We found that hypoxia-induced CAIX expression was independent of p53 status, as no difference was observed between MCF-7 (wt p53) and Saos-2 (p53-null) cells. The [46, +14] CA9 promoter construct was also readily inducible by hypoxia in both cell lines. To verify whether the higher inducibility of the CA9 promoter observed in Saos-2 cells is indeed due to the absence of p53 in these cells or some other cell-type-specific differences, we used the pair of isogenic cell lines HCT 116 p53+/+ and HCT 116 p53/ (10). Although neither of the cell lines shows endogenous CAIX expression, exogenous CA9 promoter activity via transfection was inducible by hypoxia in both cell lines, and in p53-null cells it was 1.5-fold higher than in the wt-p53-containing counterparts. Based on these results, it appears that hypoxia activates CAIX expression regardless of p53 status, the only difference being a slightly higher activation of the CA9 promoter in p53-null cells.
In addition to other stimuli of p53 activation, it has been proposed that hypoxia stabilizes p53 (14, 18, 33). Although phosphorylation of p53 at S15 and S37 was observed in RKO and 293T cells exposed to severe hypoxic conditions (0.02% O2) or DFO (18), it was also shown that hypoxia-induced phosphorylated p53 is transcriptionally impaired (5, 33). Even under conditions where p53 was stabilized and phosphorylated, it did not have any effect on HIF-1
stability (18). In our studies, although we did observe some increase in stabilization of the p53 protein and phosphorylation at S15 and S20 in DFO-treated MCF-7 cells, this was approximately 20-fold less than in MC-induced cells. Compared to control cells that have no activated p53 (46), p53 activation in cells exposed to hypoxia or hypoxia mimic is barely detectable and appears insufficient for interfering with activation of hypoxia-dependent transcription. However, activation of p53 by MC inflicted DNA damage potently repressed hypoxia-induced CAIX expression in wt p53 MCF-7 cells but not in p53-null Saos-2 cells. MC treatment in MCF-7 cells elicited considerable stabilization and phosphorylation of wt p53 at S15 and S20.
The HRE within the CA9 promoter was identified as the primary target of MC-mediated inhibition of CA9 expression. Furthermore, we showed that MC treatment decreased the steady-state levels of HIF-1
protein in MCF-7 but not in Saos-2 cells. The decreased level of HIF-1
protein appears to be responsible for downregulation of CA9 transcription following MC-inflicted DNA damage as this can be relieved by HIF-1
overexpression. The mechanism responsible for decreased HIF-1
levels in cells with activated p53 is accelerated targeting of HIF-1
protein for proteasome-mediated degradation, as this decrease was not observed in the presence of the proteasome inhibitor LLnV. The combination of the proteasome inhibitor LLnV, MC, and hypoxic conditions resulted in accumulation of HIF-1
protein in the insoluble fraction, but the total amounts in soluble and insoluble fractions combined, both in the presence of LLnV alone and LLnV and MC, were approximately the same. Accumulation of HIF-1
protein in the detergent-insoluble fraction has been described previously under the conditions of a combination of proteasome and Hsp90 inhibition (21). This report, together with our observation, may indicate a general tendency of HIF-1
to aggregate into detergent-insoluble complexes due to proteasome inhibition and the resulting higher HIF-1
concentration. This tendency may be further aggravated in the presence of MC that may influence the insolubility of HIF-1
under these conditions.
Observations made in MCF-7 and Saos-2 cells were again confirmed in hypoxic HCT 116 p53+/+ and HCT 116 p53/ cells, where the inhibitory effect of MC treatment on CA9 promoter activity and steady-state levels of HIF-1
were also dependent on sufficient activation of p53. Together, these results demonstrate that, upon stabilization and activation, wt p53 is capable of interfering with hypoxic induction of CAIX via inhibiting HIF-1 activity due to increased proteasome-mediated proteolytic degradation of the HIF-1
protein. Thus, these results suggest the existence of another mechanism of regulating HIF-1
protein levels via proteasomal degradation. Another intriguing aspect of these results is the localization of the HIF-1
protein to the insoluble fraction following DNA damage, in the presence of proteasome inhibitors. The functional importance of the observed insolubility of the HIF-1
protein is currently under investigation.
Our observations are at variance with the previously published conclusions about regulation of tumor angiogenesis by p53 in the same model of HCT 116 p53+/+ and p53/ cells (40). The authors of that study observed decreased levels of HIF-1
protein in p53+/+ (compared to p53/) cells in which p53 was not activated (40). However, no differences in HIF-1
levels between HCT 116 p53+/+ and p53/ cells were observed in another recent report (1). The reason for these discrepancies is not clear; even though the control HCT 116 cells contain relatively high levels of p53, this p53 is not activated as concluded from the absence of phosphorylation at S15. In all cell lines tested in this study, p53 had to be activated by the DNA damaging agent MC before its inhibitory effect on HIF-1
could be manifested.
The authors of another study came to the conclusion that p53 inhibits hypoxia-inducible transcription because of competition for the transcriptional coactivator p300, despite the fact that overexpression of p300 did not relieve the inhibition (7). However, regulation at the HIF-1 level was not considered and HIF-1
levels (mRNA, protein) were not measured. We also tested the possible role of p300 in p53-mediated inhibition of hypoxia-inducible transcription. We found that activation of p53 had no effect on p300 levels in MCF-7 cells, and overexpression of p300 did not overcome the inhibitory effect of p53 on transcription from the CA9 promoter (data not shown). This suggests that, at least in MCF-7 cells, p300 function is not inhibited by p53 and the inhibitory effect of p53 is exerted at the level of degradation of HIF-1
protein. These authors also reported that the 273H p53 mutant still repressed transcription driven by the erythropoietin HRE and only the L22Q/W23S double mutant was defective (7). In our study, neither of the transcriptionally incapacitated p53 mutants (mutated in the DNA binding or transactivation domain) was able to interfere with hypoxic induction of the CA9 promoter.
To date, no systematic typing of the p53 status of CAIX-expressing tumors has been performed. Available data on CAIX expression in various cell lines do not support the notion that CAIX expression associates with a particular p53 status. In one study the most efficient CAIX-expressing cell lines (U373MG, HCT-15, and HT-29) were deficient in p53 function (23), whereas in another study a number of wt-p53-harboring cell lines (A549, U2-OS, and HBL-100) readily expressed CAIX (48). Very little difference in CAIX expression level was also observed in the breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 (mutant p53) and ZR-75.1 (wt p53) (49).
A number of conflicting studies on the effects of p53 on the transcriptional activation of another hypoxia-regulated gene, coding for the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), have been published. In an early report, wt p53 was shown not to repress hypoxia-induced transcription of VEGF (2). On the other hand, a link between an impaired p53/MDM-2 pathway and increased VEGF expression was observed in angiosarcomas (52). The loss of p53 function in tumor cells was postulated to enhance HIF-1
levels and augment HIF-1-dependent transcriptional activation of VEGF (40). At least two other reports showed that wt p53 can repress VEGF expression by modulating the transcriptional activity of the SP1 factor (38, 51), suggesting that HRE/HIF-1 may not always be the primary p53 target in VEGF transcriptional regulation and pointing out alternative mechanisms for p53-mediated downregulation of VEGF.
Our preliminary results with HREs from the lactate dehydrogenase A and erythropoietin genes (data not shown) suggest that the p53-dependent inhibitory effect observed with the CA9 HRE is general and, therefore, MC treatment will result in downregulation of activation of other hypoxia-inducible genes in a wt-p53-dependent manner.
The importance of elucidating the relationship between p53 and CAIX is obvious. In this and earlier studies (30, 35) we examined whether p53 can modulate induction of CAIX expression. Even though we did not find an inhibitory relationship between the nonactivated p53 and CAIX expression, we did observe a considerable inhibitory effect of activated wt p53 on CAIX expression. Modalities used for cancer therapy frequently employ DNA-damaging agents (e.g., chemotherapy or ionizing radiation) that generally induce p53. This means that the efficacy of CAIX (and possibly other HIF-1-dependent gene products)-targeted immunotherapy of tumors (13, 26) or HRE-driven expression constructs for cancer gene therapy (39) would be seriously compromised in wt-p53-containing tumors treated with DNA-damaging agents. Given the emerging consensus on the critical role of HIF-1 in tumor progression, new therapeutic approaches selectively targeting HIF-1 activity are being developed (19, 42). On the basis of observations presented in this report, it seems reasonable to speculate that the inhibitory effect of activated p53 on HIF-1 activity could be, at least in part, responsible for the well-documented antitumor effects of DNA-damaging agents.
Our understanding of the p53/HIF-1
/CAIX relationship is outlined in Fig. 9. Under normoxic conditions, both HIF-1
and p53 are rapidly degraded and there is no CAIX expression. Hypoxic conditions (0.5 to 1.0% O2) stabilize HIF-1
and activate HIF-1-dependent expression of CAIX. Under these conditions, p53 levels and activation are insufficient to exert an inhibitory effect on this process. Hypoxic cells treated with a DNA-damaging agent have high levels of activated p53, and consequently this p53 accelerates proteasome-mediated degradation of HIF-1
. These cells, therefore, have much lower steady-state levels of HIF-1
and CAIX. It should be noted that more extreme levels of hypoxia (
0.02% O2) in the absence of DNA damage stabilize p53 but it is transcriptionally impaired and does not affect HIF-1
levels (5, 33).
|
protein and HIF-1-dependent activation of target genes, such as CA9 and VEGF, etc. Our studies indicate that the critical element involved in downregulation of HIF-1
under hypoxic conditions is activation of p53, by DNA damage or some other stress-related events. The mechanism by which this p53-mediated degradation occurs is currently under investigation. An attractive candidate for this mechanism is Mdm2, an E3 ubiquitin ligase that has been shown to target p53 (34) and other proteins (16) for proteasomal degradation. Furthermore, HIF-1
and Mdm2 proteins have been reported to directly interact (12). In preliminary studies where we tested the involvement of Mdm2 in proteasomal degradation of HIF-1
by overexpressing dominant-negative forms of Mdm2 in MCF-7 cells in the presence of MC we saw no obvious effects (data not shown). Thus, the mechanism of p53-mediated proteasomal degradation of HIF-1
remains unknown and is the subject of further studies.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
We thank J. Pastorek and S. Pastorekova for the CAIX antibody. We also thank B. Vogelstein for the PG13-Luc construct and for the human colon cancer cell lines HCT 116 p53+/+ and HCT 116 p53/. The L22Q/W23S mutant p53 cDNA was a kind gift from J. K. Nyborg, and the pCEP-HIF-1
construct was kindly provided by D. Theodorescu. We also acknowledge K. Flick for assistance with real-time PCR.
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
M.K. and S.K. contributed equally to this work. ![]()
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
2. Agani, F., D. G. Kirsch, S. L. Friedman, M. B. Kastan, and G. L. Semenza. 1997. p53 does not repress hypoxia-induced transcription of the vascular endothelial growth factor gene. Cancer Res. 57:4474-4477.
3. Airley, R. E., J. Loncaster, J. A. Raleigh, A. L. Harris, S. E. Davidson, R. D. Hunter, C. M. L. West, and I. J. Stratford. 2003. Glut-1 and CAIX as intrinsic markers of hypoxia in carcinoma of the cervix: relationship to pimonidazole binding. Int. J. Cancer 104:85-91.[CrossRef][Medline]
4. Arany, Z., L. E. Huang, R. Eckner, S. Bhattacharya, C. Jiang, M. A. Goldberg, H. F. Bunn, and D. M. Livingston. 1996. An essential role for p300/CBP in the cellular response to hypoxia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93:12969-12973.
5. Ashcroft, M., Y. Taya, and K. H. Vousden. 2000. Stress signals utilize multiple pathways to stabilize p53. Mol. Cell. Biol. 20:3224-3233.
6. Bai, J., and A. I. Cederbaum. 2003. Catalase protects HepG2 cells from apoptosis induced by DNA-damaging agents by accelerating the degradation of p53. J. Biol. Chem. 278:4660-4667.
7. Blagosklonny, M. V., W. G. An, L. Y. Romanova, J. Trepel, T. Fojo, and L. Neckers. 1998. p53 inhibits hypoxia-inducible factor-stimulated transcription. J. Biol. Chem. 273:1995-11998.
8. Brown, J. M., and A. J. Giaccia. 1998. The unique physiology of solid tumors: opportunities (and problems) for cancer therapy. Cancer Res. 58:1408-1416.
9. Bui, M. H. T., D. Seligson, K. Han, A. J. Pantuck, F. J. Dorey, Y. Huang, S. Horvath, B. C. Leibovich, S. Chopra, S.-Y. Liao, E. Stanbridge, M. I. Lerman, A. Palotie, R. A. Figlin, and A. S. Belldegrun. 2003. Carbonic anhydrase IX is an independent predictor of survival in advanced renal clear cell carcinoma: implications for prognosis and therapy. Clin. Cancer Res. 9:802-811.
10. Bunz, F., A. Dutriaux, C. Lengauer, T. Waldman, S. Zhou, J. P. Brown, J. M. Sedivy, K. W. Kinzler, and B. Vogelstein. 1998. Requirement for p53 and p21 to sustain G2 arrest after DNA damage. Science (Washington, D.C.) 282:1497-1501.
11. Chen, X., L. J. Ko, L. Jayaraman, and C. Prives. 1996. p53 levels, functional domains, and DNA damage determine the extent of the apoptotic response of tumor cells. Genes Dev. 10:2438-2451.
12. Chen, D., M. Li, J. Luo., and W. Gu. 2003. Direct interactions between HIF-1
and mdm2 modulate p53 function. J. Biol. Chem. 278:13595-13598.
13. Divgi, C. R., N. H. Bander, A. M. Scott, J. A. O'Donoghue, G. Sgouros, S. Welt, R. D. Finn, F. Morrissey, P. Capitelli, J. M. Williams, D. Deland, A. Nakhre, E. Oosterwijk, S. Gulec, M. C. Graham, S. M. Larson, and L. J. Old. 1998. Phase I/II radioimmunotherapy trial with iodine-131-labeled monoclonal antibody G250 in metastatic renal carcinoma. Clin. Cancer Res. 4:2729-2739.[Abstract]
14. Giaccia, A. J., and M. B. Kastan. 1998. The complexity of p53 modulation: emerging patterns from divergent signals. Genes Dev. 12:2973-2983.
15. Giatromanolaki, A., M. I. Koukourakis, E. Sivridis, J. Pastorek, C. C. Wykoff, K. C. Gatter, and A. L. Harris. 2001. Expression of hypoxia-inducible carbonic anhydrase-9 relates to angiogenic pathways and independently to poor outcome in non-small cell lung cancer. Cancer Res. 61:7992-7998.
16. Girnita, L., A. Girnita, and O. Larsson. 2003. Mdm2-dependent ubiquitination and degradation of the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100:8247-8252.
17. Graeber, T. G., C. Osmanian, T. Jacks, D. E. Housman, C. J. Koch, S. W. Lowe, and A. J. Giaccia. 1996. Hypoxia-mediated selection of cells with diminished apoptotic potential in solid tumors. Nature 379:88-91.[CrossRef][Medline]
18. Hammond, E. M., N. C. Denko, M. J. Dorie, R. T. Abraham, and A. J. Giaccia. 2002. Hypoxia links ATR and p53 through replication arrest. Mol. Cell. Biol. 22:1834-1843.
19. Harris, A. L. 2002. Hypoxia-a key regulatory factor in tumor growth. Nat. Rev. Cancer 2:38-47.[CrossRef][Medline]
20. Hollstein, M., D. Sidransky, B. Vogelstein, and C. C. Harris. 1991. p53 mutations in human cancers. Science 253:49-53.
21. Isaacs, J. S., Y.-J. Jung, E. G. Mimnaugh, A. Martinez, F. Cuttita, and L. M. Neckers. 2002. Hsp90 regulates a von Hippel Lindau-independent hypoxia-inducible factor-1
-degradative pathway. J. Biol. Chem. 277:29936-29944.
22. Ivan, M., K. Kondo, H. Yang, W. Kim, J. Valiando, M. Ohh, A. Salic, J. M. Asara, W. S. Lane, and W. G. Kaelin. 2001. HIF
targeted for VHL-mediated destruction by proline hydroxylation: implications for O2 sensing. Science 292:464-468.
23. Ivanov, S., S.-Y., Liao, A. Ivanova, A. Danilkovitch-Miagkova, N. Tarasova, G. Weirich, M. J. Merril, M. A. Proescholdt, E. H. Oldfield, J. Lee, J. Závada, A. Waheed, W. Sly, M. I. Lerman, and E. J. Stanbridge. 2001. Expression of hypoxia-inducible cell-surface transmembrane carbonic anhydrases in human cancer. Am. J. Pathol. 158:905-919.
24. Ivanov, S. V., I. Kuzmin, M.-H. Wei, S. Pack, L. Geil, B. E. Johnson, E. J. Stanbridge, and M. I. Lerman. 1998. Down-regulation of transmembrane carbonic anhydrases in renal cell carcinoma cell lines by wild-type von Hippel-Lindau transgenes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:12596-12601.
25. Jaakkola, P., D. R. Mole, Y.-M. Tian, M. I. Wilson, J. Gielbert, S. J. Gaskell, A. von Kriegsheim, H. F. Hebestreit, M. Mukherji, C. J. Schofield, P. H. Maxwell, C. W. Pugh, and P. J. Ratcliffe. 2001. Targeting of HIF
to the von Hippel-Lindau ubiquitylation complex by O2-regulated prolyl hydroxylation. Science 292:468-472.
26. Jongmans, W., K. van den Oudenalder, D. M. Tiemessen, J. Molkenboer, R. Willemsen, P. F. A. Mulders, and E. Oosterwijk. 2003. Targeting of adenovirus to human renal cell carcinoma cells. Urology 62:559-565.[CrossRef][Medline]
27. Kaluz, S., M. Kaluzová, R. Opavsk
, S. Pastoreková, A. Gibadulinová, F. Dequiedt, R. Kettmann, and J. Pastorek. 1999. Transcriptional regulation of the MN/CA 9 gene coding for the tumor-associated carbonic anhydrase IX. Identification and characterization of a proximal silencer element. J. Biol. Chem. 274:32588-32595.
28. Kaluz, S., M. Kaluzová, A. Chrastina, P. L. Olive, S. Pastoreková, J. Pastorek, M. I. Lerman, and E. J. Stanbridge. 2002. Lowered oxygen tension induces expression of the hypoxia marker MN/carbonic anhydrase IX in the absence of hypoxia-inducible factor 1
stabilization: a role for phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase. Cancer Res. 62:4469-4477.
29. Kaluz, S., M. Kaluzová, and E. J. Stanbridge. 2003. Expression of the hypoxia marker carbonic anhydrase IX is critically dependent on SP1 activity. Identification of a novel type of hypoxia-responsive enhancer. Cancer Res. 63:917-922.
30. Kaluzová, M., S. Pastoreková, J. Pastorek, and S. Kaluz. 2000. P53 tumour suppressor modulates transcription of the TATA-less gene coding for the tumour-associated carbonic anhydrase MN/CAIX in MaTu cells. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1491:20-26.[Medline]
31. Kaluzová, M., S. Pastoreková, E. Svastová, J. Pastorek, E. J. Stanbridge, and S. Kaluz. 2001. Characterization of the MN/CA 9 promoter proximal region-a role for SP and AP1 factors. Biochem. J. 359:669-677.[CrossRef][Medline]
32. Kern, S. E., J. A. Pietenpol, S. Thiagalingam, A. Seymour, K. W. Kinzler, B. Vogelstein. 1992. Oncogenic forms of p53 inhibit p53-regulated gene expression. Science 256:827-830.
33. Koumenis, C., R. Alarcon, E. Hammond, P. Suthpin, W. Hoffman, M. Murphy, J. Derr, Y. Taya, S. W. Lowe, M. Kastan, and A. J. Giaccia. 2001. Regulation of p53 by hypoxia: dissociation of transcriptional repression and apoptosis from p53-dependent transactivation. Mol. Cell. Biol. 21:1297-1310.
34. Kubbutat, M. H., S. N. Jones, and K. H. Vousden. 1997. Regulation of p53 stability by Mdm2. Nature 387:299-303.[CrossRef][Medline]
35. Lieskovská, J., M. Kaluzová, R. Opavsk
, S. Kaluz, J. Pastorek, R. Kettmann, and S. Pastoreková. 1998. Up-regulation of p53 by antisense expression of HPV 18 E6 oncogene does not influence the level of MN/CA IX tumor-associated protein in HeLa cervical carcinoma cells. Int. J. Oncol. 13:1081-1086.[Medline]
36. Loncaster, J. A., A. L. Harris, S. E. Davidson, J. P. Logue, R. D. Hunter, C. C. Wykoff, J. Pastorek, P. J. Ratcliffe, I. J. Stratford, and C. M. L. West. 2001. Carbonic anhydrase (CAIX) expression, a potential new intrinsic marker of hypoxia: correlations with tumor oxygen measurements and prognosis in locally advanced carcinoma of the cervix. Cancer Res. 61:6394-6399.
37. Maxwell, P. H., M. Wiesener, G-W. Chang, S. Clifford, E. Vaux, M. Cockman, C. C. Wykoff, C. Pugh, E. Maher, and P. J. Ratcliffe. 1999. The tumour suppressor protein VHL targets hypoxia-inducible factors for oxygen-dependent proteolysis. Nature (London) 399:271-275.[CrossRef][Medline]
38. Pal, S., K. Datta, and D. Mukhopadhyay. 2001. Central role of p53 on regulation of vascular permeability factor/vascular endothelial growth factor (VPF/VEGF) expression in mammary carcinoma. Cancer Res. 61:6952-6957.
39. Post, D. E., and E. G. van Meir. 2001. Generation of bi-directional hypoxia/HIF-responsive expression vectors to target gene expression to hypoxic cells. Gene Ther. 8:1801-1807.[CrossRef][Medline]
40. Ravi, R., B. Mookerjee, Z. M. Bhujwalla, C. H. Sutter, D. Artemov, Q. Zeng, L. E. Dillehay, A. Madan, G. L. Semenza, and A. Bedi. 2000. Regulation of tumor angiogenesis by p53-induced degradation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1
. Genes Dev. 14:34-44.
41. Salnikow, K., M. Costa, W. D. Figg, and M. V. Blagosklonny. 2000. Hyperinducibility of hypoxia-responsive genes without p53/p21-dependent checkpoint in aggressive prostate cancer. Cancer Res. 60:5630-5634.
42. Semenza, G. L. 2003. Targeting HIF-1 for cancer therapy. Nature Rev. Cancer. 3:721-732.[CrossRef][Medline]
43. Sheta, E. A., H. Trout, J. J. Gildea, M. A. Harding, and D. Theodorescu. 2001. Cell density mediated pericellular hypoxia leads to induction of HIF-1
via nitric oxide and Ras/MAP kinase mediated signaling pathways. Oncogene 20:7624-7634.[CrossRef][Medline]
44. Stanbridge, E. J. 1981. Mycoplasma detection-an obligation to scientific accuracy. Isr. J. Med. Sci. 17:563-568.[Medline]
45. Thomlinson, R., and L. Gray. 1955. The histological structure of some human lung cancers and the possible implications for radiotherapy. Br. J. Cancer. 9:539-549.[Medline]
46. Vogelstein, B., D. Lane, and A. J. Levine. 2000. Surfing the p53 network. Nature 408:307-310.[CrossRef][Medline]
47. Wang, G. L., B. H. Jiang, E. A. Rue, and G. L. Semenza. 1995. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 is a basic-helix-loop-helix-PAS heterodimer regulated by cellular O2 tension. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:5510-5514.
48. Wykoff, C. C., N. J. Beasley, P. H. Watson, K. J. Turner, J. Pastorek, A. Sibtain, G. D. Wilson, H. Turley, K. L. Talks, P. H. Maxwell, C. W. Pugh, P. J. Ratcliffe, and A. L. Harris. 2000. Hypoxia-inducible expression of tumor-associated carbonic anhydrases. Cancer Res. 60:7075-7083.
49. Wykoff, C. C., N. J. Beasley, P. H. Watson, L. Campo, S. K. Chia, R. English, J. Pastorek, W. S. Sly, P. J. Ratcliffe, and A. L. Harris. 2001. Expression of the hypoxia-inducible and tumor-associated carbonic anhydrases in ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast. Am. J. Pathol. 158:1011-1019.
50. Závada, J., Z. Závadová, S. Pastoreková, F. Ciampor, J. Pastorek, and V. Zelník. 1993. Expression of MaTu-MN protein in human tumor cultures and in clinical specimens. Int. J. Cancer. 54:268-274.[Medline]
51. Zhang, L., D. Yu, M. Hu, S. Xiong, A. Lang, L. M. Ellis, and R. E. Pollock. 2000. Wild-type p53 suppresses angiogenesis in human leiomyosarcoma and synovial sarcoma by transcriptional suppression of vascular endothelial growth factor expression. Cancer Res. 60:3655-3661.
52. Zietz, C., M. Rossle, C. Haas, A. Sendelhofert, A. Hirschmann, M. Sturzl, and U. Lohrs. 1998. MDM-2 oncoprotein overexpression, p53 gene mutation, and VEGF up-regulation in angiosarcomas. Am. J. Pathol. 153:1425-1433.
This article has been cited by other articles: