Identification of LIV1, a putative zinc transporter gene responsible for HDACi-induced apoptosis, using a functional gene screen approach.

Abstract

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) show promise as a novel class of antitumoral agents and have shown the ability to induce apoptosis of tumor cells. To gain a better understanding of the action of HDACi, we conducted a functional gene screen approach named suppression of mortality by antisense rescue technique to identify the key genes responsible for the tumor-selective killing trichostatin A. Over 20 genes associated with HDACi-induced mortality were identified. One of the confirmed positive hits is LIV1, a putative zinc transporter. LIV1 is significantly induced by treatment with HDACi in a number of tumor cells, but not in normal cells. Knockdown of LIV1 suppressed apoptosis induced by HDACi in tumor cells. Although HDACi induced a slight increase in the free intracellular zinc concentration, knockdown of LIV1 significantly enhanced the intracellular zinc level, which was associated with resistance to apoptosis. On the other hand, pretreatment of the cells with a specific zinc chelator TPEN reversed the apoptosis resistance conferred by knockdown of LIV1. However, the biological effects of TPEN were abolished by addition of physiologic concentrations of zinc. Taken together, the present study identifies LIV1 as a critical mediator responsible for HDACi-induced apoptosis. The effect of LIV1 is, at least in part, mediated by affecting intracellular zinc homeostasis, which may be related to alteration of the catalytic activity of the Caspase 3 and expression of some BCL-2 family genes. As such, these findings highlight a novel mechanism underlying the action of HDACi that could be potentially useful in the clinical setting.

• Authors: Xiaoli Ma, Quanfu Ma, Jia Liu, Yuan Tian, Beibei Wang, Kathryn M Taylor, Peng Wu, Daowen Wang, Gang Xu, Li Meng, Shixuan Wang, Ding Ma, Jianfeng Zhou
• Journal: Molecular cancer therapeutics (Mol Cancer Ther) Vol. 8 Issue 11 Pg. 3108-16 (Nov 2009) ISSN: 1538-8514 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 19887557 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Antineoplastic Agents
• Cation Transport Proteins
• DNA, Antisense
• Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors
• Hydroxamic Acids
• Neoplasm Proteins
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2
• SLC39A6 protein, human
• trichostatin A
• Histone Deacetylases
• Zinc

Topics

• Antineoplastic Agents (pharmacology)
• Apoptosis (drug effects, genetics)
• Breast Neoplasms (drug therapy, enzymology, genetics)
• Cation Transport Proteins (biosynthesis, genetics)
• Cell Death (drug effects, genetics)
• Cell Growth Processes (drug effects, genetics)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• DNA, Antisense (genetics)
• Drug Synergism
• Female
• Gene Knockdown Techniques
• HeLa Cells
• Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors (pharmacology)
• Histone Deacetylases (metabolism)
• Humans
• Hydroxamic Acids (pharmacology)
• Neoplasm Proteins (biosynthesis, genetics)
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 (antagonists & inhibitors, genetics, metabolism)
• Transfection
• Uterine Cervical Neoplasms (drug therapy, enzymology, genetics)
• Zinc (metabolism)