Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-L1 potentiates cancer chemosensitivity by stabilizing NOXA
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
The BH3-only protein NOXA represents one of the critical mediators of DNA-damage-induced cell death. In particular, its involvement in cellular responses to cancer chemotherapy is increasingly evident. Here, we identify a strategy of cancer cells to escape genotoxic chemotherapy by increasing proteasomal degradation of NOXA. We show that the deubiquitylating enzyme UCH-L1 is a key regulator of NOXA turnover, which protects NOXA from proteasomal degradation by removing Lys(48)-linked polyubiquitin chains. In the majority of tumors from patients with melanoma or colorectal cancer suffering from high rates of chemoresistance, NOXA fails to accumulate because UCH-L1 expression is epigenetically silenced. Whereas UCH-L1/NOXA-positive tumor samples exhibit increased sensitivity to genotoxic chemotherapy, downregulation of UCH-L1 or inhibition of its deubiquitylase activity resulted in reduced NOXA stability and resistance to genotoxic chemotherapy in both human and C. elegans cells. Our data identify the UCH-L1/NOXA interaction as a therapeutic target for overcoming cancer chemoresistance.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Cell Reports |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 3 |
Pages (from-to) | 881-91 |
Number of pages | 11 |
ISSN | 2211-1247 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2013 |
Externally published | Yes |
- Animals, Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology, Apoptosis, Caenorhabditis elegans/drug effects, Cell Line, Tumor, Colorectal Neoplasms/drug therapy, DNA Damage, Down-Regulation, Drug Resistance, Neoplasm, Gene Silencing, Humans, Melanoma/drug therapy, Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex/metabolism, Protein Stability, Proteolysis, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/genetics, RNA, Small Interfering, Ubiquitin/metabolism, Ubiquitin Thiolesterase/genetics, Ubiquitination
Research areas
ID: 203248672