ABSTRACT
CHIP is a U-box-type ubiquitin ligase that induces ubiquitylation and degradation of its substrates, which include several oncogenic proteins. The relationship between CHIP and tumour progression, however, has not been elucidated. Here, we show that CHIP suppresses tumour progression in human breast cancer by inhibiting oncogenic pathways. CHIP levels were negatively correlated with the malignancy of human breast tumour tissues. In a nude mouse xenograft model, tumour growth and metastasis were significantly inhibited by CHIP expression. In contrast, knockdown of CHIP (shCHIP) in breast cancer cells resulted in rapid tumour growth and metastastic phenotypes in mice. In cell-based experiments, anchorage-independent growth and invasiveness of shCHIP cells was significantly elevated due to increased expression of Bcl2, Akt1, Smad and Twist. Proteomic analysis identified the transcriptional co-activator SRC-3 (refs 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19) as a direct target for ubiquitylation and degradation by CHIP. Knocking down SRC-3 in shCHIP cells reduced the expression of Smad and Twist, and suppressed tumour metastasis in vivo. Conversely, SRC-3 co-expression prevented CHIP-induced suppression of metastasis formation. These observations demonstrate that CHIP inhibits anchorage-independent cell growth and metastatic potential by degrading oncogenic proteins including SRC-3.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms/enzymology , Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases/metabolism , Animals , Breast Neoplasms/genetics , Breast Neoplasms/pathology , Cell Transformation, Neoplastic , Down-Regulation , Female , Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic , Histone Acetyltransferases/metabolism , Humans , Lung Neoplasms/secondary , Mice , Nuclear Receptor Coactivator 3 , Protein Processing, Post-Translational , Trans-Activators/metabolism , Ubiquitination , Xenograft Model Antitumor AssaysABSTRACT
Recent studies have shed light on the ligand-dependent transactivation mechanisms of nuclear receptors (NRs). When the ligand dose is reduced, the transcriptional activity of NRs should be downregulated. Here we show that a ubiquitin-proteasome pathway plays a key role in turning off transcription mediated by estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta). ERbeta shows estrogen-dependent proteolysis, and its degradation is regulated by two regions in the receptor. The N-terminal 37-amino acid-region is necessary for the recruitment of the ubiquitin ligase, i.e., the carboxyl terminus of HSC70-interacting protein (CHIP), to degrade ERbeta. In contrast, the C-terminal F domain protects ligand-unbound ERbeta from proteolysis to abrogate proteasome association. Suppression of CHIP by interfering RNA inhibited this switching off of receptor-mediated transcription when the ligand dose was reduced. Our results suggest that after ligand withdrawal, the active form of the NR is selectively eliminated via ligand-dependent proteolysis to downregulate receptor-mediated transcription.
