RESUMO
BACKGROUND & AIMS: The TOR signaling pathway regulator-like (TIPRL) protein, the mammalian ortholog of yeast TIP41, was identified in an expression profiling screen for factors that regulate human liver carcinogenesis. We investigated the role of human TIPRL protein in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: We measured the level of TIPRL in HCC and adjacent nontumor tissues from patients. We used small interfering RNAs and zebrafish to study the function of TIPRL. We used annexin V propidium iodide staining and immunoblot analyses to measure apoptosis and activation of apoptotic signaling pathways. We used confocal microscopy, coimmunoprecipitation, and glutathione-S transferase pull-down analyses to determine interactions among mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 7 (MKK7 or MAP2K7), TIPRL, and the protein phosphatase type 2A (PP2Ac). We studied the effects of TIPRL in tumor xenografts in mice. RESULTS: Levels of TIPRL were higher in HCC tissues and cell lines than nontumor tissues and primary hepatocytes. Knockdown of tiprl expression in zebrafish led to large amounts of apoptosis throughout the embryos. Incubation of HCC cells, but not primary human hepatocytes, with small interfering RNA against TIPRL (siTIPRL) and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) caused prolonged activation (phosphorylation) of MKK7 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and led to apoptosis, indicated by cleavage of procaspase-8,-3 and of poly-(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase. TIPRL bound to MKK7 and PP2Ac and promoted the interaction between MKK7 and PP2Ac. In mice, injection of HCC xenograft tumors with siTIPRL and TRAIL led to tumor apoptosis and regression. CONCLUSIONS: TIPRL is highly up-regulated in human HCC samples and cell lines, compared with noncancerous liver tissues. TIPRL prevents prolonged activation of MKK7 and JNK and TRAIL-induced apoptosis by mediating the interaction between MKK7 and PP2Ac.
Assuntos
Carcinoma Hepatocelular/metabolismo , Peptídeos e Proteínas de Sinalização Intracelular/metabolismo , Proteínas Quinases JNK Ativadas por Mitógeno/metabolismo , Neoplasias Hepáticas/metabolismo , MAP Quinase Quinase 7/metabolismo , Animais , Apoptose , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/genética , Feminino , Técnicas de Silenciamento de Genes , Células Hep G2 , Hepatócitos/metabolismo , Humanos , Peptídeos e Proteínas de Sinalização Intracelular/genética , Fígado/metabolismo , Neoplasias Hepáticas/genética , Camundongos , Camundongos Nus , Transplante de Neoplasias , Proteína Fosfatase 2/metabolismo , RNA Mensageiro/metabolismo , RNA Interferente Pequeno , Transdução de Sinais , Ligante Indutor de Apoptose Relacionado a TNF/metabolismo , Regulação para Cima , Peixe-Zebra/embriologia , Peixe-Zebra/genética , Peixe-Zebra/metabolismoRESUMO
Yes-associated protein, a downstream effector of the Hippo signaling pathway, has been linked to progression of non-small-cell lung carcinoma. The aim of this study was to investigate expression of Yes-associated protein in lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Associations of Yes-associated protein expression with clinicopathologic parameters, expression of cell cycle-specific markers, and epidermal growth factor receptor gene amplification were also analyzed. In a univariate analysis of the 66 adenocarcinomas, high nuclear expression of Yes-associated protein was significantly correlated with expression of cyclin A and mitogen-activated protein kinase. Multivariate analysis, including age and sex, showed that cyclin A expression was independently correlated with nuclear expression of Yes-associated protein in adenocarcinomas. Furthermore, high nuclear expression of Yes-associated protein was also a significant predictor of epidermal growth factor receptor gene amplification for adenocarcinoma. For the 102 squamous cell carcinomas, univariate analysis revealed that high cytoplasmic expression of Yes-associated protein was correlated with the low pathologic TNM staging (stage I) and histologic grading. Multivariate analysis, including age and sex, showed that cytoplasmic expression of Yes-associated protein was an independent predictor of low pathologic TNM staging. These results indicate that nuclear overexpression of Yes-associated protein contributes to pulmonary adenocarcinoma growth and that high cytoplasmic expression of Yes-associated protein is an independent predictor of low pathologic TNM staging and histologic grading. The differential effects of Yes-associated protein expression patterns in adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas suggest that Yes-associated protein may play important roles in different pathways in distinct tumor subtypes. These observations may, therefore, lead to new perspectives on therapeutic targeting of these tumor types.
