Abstract

Reactive oxygen species, including hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), can cause toxicity and act as signaling molecules in various pathways regulating both cell survival and cell death. However, the sequence of events between the oxidative insult and cell damage remains unclear. In the current study, we investigated the effect of oxidative stress on activation of the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End-products (RAGE) and subsequent protection against H2O2-induced pancreatic tumor cell damage. We found that exposure of pancreatic tumor cells to H2O2 provoked a nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB)-dependent increase in RAGE expression. Further, suppression of RAGE expression by RNA interference increased the sensitivity of pancreatic tumor cells to oxidative injury. Furthermore, targeted knockdown of RAGE led to increased cell death by apoptosis and diminished cell survival by autophagy during H2O2-induced oxidative injury. Moreover, we demonstrate that RAGE is a positive feedback regulator for NF-κB as knockdown of RAGE decreased H2O2-induced activity of NF-κB. Taken together, these results suggest that RAGE is an important regulator of oxidative injury. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 15, 2175–2184.

Abstract

Aims

Autophagy, the process by which cells break down spent biochemical and damaged components, plays an important role in cell survival following stress. High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) regulates autophagy in response to oxidative stress.

Results

Exogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) treatment or knockdown of the major superoxide scavenger enzyme, superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), by small interfering RNA (siRNA) increases autophagy in mouse and human cell lines. Addition of either SOD1 siRNA or H2O2 promotes cytosolic HMGB1 expression and extracellular release. Importantly, inhibition of HMGB1 release or loss of HMGB1 decreases the number of autophagolysosomes and autophagic flux under oxidative stress in vivo and in vitro.

Innovation:

HMGB1 release may be a common mediator of response to oxidative stress.

Conclusion

HMGB1 is important for oxidative stress-mediated autophagy and serves as a new target for the treatment of stress-associated disorders. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 15, 2185–2195.

Activation of the induced receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) leads to initiation of NF-κB and MAP kinase signaling pathways resulting in propagation and perpetuation of inflammation. RAGE knock out animals are less susceptible to acute inflammation and carcinogen induced tumor development. We have reported that most forms of tumor cell death result in release of the RAGE ligand, HMGB1. We now report a novel role for RAGE in the tumor cell response to stress. Targeted knockdown of RAGE in the tumor cell, leads to increased apoptosis, diminished autophagy and decreased tumor cell survival . In contrast, overexpression of RAGE is associated with enhanced autophagy, diminished apoptosis and greater tumor cell viability. RAGE limits apoptosis through a p53 dependent mitochondrial pathway. Moreover, RAGE-sustained autophagy is associated with decreased phosphorylation of mTOR and increased Beclin-1/VPS34 autophagosome formation. These findings demonstrate that the inflammatory receptor RAGE plays a heretofore unrecognized role in the tumor cell response to stress. Furthermore, these studies establish a direct link between inflammatory mediators in the tumor microenvironment and resistance to programmed cell death. Our data suggest that targeted inhibition of RAGE or its ligands may serve as novel targets to enhance current cancer therapies.

Mitochondria are organelles centrally important for bioenergetics as well as regulation of apoptotic death in eukaryotic cells. High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), an evolutionarily conserved chromatin-associated protein which maintains nuclear homeostasis, is also a critical regulator of mitochondrial function and morphology. We show that heat shock protein beta-1 (HSPB1/ HSP27) is the downstream mediator of this effect. Disruption of the HSPB1 gene in embryonic fibroblasts with wild-type HMGB1 recapitulates the mitochondrial fragmentation, deficits in mitochondrial respiration, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis observed with targeted deletion of HMGB1. Forced expression of HSPB1 reverses this phenotype in HMGB1 knockout cells. Mitochondrial effects mediated by HMGB1 regulation of HSPB1 expression, serves as a defense against mitochondrial abnormality, enabling clearance and autophagy in the setting of cellular stress. Our findings reveal a novel role for HMGB1 in autophagic surveillance with important effects on mitochondrial quality control.

High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a nuclear DNA-binding protein, which functions as Damage Associated Molecular Pattern molecule (DAMP) when released from cells under conditions of stress, such as injury and infection. Recent studies indicate that HMGB1 plays an important role in leukemia pathogenesis and chemotherapy resistance. Serum HMGB1 is increased in childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia as compared to healthy control and complete remission groups. Moreover, HMGB1 is a negative regulator of apoptosis in leukemia cells through regulation of Bcl-2 expression and caspase-3 activity. As a positive regulator of autophagy, intracellular HMGB1 interacts with Beclin 1 in leukemia cells leading to autophagosome formation. Additionally, exogenous HMGB1 directly induces autophagy and cell survival in leukemia cells. Experimental strategies that selectively target HMGB1 effectively reverse and prevent chemotherapy resistance in leukemia cells, suggesting that HMGB1 is a novel therapeutic target in leukemia.

Autophagy and apoptosis are tightly regulated biological processes that are crucial for cell growth, development and tissue homeostasis. UVRAG (UV radiation resistance-associated gene), a mammalian homolog of yeast Vps38, activates the Beclin 1/PtdIns3KC3 (class III phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase) complex, which promotes autophagosome formation. Moreover, UVRAG promotes autophagosome maturation by recruiting class C Vps complexes (HOPS complexes) and Rab7 of the late endosome. We found that UVRAG has anti-apoptotic activity during tumor therapy through interactions with Bax. UVRAG inhibits Bax translocation from the cytosol to mitochondria during chemotherapy- or UV irradiation-induced apoptosis of human tumor cells. Moreover, deletion of the UVRAG C2 domain abolishes Bax binding and anti-apoptotic activity. These results suggest that, in addition to its previously recognized pro-autophagy activity in response to starvation, UVRAG has cytoprotective functions in the cytosol that control the localization of Bax in tumor cells exposed to apoptotic stimuli.

PML-RARα oncoprotein is a fusion protein of promyelocytic leukemia (PML) and the retinoic acid receptor-α (RARα) and causes acute promyelocytic leukemias (APL). A hallmark of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) responses in APL is PML-RARα degradation, which promotes cell differentiation. Here, we demonstrated that autophagy is a crucial regulator of PML-RARα degradation. Inhibition of autophagy by short hairpin (sh) RNA that target essential autophagy genes such as ATG1, ATG5 and PI3KC3, and by autophagy inhibitors (e.g., 3-methyladenine), blocked PML-RARα degradation and subsequently granulocytic differentiation of human myeloid leukemic cells. In contrast, rapamycin, the mTOR kinase inhibitor, enhanced autophagy and promoted ATRA-induced PML-RARα degradation and myeloid cell differentiation. Moreover, PML-RARα co-immunoprecipitated with the ubiquitin-binding adaptor protein p62/SQSTM1, which is degraded through autophagy. Furthermore, knockdown of p62/SQSTM1 inhibited ATRA-induced PML-RARα degradation and myeloid cell differentiation. The identification of PML-RARα as a target of autophagy provides new insight into the mechanism of action of ATRA and its specificity for APL.

The functional relationship and cross-regulation between autophagy and apoptosis is complex. Here we show that high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) is a redox-sensitive regulator of the balance between autophagy and apoptosis. In cancer cells, anti-cancer agents enhanced autophagy and apoptosis as well as HMGB1 release. HMGB1 release may be a pro-survival signal for residual cells following various cytotoxic cancer treatments. Diminished HMGB1 by shRNA transfection or inhibition of HMGB1 release by ethyl pyruvate or other small molecules led to predominantly apoptosis and decreased autophagy in stressed cancer cells. In this setting, reducible HMGB1 binds to the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) but not Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), induces Beclin1-dependent autophagy, and promotes tumor resistance to alkylators (melphalan), tubulin disrupting agents (paclitaxel), DNA crosslinkers (ultraviolet light) and DNA-intercalators (oxaliplatin or adriamycin). Oxidized HMGB1 conversely increases the cytotoxicity of these agents and induces apoptosis mediated by the caspase-9/-3 intrinsic pathway. HMGB1 release as well as its redox state thus link autophagy and apoptosis, representing a suitable target when coupled with conventional tumor treatments.

HMGB1 displaces Bcl-2 from Beclin1 to induce and sustain autophagy in response to cell stress.

Autophagy clears long-lived proteins and dysfunctional organelles and generates substrates for adenosine triphosphate production during periods of starvation and other types of cellular stress. Here we show that high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a chromatin-associated nuclear protein and extracellular damage-associated molecular pattern molecule, is a critical regulator of autophagy. Stimuli that enhance reactive oxygen species promote cytosolic translocation of HMGB1 and thereby enhance autophagic flux. HMGB1 directly interacts with the autophagy protein Beclin1 displacing Bcl-2. Mutation of cysteine 106 (C106), but not the vicinal C23 and C45, of HMGB1 promotes cytosolic localization and sustained autophagy. Pharmacological inhibition of HMGB1 cytoplasmic translocation by agents such as ethyl pyruvate limits starvation-induced autophagy. Moreover, the intramolecular disulfide bridge (C23/45) of HMGB1 is required for binding to Beclin1 and sustaining autophagy. Thus, endogenous HMGB1 is a critical pro-autophagic protein that enhances cell survival and limits programmed apoptotic cell death.

Damage-associated molecular pattern molecules (DAMPs) are cellularly derived molecules that can initiate and perpetuate immune responses following trauma, ischemia and other types of tissue damage in the absence of pathogenic infection. High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a prototypical DAMP and is associated with the hallmarks of cancer. Recently we found that HMGB1 release after chemotherapy treatment is a critical regulator of autophagy and a potential drug target for therapeutic interventions in leukemia. Overexpression of HMGB1 by gene transfection rendered leukemia cells resistant to cell death; whereas depletion or inhibition of HMGB1 and autophagy by RNA interference or pharmacological inhibitors increased the sensitivity of leukemia cells to chemotherapeutic drugs. HMGB1 release sustains autophagy as assessed by microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) lipidation, redistribution of LC3 into cytoplasmic puncta, degradation of p62 and accumulation of autophagosomes and autolysosomes. Moreover, these data suggest a role for HMGB1 in the regulation of autophagy through the PI3KC3-MEKERK pathway, supporting the notion that HMGB1-induced autophagy promotes tumor resistance to chemotherapy.