The role of iron and 2-oxoglutarate oxygenases in signalling

2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 510-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.S. Hewitson ◽  
L.A. McNeill ◽  
J.M. Elkins ◽  
C.J. Schofield

Sensing of ambient dioxygen levels and appropriate feedback mechanisms are essential processes for all multicellular organisms. In animals, moderate hypoxia causes an increase in the transcription levels of specific genes, including those encoding vascular endothelial growth factor and erythropoietin. The hypoxic response is mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), an αβ heterodimeric transcription factor in which both the HIF subunits are members of the basic helix–loop–helix PAS (PER-ARNT-SIM) domain family. Under hypoxic conditions, levels of HIFα rise, allowing dimerization with HIFβ and initiating transcriptional activation. Two types of dioxygen-dependent modification to HIFα have been identified, both of which inhibit the transcriptional response. Firstly, HIFα undergoes trans-4-hydroxylation at two conserved proline residues that enable its recognition by the von Hippel-Lindau tumour-suppressor protein. Subsequent ubiquitinylation, mediated by an ubiquitin ligase complex, targets HIFα for degradation. Secondly, hydroxylation of an asparagine residue in the C-terminal transactivation domain of HIFα directly prevents its interaction with the co-activator p300. Hydroxylation of HIFα is catalysed by enzymes of the iron(II)- and 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase family. In humans, three prolyl hydroxylase isoenzymes (PHD1–3) and an asparagine hydroxylase [factor inhibiting HIF (FIH)] have been identified. The role of 2-oxoglutarate oxygenases in the hypoxic and other signalling pathways is discussed.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik A. Barth ◽  
Felix Prinz ◽  
Julia Teppan ◽  
Katharina Jonas ◽  
Christiane Klec ◽  
...  

Hypoxia is dangerous for oxygen-dependent cells, therefore, physiological adaption to cellular hypoxic conditions is essential. The transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is the main regulator of hypoxic metabolic adaption reducing oxygen consumption and is regulated by gradual von Hippel-Lindau (VHL)-dependent proteasomal degradation. Beyond physiology, hypoxia is frequently encountered within solid tumors and first drugs are in clinical trials to tackle this pathway in cancer. Besides hypoxia, cancer cells may promote HIF expression under normoxic conditions by altering various upstream regulators, cumulating in HIF upregulation and enhanced glycolysis and angiogenesis, altogether promoting tumor proliferation and progression. Therefore, understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms is crucial to discover potential future therapeutic targets to evolve cancer therapy. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) are a class of non-protein coding RNA molecules with a length of over 200 nucleotides. They participate in cancer development and progression and might act as either oncogenic or tumor suppressive factors. Additionally, a growing body of evidence supports the role of lncRNAs in the hypoxic and normoxic regulation of HIF and its subunits HIF-1α and HIF-2α in cancer. This review provides a comprehensive update and overview of lncRNAs as regulators of HIFs expression and activation and discusses and highlights potential involved pathways.


2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 2092-2102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qin Yan ◽  
Steven Bartz ◽  
Mao Mao ◽  
Lianjie Li ◽  
William G. Kaelin

ABSTRACT Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is a heterodimeric transcription factor, consisting of an alpha subunit and a beta subunit, that controls cellular responses to hypoxia. HIFα contains two transcriptional activation domains called the N-terminal transactivation domain (NTAD) and the C-terminal transactivation domain (CTAD). HIFα is destabilized by prolyl hydroxylation catalyzed by EglN family members. In addition, CTAD function is inhibited by asparagine hydroxylation catalyzed by FIH1. Both hydroxylation reactions are linked to oxygen availability. The von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor protein (pVHL) is frequently mutated in kidney cancer and is part of the ubiquitin ligase complex that targets prolyl hydroxylated HIFα for destruction. Recent studies suggest that HIF2α plays an especially important role in promoting tumor formation by pVHL-defective renal carcinoma cells among the three HIFα paralogs. Here we dissected the relative contribution of the two HIF2α transactivation domains to hypoxic gene activation and renal carcinogenesis and investigated the regulation of the HIF2α CTAD by FIH1. We found that the HIF2α NTAD is capable of activating both artificial and naturally occurring HIF-responsive promoters in the absence of the CTAD. Moreover, we found that the HIF2α CTAD, in contrast to the HIF1α CTAD, is relatively resistant to the inhibitory effects of FIH1 under normoxic conditions and that, perhaps as a result, both the NTAD and CTAD cooperate to promote renal carcinogenesis in vivo.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Herwartz ◽  
Paola Castillo-Juárez ◽  
Linda Schröder ◽  
Blanca L. Barron ◽  
Gertrud Steger

Hypoxia activates the expression of proangiogenic and survival promoting factors as well as proinflammatory cytokines that support tissue inflammation. Hypoxia and inflammation are associated with tumor progression. The identification of the factors participating in the hypoxia associated inflammation is essential to develop strategies to control tumor hypoxia. The transcription factor ZNF395 was found to be overexpressed in various tumors including glioblastomas particularly in the network of a hypoxic response pointing to a functional role of ZNF395. On the other hand, ZNF395 was suggested to have tumor suppressor activities which may rely on its repression of proinflammatory factors. To address these conflictive observations, we investigated the role of ZNF395 in the expression of proinflammatory cytokines in the astrocytoma cell line U87-MG under hypoxia. We show that ZNF395 is a target gene of the hypoxia inducible factor HIF-1α. By gene expression analysis, RT-PCR and ELISA, we demonstrated that the siRNA-mediated suppression of ZNF395 impairs the hypoxic induction of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and LIF in U87-MG cells. At ambient oxygen concentrations, ZNF395 had no enhancing effect, indicating that this transcriptional activation by ZNF395 is restricted to hypoxic conditions. Our results suggest that ZNF395 contributes to hypoxia associated inflammation by superactivating proinflammatory cytokines.


Oncogene ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (34) ◽  
pp. 4482-4490 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Choudhry ◽  
A Albukhari ◽  
M Morotti ◽  
S Haider ◽  
D Moralli ◽  
...  

Abstract Activation of cellular transcriptional responses, mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), is common in many types of cancer, and generally confers a poor prognosis. Known to induce many hundreds of protein-coding genes, HIF has also recently been shown to be a key regulator of the non-coding transcriptional response. Here, we show that NEAT1 long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is a direct transcriptional target of HIF in many breast cancer cell lines and in solid tumors. Unlike previously described lncRNAs, NEAT1 is regulated principally by HIF-2 rather than by HIF-1. NEAT1 is a nuclear lncRNA that is an essential structural component of paraspeckles and the hypoxic induction of NEAT1 induces paraspeckle formation in a manner that is dependent upon both NEAT1 and on HIF-2. Paraspeckles are multifunction nuclear structures that sequester transcriptionally active proteins as well as RNA transcripts that have been subjected to adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) editing. We show that the nuclear retention of one such transcript, F11R (also known as junctional adhesion molecule 1, JAM1), in hypoxia is dependent upon the hypoxic increase in NEAT1, thereby conferring a novel mechanism of HIF-dependent gene regulation. Induction of NEAT1 in hypoxia also leads to accelerated cellular proliferation, improved clonogenic survival and reduced apoptosis, all of which are hallmarks of increased tumorigenesis. Furthermore, in patients with breast cancer, high tumor NEAT1 expression correlates with poor survival. Taken together, these results indicate a new role for HIF transcriptional pathways in the regulation of nuclear structure and that this contributes to the pro-tumorigenic hypoxia-phenotype in breast cancer.


2007 ◽  
Vol 293 (5) ◽  
pp. R2059-R2069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven D. Mason ◽  
Helene Rundqvist ◽  
Ioanna Papandreou ◽  
Roger Duh ◽  
Wayne J. McNulty ◽  
...  

During endurance training, exercising skeletal muscle experiences severe and repetitive oxygen stress. The primary transcriptional response factor for acclimation to hypoxic stress is hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), which upregulates glycolysis and angiogenesis in response to low levels of tissue oxygenation. To examine the role of HIF-1α in endurance training, we have created mice specifically lacking skeletal muscle HIF-1α and subjected them to an endurance training protocol. We found that only wild-type mice improve their oxidative capacity, as measured by the respiratory exchange ratio; surprisingly, we found that HIF-1α null mice have already upregulated this parameter without training. Furthermore, untrained HIF-1α null mice have an increased capillary to fiber ratio and elevated oxidative enzyme activities. These changes correlate with constitutively activated AMP-activated protein kinase in the HIF-1α null muscles. Additionally, HIF-1α null muscles have decreased expression of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase I, a HIF-1α target that inhibits oxidative metabolism. These data demonstrate that removal of HIF-1α causes an adaptive response in skeletal muscle akin to endurance training and provides evidence for the suppression of mitochondrial biogenesis by HIF-1α in normal tissue.


2009 ◽  
Vol 424 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeong Hae Choi ◽  
Hyun Kook Cho ◽  
Yung Hyun Choi ◽  
JaeHun Cheong

HIF-1 (hypoxia inducible factor 1) performs a crucial role in mediating the response to hypoxia. However, other transcription factors are also capable of regulating hypoxia-induced target-gene transcription. In a previous report, we demonstrated that the transcription factor ATF-2 (activating transcription factor 2) regulates hypoxia-induced gene transcription, along with HIF-1α. In the present study, we show that the protein stability of ATF-2 is induced by hypoxia and the hypoxia-mimic CoCl2 (cobalt chloride), and that ATF-2 induction enhances HIF-1α protein stability via direct protein interaction. The knockdown of ATF-2 using small interfering RNA and translation-inhibition experiments demonstrated that ATF-2 plays a key role in the maintenance of the expression level and transcriptional activity of HIF-1α. Furthermore, we determined that ATF-2 interacts directly with HIF-1α both in vivo and in vitro and competes with the tumour suppressor protein p53 for HIF-1α binding. Collectively, these results show that protein stabilization of ATF-2 under hypoxic conditions is required for the induction of the protein stability and transactivation activity of HIF-1α for efficient hypoxia-associated gene expression.


2011 ◽  
Vol 300 (6) ◽  
pp. H2169-H2176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Xue ◽  
Nan-Lin Li ◽  
Jing-Yue Yang ◽  
Yan Chen ◽  
Lu-Lu Yang ◽  
...  

We have previously demonstrated the roles of RhoA, Rac1, and Cdc42 in hypoxia-driven angiogenesis. However, the role of oncogenes in hypoxia signaling is poorly understood. Given the importance of Rho proteins in the hypoxic response, we hypothesized that Rho family members could act as mediators of hypoxic signal transduction. We investigated the cross-talk between hypoxia and oncogene-driven signal transduction pathways and explored the role of Rac1 on hypoxia-induced hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and VEGF expression. Since the phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase (PI3K) pathway is involved in signal transduction of many oncogenes, we explored the role of PI3K on Rac1-mediated expression of HIF-1α and VEGF in hypoxia. We showed that LY-294002, a PI3K inhibitor, suppressed HIF-1α and VEGF induction under hypoxic conditions by up to 50%. Activation of Rac1 resulted in an upregulation of hypoxia-induced HIF-1α expression, which was blocked by LY-294002. These data suggested that Rac1 is an intermediate in the PI3K-mediated induction of HIF-1α. Interestingly, there was a significant downregulation of the tumor suppressor genes p53 and von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor (VHL) in cells expressing a constitutively active form of Rac1. Rac1-mediated inhibition of p53 and VHL could therefore be implicated in the upregulation of HIF-1α expression.


Blood ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 116 (21) ◽  
pp. 2586-2586
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Jacamo ◽  
Juliana Benito ◽  
Olga Frolova ◽  
Ye Chen ◽  
Hongbo Lu ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 2586 Resistance to chemotherapy can be mediated by genetic, epigenetic and microenvironmental causes. Only recently the connection between leukemia growth and survival and the hypoxic state of the BM microenvironment has been appreciated, by work conducted by us and others (Fiegl M et.al. Blood 2009; 113: 1504–1512; Harrison JS et. al., Blood 2002; 99). In extension of this concept we investigated the role of Hypoxia-Inducible-Factor 1α (HIF1A), the master regulator of hypoxia induced responses, in the microenvironment and its relevance for leukemia progression. Here we focused on the role of hypoxia and HIF transcription factors in cells contributing to the BM microenvironment, the mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC). Co-culture of lymphoid (NALM6) and myeloid (OCI-AML3) leukemic cell lines with BM-derived MSC under hypoxic conditions (1% O2) stimulated the secretion of a number of pro-survival cytokines and chemokines (including IL-6, VEGF, Beta-NGF and SDF-1α) that were quantified in co-culture supernatants by Luminex flow cytometry (Table 1). These findings suggest that hypoxia, and possibly its main mediator, the transcription factor HIF1A, may be responsible for the increased production of these factors. Since the chemokine stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) is involved in the attraction of leukemic cells towards cells of the BM microenvironment, we next investigated the role of HIF1A expression in MSC and its effect on SDF-1 secretion and migration of leukemic cells under hypoxic conditions. To this end, we generated primary human BM MSC stably transduced with lentiviral-encoded shRNA against HIF1A. SDF-1α transcription levels measured by qRT-PCR were diminished (∼30%, p<0.01) in HIF1A-silenced MSCs compared to control MSCs expressing non-silencing shRNA. This correlated with significantly reduced transwell migration of OCI-AML3 cells towards HIF1A-silenced MSCs compared with control (non-silencing) MSCs (∼35%, p<0.05) under hypoxic conditions. We next examined the contribution of hypoxia and HIF1A in the protective role of the BM microenvironment against standard chemotherapy with AraC and Doxorubicin. To this end, we performed in vitro experiments co culturing OCI-AML3 cells with either HIF1A-silenced MSCs or control MSCs under hypoxic conditions. After 48h of drug treatment a significant decrease in chemotherapy-induced apoptosis in leukemic cells co-cultured with control MSCs compared to leukemic cells cultured alone was observed. In turn, chemoresistance was reduced in OCI-AML3 co-cultured with HIF1A-silenced MSC, suggesting that hypoxia mediates chemoresistance largely through its effects on cells of the BM microenvironment. It has been shown that leukemic cells seem to exhibit increased dependency on glycolysis for ATP generation, which is frequently associated with resistance to therapeutic agents. Therefore, we measured the production of lactic acid (LA) in leukemic cells co-cultured with MSC in hypoxia compared to normoxia. In agreement with previous observations, we found that REH and primary ALL cells produced more LA when they were co-cultured with MSC under hypoxia compared to normoxia (∼1.8 fold, p<0.05). When REH cells were co-cultured with HIF1A-silenced MSCs in hypoxic conditions the lactic acid production was slightly but significantly reduced (∼20%, p<0.05) compared with the values observed in REH-control MSCs co-culture supernatants. Altogether, these findings strongly point to hypoxia and HIF1A as pivotal components in the protection from chemotherapy mediated by the BM microenvironment. We propose that targeting HIF1A and hypoxia in the protective cells of the bone marrow niches may represent a new approach to increase chemosensitivity of leukemic cells and hopefully improve the existing therapeutic strategies. Table 1: Fold increase observed in leukemic cells-MSC co-culture supernatants in hypoxia compared to normoxia. OCI-AML3+MSC NALM6+MSC IL-6 ∼3.1 ∼1.2 VEGF ∼3 ∼2 B-NGF ∼8 ∼10 SDF-1 ∼1.5 ∼1.5 Disclosure: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Blood ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (21) ◽  
pp. 2896-2896
Author(s):  
Anita Hollenbeck ◽  
Stefanie Weber ◽  
Kathrin Händschke ◽  
Mandy Necke ◽  
Bertram Opalka ◽  
...  

Abstract Early thymic progenitors enter the thymus and are exposed to regional hypoxia while they develop in a step-wise manner to mature functional T-cells. Therefore, hypoxia might represent an important component of the highly specialized thymic microenvironment. On the molecular level the hypoxia-inducible factor pathway controls the cellular response to hypoxia. In this pathway, the von-Hippel-Lindau protein (pVHL) continuously mediates the destruction of the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) under normoxic conditions. Under hypoxia HIF-1α degradation is inhibited leading to the activation of HIF-1α target genes. Others used lck-Cre transgene-mediated conditional in vivo deletion of the Vhl gene to study the role of the oxygen-sensing pathway in developing thymocytes and found normal numbers of early double-negative (DN; CD4-CD8-) thymocytes (Biju et al., Mol Cell Biol, 2004). However, lck-Cre deletion initiates at the DN3 (CD25+CD44-) stage leaving the Vhl locus of very early DN1 (CD25-CD44+), DN2 (CD25+CD44+) and DN3 thymocytes unaltered. Therefore, we here used the ubiquitous hematopoietic deleter strain vav-Cre to investigate the role of pVHL in very early thymocytes (vav-Cre;VhlloxP;loxP mice). Using a PCR-based strategy we confirmed complete deletion of the Vhl gene in this model. We observed unaltered DN1 and DN2 progenitor numbers, however in contrast to the published lck-cre-mediated system we consistently observed an up to twofold expansion of the DN3 cellular compartment. As the hypoxia-inducible factor pathway was shown to modulate NOTCH1 signaling we studied Notch1 expression on Vhl-deficient thymocytes. Strikingly, Notch1 expression was significantly increased on expanded Vhl null DN3 thymocytes. At the DN3 developmental stage selection of cells with an accurately re-arranged T-cell receptor β-locus occurs. Thus, we analyzed pre- and post-β-selection DN3 cells by CD28 staining. Interestingly, we found both pre- and post-β-selection DN3 subpopulations expanded. In order to investigate whether the progenitor expansion is mediated by the lack of HIF-1α inhibition in the Vhl-deficient context we studied DN3 thymocytes in a conditional hematopoietic HIF-1α gain-of-function model (vav-Cre;HIF1dPA). Overexpression of HIF-1α, which is insensitive to pVHL-mediated degradation in vav-Cre;HIF1dPAmice, also resulted in expanded DN3 thymocytes. In summary, we describe novel conditional models to genetically alter the hypoxia-inducible factor pathway within very early thymic progenitors. Genetic Vhl loss led to an expansion of DN3 thymocytes. This DN3 expansion is most likely due to the absence of HIF-1α-inhibition, because HIF-1α overexpression phenocopied the Vhl-deficient DN3 thymocyte expansion. Disclosures Dührsen: Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding.


1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 5123-5130 ◽  
Author(s):  
L A Johnston ◽  
S J Tapscott ◽  
H Eisen

Sodium butyrate reversibly inhibits muscle differentiation and blocks the expression of many muscle-specific genes in both proliferating myoblasts and differentiated myotubes. We investigated the role of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) myogenic determinator proteins MyoD and myogenin in this inhibition. Our data suggest that both MyoD and myogenin are not able to function as transcriptional activators in the presence of butyrate, although both apparently retain the ability to bind DNA. Transcription of MyoD itself is extinguished in butyrate-treated myoblasts and myotubes, an effect that may be due to the inability of MyoD to autoactivate its own transcription. We present evidence that the HLH region of MyoD is essential for butyrate inhibition of MyoD. In contrast to MyoD and myogenin, butyrate does not inhibit the ubiquitous basic HLH protein E2-5 from functioning as a transcriptional activator.


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