Nm23-H1 protein binds to APE1 at AP sites and stimulates AP endonuclease activity following ionizing radiation of the human lung cancer A549 cells.

Non-metastatic protein-23 homolog-1 (Nm23-H1) is a multifunctional protein with DNase and histidine protein kinase activities. Human apurinic endonuclease-1 (APE1) is the AP endonuclease DNA base excision repair (BER) enzyme involved in several important cellular functions. Since the relationship between Nm23-H1 and APE1 proteins is unclear, we evaluated their interaction at different time points after irradiating human lung cancer A549 cells with X-rays. We found that Nm23-H1 and APE1 overexpression was induced by irradiation in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Subcellular distribution pattern of both proteins was reversed after irradiation. After irradiation, APE1 that initially showed nuclear localization was gradually increased in the cytoplasm, whereas Nm23-H1 that mainly showed cytoplasmic localization was gradually increased in the nuclei of A549 cells. Nm23-H1 and APE1 interaction was demonstrated by His-pull-down and co-immunoprecipitation assays. The presence of Nm23-H1/APE1 complex in X-ray-irradiated A549 cells was also detected by DNA affinity precipitation analysis of a DNA fragment containing an AP site. Although the AP endonuclease activity of Nm23-H1 was too weak to be detected, the AP endonuclease activity of APE1 was increased with the enhanced Nm23-H1 expression. In conclusion, our data point to a mechanism by which Nm23-H1 protects cells against oxidative stress through the engagement of DNA BER enzyme APE1.