Maiuthed Arnatchai, Ninsontia Chuanpit, Erlenbach-Wuensch Katharina, Ndreshkjana Benardina, Muenzner Julienne K, Caliskan Aylin, Husayn Ahmed P, Chaotham Chatchai, Hartmann Arndt, Vial Roehe Adriana, Mahadevan Vijayalakshmi, Chanvorachote Pithi, Schneider-Stock Regine
Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Experimental Tumor Pathology, University Hospital of Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
Cancers (Basel). 2018 Oct 9;10(10):373. doi: 10.3390/cancers10100373.
The oncogenic cytoplasmic p21 contributes to cancer aggressiveness and chemotherapeutic failure. However, the molecular mechanisms remain obscure. Here, we show for the first time that cytoplasmic p21 mediates 5-Fluorouracil (5FU) resistance by shuttling p-Chk2 out of the nucleus to protect the tumor cells from its pro-apoptotic functions. We observed that cytoplasmic p21 levels were up-regulated in 5FU-resistant colorectal cancer cells in vitro and the in vivo Chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model. Kinase array analysis revealed that p-Chk2 is a key target of cytoplasmic p21. Importantly, cytoplasmic form of p21 mediated by p21 transfection diminished p-Chk2-mediated activation of E2F1 and apoptosis induction. Co-immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, and proximity ligation assay showed that p21 forms a complex with p-Chk2 under 5FU exposure. Using in silico computer modeling, we suggest that the p21/p-Chk2 interaction hindered the nuclear localization signal of p-Chk2, and therefore, the complex is exported out of the nucleus. These findings unravel a novel mechanism regarding an oncogenic role of p21 in regulation of resistance to 5FU-based chemotherapy. We suggest a possible value of cytoplasmic p21 as a prognosis marker and a therapeutic target in colorectal cancer patients.
致癌性细胞质p21会促进癌症侵袭性和化疗失败。然而,其分子机制仍不清楚。在此,我们首次表明,细胞质p21通过将p-Chk2转运出细胞核以保护肿瘤细胞免受其促凋亡功能的影响,从而介导对5-氟尿嘧啶(5FU)的耐药性。我们观察到,在体外5FU耐药的结肠癌细胞和体内尿囊膜(CAM)模型中,细胞质p21水平上调。激酶阵列分析显示,p-Chk2是细胞质p21的关键靶点。重要的是,p21转染介导的细胞质形式的p21减少了p-Chk2介导的E2F1激活和凋亡诱导。免疫共沉淀、免疫荧光和邻近连接分析表明,在5FU暴露下,p21与p-Chk2形成复合物。使用计算机模拟,我们认为p21/p-Chk2相互作用阻碍了p-Chk2的核定位信号,因此,该复合物被转运出细胞核。这些发现揭示了p21在调节对基于5FU的化疗耐药性中的致癌作用的新机制。我们认为细胞质p21作为结肠癌患者的预后标志物和治疗靶点可能具有价值。