Degradation of a mutant secretory protein, alpha1-antitrypsin Z, in the endoplasmic reticulum requires proteasome activity.

Degradation of proteins that are retained in the quality control apparatus of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) has been attributed to a third proteolytic system, distinct from the lysosomal and the cytoplasmic ubiquitin-dependent proteosomal proteolytic pathways. However, several recent studies have shown that ER degradation of a mutant membrane protein, CFTRdeltaF508, is at least in part mediated from the cytoplasmic side by the 26 S proteasome. In this study, we examined the possibility that ER degradation of mutant secretory protein alpha1-antitrypsin (alpha1-AT) Z, the mutant protein associated with infantile liver disease and adult-onset emphysema of alpha1-AT deficiency, is mediated by the proteasome. The results show that a specific proteasome inhibitor, lactacystin, inhibits ER degradation of alpha1-ATZ in transfected human fibroblast cell lines and in a cell-free microsomal translocation system. Although it is relatively easy to conceptualize how a transmembrane protein like CFTRDeltaF508 might be accessible on the cytoplasmic aspect of the ER membrane for ubiquitination and degradation by the proteasome, it is more difficult to conceptualize how this might occur for a luminal polypeptide. The results show that, once within the lumen of the ER, alpha1-ATZ interacts with the transmembrane molecular chaperone calnexin and specifically induces the polyubiquitination of calnexin. The results, therefore, provide evidence that the proteasome, from its cytoplasmic localization, induces the degradation of the luminal alpha1-ATZ molecule by first attacking the cytoplasmic tail of calnexin molecules that are associated with alpha1-ATZ.