Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1), an essential protein in mammals, is involved in base excision DNA repair (BER) and in regulation of gene expression, acting as a redox co-activator of several transcription factors. Recent findings highlight a novel role for APE1 in RNA metabolism, which is modulated by nucleophosmin (NPM1). The results reported in this article show that five lysine residues (K24, K25, K27, K31 and K32), located in the APE1 N-terminal unstructured domain, are involved in the interaction of APE1 with both RNA and NPM1, thus supporting a competitive binding mechanism. Data from kinetic experiments demonstrate that the APE1 N-terminal domain also serves as a device for fine regulation of protein catalytic activity on abasic DNA. Interestingly, some of these critical lysine residues undergo acetylation in vivo. These results suggest that protein–protein interactions and/or post-translational modifications involving APE1 N-terminal domain may play important in vivo roles, in better coordinating and fine-tuning protein BER activity and function on RNA metabolism.

Mammalian apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 is a DNA repair enzyme involved in genome stability and expression of genes involved in oxidative stress responses, tumor progression and chemoresistance. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 in these processes are still unclear. Recent findings point to a novel role of apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 in RNA metabolism. Through the characterization of the interactomes of apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 with RNA and other proteins, we demonstrate here a role for apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 in pri-miRNA processing and stability via association with the DROSHA-processing complex during genotoxic stress. We also show that endonuclease activity of apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 is required for the processing of miR-221/222 in regulating expression of the tumor suppressor PTEN. Analysis of a cohort of different cancers supports the relevance of our findings for tumor biology. We also show that apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 participates in RNA-interactomes and protein-interactomes involved in cancer development, thus indicating an unsuspected post-transcriptional effect on cancer genes.

APE1/Ref-1 protects cells from oxidative stress by acting as a central enzyme in base excision repair pathways of DNA lesions and through its independent activity as a redox transcriptional co-activator. Dysregulation of this protein has been associated to cancer development. At present, contrasting data have been published regarding the biological relevance of the two functions as well as the molecular mechanisms involved. Here, we combined both mRNA expression profiling and proteomic analysis to determine the molecular changes associated with APE1 loss-of-expression induced by siRNA technology. This approach identified a role of APE1 in cell growth, apoptosis, intracellular redox state, mitochondrial function and cytoskeletal structure. Thus, overall, our data show that APE1 acts as a hub in coordinating different and vital functions in mammalian cells, highlighting the molecular determinants of the multifunctional nature of APE1 protein.