No abstract

Translation and transcription are frequently dysregulated in cancer. These two processes are generally regulated by distinct sets of factors. The CBFB gene, which encodes a transcription factor, has recently emerged as a highly mutated driver in a variety of human cancers including breast cancer. Here we report a noncanonical role of CBFB in translation regulation. RNA immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing (RIP-seq) reveals that cytoplasmic CBFB binds to hundreds of transcripts and regulates their translation. CBFB binds to mRNAs via hnRNPK and enhances translation through eIF4B, a general translation initiation factor. Interestingly, the RUNX1 mRNA, which encodes the transcriptional partner of CBFB, is bound and translationally regulated by CBFB. Furthermore, nuclear CBFB/RUNX1 complex transcriptionally represses the oncogenic NOTCH signaling pathway in breast cancer. Thus, our data reveal an unexpected function of CBFB in translation regulation and propose that breast cancer cells evade translation and transcription surveillance simultaneously through downregulating CBFB.

P53 is an important tumor suppressor that, upon activation, induces growth arrest and cell death. Control of p53 is thus of prime importance for proliferating cells, but also for cancer therapy, where p53 activity contributes to the eradication of tumors. Mdm2 functionally inhibits p53 and targets the tumor suppressor protein for degradation. In a genetic screen, we identified TRIM25 as a novel regulator of p53 and Mdm2. TRIM25 increased p53 and Mdm2 abundance by inhibiting their ubiquitination and degradation in 26 S proteasomes. TRIM25 co-precipitated with p53 and Mdm2 and interfered with the association of p300 and Mdm2, a critical step for p53 polyubiquitination. Despite the increase in p53 levels, p53 activity was inhibited in the presence of TRIM25. Downregulation of TRIM25 resulted in an increased acetylation of p53 and p53-dependent cell death in HCT116 cells. Upon genotoxic insults, TRIM25 dampened the p53-dependent DNA damage response. The downregulation of TRIM25 furthermore resulted in massive apoptosis during early embryogenesis of medaka, which was rescued by the concomitant downregulation of p53, demonstrating the functional relevance of the regulation of p53 by TRIM25 in an organismal context.