Nucleolin functions in ribosome biogenesis and contains an acidic N terminus that binds nuclear localization sequences. In previous work we showed that human nucleolin associates with the N-terminal region of human topoisomerase I (Top1). We have now mapped the topoisomerase I interaction domain of nucleolin to the N-terminal 225 amino acids. We also show that the Saccharomyces cerevisiae nucleolin ortholog, Nsr1p, physically interacts with yeast topoisomerase I, yTop1p. Studies of isogenic NSR1 ؉ and ⌬nsr1 strains indicate that NSR1 is important in determining the cellular localization of yTop1p. Moreover, deletion of NSR1 reduces sensitivity to camptothecin, an antineoplastic topoisomerase I inhibitor. By contrast, ⌬nsr1 cells are hypersensitive to the topoisomerase II-targeting drug amsacrine. These findings indicate that nucleolin/Nsr1 is involved in the cellular localization of Top1 and that this localization may be important in determining sensitivity to drugs that target topoisomerases.
Human Top11 is a nuclear protein involved in the regulation of DNA structure and is the target of an important new class of antineoplastic drugs, the camptothecins (1, 2). Studies in yeast provide convincing evidence that Top1 is the sole cellular target for camptothecins, with this knowledge facilitating attempts to understand the mechanisms by which the drug destroys cells (3-5). Top1 is a monomeric protein that relaxes supercoiled DNA by creating a transient single-strand nick, with this nick involving the covalent attachment of Top1 to the DNA phosphate backbone via a phosphotyrosine bond. Recent structural studies of Top1 and the Top1-DNA covalent complex led to molecular models of the mechanism by which camptothecins inhibit the catalytic activity of Top1 (6 -8). Nevertheless, formation of CPT-Top1-DNA ternary complexes is insufficient to explain the cytotoxic effects of CPT (9 -11). Current models invoke interactions between ternary complexes and replication or transcriptional machinery as being important in conversion of ternary complexes to lethal forms of DNA damage (12, 13). However, it is not known whether physical interactions between Top1 and other proteins (including proteins involved in replication or transcription) are important in the cytotoxic effects of CPT. Recently, an interaction between Top1 and the SV40 T antigen helicase was shown to modulate formation of Top1-CPT-DNA ternary complexes, suggesting that similar interactions between Top1 and cellular helicases may mediate the cytotoxicity of CPT (14). In addition, Top1 rapidly redistributes from the nucleolus to the nucleus or cytoplasm and is degraded after cellular exposure to . These alterations may confer transient cellular resistance to CPT and could be mediated by interactions between Top1 and other proteins.Top1 is known to physically interact with the following proteins: HMG17 (20), casein kinase II (21), RNA polymerase I (22), nucleolin (23), SV40 T antigen (24,25), p53 (26,27), the TATA-binding protein (28), the splicing factors SF2/ASF (2...