Abstract. It has been reported that intracellular accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) has a significant role in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-induced cell apoptosis and necrosis; however, the key molecules regulating ROS generation remain to be elucidated. The present study reports that knockdown of endogenous receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1) increases the intracellular ROS level following TNF-α or H 2 O 2 stimulation in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, leading to promotion of cell death. Carbonyl reductase 1 (CBR1), a ubiquitous nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-dependent enzyme, is reported to protect cells from ROS-induced cell damage. The present study reports that RACK1 is a regulator of CBR1 that interacts with and sustains the protein stability of CBR1. Overexpression of CBR1 reverses the enhanced cell death due to RACK1 knockdown. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that RACK1 protects HCC cells from TNF-α-induced cell death by suppressing ROS generation through interacting with and regulating CBR1.
IntroductionEscape from tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-induced cell apoptosis and necrosis is of importance in tumor development (1-3).This process is regulated by a number of intracellular signaling pathways, including c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and IκB kinase (IKK), as well as reactive oxygen species (ROS) (4,5). Extensive studies have indicated that reduced levels of oxidant stress and ROS promote malignant transformation and oncogenic growth in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells (6-9). However, the key molecules regulating ROS in HCC remain to be elucidated. It has been reported that scaffolding protein receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1) enhances JNK activation in HCC, leading to promotion of the malignant growth of HCC (10). Therefore, it may be assumed that RACK1 affects other aspects of HCC. RACK1 was originally identified to bind and activate protein kinase C and is now recognized as a multi-functional scaffold protein (11,12). Evidence has indicated that RACK1 protects from oxidative stress-induced cell death in various types of cells, including fission yeasts (13), shrimp cells (14), neurons (15), HeLa cells (16) and HL60 cells (17). However, such a role for RACK1 has not been reported in HCC cells to the best of our knowledge. In the present study, it was demonstrated that RACK1 knockdown leads to increased cell death in TNF-α-treated HCC cells in the presence of cycloheximide (CHX), a protein synthesis inhibitor. Subsequently, it was observed that RACK1 knockdown promotes intracellular ROS accumulation upon TNF-α or H 2 O 2 stimulation. A combination of co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) and mass spectrometry analysis indicated that carbonyl reductase 1 (CBR1), a ubiquitous nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-dependent enzyme, acts as a RACK1-interacting partner in HCC cells. CBR1 has been reported to provide protection from ROS-induced cellular damage in HCC and leukemia (4,18), which suggests that CBR1 serves a role in c...