Thyroid hormone receptor alpha 1 (c-erb A alpha 1) suppressed transforming phenotype of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line

Thyroid hormone-mediated activation of the ERK/dual specificity phosphatase 1 pathway augments the apoptosis of GH4C1 cells by down-regulating nuclear factor-kappaB activity

Thyroid hormone (T3) plays a crucial role in processes such as cell proliferation and differentiation, whereas its implication on cellular apoptosis has not been well documented. Here we examined the effect of T3 on the apoptosis of GH4C1 pituitary cells and the mechanisms underlying this effect. We show that T3 produced a significant increase in apoptosis in serum-depleted conditions. This effect was accompanied by a decrease in nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB)-dependent transcription, IkappaBalpha phosphorylation, translocation of p65/NF-kappaB to the nucleus, phosphorylation, and transactivation. Moreover, these effects were correlated with a T3-induced decrease in the expression of antiapoptotic gene products, such as members of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein and Bcl-2 families. On the other hand, ERK but not c-Jun N-terminal kinase or MAPK p38, was activated upon exposure to T3, and inhibition of ERK alone abrogated T3-mediated apoptosis. In addition, T3 increased the expression of the MAPK phosphatase, dual specificity phosphatase 1 (DUSP1), in an ERK-dependent manner. Interestingly, the suppression of DUSP1 expression abrogated T3-induced inhibition of NF-kappaB-dependent transcription and p65/NF-kappaB translocation to the nucleus, as well as T3-mediated apoptosis. Overall, our results indicate that T3 induces apoptosis in rat pituitary tumor cells by down-regulating NF-kappaB activity through a mechanism dependent on the ERK/DUSP1 pathway.

A novel role for thyroid hormone receptor beta in cellular radiosensitivity

Thyroid hormone receptors (THRs) widely govern cell growth, differentiation and metabolism acting in a ligand- and cofactor-dependent manner to modulate tissue-specific gene expression. Given a large variety of genes regulated by THRs and multiplicity of cellular processes potentially influenced by THRs, we addressed the role of THRB (thyroid hormone receptor beta) in cellular radiosensitivity. Wild-type and mutant THRB were overexpressed in several cell lines using an adenovirus-mediated gene delivery and their effects were examined after cell exposure to gamma-rays. Wild-type THRB decreased clonogenic survival of the cell lines with low levels of endogenous THRB, retarded their growth and synergized with radiation in decreasing proliferative potential and promoting cellular senescence. These changes were accompanied by the accumulation of p21 (CDKN1A, CIP1, WAF1) and p16 (CDKN2A, INK4a) inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases and by the decrease of Rb (retinoblastoma protein) phosphorylation. Mutant THRB produced a radioprotective effect, attenuated radiation-induced growth inhibition and cellular senescence. The results suggest that THRB may modulate cellular radiosensitivity and stress-induced senescence.

Thyroid hormone receptors mutated in liver cancer function as distorted antimorphs

Aberrant thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) are found in over 70% of the human hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) analysed. To better understand the role(s) of these TR mutants in this neoplasia, we analysed a panel of HCC mutant receptors for their molecular properties. Virtually all HCC-associated TR mutants tested retained the ability to repress target genes in the absence of T3, yet were impaired in T3-driven gene activation and functioned as dominant-negative inhibitors of wild-type TR activity. Intriguingly, the HCC TRalpha1 mutants exerted dominant-negative interference at all T3 concentrations tested, whereas the HCC TRbeta1 mutants were dominant-negatives only at low and intermediate T3 concentrations, reverting to transcriptional activators at higher hormone levels. The relative affinity for the SMRT versus N-CoR corepressors was detectably altered for several of the HCC mutant TRs, suggesting changes in corepressor preference and recruitment compared to wild type. Several of the TRalpha HCC mutations also altered the DNA recognition properties of the encoded receptors, indicating that these HCC TR mutants may regulate a distinct set of target genes from those regulated by wild-type TRs. Finally, whereas wild-type TRs interfere with c-Jun/AP-1 function in a T3-dependent fashion and suppress anchorage-independent growth when ectopically expressed in HepG2 cells, at least certain of the HCC mutants did not exert these inhibitory properties. These alterations in transcriptional regulation and DNA recognition appear likely to contribute to oncogenesis by reprogramming the differentiation and proliferative properties of the hepatocytes in which the mutant TRs are expressed.

A functional genomics approach for the identification of putative tumor suppressor genes: Dickkopf-1 as suppressor of HeLa cell transformation

We described previously the isolation and characterization of two non-tumorigenic revertants from the HeLa cervical carcinoma cell line, and demonstrated that loss of the transformed phenotype in these cells was the result of dominant somatic mutations. The goal of the present study was to use cDNA microarrays to identify candidate tumor suppressors among the set of genes whose increased expression correlated with loss of tumorigenicity in both revertants. Among the genes with significantly increased expression levels in both HA and HF revertants we identified Insulin Growth Factor Binding Protein-3 (IGFBP-3) and the Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) genes. Both of these genes encode secreted proteins implicated in the modulation cell growth and differentiation, and IGFBP-3 was shown previously to have tumor suppressing activity. To test the hypothesis that increased expression of IGFBP-3 or the DKK-1 genes could have contributed to the suppression of tumorigenicity in the revertants, we expressed IGFBP-3 or DKK-1 in HeLa cells, and assessed their effects on anchorage dependent and independent growth, and tumor formation in athymic nude mice. Ectopic expression of IGFBP-3 or DKK-1 resulted in significantly decreased growth in soft agar. HeLa cells expressing ectopic IGFBP-3 or DKK-1 showed statistically significant differences in the kinetics of tumor formation. In any tumors that arose in animals injected with the IGFBP-3 expressing cells, there was a complete loss of IGFBP-3 activity, as measured by binding to IGF-1 and IGF-2 proteins. All tumors that arose after injection of cells expressing DKK-1, invariably showed almost a complete loss of ectopic DKK-1 expression. The observations that loss of DKK-1 expression or IGFBP-3 activity was required for tumorigenicity suggested that both proteins encode putative tumor suppressor genes. We also show that while DKK-1 expression does not affect cell growth in vitro, the protein does sensitize cells to apoptosis. We also demonstrated that effect of DKK-1 was not due to inhibition of beta-catenin/TCF4-regulated transcription. Taken together, our results indicate that somatic cell genetics combining with gene expression profiling may be a useful approach for the identification of functional suppressors of malignant cell growth.