Inhibition of plasma membrane NADH oxidase activity and growth of HeLa cells by natural and synthetic retinoids

NADH oxidase activity (NOX) and enlargement of HeLa cells oscillate with two different temperature-compensated period lengths of 22 and 24 minutes corresponding to different NOX forms

NOX proteins are cell surface-associated and growth-related hydroquinone (NADH) oxidases with protein disulfide-thiol interchange activity. A defining characteristic of NOX proteins is that the two enzymatic activities alternate to generate a regular period length of about 24 min. HeLa cells exhibit at least two forms of NOX. One is tumor-associated (tNOX) and is inhibited by putative quinone site inhibitors (e.g., capsaicin or the antitumor sulfonylurea, LY181984). Another is constitutive (CNOX) and refractory to inhibition. The periodic alternation of activities and drug sensitivity of the NADH oxidase activity observed with intact HeLa cells was retained in isolated plasma membranes and with the solubilized and partially purified enzyme. At least two activities were present. One had a period length of 24 min and the other had a period length of 22 min. The lengths of both the 22 and the 24 min periods were temperature compensated (approximately the same when measured at 17, 27 or 37 degrees C) whereas the rate of NADH oxidation approximately doubled with each 10 degrees C rise in temperature. The rate of increase in cell area of HeLa cells when measured by video-enhanced light microscopy also exhibited a complex period of oscillations reflective of both 22 and 24 min period lengths. The findings demonstrate the presence of a novel oscillating NOX activity at the surface of cancer cells with a period length of 22 min in addition to the constitutive NOX of non-cancer cells and tissues with a period length of 24 min.

Periodic NADH oxidase activity associated with an endoplasmic reticulum fraction from pig liver. Response to micromolar concentrations of retinol

An endoplasmic reticulum fraction from pig liver enriched in transitional endoplasmic reticulum vesicles capable of forming 50-60 nm buds in the presence of ATP and retinol was assayed for retinol-responsive oxidation of NADH and cleavage of a dithiodipyridine (DTDP) protein disulfide-thiol interchange substrate. Maxima for the two activities alternated giving rise to a 24 min period. The NADH oxidase activity was inhibited by micromolar and submicromolar concentrations of retinol. Retinol at 0.1 mM stimulated the activity. The inhibition was confined to two activity maxima separated in time by about 5 min. In contrast, with the DTDP substrate, the activity was stimulated by retinol and the stimulations were in the part of the oscillatory pattern where retinol inhibition of NADH oxidation was observed. The findings support an earlier proposed mechanism whereby retinol exerted opposing effects on NADH oxidation and protein disulfide reductions.

Surface oxidase and oxidative stress propagation in aging

This report summarizes new evidence for a plasma-membrane-associated hydroquinone oxidase designated as CNOX (constitutive plasma membrane NADH oxidase) that functions as a terminal oxidase for a plasma membrane oxidoreductase (PMOR) electron transport chain to link the accumulation of lesions in mitochondrial DNA to cell-surface accumulations of reactive oxygen species. Previous considerations of plasma membrane redox changes during aging have lacked evidence for a specific terminal oxidase to catalyze a flow of electrons from cytosolic NADH to molecular oxygen (or to protein disulfides). Cells with functionally deficient mitochondria become characterized by an anaerobic metabolism. As a result, NADH accumulates from the glycolytic production of ATP. Elevated PMOR activity has been shown to be necessary to maintain the NAD(+)/NADH homeostasis essential for survival. Our findings demonstrate that the hyperactivity of the PMOR system results in an NADH oxidase (NOX) activity capable of generating reactive oxygen species at the cell surface. This would serve to propagate the aging cascade both to adjacent cells and to circulating blood components. The generation of superoxide by NOX forms associated with aging is inhibited by coenzyme Q and provides a rational basis for the anti-aging activity of circulating coenzyme Q.

Cell membrane redox systems and transformation

Cell membrane redox systems carry electrons from intracellular donors and transport them to extracellular acceptors. This phenomenon appears to be universal. Numerous reviews have emphasized not only the bioenergetic mechanisms of redox systems but also the antioxidant defense mechanisms in which they participate. Moreover, significant progress has been made in the modulation of the membrane redox systems on cell proliferation. Because membrane redox systems play a key role in the regulation of cell growth, they need to be somehow linked into the signaling pathways resulting in either controlled or unregulated growth by both internal and external signals. Ultimately, these sequential events lead to either normal cell proliferation or cancer cell formation. However, much less is known about the involvement of membrane redox in transformation or tumorgenesis. In this review, the facts and ideas are summarized concerning the redox systems and tumorgenesis in several aspects, such as the regulation of cell growth and the effect on cell differentiation and on signaling pathways. In addition, information on a unique tumor-associated nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) oxidase (tNOX) protein is reviewed.

The sulfonylurea-inhibited NADH oxidase activity of HeLa cell plasma membranes has properties of a protein disulfide-thiol oxidoreductase with protein disulfide-thiol interchange activity

Plasma membrane vesicles of HeLa cells are characterized by a drug-responsive oxidation of NADH. The NADH oxidation takes place in an argon or nitrogen atmosphere and in samples purged of oxygen. Direct assay of protein thiols by reaction with 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB; Ellman's reagent), suggests that protein disulfides may be the natural electron acceptors for NADH oxidation by the plasma membrane vesicles. In the presence of NADH, protein disulfides of the membranes were reduced with a concomitant stoichiometric increase in protein thiols. The increase in protein thiols was inhibited in parallel to the inhibition of NADH oxidation by the antitumor sulfonylurea LY181984 with an EC50 of ca. 30 nM. LY 181984, with an EC50 of 30 nM, also inhibited a protein disulfide-thiol interchange activity based on the restoration of activity to inactive (scrambled) RNase and thiol oxidation. The findings suggest that thiol oxidation, NADH-dependent disulfide reduction (NADH oxidation), and protein disulfide-thiol interchange in the absence of NADH all may be manifestations of the same sulfonylurea binding protein of the HeLa plasma membrane. A surface location of the thiols involved was demonstrated using detergents and the impermeant thiol reagent p-chloromercuriphenylsulfonic acid (PCMPS). The surface location precludes a physiological role of the protein in NADH oxidation. Rather, it may carry out some other role more closely related to a function in growth, such as protein disulfide-thiol interchange coupled to cell enlargement.

Response of a cell-surface NADH oxidase to the antitumor sulfonylurea N-(4-methylphenylsulfonyl)-N'-(4-chlorophenylurea) (LY181984) modulated by redox

In previous reports, our laboratory has described a drug-responsive NADH oxidase activity of the external surface of the plasma membrane of HeLa and other cancer cells, but not from normal cells, that was shed into media conditioned by the growth of cancer cells such as HeLa and also into sera of cancer patients. The sulfonylurea-altered activity was found in sera of a wide variety of cancer patients but the activity was either inhibited or stimulated by 1 microM LY181984. In this report, we demonstrate that one basis for whether or not the activity was stimulated or inhibited may be the redox environment of the protein. If plasma membrane vesicles from HeLa cells were first treated with dithiothreitol (DTT) or with reduced glutathione (GSH) and then assayed for NADH oxidase activity, the sulfonylurea inhibited the activity in a concentration-dependent manner. In contrast, if the plasma membrane vesicles were first treated with diluted hydrogen peroxide or oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and then assayed for NADH oxidase activity, the antitumor sulfonylurea stimulated the activity. Growth experiments were conducted in parallel. LY181984 administered to HeLa cells in the presence of GSH was approximately 2 log orders more effective than LY181984 administered to HeLa cells in the presence of GSSG. Similar results were found in the sera of cancer patients. With sera from normal individuals or with plasma membranes of rat liver, the oxidizing or reducing conditions were without effect. The findings suggest that the response of the cell surface NADH oxidase of HeLa cells to the antitumor sulfonylurea LY181984 is influenced by the redox environment which may determine whether the drug will stimulate or inhibit the activity and that the degree of response may be reflected in the ability of LY181984 to inhibit HeLa cell growth.

Redox modulation of the response of NADH oxidase activity of rat liver plasma membranes to cyclic AMP plus ATP

NADH oxidase activity of rat liver plasma membranes was inhibited by low concentrations (1-100 nM) of ATP. The inhibition was amplified by addition of nanomolar concentrations (0.1-10) of cyclic AMP. The inhibition was complex and related to a marked increase in the Km for NADH at high NADH concentrations together with a concomitant decrease in the Vmax. In the absence of added or residual ATP, cyclic AMP was without effect. The response of cyclic AMP + ATP was inhibited by low concentrations of the selective inhibitor of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, H-89 but not by staurosporin. The Vmax but not the Km was modified by treating the plasma membranes with a mild oxidizing agent, N-chlorosuccinamide, or with the reducing agent, dithiothreitol. In the presence of dithiothreitol, the Vmax was reduced by cyclic AMP + ATP. In contrast, in the presence of N-chlorosuccinamide, the Vmax was increased by cyclic AMP + ATP relative to cyclic AMP + ATP alone. Thus, the effect of cyclic AMP + ATP on the Vmax could be either an increase or a decrease depending on whether the membranes were oxidized or reduced. The results demonstrate regulation of NADH oxidase activity of rat liver plasma membranes through cyclic AMP-mediated phosphorylation by membrane-located protein kinase activities where the final response is dependent on the oxidation-reduction status of the plasma membranes.