TRAP1 (TNF receptor-associated protein), a member of the HSP90 chaperone family, is found predominantly in mitochondria. TRAP1 is broadly considered to be an anticancer molecular target. However, current inhibitors cannot distinguish between HSP90 and TRAP1, making their utility as probes of TRAP1-specific function questionable. Some cancers express less TRAP1 than do their normal tissue counterparts, suggesting that TRAP1 function in mitochondria of normal and transformed cells is more complex than previously appreciated. We have used TRAP1-null cells and transient TRAP1 silencing/overexpression to show that TRAP1 regulates a metabolic switch between oxidative phosphorylation and aerobic glycolysis in immortalized mouse fibroblasts and in human tumor cells. TRAP1-deficiency promotes an increase in mitochondrial respiration and fatty acid oxidation, and in cellular accumulation of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, ATP and reactive oxygen species. At the same time, glucose metabolism is suppressed. TRAP1-deficient cells also display strikingly enhanced invasiveness. TRAP1 interaction with and regulation of mitochondrial c-Src provide a mechanistic basis for these phenotypes. Taken together with the observation that TRAP1 expression is inversely correlated with tumor grade in several cancers, these data suggest that, in some settings, this mitochondrial molecular chaperone may act as a tumor suppressor.M olecular chaperones help to maintain cellular homeostasis.The heat-shock protein 90 (HSP90) family of molecular chaperones is highly conserved from bacteria to mammals. HSP90 itself is an essential molecular chaperone found in the cytoplasm and nucleus of all eukaryotic cells (1, 2). In multicellular eukaryotes, the HSP90 family includes the mitochondrial chaperone TRAP1 (TNF receptor-associated protein), which shares 50% sequence similarity with HSP90. Although TRAP1 binds and hydrolyzes ATP in an analogous manner to HSP90 (3), its cellular function is less well understood. Thus, although many HSP90-dependent proteins ("clients") and interacting cochaperones have been described (www.picard.ch/downloads/Hsp90interactors.pdf), the validated list of TRAP1-dependent clients is quite small and TRAP1-interacting cochaperones, if they exist, have yet to be identified (4).Several studies have suggested that TRAP1 plays a cytoprotective role by buffering reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated oxidative stress (5, 6), and others have reported that TRAP1 overexpression attenuates ROS production (7). The antioxidant properties of TRAP1, together with its reported ability to regulate opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (8, 9), may contribute to its antiapoptotic activity (4). For these reasons, TRAP1 has been proposed as an anticancer molecular target, and first-generation inhibitors have shown some anticancer activity in preclinical models (10). However, these inhibitors do not distinguish between HSP90 and TRAP1 (11), and TRAP1 expression in cancer is variable but HSP90 comprises as much as 5% of...

The Hsp90 family of molecular chaperones includes the cytosolic isoforms Hsp90a and Hsp90β and the mitochondrial isoform Trap1. Hsp90a/βsupport a large number of client proteins in the cytoplasm and the nucleus whereas Trap1 regulates oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria. Many of the associated proteins and cellular processes are relevant to cancer, and there is ample pharmacological and genetic evidence to support the idea that Hsp90a/βand Trap1 are required for tumorigenesis. However, a direct and comparative genetic test in a mouse cancer model has not been done. Here we report the effects of deleting the Hsp90a or Trap1 genes in a mouse model of breast cancer. Neither Hsp90a nor Trap1 are absolutely required for mammary tumor initiation, growth and metastasis induced by the polyoma middle T-antigen as oncogene. However, they do modulate growth and lung metastasis in vivo and cell proliferation, migration and invasion of isolated primary carcinoma cells in vitro. Without Hsp90a, tumor burden and metastasis are reduced, correlating with impaired proliferation, migration and invasion of cells in culture. Without Trap1, the appearance of tumors is initially delayed, and isolated cells are affected similarly to those without Hsp90a. Analysis of expression data of human breast cancers supports the conclusion that this is a valid mouse model highlighting the importance of these molecular chaperones.

BackgroundTo make sense out of gene expression profiles, such analyses must be pushed beyond the mere listing of affected genes. For example, if a group of genes persistently display similar changes in expression levels under particular experimental conditions, and the proteins encoded by these genes interact and function in the same cellular compartments, this could be taken as very strong indicators for co-regulated protein complexes. One of the key requirements is having appropriate tools to detect such regulatory patterns.ResultsWe have analyzed the global adaptations in gene expression patterns in the budding yeast when the Hsp90 molecular chaperone complex is perturbed either pharmacologically or genetically. We integrated these results with publicly accessible expression, protein-protein interaction and intracellular localization data. But most importantly, all experimental conditions were simultaneously and dynamically visualized with an animation. This critically facilitated the detection of patterns of gene expression changes that suggested underlying regulatory networks that a standard analysis by pairwise comparison and clustering could not have revealed.ConclusionsThe results of the animation-assisted detection of changes in gene regulatory patterns make predictions about the potential roles of Hsp90 and its co-chaperone p23 in regulating whole sets of genes. The simultaneous dynamic visualization of microarray experiments, represented in networks built by integrating one's own experimental with publicly accessible data, represents a powerful discovery tool that allows the generation of new interpretations and hypotheses.