Neddylation is a ubiquitination-like pathway that controls cell survival and proliferation by covalently conjugating NEDD8 to lysines in specific substrate proteins. However, the physiological role of neddylation in mammalian metabolism remains elusive, and no mitochondrial targets have been identified. Here, we report that mouse models with liver-specific deficiency of NEDD8 or ubiquitin-like modifier activating enzyme 3 (UBA3), the catalytic subunit of the NEDD8-activating enzyme, exhibit neonatal death with spontaneous fatty liver as well as hepatic cellular senescence. In particular, liver-specific UBA3 deficiency leads to systemic abnormalities similar to glutaric aciduria type II (GA-II), a rare autosomal recessive inherited fatty acid oxidation disorder resulting from defects in mitochondrial electron transfer flavoproteins (ETFs: ETFA and ETFB) or the corresponding ubiquinone oxidoreductase. Neddylation inhibition by various strategies results in decreased protein levels of ETFs in neonatal livers and embryonic hepatocytes. Hepatic neddylation also enhances ETF expression in adult mice and prevents fasting-induced steatosis and mortality. Interestingly, neddylation is active in hepatic mitochondria. ETFs are neddylation substrates, and neddylation stabilizes ETFs by inhibiting their ubiquitination and degradation. Moreover, certain mutations of ETFs found in GA-II patients hinder the neddylation of these substrates. Taken together, our results reveal substrates for neddylation and add insight into GA-II.

The first-in-class compound MLN4924 is a small molecule inhibitor that selectively inactivates NEDD8-activating enzyme (NAE). The anticancer effects of MLN4924 have been attributed to impaired neddylation of Cullin proteins. Here, we show that treatment of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cells with MLN4924 potently suppressed the neddylation of Cullins and the oncogenic growth of T-ALL cells in-vitro. Moreover, MLN4924 induced disease regression in an in vivo xenograft model. MLN4924 also induced cell cycle arrest at G2 phase and apoptosis in T-ALL cells. However, inhibition of the neddylation of Cullins alone could not explain the effects of MLN4924 in T-ALL cells. Gene expression profiling indicated ribosome function, steroid biosynthesis, and hematopoietic cell lineage pathways were affected by MLN4924 treatment. MLN4924 also induced nucleolar disruption, suggesting nucleolar stress signaling might contribute to the anticancer effects of MLN4924 in T-ALL cells. In addition, MLN4924 treatment reduced 14-3-3ξ\δ protein levels in T-ALL cells. Thus, MLN4924 may inhibit T-ALL cell proliferation via several pathways.

All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) has demonstrated notable success in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) by inducing granulocytic differentiation. The underlying mechanisms of ATRA therapeutic effects have not been entirely clarified. Here, we reported that the regulation of neddylation, a ubiquitination-like post-translational modification, was involved in the treatment of ATRA on APL. Treating APL cells with ATRA led to the degradation of UBA3, a subunit of neddylation E1. Lysosome-autophagy pathway but not proteasome pathway was responsible for the degradation of UBA3. Neddylation suppression in APL cells was capable of inducing apoptosis, differentiation and proliferation inhibition, suggesting a pivotal role of neddylation in APL cells. ATRA treatment also led to UBA3 degradation in primary APL cells. Taken together, our findings indicated that neddylation was important to maintain the malignant features of APL cells, and suppression of neddylation was involved in the effects of ATRA on APL cells.

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...