Endoplasmic reticulum stress is emerging as an important modulator of different pathologies and as a mechanism contributing to cancer cell death in response to therapeutic agents. In several instances, oxidative stress and the onset of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress occur together; yet, the molecular events linking reactive oxygen species (ROS) to ER stress-mediated apoptosis are currently unknown. Here, we show that PERK (RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR)-like ER kinase), a key ER stress sensor of the unfolded protein response, is uniquely enriched at the mitochondria-associated ER membranes (MAMs). PERK À / À cells display disturbed ER morphology and Ca 2 þ signaling as well as significantly weaker ER-mitochondria contact sites. Re-expression of a kinase-dead PERK mutant but not the cytoplasmic deletion mutant of PERK in PERK À / À cells re-establishes ER-mitochondria juxtapositions and mitochondrial sensitization to ROS-mediated stress. In contrast to the canonical ER stressor thapsigargin, during ROS-mediated ER stress, PERK contributes to apoptosis twofold by sustaining the levels of pro-apoptotic C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) and by facilitating the propagation of ROS signals between the ER and mitochondria through its tethering function. Hence, this study reveals an unprecedented role of PERK as a MAMs component required to maintain the ER-mitochondria juxtapositions and propel ROS-mediated mitochondrial apoptosis. Furthermore, it suggests that loss of PERK may cause defects in cell death sensitivity in pathological conditions linked to ROS-mediated ER stress. Cell Death and Differentiation (2012) 19, 1880-1891 doi:10.1038/cdd.2012; published online 15 June 2012The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) constitutes a specialized organelle involved in crucial cellular functions, including protein folding and Ca 2 þ storage/signaling. Alterations in the ER folding environment cause the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the ER lumen, leading to ER stress.

The persistence of transcriptionally silent but replication-competent HIV-1 reservoirs in Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART)-treated infected individuals, represents a major hurdle to virus eradication. Activation of HIV-1 gene expression in these cells together with an efficient HAART has been proposed as an adjuvant therapy aimed at decreasing the pool of latent viral reservoirs. Using the latently-infected U1 monocytic cell line and latently-infected J-Lat T-cell clones, we here demonstrated a strong synergistic activation of HIV-1 production by clinically used histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) combined with prostratin, a non-tumor-promoting nuclear factor (NF)- κB inducer. In J-Lat cells, we showed that this synergism was due, at least partially, to the synergistic recruitment of unresponsive cells into the expressing cell population. A combination of prostratin+HDACI synergistically activated the 5′ Long Terminal Repeat (5'LTR) from HIV-1 Major group subtypes representing the most prevalent viral genetic forms, as shown by transient transfection reporter assays. Mechanistically, HDACIs increased prostratin-induced DNA-binding activity of nuclear NF-κB and degradation of cytoplasmic NF-κB inhibitor, IκBα . Moreover, the combined treatment prostratin+HDACI caused a more pronounced nucleosomal remodeling in the U1 viral promoter region than the treatments with the compounds alone. This more pronounced remodeling correlated with a synergistic reactivation of HIV-1 transcription following the combined treatment prostratin+HDACI, as demonstrated by measuring recruitment of RNA polymerase II to the 5'LTR and both initiated and elongated transcripts. The physiological relevance of the prostratin+HDACI synergism was shown in CD8+-depleted peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HAART-treated patients with undetectable viral load. Moreover, this combined treatment reactivated viral replication in resting CD4+ T cells isolated from similar patients. Our results suggest that combinations of different kinds of proviral activators may have important implications for reducing the size of latent HIV-1 reservoirs in HAART-treated patients.

Throughout the purification of the mdm-2 or mdm-2-p53 protein complexes, a protein with a molecular weight of 34,000 was observed to copurify with these proteins. Several monoclonal antibodies directed against distinct epitopes in the mdm-2 or p53 protein coimmunoprecipitated this 34,000-molecular-weight protein, which did not react to p53 or mdm-2 polyclonal antisera in a Western immunoblot. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of this 34,000-molecular-weight protein demonstrated that the first 40 amino acids were identical to the ribosomal L5 protein, found in the large rRNA subunit and bound to 5S RNA. Partial peptide maps of the authentic L5 protein and the 34,000-molecular-weight protein were identical. mdm-2-L5 and mdm-2-L5-p53 complexes were shown to bind 5S RNA specifically, presumably through the known specificity of L5 protein for 5S RNA. In 5S RNA-L5-mdm-2-p53 ribonucleoprotein complexes, it was also possible to detect the 5.8S RNA which has been suggested to be covalently linked to a percentage of the p53 protein in a cell. These experiments have identified a unique ribonucleoprotein complex composed of 5S RNA, L5 protein, mdm-2 proteins, p53 protein, and possibly the 5.8S RNA. While the function of such a ribonucleoprotein complex is not yet clear, the identity of its component parts suggests a role for these proteins and RNA species in ribosomal biogenesis, ribosomal transport from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, or translational regulation in the cell.The mdm-2 gene was originally detected as an amplified DNA sequence on double minute chromosomes in the 3T3DM cell line, which was derived from spontaneously transformed BALB/c 3T3 cells (1). Subsequently, it was shown that overexpression of the mdm-2 gene can increase the tumorigenic potential of cells (5), thus qualifying it as an oncogene. Indeed, the mdm-2 oncogene is amplified in a variety of osteogenic sarcomas and soft tissue sarcomas of humans (4, 14). The mdm-2 gene encodes several proteins with molecular weights that vary between 90,000 and 57,000 (15), and these proteins express distinct epitopes on different mdm-2 proteins, as characterized by using a variety of mdm-2-specific monoclonal antibodies (2).The only known function of these mdm-2 proteins is that some subset of them bind to the p53 protein and block its ability to act as a transcription factor (12). Amino acid residues 19 to 102 from the mdm-2 protein (of a total of 491) and amino acid residues 1 to 52 of the p53 protein (of a total of 393) are required to form p53-mdm-2 complexes (2), so the N termini of both proteins make these protein contacts. The N-terminal 42 amino acids of p53 constitute the transactivation domain of p53 (6, 17), which presumably makes contact with the transcriptional machinery of the cell (20), resulting in enhanced mRNA synthesis. Indeed, the same two amino acids (Leu-22 and Trp-23) required for transcriptional activation in the N terminus of the p53 protein have also been shown to be critical for mdm-2 binding to the p53 protein (9).Several forms of the m...

The transcription factor NFB plays a critical role in normal and pathophysiological immune responses. Therefore, NFB and the signaling pathways that regulate its activation have become a major focus of drug development programs. Withania somnifera (WS) is a medicinal plant that is widely used in Palestine for the treatment of various inflammatory disorders. In this study we show that the leave extract of WS, as well as its major constituent withaferin A (WA), potently inhibits NFB activation by preventing the tumor necrosis factor-induced activation of IB kinase ␤ via a thioalkylation-sensitive redox mechanism, whereas other WS-derived steroidal lactones, such as withanolide A and 12-deoxywithastramonolide, are far less effective. To our knowledge, this is the first communication of IB kinase ␤ inhibition by a plant-derived inhibitor, coinciding with MEK1/ ERK-dependent Ser-181 hyperphosphorylation. This prevents IB phosphorylation and degradation, which subsequently blocks NFB translocation, NFB/DNA binding, and gene transcription. Taken together, our results indicate that pure WA or WA-enriched WS extracts can be considered as a novel class of NFB inhibitors, which hold promise as novel anti-inflammatory agents for treatment of various inflammatory disorders and/or cancer.

The Mdm2 gene is overexpressed in several human tumors. The oncogenic potential of Mdm2 is partially explained by the inhibition of the activity of the tumor suppressor protein p53. Determination of the threedimensional structure of complexes between Mdm2 and the N-terminal p53 peptide provided a molecular basis for the inhibition of the transcriptional function of p53 by Mdm2. More dramatically, p53 is targeted by Mdm2 for rapid degradation. The Mdm2 gene itself is activated by p53, which gives the opportunity for feed-back control of p53 activity. Keeping p53 under control is most likely the major task of Mdm2 during early development. Recently, evidence was provided for an alternative, p53-independent function of Mdm2.

Although the Cdk inhibitor p21 Waf1/Cip1 , one of the transcriptional targets of p53, has been implicated in the maintenance of G 2 arrest after DNA damage, its function at this stage of the cell cycle is not really understood. Here, we show that the exposure of normal human ®broblasts (NHFs) to genotoxic agents provokes permanent cell cycle exit in G 2 phase, whereas mouse embryo ®broblasts and transformed human cells progress through mitosis and arrest in G 1 without intervening cytokinesis. p21 Waf1/Cip1 exerts a key role in driving this G 2 exit both by inhibiting cyclin B1±Cdk1 and cyclin A±Cdk1/2 complexes, which control G 2 /M progression, and by blocking the phosphorylation of pRb family proteins. NHFs with compromised pRb proteins could still ef®ciently arrest in G 2 but were unable to exit the cell cycle, resulting in cell death. Our experiments show that, when under continuous genotoxic stress, normal cells can reverse their commitment to mitotic progression due to passage through the restriction point and that mechanisms involving p21 Waf1/Cip1 and pocket proteins can induce exit in G 2 and G 1 .

Irradiation of mammalian cells with UV light results in a dose-dependent accumulation of the p53 tumorsuppressor gene product that is evident within 2 hr. UV treatment causes a dramatic increase in p53-specific transcriptional transactivation activity and an increase in expression of the p53-responsive gene mdm-2. UV-stimulated mdm-2 expression is not directy correlated with the level of p53 protein in a cell because mdm-2 induction is delayed at high UV doses even though p53 levels rise almost immediately. Cells lacking p53 protein do not respond to UV by increasing their expression of mdm-2. The delayed induction of mdm-2 at high UV doses suggests that, in addition to p53 protein levels, other factors contribute to the regulation of mdm-2 expression following UV treatment. The time of induction of mdm-2 in cells treated with UV light correlates with recovery of normal rates of DNA synthesis, presumably after DNA repair. These data indicate a possible role for mdm-2 in cell cycle progression.Mammalian cells respond to irradiation with UV light by transiently decreasing both RNA and DNA synthesis and by inducing expression of several genes whose products are thought to have protective effects against DNA damage (1). The regulation of these UV response genes appears to be mediated by several transcription factors which function after UV exposure (2). The p53 tumor-suppressor gene product is a transcription factor (3,4) that also appears to be involved in the response to UV light. The p53 protein levels increase due to the stabilization ofthis protein in both murine (5, 6) and human (7,8) cells treated with UV light. Although the role of p53 in the response to UV light has not been fully characterized, this tumor-suppressor protein has been shown to act as a cell cycle checkpoint in the response to y irradiation (9,10). fy irradiation induces both a G1 and a G2 phase-specific cell cycle block, and expression of wild-type p53 is necessary for the G1 but not the G2 block. The specific DNA-binding activity of p53 is increased after y irradiation and a DNA damage-inducible, growth arrest-specific gene, GADD45, has been shown to contain a p53 response element (10).Characterization of the role of p53 in the response to 'y irradiation led to the hypothesis that p53 acts as a cell cycle checkpoint, causing a delay in the G1 phase of the cycle during which damage is thought to be repaired (9, 10). It seemed likely that p53 might also act as a checkpoint in the response of cells to UV exposure. In addition, Zhan et al. (8) have recently shown that p53 transcriptional transactivation activity is increased in human cells exposed to UV light. Possible targets for p53 transcriptional transactivation activity in the UV response are the GADD45 gene, which was isolated as a UV response gene (11), and the mdm-2 gene. p53 and mdm-2 appear to form a feedback control loop: while p53The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" ...

Activation of transcription factor NF-κB involves the signal-dependent degradation of basally phosphorylated inhibitors such as IκBα. In response to proinflammatory cytokines or mitogens, the transduction machinery has recently been characterized, but the activation mechanism upon oxidative stress remains unknown. In the present work, we provide several lines of evidence that NF-κB activation in a T lymphocytic cell line (EL4) by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) did not involve phosphorylation of the serine residues 32 and 36 in the amino-terminal part of IκBα. Indeed, mutation of Ser32 and Ser36 blocked IL-1β- or PMA-induced NF-κB activation, but had no effect on its activation by H2O2. Although IκBα was phosphorylated upon exposure to H2O2, tyrosine residue 42 and the C-terminal PEST (proline-glutamic acid-serine-threonine) domain played an important role. Indeed, mutation of tyrosine 42 or serine/threonine residues of the PEST domain abolished NF-κB activation by H2O2, while it had no effect on activation by IL-1β or PMA-ionomycin. This H2O2-inducible phosphorylation was not dependent on IκB kinase activation, but could involve casein kinase II, because an inhibitor of this enzyme (5,6-dichloro-1-β-d-ribofuranosyl-benzimidazole) blocks NF-κB activation. H2O2-induced IκBα phosphorylation was followed by its degradation by calpain proteases or through the proteasome. Taken together, our findings suggest that NF-κB activation by H2O2 involves a new mechanism that is totally distinct from those triggered by proinflammatory cytokines or mitogens.