Conflict of interest: D.J.R. and A.J.C. are co-founders in StemSynergy Therapeutics, a company commercializing small-molecule cell signaling inhibitors. W.G. and D.O. are employees of StemSynergy Therapeutics. William Guerrant and Luisana Astudillo contributed equally as second author.

No abstract

We report studies on loss of heme at or below pH 3.0 from two clinically important hemoglobin variants, HbE and HbS, in the presence and absence of phopholipid membranes. The kinetics of heme loss has been studied at pH 3.0 to simulate the same at a faster rate than at physiological pH, for spectroscopic investigation. Results obtained from the study clearly establish the probable fate of the lost heme to partition into the phospholipid bilayer independent of the pH range. This is also of particular importance to membranes containing the aminophospholipid and cholesterol which are predominantly localized in the inner leaflet of erythrocytes. Absorption measurements indicated such loss of heme when the Soret peak at 415 nm blue-shifted to 380 nm at pH 3.0. The extent of this blue shift decreased from 35 nm to (approx.) 15 nm in the presence of small unilammelar vesicles of both dimyristoyl- and dioleoyl-based phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine, indicating partitioning of the released heme in the membrane bilayer. The kinetics of heme loss was faster from HbE than HbA and HbS, obeying first-order reaction kinetics. Released heme could be involved in the premature destruction of erythrocytes in hemoglobin disorders.

SummaryHypoxia is a hall mark of solid tumor microenvironment and contributes to tumor progression and therapy failure. The developmentally important Notch pathway is implicated in cellular response of cancer cells to hypoxia. Yet, the mechanisms that potentiate Notch signaling under hypoxia are not fully understood. Hypoxia is also a stimulus for AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a major cellular energy sensor. In this study, we investigated if AMPK interacts with the Notch pathway and influences the hypoxia-response of breast cancer cells. Activating AMPK with pharmacological agent or genetic approaches led to an increase in the levels of cleaved Notch1 and elevated Notch signaling in invasive breast cancer cell lines. In contrast, inhibition or depletion of AMPK reduced the amount of cleaved Notch1. Significantly, we show that the hypoxia-induced increase in cleaved Notch1 levels requires AMPK activation. Probing into the mechanism, we demonstrate that AMPK activation impairs the interaction between cleaved Notch1 and its ubiquitin ligase, Itch/AIP4 through the tyrosine kinase Fyn. Under hypoxia, the AMPK-Fyn axis promotes inhibitory phosphorylation of Itch which abrogates its interaction with substrates, thus stabilizing cleaved Notch1 by reducing its ubiquitination and degradation. We further show that inhibition of AMPK alleviates the hypoxia-triggered, Notch-mediated stemness and drug resistance phenotype. Breast cancer patient samples also showed co-expression of hypoxia/AMPK/Notch gene signature. Our work thus establishes AMPK as a key component in the adaptation of breast cancer cells to hypoxia, and proposes therapeutic inhibition of AMPK to mitigate the hypoxia-triggered aggressiveness.