von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease is caused by germ-line mutations in the VHL tumor suppressor gene and is the most common cause of inherited renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Mutations in the VHL gene also occur in a large majority of sporadic cases of clear-cell RCC, which have high intrinsic resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Here we show that VHL-deficient RCC cells express lower levels of the pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family protein BIMEL and are more resistant to etoposide and UV radiation induced death compared to the same cells stably expressing the wild type VHL protein (pVHL). Re-introducing pVHL into VHL-null cells increased the half-life of BIMEL protein without affecting its mRNA expression, and over-expressing pVHL inhibited BIMEL polyubiquitination. Suppressing pVHL expression with RNA interference resulted in a decrease in BIMEL protein and a corresponding decrease in the sensitivity of RCC cells to apoptotic stimuli. Directly inhibiting BIMEL expression in pVHL-expressing RCC cells caused a similar decrease in cell death. These results demonstrate that pVHL acts to promote BIMEL protein stability in RCC cells, and that destabilization of BIMEL in the absence of pVHL contributes to the increased resistance of VHL-null RCC cells to certain apoptotic stimuli.
Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), a leading cause of urinary tract infections, is associated with prostate and bladder cancers. Cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 (CNF1) is a key UPEC toxin; however, its role in bladder cancer is unknown. In the present study, we found CNF1 induced bladder cancer cells to secrete vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) through activating Ras homolog family member C (RhoC), leading to subsequent angiogenesis in the bladder cancer microenvironment. We then investigated that CNF1‐mediated RhoC activation modulated the stabilization of hypoxia‐inducible factor 1α (HIF1α) to upregulate the VEGF. We demonstrated in vitro that active RhoC increased heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) phosphorylation, which induced the heat shock protein 90α (HSP90α) expression, leading to stabilization of HIF1α. Active RhoC elevated HSP90α, HIF1α, VEGF expression, and angiogenesis in the human bladder cancer xenografts. In addition, HSP90α, HIF1α, and VEGF expression were also found positively correlated with the human bladder cancer development. These results provide a potential mechanism through which UPEC contributes to bladder cancer progression, and may provide potential therapeutic targets for bladder cancer.
CNF1 is a key toxin secreted by UPEC, which induces inflammation during UPEC infections. CNF1 is well known to activate Rho GTPases to disturb host cell signaling pathways.
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