Bortezomib (PS-341), a proteasome inhibitor, has been examined clinically for the treatment of multiple myeloma and several solid tumors. Bortezomib directly induces tumor cell death and has also been reported to inhibit tumor adaptation to hypoxia by functionally inhibiting hypoxia-inducible factor-1␣ (HIF-1␣). However, the mechanism underlying HIF-1 inhibition by bortezomib remains obscure. In the present study, we demonstrated that bortezomib attenuated the hypoxic induction of erythropoietin and vascular endothelial growth factor at subnanomolar concentrations in multiple myeloma and liver cancer cell lines, regardless of cytotoxic concentrations of bortezomib. Bortezomib repressed HIF-1␣ activity by inhibiting the recruitment of p300 coactivator. Specifically, bortezomib targeted HIF-1␣ C-terminal transactivation domain (CAD) but not the CAD lacking Asn803, which is a hydroxylation site by the factor inhibiting HIF-1 (FIH). Accordingly, this effect of bortezomib on CAD was augmented by FIH expression and abolished by FIH knock-down. Furthermore, bortezomib stimulated the interaction between CAD and FIH under hypoxic conditions, and FIH inhibition reversed the suppressions of erythropoietin and vascular endothelial growth factor by bortezomib. We propose that the mechanism underlying the inhibitory effects of bortezomib on tumor angiogenesis and hypoxic adaptation involves the repression of HIF-1␣ transcriptional activity by reinforcing the FIH-mediated inhibition of p300 recruitment.
IntroductionHypoxia commonly develops in solid tumors because tumor growth outpaces vessel formation and because the blood supply is compromised due to aberrant vasculature formation. 1 Tumor hypoxia contributes to angiogenesis and modulates tumor energy metabolism, which are both essential required for tumor growth. 2 In multiple myeloma (MM), hypoxia is also an important environmental factor because bone marrow is intrinsically hypoxic in nature. 3 Thus, MM cells must survive and grow under such hypoxic conditions, and this requires the expressions of many genes essential for adaptation. Hypoxic adaptation is mainly provided by hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), which orchestrates cellular adaptation to hypoxia by transactivating about 60 genes. 4 HIF-1 is composed of HIF-1␣ and HIF-1/aryl hydrocarbon nuclear translocator (ARNT), 5 and of these, HIF-1␣ is the key protein that determines the presence of HIF-1 and transactivates genes. Under normoxic conditions, HIF-1␣ is hydroxylated at its Pro402 and Pro564 residues by HIF-1 prolyl hydroxylases (PHDs), and thus, targeted by von Hippel-Lindau protein (pVHL), ubiquitinated, and finally degraded by 26S proteasomes. [6][7][8][9][10] In addition, the C-terminal transactivation domain (CAD) of HIF-1␣ is hydroxylated at Asn803 by the factor inhibiting HIF-1 (FIH), which represses the transcriptional activity of HIF-1␣ by blocking the recruitment of p300 coactivator. 11,12 However, PHD and FIH activities depend on oxygen tension, and as a result HIF-1␣ is stabilized and activated...