Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma suppressor 1 (HCCS1) was discovered as a novel tumor suppressor gene. We recently observed that adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of HCCS1 leads to cytotoxicity to human hepatocarcinoma cells. Here, we have demonstrated that adenovirus-mediated overexpression of HCCS1 induces apoptosis in hepatocarcinoma cells and have further characterized the apoptotic cascade. The results showed that lysosomal cathepsin D is released into the cytosol in response to HCCS1 overexpression and consequently triggers Bax insertion into the mitochondrial membrane, which leads to the release of cytochrome c. In addition, HCCS1 overexpression can induce an increase in intracellular free Ca2+ concentration, which also results in cytochrome c release. The released cytochrome c activates downstream caspases, leading to the occurrence of the late stages of apoptosis. Moreover, we demonstrated that the disruption of HCCS1 in mice leads to embryonic lethality, accompanied by abnormal labyrinth architecture resulting from the excessive proliferation of trophoblast cells in the placenta. These results suggest that HCCS1 plays a role in apoptosis regulation and development.
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Abbreviations
- HCCS1:
-
Hepatocellular carcinoma suppressor 1
- PI:
-
prodiduim iodine
- FACS:
-
fluorescent-activated cell sorting
- PARP:
-
poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase
- BIP:
-
Bax-inhibiting peptide
- PCNA:
-
proliferation cell nuclear antigen
- DMSO:
-
dimethylsulfoxide
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Pandolffi for generously providing the targeting vector. This work was supported by grants from the Key Programs of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30330350) and the Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology (No. 04XD14015).
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Gan, Y., Zhao, X., Hu, J. et al. HCCS1 overexpression induces apoptosis via cathepsin D and intracellular calcium, and HCCS1 disruption in mice causes placental abnormality. Cell Death Differ 15, 1481–1490 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/cdd.2008.73
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/cdd.2008.73
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