The Stress Protein BAG3 Stabilizes Mcl-1 Protein and Promotes Survival of Cancer Cells and Resistance to Antagonist ABT-737

Members of the Bcl-2 family of proteins are important inhibitors of apoptosis in human cancer and are targets for novel anticancer agents such as the Bcl-2 antagonists, ABT-263 (Navitoclax), and its analog ABT-737. Unlike Bcl-2, Mcl-1 is not antagonized by ABT-263 or ABT-737 and is considered to be a major factor in resistance. Also, Mcl-1 exhibits differential regulation when compared with other Bcl-2 family members and is a target for anticancer drug discovery. Here, we demonstrate that BAG3, an Hsp70 co-chaperone, protects Mcl-1 from proteasomal degradation, thereby promoting its antiapoptotic activity. Using neuroblastoma cell lines, with a defined Bcl-2 family dependence, we found that BAG3 expression correlated with Mcl-1 dependence and ABT-737 resistance. RNA silencing of BAG3 led to a marked reduction in Mcl-1 protein levels and overcame ABT-737 resistance in Mcl-1-dependent cells. In ABT-737-resistant cells, Mcl-1 co-immunoprecipitated with BAG3, and loss of Mcl-1 after BAG3 silencing was prevented by proteasome inhibition. BAG3 and Mcl-1 were co-expressed in a panel of diverse cancer cell lines resistant to ABT-737. Silencing BAG3 reduced Mcl-1 protein levels and overcame ABT-737 resistance in several of the cell lines, including triple-negative breast cancer (MDA-MB231) and androgen receptor-negative prostate cancer (PC3) cells. These studies identify BAG3-mediated Mcl-1 stabilization as a potential target for cancer drug discovery.     

BAG3-dependent noncanonical autophagy induced by proteasome inhibition in HepG2 cells

Emerging lines of evidence have shown that blockade of ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) activates autophagy. The molecular players that regulate the relationship between them remain to be elucidated. Bcl-2 associated athanogene 3 (BAG3) is a member of the BAG co-chaperone family that regulates the ATPase activity of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) chaperone family. Studies on BAG3 have demonstrated that it plays multiple roles in physiological and pathological processes, including antiapoptotic activity, signal transduction, regulatory role in virus infection, cell adhesion and migration. Recent studies have attracted much attention on its role in initiation of autophagy. The current study, for the first time, demonstrates that proteasome inhibitors elicit noncanonical autophagy, which was not suppressed by inhibitors of class III phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PtdIns3K) or shRNA against Beclin 1 (BECN1). In addition, we demonstrate that BAG3 is ascribed to activation of autophagy elicited by proteasome inhibitors and MAPK8/9/10 (also known as JNK1/2/3 respectively) activation is also implicated via upregulation of BAG3. Moreover, we found that noncanonical autophagy mediated by BAG3 suppresses responsiveness of HepG2 cells to proteasome inhibitors.     

BAG3 sensitizes cancer cells exposed to DNA damaging agents via direct interaction with GRP78

Bcl-2 associated athanogene 3 (BAG3) has a modular structure that contains a BAG domain, a WW domain, a proline-rich (PxxP) domain to mediate potential interactions with chaperons and other proteins that participate in more than one signal transduction. In search for novel interacting partners, the current study identified that 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78) was a novel partner interacting with BAG3. Interaction between GRP78 and BAG3 was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation and glutathione S-transferase (GST) pulldown. We also identified that the ATPase domain of GRP78 and BAG domain of BAG3 mediated their interaction. Counterintuitive for a prosurvival protein, BAG3 was found to promote the cytotoxicity of breast cancer MCF7, thyroid cancer FRO and glioma U87 cells subjected to genotoxic stress. In addition, the current study demonstrated that BAG3 interfered with the formation of the antiapoptotic GRP78-procaspase-7 complex, which resulted in an increased genotoxic stress-induced cytotoxicity in cancer cells. Furthermore, overexpression of GRP78 significantly blocked the enhancing effects of BAG3 on activation of caspase-7 and induction of apoptosis by genotoxic stress. Overall, these results suggested that through direct interaction BAG3 could prevent the antiapoptotic effect of GRP78 upon genotoxic stress.     

BAG3: a new therapeutic target of human cancers?

Bcl-2-associated athanogene (BAG) family proteins share the BAG domain, which is characterized by their interaction with a variety of partners (heat shock proteins, steroid hormone receptors, Raf-1 and others) and is involved in regulating a number of cellular processes. BAG3, also known as CAIR-1 or Bis, mediates protein delivery to proteasome and modulates apoptosis by interfering with cytochrome c release, apoptosome assembly and other events in the cellular death program. Moreover, it takes part in the processes of cell adhesion and migration. It has been shown that, in human cancer cells, including lymphocytic and myeloblastic leukemic cells, BAG3 sustains cell survival and underlies resistance to chemotherapy, through down-modulation of apoptosis. BAG3 knocking down could enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy. This review summarizes the physiological and pathological roles of BAG3 in cancer cells and its potential as a therapeutic target of human malignancies.     

Beyond Cell Death – Antiapoptotic Bcl-2 Proteins Regulate Migration and Invasion of Colorectal Cancer Cells In Vitro

Migration and invasion of malignant cells are prerequisites for cancer progression and metastasis. The Bcl-2 family of proteins consists of about 25 members and has been extensively studied in the context of apoptosis. Despite the fact that small molecules targeting Bcl-2 proteins have already entered clinical trials, very few studies investigated a role of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins beside cell death in the context of metastasis. The aim of this study was to dissect a potential role of the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins Mcl-1, Bcl-2 and Bcl-x_L on migration and invasion of colorectal cancer cells independent of their cell death control function. We used migration and invasion assays as well as three dimensional cell cultures to analyze colorectal cancer cell lines (HT29 and SW480) after siRNA mediated knockdown or overexpression of Mcl-1, Bcl-2 or Bcl-x_L. We observed neither spontaneous cell death induction nor impaired proliferation of cells lacking Mcl-1, Bcl-2 or Bcl-x_L. In contrast, knockdown of Mcl-1 led to increased proliferation. Strikingly, we demonstrate a profound impairment of both, migration and invasion, of colorectal cancer cells after Mcl-1, Bcl-2 or Bcl-x_L knockdown. This phenotype was completely revised in cells overexpressing Mcl-1, Bcl-2 or Bcl-x_L. The most pronounced effect among the investigated proteins was observed for Bcl-2. The data presented indicate a pivotal role of Mcl-1, Bcl-2 and Bcl-x_L for migration and invasion of colorectal cancer cells independent of their known antiapoptotic effects. Thus, our study illustrates novel antitumoral mechanisms of Bcl-2 protein targeting.     

Spontaneous immunity against Bcl-xL in cancer patients

It is well-established that peptide epitopes derived from human tumor-associated Ags can be recognized by CTL in the context of the MHC molecule. However, the vast majority of Ags described are not vital for survival and growth of the tumor cells, and immunoselection of Ag-loss variants during immunotherapy has been demonstrated in several cases. Malfunctions in death pathways observed in human cancers are often due to overexpression of antiapoptotic proteins in the Bcl-2 protein family, i.e., Bcl-2, Mcl-1, and Bcl-xL. These antiapoptotic proteins are implicated in cancer development, tumor progression, and drug resistance. The general overexpression of the antiapoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family in cancer and the fact that down-regulation or loss of expression of these proteins as a means of immune escape would impair sustained tumor growth makes them very attractive targets for anticancer immunotherapy. Recently, we identified spontaneous T cell responses against Bcl-2- and Mcl-1-derived peptides in patients suffering from cancers of different origin. In this study, we demonstrate that Bcl-xL is a target for T cell recognition in cancer patients. Thus, we describe spontaneous HLA-A2-restricted cytotoxic T cell responses against peptide epitopes derived from Bcl-xL by means of ELISPOT and flow cytometry stainings, whereas no responses were detected against any of the Bcl-xL epitopes in any healthy controls. Moreover, Bcl-xL-specific T cells are cytotoxic against HLA-matched cancer cells of different origin. Thus, cellular immune responses against apoptosis inhibitors like the Bcl-2 family proteins appear to represent a general feature in cancer.     

Apoptosis-based dual molecular targeting by INNO-406, a second-generation Bcr-Abl inhibitor, and ABT-737, an inhibitor of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins, against Bcr-Abl-positive leukemia

Bcr-Abl is the cause of Philadelphia-positive (Ph(+)) leukemias and also constitutes their principal therapeutic target, as exemplified by dramatic effects of imatinib mesylate. However, mono-targeting of Bcr-Abl does not always achieve complete leukemia eradication, and additional strategies those enable complete elimination of leukemic cells are desired to develop. Here we demonstrate that INNO-406, a much more active Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor than imatinib, augments the activities of several proapoptotic Bcl-2 homology (BH)3-only proteins (Bim, Bad, Bmf and Bik) and induces apoptosis in Ph(+) leukemia cells via Bcl-2 family-regulated intrinsic apoptosis pathway. ABT-737, an inhibitor of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-X(L), greatly enhanced the apoptosis by INNO-406, even in INNO-406-less sensitive cells with Bcr-Abl point mutations except T315I mutation. In contrast, co-treatment with INNO-406 and other pharmacologic inducers of those BH3-only proteins, such as 17-allylaminogeldanamycin, an heat shock protein-90 inhibitor, or PS-341, a proteasome inhibitor, did not further increase the BH3-only protein levels or sensitize leukemic cells to INNO-406-induced apoptosis, suggesting a limit to how much expression levels of BH3-only proteins can be increased by anticancer agents. Thus, double-barrelled molecular targeting for Bcr-Abl-driven oncogenic signaling and the cell protection by antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins may be the rational therapeutic approach for eradicating Ph(+) leukemic cells.     

BAG3 induces the sequestration of proteasomal clients into cytoplasmic puncta: Implications for a proteasome-to-autophagy switch

Eukaryotic cells use autophagy and the ubiquitin–proteasome system as their major protein degradation pathways. Upon proteasomal impairment, cells switch to autophagy to ensure proper clearance of clients (the proteasome-to-autophagy switch). The HSPA8 and HSPA1A cochaperone BAG3 has been suggested to be involved in this switch. However, at present it is still unknown whether and to what extent BAG3 can indeed reroute proteasomal clients to the autophagosomal pathway. Here, we show that BAG3 induces the sequestration of ubiquitinated clients into cytoplasmic puncta colabeled with canonical autophagy linkers and markers. Following proteasome inhibition, BAG3 upregulation significantly contributes to the compensatory activation of autophagy and to the degradation of the (poly)ubiquitinated proteins. BAG3 binding to the ubiquitinated clients occurs through the BAG domain, in competition with BAG1, another BAG family member, that normally directs ubiquitinated clients to the proteasome. Therefore, we propose that following proteasome impairment, increasing the BAG3/BAG1 ratio ensures the “BAG-instructed proteasomal to autophagosomal switch and sorting” (BIPASS).     

The proteasome is required for rapid initiation of death receptor-induced apoptosis

Due to their tremendous apoptosis-inducing potential, proteasomal inhibitors (PIs) have recently entered clinical trials. Here we show, however, that various PIs rescued proliferating tumor cells from death receptor-induced apoptosis. This protection correlated with the stabilization of X-linked IAP (XIAP) and c-FLIP and the inhibition of caspase activation. Together with the observation that PIs could not protect cells expressing XIAP or c-FLIP short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) from death receptor-induced apoptosis, our results demonstrate that PIs mediate their protective effect via the stabilization of these antiapoptotic proteins. Furthermore, we show that once these proteins were eliminated, either by long-term treatment with death receptor ligands or by siRNA-mediated suppression, active caspases accumulated to an even larger extent in the presence of PIs. Together, our data support a biphasic role for the proteasome in apoptosis, as they show that its constitutive activity is crucial for the rapid initiation of the death program by eliminating antiapoptotic proteins, whereas at later stages, the proteasome acts in an antiapoptotic manner due to the proteolysis of caspases. Thus, for a successful PI-based tumor therapy, it is crucial to carefully evaluate basal proteasomal activity and the status of antiapoptotic proteins, as their PI-mediated prolonged stability might even cause adverse effects, leading to the survival of a tumor.     

Ubiquitin-mediated degradation of the proapoptotic active form of bid. A functional consequence on apoptosis induction

Under basal conditions, the proapoptotic protein Bid is a long-lived protein. Pro-apoptotic stimuli such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) or Fas induce its caspase-8-mediated cleavage into two fragments. The COOH-terminal cleavage fragment of Bid (tBid) becomes localized to mitochondrial membranes and triggers the release of cytochrome c. Here we show that tBid is ubiquitinated and subsequently degraded by the 26 S proteasome. Degradation of tBid is significantly inhibited by the proteasome inhibitors MG-132 and lactacystin. In contrast, caspase-specific or lysosomal inhibitors do not affect tBid stability. Furthermore, mutation of the putative ubiquitin acceptor sites within tBid results in a stabilized protein as assessed by pulse-chase analysis. To address whether tBid degradation might be regulated by interaction with other Bcl-2-like proteins, cotransfection studies were performed. However, neither the presence of proapoptotic Bax nor antiapoptotic Bcl-2 or Bcl-XL affected tBid degradation. Finally, we determined the functional role of tBid degradation. Overexpression of stabilized tBid proteins significantly enhanced cytochrome c release and subsequent apoptosis induction approximately 2-fold compared with wild type tBid. Similarly, tBid-induced apoptosis was considerably amplified by inhibition of tBid degradation using the proteasome-specific inhibitor MG-132. Thus, proteasomal degradation of tBid limits the extent of apoptosis in living cells.     

The BH3 alpha-helical mimic BH3-M6 disrupts Bcl-X(L), Bcl-2, and MCL-1 protein-protein interactions with Bax, Bak, Bad, or Bim and induces apoptosis in a Bax- and Bim-dependent manner

A critical hallmark of cancer cell survival is evasion of apoptosis. This is commonly due to overexpression of anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2, Bcl-X(L), and Mcl-1, which bind to the BH3 α-helical domain of pro-apoptotic proteins such as Bax, Bak, Bad, and Bim, and inhibit their function. We designed a BH3 α-helical mimetic BH3-M6 that binds to Bcl-X(L) and Mcl-1 and prevents their binding to fluorescently labeled Bak- or Bim-BH3 peptides in vitro. Using several approaches, we demonstrate that BH3-M6 is a pan-Bcl-2 antagonist that inhibits the binding of Bcl-X(L), Bcl-2, and Mcl-1 to multi-domain Bax or Bak, or BH3-only Bim or Bad in cell-free systems and in intact human cancer cells, freeing up pro-apoptotic proteins to induce apoptosis. BH3-M6 disruption of these protein-protein interactions is associated with cytochrome c release from mitochondria, caspase-3 activation and PARP cleavage. Using caspase inhibitors and Bax and Bak siRNAs, we demonstrate that BH3-M6-induced apoptosis is caspase- and Bax-, but not Bak-dependent. Furthermore, BH3-M6 disrupts Bcl-X(L)/Bim, Bcl-2/Bim, and Mcl-1/Bim protein-protein interactions and frees up Bim to induce apoptosis in human cancer cells that depend for tumor survival on the neutralization of Bim with Bcl-X(L), Bcl-2, or Mcl-1. Finally, BH3-M6 sensitizes cells to apoptosis induced by the proteasome inhibitor CEP-1612.     

BAG-1 induces autophagy for cardiac cell survival

The Bcl-2 associated athanogene (BAG) family of proteins function as cochaperones by bridging molecules that recruit molecular chaperones to target proteins. BAG-1 provides a physical link between the heat shock proteins Hsc70/Hsp70 and the proteasome to facilitate ubiquitin-proteasome-mediated protein degradation. In addition to the proteasome, protein degradation via autophagy is responsible for maintaining cellular metabolism, organelle homeostasis and redox equilibrium. Our recent report shows that autophagy plays an important role in cardiac adaptation-induced cell survival against ischemia-reperfusion injury in association with the BAG-1 protein. BAG-1 is associated with the autophagosomal membrane protein LC3-II and it may participate in the induction of autophagy via Hsc70. Moreover, another BAG family member, BAG-3, is responsible for the induction of macroautophagy in association with HspB8. These results show the involvement of BAG family members in the induction of autophagy for the degradation of damaged or oxidized proteins to promote cell survival.     

Proteasome inhibition can induce an autophagy-dependent apical activation of caspase-8

Antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins are often highly expressed in chemotherapy-resistant cancers and impair mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilisation (MOMP), an important requirement for caspase activation via the intrinsic apoptosis pathway. Interestingly, although Bcl-2 overexpression in HeLa cervical cancer cells abrogated caspase processing in response to intrinsic apoptosis induction by staurosporine, tunicamycin or etoposide, residual caspase processing was observed following proteasome inhibition by bortezomib ([(1R)-3-methyl-1-({(2S)-3-phenyl-2-[(pyrazin-2-ylcarbonyl)amino]propanoyl}amino)butyl]boronic acid), epoxomicin (N-acetyl-N-methyl-lisoleucyl-L-isoleucyl-N-[(1S)-3-methyl-1-[[(2R)-2-methyloxiranyl]carbonyl]butyl]-L-threoninamide) or MG-132 (N-(benzyloxycarbonyl)leucinylleucinylleucinal). Similar responses were found in Bcl-2-overexpressing H460 NSCLC cells and Bax/Bak-deficient mouse embyronic fibroblasts. Mild caspase processing resulted in low DEVDase activities, which were MOMP independent and persisted for long periods without evoking immediate cell death. Surprisingly, depletion of caspase-3 and experiments in caspase-7-depleted MCF-7-Bcl-2 cells indicated that the DEVDase activity did not originate from effector caspases. Instead, Fas-associated death domain (FADD)-dependent caspase-8 activation was the major contributor to the slow, incomplete substrate cleavage. Caspase-8 activation was independent of death ligands, but required the induction of autophagy and the presence of Atg5. Depletion of XIAP or addition of XIAP-antagonising peptides resulted in a switch towards efficient apoptosis execution, suggesting that the requirement for MOMP was bypassed by activating the caspase-8/caspase-3 axis. Combination treatments of proteasome inhibitors and XIAP antagonists therefore represent a promising strategy to eliminate highly resistant cancer cells, which overexpress antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family members.     

Mechanisms of drug sensitization to TRA-8, an agonistic death receptor 5 antibody, involve modulation of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway in human breast cancer cells

TRA-8, a monoclonal antibody to death receptor 5 induces apoptosis in various cancer cells; however, the degree of sensitivity varies from highly sensitive to resistant. We have previously shown that resistance to TRA-8 can be reversed by using chemotherapeutic agents, but the mechanism underlying this sensitization was not fully understood. Here, we examined the combination of TRA-8 with doxorubicin or bortezomib in breast cancer cells. In TRA-8-resistant BT-474 and T47D cells, both chemotherapy agents synergistically sensitized cells to TRA-8 cytotoxicity with enhanced activation of apoptosis shown by cleavage of caspases and PARP, reduced Bid, increased proapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins, and increased mitochondrial membrane depolarization. Doxorubicin or bortezomib combined with TRA-8 also reduced Bcl-XL and X-linked inhibitors of apoptosis (XIAP) in treated cells. Furthermore, targeting these proteins with pharmacologic modulators, AT-101, BH3I-2' and AT-406, produced sensitization to TRA-8. TRA-8 combined with AT-101 or BH3I-2', inhibitors of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins, produced synergistic cytotoxicity against ZR-75-1, BT-474, and T47D cells. The IAP-targeting compound, AT-406, was synergistic with TRA-8 in BT-474 cells, and to a lesser extent T47D cells. Activation of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway was a common mechanism associated with sensitization of TRA-8-resistant breast cancer cell lines. Collectively, these studies show that the Bcl-2 and IAP families of proteins are involved in TRA-8 and chemotherapy resistance via their modulation of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Targeting these proteins with novel agents sensitized TRA-8-resistant breast cancer cells, suggesting this approach may represent a potent therapeutic strategy in the treatment of breast cancer.