Proteomic Analysis Reveals a Role for Bcl2-associated Athanogene 3 and Major Vault Protein in Resistance to Apoptosis in Senescent Cells by Regulating ERK1/2 Activation

Senescence is a prominent solid tumor response to therapy in which cells avoid apoptosis and instead enter into prolonged cell cycle arrest. We applied a quantitative proteomics screen to identify signals that lead to therapy-induced senescence and discovered that Bcl2-associated athanogene 3 (Bag3) is up-regulated after adriamycin treatment in MCF7 cells. Bag3 is a member of the BAG family of co-chaperones that interacts with Hsp70. Bag3 also regulates major cell-signaling pathways. Mass spectrometry analysis of the Bag3 Complex revealed a novel interaction between Bag3 and Major Vault Protein (MVP). Silencing of Bag3 or MVP shifts the cellular response to adriamycin to favor apoptosis. We demonstrate that Bag3 and MVP contribute to apoptosis resistance in therapy-induced senescence by increasing the level of activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2 (ERK1/2). Silencing of either Bag3 or MVP decreased ERK1/2 activation and promoted apoptosis in adriamycin-treated cells. An increase in nuclear accumulation of MVP is observed during therapy-induced senescence and the shift in MVP subcellular localization is Bag3-dependent. We propose a model in which Bag3 binds to MVP and facilitates MVP accumulation in the nucleus, which sustains ERK1/2 activation. We confirmed that silencing of Bag3 or MVP shifts the response toward apoptosis and regulates ERK1/2 activation in a panel of diverse breast cancer cell lines. This study highlights Bag3-MVP as an important complex that regulates a potent prosurvival signaling pathway and contributes to chemotherapy resistance in breast cancer.Cellular senescence plays an important role in determining the response of tumors to cancer therapy (1). Senescence is regulated by the p53 and p16-pRB tumor suppressor pathways and characterized by irreversible cell cycle arrest and expression of the lysosomal protein, senescence associated beta galactosidase (SA-β-gal)¹. Additional characteristics of senescent cells include the presence of senescence-associated heterochromatic foci, and a senescence associated secretory phenotype (SASP) (2). Because of the SASP of senescent cells, therapy-induced senescence (TIS) may be harmful in cancer and the quantitative elimination of senescent cells could prove to be therapeutically beneficial. A recent study demonstrated that pharmacologically targeting the metabolic pathways of TIS in vivo prompted tumor regression and improved treatment outcomes (3).A characteristic of senescent cells is their ability to resist apoptosis although the responsible mechanism is poorly understood. Impairment of apoptosis in senescent cells is associated with a poor outcome in cancer (4). Manipulation of the apoptotic machinery may serve as a therapeutic means of eliminating senescent cells with harmful SASP. It has been proposed that in senescent cells, p53 may preferentially activate genes that arrest proliferation, rather than those that facilitate apoptosis. Alternatively, resistance to apoptosis may be caused by altered expression of proteins that inhibit, promote, or mediate apoptotic cell death, such as Bcl2.Bcl2 associated athanogene 3 (Bag3) is a member of the BAG family of chaperones that interacts with the ATPase domain of heat shock protein-70 (Hsp70). In addition to its BAG domain, Bag3 contains a WW domain and a proline-rich (PXXP) repeat, which mediates binding to partners other than Hsp70. Bag3 is expressed in response to cellular stress under the induction of HSF1 and is known to suppress apoptosis and regulate autophagy (5–6). Suppression of apoptosis may be partially explained by the ability of Bag3 to protect Bcl2 family members against proteasomal degradation (7). In normal cells, Bag3 is constitutively expressed in only a few cell types, including cardiomyocytes (8). Bag3 is overexpressed in leukemia and several solid tumors where it has been reported to sustain cell survival, induce resistance to therapy, and promote metastasis. The pleiotropic functions of Bag3 may reflect its ability to assemble scaffolding complexes, which participate in multiple signal transduction pathways (9).In this study, we describe a role for Bag3 in regulating cancer chemotherapy induced senescence in breast cancer cell. Using a quantitative SILAC approach, we show that Bag3 is up-regulated in TIS. Mass spectrometry analysis reveals that Bag3 binds to the Major Vault Protein (MVP) complex, a protein complex strongly associated with chemotherapy resistance. We also show that Bag3 and MVP contribute to apoptosis resistance by regulating ERK1/2 signaling in senescent MCF7 and ZR751 cells.