Human OXR1 maintains mitochondrial DNA integrity and counteracts hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress by regulating antioxidant pathways involving p21

The oxidation resistance gene 1 (OXR1) prevents oxidative stress-induced cell death by an unknown pathway. Here, depletion of human OXR1 (hOXR1) sensitized several human cell lines to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress, reduced mtDNA integrity, and increased apoptosis. In contrast, depletion of hOXR1 in cells lacking mtDNA showed no significant change in ROS or viability, suggesting that OXR1 prevents intracellular hydrogen peroxide-induced increase in oxidative stress levels to avoid a vicious cycle of increased oxidative mtDNA damage and ROS formation. Furthermore, expression of p21 and the antioxidant genes GPX2 and HO-1 was reduced in hOXR1-depleted cells. In sum, these data reveal that human OXR1 upregulates the expression of antioxidant genes via the p21 signaling pathway to suppress hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress and maintain mtDNA integrity.