Abstract 2070: HMGB1 governs p53 to autophagic degradation via its nucleus-to-cytoplasm transport

Abstract

Abstract P53 is under exquisitely fine regulation and acts as a transcription factor that regulates the expression of thousands of genes that control apoptosis, necroptosis, ferrotosis, cell cycle arrest, senescence, metabolism and fertility. Regulation of p53 turnover is essential not only for the response to chemotherapeutic drugs or radiation in cancer cell but also to keep p53 activity under control in a normal cell. Moreover, .p53 is found to be overactivated in various diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Promoting hyperactivated-p53 degradation can combat these diseases. However, the strategies that based on known proteasome-dependent degradation only can stabilize the expression level of p53 such as nutlins (inhibit the interaction between mdm2 and tumor suppressor p53). Autophagy-lysosomal degradation is the other pathway for controlling cellular protein stability. More and more researches have established that numerous proteins can be degraded through both proteasome and autophagy-lysosome pathways. However, very little is known to date about p53 turnover through autophagy-lysosome pathway. Here we discover that the activation of p53 autophagic degradation during an oral small molecule receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib in p53 wt cancer cells and normal cells. Mechanistically, the nucleus-to-cytoplasm shift is essential for the autophagic degradation of p53 induced by sunitinib, however, does not require p53 nuclear export signals. Indeed, p53 degradation is achieved by the nucleus-to-cytoplasm transport of its nuclear binding target HMGB1, shifting the distribution of p53 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. Then cytoplasmic p53 directly interacts with the autophagy cargo receptor p62 to promote degradation. Importantly, inhibition of HMGB1 sensitizes cancer cell to sunitinib. Taken together, our study identified an alternative p53 protein turnover mechanism induced by sunitinib, thus not only elucidating the underlying mechanisms that limit sunitinib efficacy in cancer therapy but also opening an avenue for expanding the clinical indications of sunitinib. Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting. Citation Format: Qiaojun He, Peihua Luo, Xiaochun Yang, Qinjie Weng, Ling Ding, Bo Yang. HMGB1 governs p53 to autophagic degradation via its nucleus-to-cytoplasm transport [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2070. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2070