Abstract

Acidosis is a biochemical hallmark of the tumor microenvironment. Here, we report that acute acidosis decreases c-Myc oncogene expression in U937 human lymphoma cells. The level of c-Myc transcripts, but not mRNA or protein stability, contributes to c-Myc protein reduction under acidosis. The pH-sensing receptor TDAG8 (GPR65) is involved in acidosis-induced c-Myc downregulation. TDAG8 is expressed in U937 lymphoma cells, and the overexpression or knockdown of TDAG8 further decreases or partially rescues c-Myc expression, respectively. Acidic pH alone is insufficient to reduce c-Myc expression, as it does not decrease c-Myc in H1299 lung cancer cells expressing very low levels of pH-sensing G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Instead, c-Myc is slightly increased by acidosis in H1299 cells, but this increase is completely inhibited by ectopic overexpression of TDAG8. Interestingly, TDAG8 expression is decreased by more than 50% in human lymphoma samples in comparison to non-tumorous lymph nodes and spleens, suggesting a potential tumor suppressor function of TDAG8 in lymphoma. Collectively, our results identify a novel mechanism of c-Myc regulation by acidosis in the tumor microenvironment and indicate that modulation of TDAG8 and related pH-sensing receptor pathways may be exploited as a new approach to inhibit Myc expression.

Highlights

  • The c-Myc oncogene is a member of the Myc family, which includes L-Myc, N-Myc, S-Myc and B-Myc [1,2,3]

  • Because it has been reported that TDAG8 is the major proton sensor in lymphocytes and the proton-sensing function of G2A is controversial [39], we focused on TDAG8 to test whether it is involved in acidosis-induced c-Myc downregulation

  • To further elucidate the connection between TDAG8 and acidosis-induced c-Myc downregulation, we identified a human lung cancer cell line, H1299, in which c-Myc expression was not decreased by acidic pH (Figure 5A)

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Summary

Introduction

The c-Myc oncogene is a member of the Myc family, which includes L-Myc, N-Myc, S-Myc and B-Myc [1,2,3]. TDAG8 is highly expressed in lymphoid tissues and lymphoma and leukemia cell lines [43,44,45,46,47]. Both tumor-promoting and tumor-suppressing activities of TDAG8 have been reported. In WEHI7.2 and CEM-C7 T-cell lymphoma cell lines, TDAG8 is activated by acidosis to promote the evasion of apoptosis under glutamine. TDAG8 has been reported as a tumor suppressor, which promotes glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis in murine lymphoma cells and thymocytes [45,47]. We demonstrate that acidosis and TDAG8 suppresses the expression of the c-Myc oncogene in lymphoma cells. Our results show that TDAG8 expression is significantly decreased in human lymphoma samples in comparison to normal lymphoid tissues, suggesting a potential tumor suppressor function of TDAG8 in lymphoma

Results
TDAG8 Downregulates c-Myc Protein in a pH-Dependent Manner
Expression of TDAG8 Transcripts Is Significantly Reduced in Human Lymphomas
The Level of TDAG8 mRNA Is Downregulated by Acidosis in U937 Lymphoma Cells
Discussion
Cell Culture and Treatment
Western Blotting
Plasmid Constructs
Cell Transfection and Transduction
Oncomine Database Mining
Findings
Statistical Analysis

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