Project description:Cells transiently adapt to hypoxia by globally decreasing protein translation. However, specific proteins needed to respond to hypoxia evade this translational repression. The mechanisms of this phenomenon remain unclear. We screened for and identified small molecules that selectively decrease HIF-2a translation in an mTOR independent manner, by enhancing the binding of Iron Regulatory Protein 1 (IRP1) to a recently reported Iron-Responsive Element (IRE) within the 5â-untranslated region (UTR) of the HIF-2a message. Knocking down the expression of IRP1 by shRNA abolished the effect of the compounds. Hypoxia de-represses HIF-2a translation by disrupting the IRP1- HIF-2a IRE interaction. Thus, this chemical genetic analysis describes a molecular mechanism by which translation of the HIF-2a message is maintained during conditions of cellular hypoxia through inhibition of IRP-1 dependent repression. It also provides the chemical tools for studying this phenomenon. Experiment Overall Design: 3 replicate samples of 786-O human Clear Cell Renal Carcinoma cells untreated, mock treated with DMSO or treated with either of 4 HIF-2a inhibitor compounds identified by chemical genetic screening.
Project description:Cells transiently adapt to hypoxia by globally decreasing protein translation. However, specific proteins needed to respond to hypoxia evade this translational repression. The mechanisms of this phenomenon remain unclear. We screened for and identified small molecules that selectively decrease HIF-2a translation in an mTOR independent manner, by enhancing the binding of Iron Regulatory Protein 1 (IRP1) to a recently reported Iron-Responsive Element (IRE) within the 5’-untranslated region (UTR) of the HIF-2a message. Knocking down the expression of IRP1 by shRNA abolished the effect of the compounds. Hypoxia de-represses HIF-2a translation by disrupting the IRP1- HIF-2a IRE interaction. Thus, this chemical genetic analysis describes a molecular mechanism by which translation of the HIF-2a message is maintained during conditions of cellular hypoxia through inhibition of IRP-1 dependent repression. It also provides the chemical tools for studying this phenomenon.
Project description:The hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) system orchestrates cellular responses to hypoxia in animals. HIF is an /-heterodimeric transcription factor that regulates the expression of hundreds of genes in a context dependent manner. A hypoxia-sensing component of the HIF system involves oxygen-dependent catalysis by the HIF hydroxylases; in humans there are three HIF prolyl hydroxylases (PHD1-3) and an asparaginyl hydroxylase (FIH). PHD catalysis regulates HIF levels and FIH catalysis regulates HIF activity. How differences in HIF hydroxylation status relate to variations in the induction of HIF target gene transcription is unknown. We report studies using small molecule inhibitors of the HIF hydroxylases to investigate the extent to which HIF target gene upregulation is induced by reduced PHD catalysis. The results reveal substantial differences in the role of prolyl- and asparaginyl-hydroxylation in regulating hypoxia responsive genes in cells. Selective PHD inhibitors with different structural scaffolds behave similarly. However, under the tested conditions, a broad-spectrum 2OG dioxygenase inhibitor is a better mimic of the transcriptional response to hypoxia than the selective PHD inhibitors, consistent with an important role for FIH in the hypoxic transcriptional response. Indeed, combined application of selective PHD and FIH inhibitors resulted in transcriptional induction of a subset of genes that were not fully responsive to PHD inhibition alone. Thus, for the therapeutic regulation of HIF target genes, it is important to consider both PHD and FIH activity, and in the case of some sets of target genes, simultaneous inhibition of the PHDs and FIH catalysis may be preferable.
Project description:The hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) system orchestrates cellular responses to hypoxia in animals. HIF is an α/β-heterodimeric transcription factor that regulates the expression of hundreds of genes in a context dependent manner. A hypoxia-sensing component of the HIF system involves oxygen-dependent catalysis by the HIF hydroxylases; in humans there are three HIF prolyl hydroxylases (PHD1-3) and an asparaginyl hydroxylase (FIH). PHD catalysis regulates HIFα levels and FIH catalysis regulates HIF activity. How differences in HIFα hydroxylation status relate to variations in the induction of HIF target gene transcription is unknown. We report studies using small molecule inhibitors of the HIF hydroxylases to investigate the extent to which HIF target gene upregulation is induced by reduced PHD catalysis. The results reveal substantial differences in the role of prolyl- and asparaginyl-hydroxylation in regulating hypoxia responsive genes in cells. Selective PHD inhibitors with different structural scaffolds behave similarly. However, under the tested conditions, a broad-spectrum 2OG dioxygenase inhibitor is a better mimic of the transcriptional response to hypoxia than the selective PHD inhibitors, consistent with an important role for FIH in the hypoxic transcriptional response. Indeed, combined application of selective PHD and FIH inhibitors resulted in transcriptional induction of a subset of genes that were not fully responsive to PHD inhibition alone. Thus, for the therapeutic regulation of HIF target genes, it is important to consider both PHD and FIH activity, and in the case of some sets of target genes, simultaneous inhibition of the PHDs and FIH catalysis may be preferable.
Project description:Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which reside in bone marrow niches, are exposed to low levels of oxygen and follow an oxygen gradient throughout their differentiation. Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are the main factors regulating the cell response to oxygen variation. Recent studies using conditional knockout mouse models have unveiled a major role of HIF-1a in the maintenance of murine HSCs, however the role of HIF-2a is still unclear. Here, we show that knockdown of HIF-2a and to a much lower extent, HIF-1a impedes the long-term repopulating ability of human CD34+ umbilical cord blood derived cells. The defects observed in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) function after HIF-2a knockdown was due to an increase in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which increases the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in HSPCs and triggers apoptosis by the activation of the unfolded-protein-response (UPR) pathway. Importantly, HIF-2a deregulation also resulted in a significant decrease of engraftment of human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. Overall, our data demonstrates a key role of HIF-2a in the maintenance of human HSPCs and in the survival of primary AML cells. 2 controls and 2 shHIF2 CD34+ cell samples sorted from mice after 6 weeks of engraftment
Project description:Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which reside in bone marrow niches, are exposed to low levels of oxygen and follow an oxygen gradient throughout their differentiation. Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are the main factors regulating the cell response to oxygen variation. Recent studies using conditional knockout mouse models have unveiled a major role of HIF-1a in the maintenance of murine HSCs, however the role of HIF-2a is still unclear. Here, we show that knockdown of HIF-2a and to a much lower extent, HIF-1a impedes the long-term repopulating ability of human CD34+ umbilical cord blood derived cells. The defects observed in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) function after HIF-2a knockdown was due to an increase in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which increases the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in HSPCs and triggers apoptosis by the activation of the unfolded-protein-response (UPR) pathway. Importantly, HIF-2a deregulation also resulted in a significant decrease of engraftment of human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. Overall, our data demonstrates a key role of HIF-2a in the maintenance of human HSPCs and in the survival of primary AML cells.
Project description:HIF-1a and HIF-2a are expressed at high levels in mesenchymal progenitors compared to more committed mesenchymal cells and hematopoietic cells. HIF-factors could therefore have a role in the regulation the biology of mesenchymal progenitors and their functions, like the non cell-autonomous maintenance of hematopoietic progenitors. We used microarrays to detail the global program of gene expression regulated by HIF-1a or HIF-2a in mesenchymal progenitors Mesenchymal progenitors were FACS-sorted and cultured in low oxygen concentration for few days. Once cells started to form CFU-F colonies, we transduced them with shRNAs targeting specifically HIF-1a or HIF-2a. Four days after transduction, cells were collected and RNA extracted for microarray analysis.
Project description:Differential expression of the oxygen sensitive hypoxia-inducible transcription factor (HIF) subunits HIF-1a and HIF-2a occurs in many tumor types, but the underlying regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here we investigate the role of mTOR complex in the regulation of HIF expression in cells cultured under hypoxic conditions.
Project description:The von–Hippel Lindau (VHL) protein is a tumour suppressor protein frequently mutated in the VHL disease, which functions as substrate recognition subunit of a Cul2 E3 ubiquitin ligase (CRL2VHL). CRL2VHL plays an important role in oxygen sensing, by binding and targeting Hypoxia Inducible Factor-alpha subunits (HIF-alpha) for ubiquitination and degradation. VHL is also commonly hijacked by heterobifunctional degrader molecules known as proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs). In previous work we reported the structure-based design and functional characterisation of VHL inhibitors (VH032 and VH298) that induce the HIF response in cells. Here, we use unbiased quantitative mass spectrometry to identify the proteomic changes elicited by the VHL inhibitor and compare this to hypoxia or broad-spectrum prolyl-hydroxylase domain (PHD) enzyme inhibitor IOX2. Our results demonstrate the VHL inhibitor selectively activates the HIF response that vastly overlaps with hypoxia- and IOX2-induced proteomic changes. Interestingly, VHL inhibitors were found to selectively upregulate a single protein, which is VHL itself. Our analysis revealed that this occurs via protein stabilisation of VHL isoforms and not via changes in transcript levels. Increased VHL levels upon VH298 treatment resulted in turn to reduced levels of HIF-1α protein. Our results demonstrate the high specificity of VHL inhibitors and suggest that use of these inhibitors would not produce overtly side effects due to prolonged HIF stabilisation. They also exemplify the concept that small-molecule binding induced protein stabilisation can increase protein levels inside cells.
Project description:Differential expression of the oxygen sensitive hypoxia-inducible transcription factor (HIF) subunits HIF-1a and HIF-2a occurs in many tumor types, but the underlying regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here we investigate the role of mTOR complex in the regulation of HIF expression in cells cultured under hypoxic conditions. Neuroblastoma SK-N-BE(2)c cells were treated with DMSO or the mTORC complex inhibitor PP242 and cultured at hypoxia for 24, 48 or 72 hours.