4.5 Article

MgcRacGAP, a cytoskeleton regulator, inhibits HIF-1 transcriptional activity by blocking its dimerization

Journal

BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-MOLECULAR CELL RESEARCH
Volume 1833, Issue 6, Pages 1378-1387

Publisher

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamcr.2013.02.025

Keywords

HIF-1 alpha; HIF-2; MgcRacGAP; PAS-B; Hypoxia; Cytoskeleton

Funding

  1. European Social Fund & National Resources - EPEAEK II - PYTHAGORAS, from the Greek Ministry of Education

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Hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), a dimeric transcription factor of the bHLH-PAS family, is comprised of HIF-1 alpha, which is inducible by hypoxia and ARNT or HIF-1 beta, which is constitutively expressed. HIF-1 is involved in cellular homeostasis under hypoxia, in development and in several diseases affected by oxygen availability, particularly cancer. Since its expression is positively correlated with poor outcome prognosis for cancer patients, HIF-1 is a target for pharmaceutical therapy. We have previously shown that male germ cell Rac GTPase activating protein (MgcRacGAp), a regulator of Rho proteins which are principally involved in cytoskeletal organization, binds to HIF-1 alpha and inhibits its transcriptional activity. In this work, we have explored the mechanism of the MgcRacGAP-mediated HIF-1 inactivation. We show that the Myo domain of MgcRacGAP, which is both necessary and sufficient for HIF-1 repression, binds to the PAS-B domain of HIF-1 alpha. Furthermore MgcRacGAP competes with ARNT for binding to the HIF-1 alpha PAS-B domain, as shown by in vitro binding pull down assays. In mammalian cells, ARNT overexpression can overcome the MgcRacGAP-mediated inhibition and MgcRacGAP binding to HIF-1 alpha in vivo inhibits its dimerization with ARNT. We additionally present results indicating that MgcRacGAP binding to HIF-1 alpha is specific, since it does not affect the transcriptional activity of HIF-2, a close evolutionary relative of HIF-1 also involved in hypoxia regulation and cancer. Our results reveal a new mechanism for HIF-1 transcriptional activity regulation, suggest a novel hypoxia-cytoskeleton link and provide new tools for selective HIF-1 inhibition. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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