FAST is a survival protein that senses mitochondrial stress and modulates TIA-1-regulated changes in protein expression

The Fas-activated serine/threonine phosphoprotein (FAST) is tethered to the outer mitochondrial membrane, where it interacts with BCL-X-L (17). Here we show that RNA interference-mediated knockdown of endogenous FAST results in apoptosis, whereas overexpressed recombinant FAST inhibits Fas- and UV-induced apoptosis, indicating that FAST is a survival protein. The antiapoptotic effects of FAST are regulated by interactions with the translational silencer TIA-1: a FAST mutant lacking its TIA-1-binding domain does not inhibit apoptosis, and overexpressed recombinant TIA-1 inhibits the antiapoptotic effects of FAST. Because the antiapoptotic effects of FAST require ongoing protein synthesis, we hypothesized that FAST might function by preventing TIA-1-mediated silencing of mRNAs encoding inhibitors of apoptosis. Consistent with this hypothesis, FAST promotes the expression of cotransfected reporter proteins, a process that requires its TIA-1-binding domain and is inhibited by overexpressed recombinant TIA-1. More compellingly, recombinant FAST increases the expression of endogenous cIAP-1 and XIAP, but not GAPDH, in transfected HeLa cells. Because FAST is released from mitochondria in cells undergoing Fas- or UV-induced apoptosis, we propose that FAST serves as a sensor of mitochondrial stress that modulates a TIA-1-regulated posttranscriptional stress response program.