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NEDD4L represses prostate cancer cell proliferation via modulating PHF8 through the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway

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Abstract

Purpose

Prostate cancer (PC) is a heterogeneous malignancy that greatly threatens man’s health. E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase neural precursor cell expressed developmentally downregulated 4-like (NEDD4L) imparts an regulatory role in various malignancies. This study focused on the modulatory mechanism of NEDD4L in proliferation of prostate cancer cells (PCCs) via regulating histone demethylase plant homeodomain finger protein 8 (PHF8/KDM7B) through the ubiquitin–proteasome system.

Methods

The expression levels of NEDD4L, PHF8, H3 lysine 9 dimethylation (H3K9me2) and activating transcription factor 2 (ATF2) in PC tissues and cell lines were detected via real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. After transfection of pcDNA3.1-NEDD4L, pcDNA3.1-PHF8, and pcDNA3.1-ATF2 into PCCs, cell proliferation was assessed via the cell counting kit-8 and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine assays. Interaction between NEDD4L and PHF8 was identified via the protein immunoprecipitation. The ubiquitination level of PHF8 was determined via the ubiquitination detection. The enrichments of H3K9me2 and PHF8 in the ATF2 promotor region were detected via the chromatin-immunoprecipitation assay.

Results

PHF8 and ATF2 were highly expressed while NEDD4L was poorly expressed in PC tissues and cells. NEDD4L overexpression reduced proliferation of PCCs. NEDD4Linduced degradation of PHF8 via ubiquitination. PHF8 limited the enrichment of H3K9me2 in the ATF2 promotor region and enhanced ATF2 transcription. Upregulation of PHF8 or ATF2 abolished the inhibitory role of NEDD4L in proliferation of PCCs.

Conclusion

NEDD4L facilitated degradation of PHF8 to limit ATF2 transcription, thereby suppressing proliferation of PCCs.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.           Funding This work was supported by the Scientific Research Funding Project of Soochow University (Grant number 201900180034).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, No. 188 Shizi Road, Suzhou, 215006, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China

    Rui Feng & Jun Ouyang

  2. Department of Urology, Zhenjiang Hospital of Chinese Traditional and Western Medicine, Zhenjiang, People’s Republic of China

    Rui Feng, Zhongxing Li, Guangcheng Ge, Chenghao Wang & Yuejun Jia

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  1. Rui Feng
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  2. Zhongxing Li
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  3. Guangcheng Ge
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Contributions

Conceptualization: RF, ZL, GG, and JO; methodology: RF, CW, and JO; data curation: RF and ZL; validation: GG and YJ; writing—original draft: RF; writing—review and editing: RF, ZL, GG, CW, YJ, and JO.

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Correspondence to Jun Ouyang.

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The present experimental protocols were permitted to be conducted with the approval of the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University.

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Feng, R., Li, Z., Ge, G. et al. NEDD4L represses prostate cancer cell proliferation via modulating PHF8 through the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway. Clin Transl Oncol 25, 243–255 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-022-02933-5

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