Abstract
Mutational activation of the Ras family of proto-oncogenes promotes cell survival and proliferation. Studies using cells cultured in vitro have shown that ectopic expression of constitutively active Ras suppresses apoptosis induced by serum deprivation. However, in some cellular contexts, constitutively active Ras exerts the opposite effects, including apoptosis of serum-starved embryonic fibroblasts. Such observations first came over two decades ago, but the molecular mechanisms by which mutant Ras increases the susceptibility of cells to serum deprivation leading to apoptosis are still not fully understood. To revisit this issue, I investigate the effects of serum depletion and mutant Ras expression on intracellular signaling and transcriptome of cells carrying an inducible allele of constitutively active mutant Hras (HrasG12V). I identify zinc ions (Zn2+) as a serum factor that suppresses proapoptotic signaling in cells expressing HrasG12V. Mechanistically, HrasG12V expression along with Zn2+ deficiency activates c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), which are required for caspase-3 activation involved in the induction of cell death. Transcriptome analyses suggest that HrasG12V induces the unfolded protein response (UPR). Further analyses of intracellular signaling biomolecules related to the UPR indicate that HrasG12V activates inositol-requiring protein 1 (IRE1), which synergizes with Zn2+ deficiency to activate JNK and p38 MAPK signaling. These results provide insights into a role of Zn2+ that counteracts proapoptotic signaling activated by mutationally activated Ras.
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Data availability
Microarray data have been deposited in the NCBI Genome Expression Omnibus (GEO) under the accession code GSE182481.
Code availability
Not applicable.
Abbreviations
- Actb:
-
Actin beta
- ATF6:
-
Activating transcription factor 6
- Chop:
-
C/EBP homologous protein
- DAVID:
-
Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery
- DEG:
-
Differentially expressed gene
- Ddit3:
-
DNA damage inducible transcript 3
- DMEM:
-
Dulbecco’s modified Eagle's medium
- eIF2α:
-
Eukaryotic initiation factor 2α
- ER:
-
Endoplasmic reticulum
- ERK:
-
Extracellular signal-regulated kinase
- FBS:
-
Fetal bovine serum
- GO:
-
Gene ontology
- HrasG12V :
-
Hras whose glycine at position 12 is mutated to valine
- Herpud1:
-
Homocysteine inducible ER protein with ubiquitin like domain 1
- IPTG:
-
Isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside
- IRE1:
-
Inositol-requiring protein 1
- JNK:
-
c-Jun N-terminal kinase
- MAPK:
-
Mitogen-activated protein kinase
- MEK:
-
Mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase
- Mt2A:
-
Metallothionein 2A
- PCR:
-
Polymerase chain reaction
- PERK:
-
Protein kinase R-like ER kinase
- PI3K:
-
Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase
- RT-PCR:
-
Reverse transcription-PCR
- TPEN:
-
N,N,N’,N’-Tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine
- UPR:
-
Unfolded protein response
- Xbp1:
-
X-box binding protein 1
- Xbp1s:
-
Spliced form of Xbp1
- Xbp1u:
-
Unspliced form of Xbp1
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number 18K06957.
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This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number 18K06957.
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Edamatsu, H. Zinc ions negatively regulate proapoptotic signaling in cells expressing oncogenic mutant Ras. Biometals 35, 349–362 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-022-00376-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-022-00376-7