• Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.153-161
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• 2018

Imbalance of protein homeostasis (proteostasis) is known to cause cellular malfunction, cell death, and diseases. Elaborate regulation of protein synthesis and degradation is one of the important processes in maintaining normal cellular functions. Protein degradation pathways in eukaryotes are largely divided into proteasome-mediated degradation and lysosome-mediated degradation. Proteasome is a multisubunit complex that selectively degrades 80% to 90% of cellular proteins. Proteasome-mediated degradation can be divided into 26S proteasome (20S proteasome + 19S regulatory particle) and free 20S proteasome degradation. In 1980, it was discovered that during ubiquitination process, wherein ubiquitin binds to a substrate protein in an ATP-dependent manner, ubiquitin acts as a degrading signal to degrade the substrate protein via proteasome. Conversely, 20S proteasome degrades the substrate protein without using ATP or ubiquitin because it recognizes the oxidized and structurally modified hydrophobic patch of the substrate protein. To date, most studies have focused on protein degradation via 26S proteasome. This review describes the 26S/20S proteasomal pathway of protein degradation and discusses the potential of proteasome as therapeutic targets for cancer treatment as well as against diseases caused by abnormalities in the proteolytic system.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.299-305
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• 2009

Over-expression of phospholipase D (PLD) 1 or PLD2 down-regulated CKII activity in NIH3T3 cells. The same results were found with catalytically inactive mutants of PLD isozymes, indicating that the catalytic activity of PLD is not required for PLD-mediated CKII inhibition. Consistent with this, 1-butanol did not alter CKII activity. The reduction in CKII activity in PLD-over-expressing NIH3T3 cells was due to reduced protein level, but not mRNA level, of the $CKII{\beta}$ subunit. This PLD-induced $CKII{\beta}$ degradation was mediated by ubiquitin-proteasome machinery, but MAP kinase and mTOR were not involved in $CKII{\beta}$ degradation. PLD isozymes interacted with the $CKII{\beta}$ subunit. Immunocytochemical staining revealed that PLD and $CKII{\beta}$ colocalize in the cytoplasm of NIH3T3 cells, especially in the perinuclear region. PLD binding to $CKII{\beta}$ inhibited $CKII{\beta}$ autophosphorylation, which is known to be important for $CKII{\beta}$ stability. In summary, the current data indicate that PLD isozymes can down-regulate CKII activity through the acceleration of $CKII{\beta}$ degradation by ubiquitin-proteasome machinery.

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.143-150
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• 2018

The Hippo signaling pathway plays an essential role in adult tissue homeostasis and organ size control. Abnormal regulation of Hippo signaling can be a cause for multiple types of human cancers. Since the awareness of the importance of the Hippo signaling in a wide range of biological fields has been continually grown, it is also understood that a thorough and well-rounded comprehension of the precise dynamics could provide fundamental insights for therapeutic applications. Several components in the Hippo signaling pathway are known to be targeted for proteasomal degradation via ubiquitination by E3 ligases. ${\beta}-TrCP$ is a well-known E3 ligase of YAP/TAZ, which leads to the reduction of YAP/TAZ levels. The Hippo signaling pathway can also be inhibited by the E3 ligases (such as ITCH) which target LATS1/2 for degradation. Regulation via ubiquitination involves not only complex network of E3 ligases but also deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs), which remove ubiquitin from its targets. Interestingly, non-degradative ubiquitin modifications are also known to play important roles in the regulation of Hippo signaling. Although there has been much advanced progress in the investigation of ubiquitin modifications acting as regulators of the Hippo signaling pathway, research done to date still remains inadequate due to the sheer complexity and diversity of the subject. Herein, we review and discuss recent developments that implicate ubiquitin-mediated regulatory mechanisms at multiple steps of the Hippo signaling pathway.

• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.7
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• pp.316-322
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• 2022

Ubiquitin is relatively modest in size but involves almost entire cellular signaling pathways. The primary role of ubiquitin is maintaining cellular protein homeostasis. Ubiquitination regulates the fate of target proteins using the proteasome- or autophagy-mediated degradation of ubiquitinated substrates, which can be either intracellular or foreign proteins from invading pathogens. Legionella, a gram-negative intracellular pathogen, hinders the host-ubiquitin system by translocating hundreds of effector proteins into the host cell's cytoplasm. In this review, we describe the current understanding of ubiquitin machinery from Legionella. We summarize structural and biochemical differences between the host-ubiquitin system and ubiquitin-related effectors of Legionella. Some of these effectors act much like canonical host-ubiquitin machinery, whereas others have distinctive structures and accomplish non-canonical ubiquitination via novel biochemical mechanisms.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.7
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• pp.441-449
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• 2017

Proteolysis in eukaryotic cells is mainly mediated by the ubiquitin (Ub)-proteasome system (UPS) and the autophagy-lysosome system (hereafter autophagy). The UPS is a selective proteolytic system in which substrates are recognized and tagged with ubiquitin for processive degradation by the proteasome. Autophagy is a bulk degradative system that uses lysosomal hydrolases to degrade proteins as well as various other cellular constituents. Since the inception of their discoveries, the UPS and autophagy were thought to be independent of each other in components, action mechanisms, and substrate selectivity. Recent studies suggest that cells operate a single proteolytic network comprising of the UPS and autophagy that share notable similarity in many aspects and functionally cooperate with each other to maintain proteostasis. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms underlying the crosstalk and interplay between the UPS and autophagy, with an emphasis on substrate selectivity and compensatory regulation under cellular stresses.

• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.252-257
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• 2023

The hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) is a key regulator of hypoxic stress under physiological and pathological conditions. HIF-1α protein stability is tightly regulated by the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and autophagy in normoxia, hypoxia, and the tumor environment to mediate the hypoxic response. However, the mechanisms of how the UPS and autophagy interplay for HIF-1α proteostasis remain unclear. Here, we found a HIF-1α species propionylated at lysine (K) 709 by p300/CREB binding protein (CBP). HIF-1α stability and the choice of degradation pathway were affected by HIF-1α propionylation. K709-propionylation prevented HIF-1α from degradation through the UPS, while activated chaperon-mediated autophagy (CMA) induced the degradation of propionylated and nonpropionylated HIF-1α. CMA contributed to HIF-1α degradation in both normoxia and hypoxia. Furthermore, the pan-cancer analysis showed that CMA had a significant positive correlation with the hypoxic signatures, whereas SIRT1, responsible for K709-depropionylation correlated negatively with them. Altogether, our results revealed a novel mechanism of HIF-1α distribution into two different degradation pathways.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.228-231
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• 2005

Recent characterization of several genes involved in plant defense responses suggested that ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation has a role in these responses. We isolated two cDNAs (NtUBA1 and NtUBA2) encoding ubiquitin-activating enzyme (E1) from Nicotiana tabacum cv. BY-2. The open reading frames of both encoded 1080 amino acids, corresponding to molecular masses of 120 kDa. The E1s and corresponding transcripts were upregulated by infection with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), and to a lesser extent by cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). Furthermore, they were also upregulated by wounding stress, and the plant hormones salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and the ethylene precursor, aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC). Our findings support the idea that the ubiquitin-proteasome system plays a role in plant disease defenses.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.20-25
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• 2015

TGF-${\beta}$ regulates pleiotropic cellular responses including cell growth, differentiation, migration, apoptosis, extracellular matrix production, and many other biological processes. Although non-Smad signaling pathways are being increasingly reported to play many roles in TGF-${\beta}$-mediated biological processes, Smads, especially receptor-regulated Smads (R-Smads), still play a central mediatory role in TGF-${\beta}$ signaling for epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Thus, the biological activities of R-Smads are tightly regulated at multiple points. Inhibitory Smad (I-Smad also called Smad7) acts as a critical endogenous negative feedback regulator of Smad-signaling pathways by inhibiting R-Smad phosphorylation and by inducing activated type I TGF-${\beta}$ receptor degradation. Roles played by Smad7 in health and disease are being increasingly reported, but the molecular mechanisms that regulate Smad7 are not well understood. In this study, we show that E3 ubiquitin ligase Itch acts as a positive regulator of TGF-${\beta}$ signaling and of subsequent EMT-related gene expression. Interestingly, the Itch-mediated positive regulation of TGF-${\beta}$ signaling was found to be dependent on Smad7 ubiquitination and its subsequent degradation. Further study revealed Itch acts as an E3 ubiquitin ligase for Smad7 polyubiquitination, and thus, that Itch is an important regulator of Smad7 activity and a positive regulator of TGF-${\beta}$ signaling and of TGF-${\beta}$-mediated biological processes. Accordingly, the study uncovers a novel regulatory mechanism whereby Smad7 is controlled by Itch.

• BMB Reports
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.119-126
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• 2019

The tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) initiates the extrinsic apoptotic pathway through formation of the death-inducing signaling complex (DISC), followed by activation of effector caspases. TRAIL receptors are composed of death receptors (DR4 and DR5), decoy receptors (DcR1 and DcR2), and osteoprotegerin. Among them, only DRs activate apoptotic signaling by TRAIL. Since the levels of DR expressions are higher in cancer cells than in normal cells, TRAIL selectively activates apoptotic signaling pathway in cancer cells. However, multiple mechanisms, including down-regulation of DR expression and pro-apoptotic proteins, and up-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins, make cancer cells TRAIL-resistant. Therefore, many researchers have investigated strategies to overcome TRAIL resistance. In this review, we focus on protein regulation in relation to extrinsic apoptotic signaling pathways via ubiquitination. The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is an important process in control of protein degradation and stabilization, and regulates proliferation and apoptosis in cancer cells. The level of ubiquitination of proteins is determined by the balance of E3 ubiquitin ligases and deubiquitinases (DUBs), which determine protein stability. Regulation of the UPS may be an attractive target for enhancement of TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Our review provides insight to increasing sensitivity to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis through control of post-translational protein expression.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.173-182
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• 2012

The p53 protein plays a pivotal role in tumor suppression. The cellular level of p53 is normally kept low by proteasome-mediated degradation, allowing cell cycle progression and cell proliferation. Under stress conditions, such as DNA damage, p53 is stabilized and activated through various post-translational modifications of itself as well as of its regulatory proteins for induction of the downstream genes responsible for cell cycle arrest, DNA repair, and apoptosis. Therefore, the level of p53 should be tightly regulated for normal cell growth and for prevention of the accumulation of mutations in DNA under stress conditions, which otherwise would lead to tumorigenesis. Since the discovery of Mdm2, a critical ubiquitin E3 ligase that destabilizes p53 in mammalian cells, nearly 20 different E3 ligases have been identified and shown to function in the control of stability, nuclear export, translocation to chromatin or nuclear foci, and oligomerization of p53. So far, a large number of excellent reviews have been published on the control of p53 function in various aspects. Therefore, this review will focus only on mammalian ubiquitin E3 ligases that mediate proteasome-dependent degradation of p53.