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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 21, 14654-14662, May 26, 2006
BRCA1 Modulates Xenobiotic Stress-inducible Gene Expression by Interacting with ARNT in Human Breast Cancer Cells*![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() 1
From the
Received for publication, February 21, 2006
Previously, we have reported that BRCA1 regulates the expression of various classes of genes, including genes involved in xenobiotic stress responses (Bae, I., Fan, S., Meng, Q., Rih, J. K., Kim, H. J., Kang, H. J., Xu, J., Goldberg, I. D., Jaiswal, A. K., and Rosen, E. M. (2004) Cancer Res. 64, 78937909). In the present study, we have investigated the effects of BRCA1 on xenobiotic stress-inducible gene expression. In response to aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ligands, cytoplasmic AhR becomes activated and then translocates to the nucleus where it forms a complex with the aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT). Subsequently, the AhR·ARNT complex binds to the enhancer or promoter of genes containing a xenobiotic stress-responsive element and regulates the expression of multiple target genes including cytochrome P450 subfamily polypeptide 1 (CYP1A1). In this study, we have found that endogenous and overexpressed exogenous wild-type BRCA1 affect xenobiotic stress-induced CYP1A1 gene expression. Using a standard chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, we have demonstrated that BRCA1 is recruited to the promoter regions of CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 along with ARNT and/or AhR following xenobiotic exposure. Our findings suggest that BRCA1 may be physiologically important for mounting a normal response to xenobiotic insults and that it may function as a coactivator for ARNT activity. Using immunoprecipitation, Western blotting, and glutathione S-transferase capture assays, a xenobiotic-independent interaction between BRCA1 and ARNT has been identified, although it is not yet known whether this is a direct or indirect interaction. We have also found that the inducibility of CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 transcripts following xenobiotic stress was significantly attenuated in BRCA1 knockdown cells. This reduced inducibility is associated with an altered stability of ARNT and was almost completely reversed in cells transfected with an ARNT expression vector. Finally, we have found that xenobiotic (TCDD) treatments of breast cancer cells containing reduced levels of BRCA1 cause the transcription factor ARNT to become unstable.
Inherited mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 confer increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer (1, 2). In addition, because BRCA1 expression is often decreased or even absent in sporadic breast and ovarian cancer, abnormal BRCA1 expression may also have a role(s) in nonhereditary tumors (3, 4). Although these observations indicate that BRCA1 may act as a tumor suppressor in breast cancer, the specific function(s) of BRCA1 that could have this effect is still not completely understood. However, numerous studies have shown that BRCA1 regulates various pivotal cellular processes, such as cell cycle progression, DNA repair, apoptosis, and transcription, and many of the mechanisms involved have been identified (see Ref. 5 for a review). Recent studies show that BRCA1 proteins are also required for maintaining chromosome stability by regulating centrosome duplication and mitotic spindle checkpoints (68).
Although BRCA1 regulates transcription, the mechanisms involved are unlike classical transcriptional factors that directly bind DNA sequences. Rather, BRCA1 regulates transcription via protein-protein interactions. The BRCA1 C-terminal activation domain is responsible for transactivation in yeast or mammalian cells (9). In addition to the terminal activation domain (aa2 15601863, now called AD2), a second activation domain of BRCA1 (designated AD1, aa 12931560) has been identified (10). These domains enable BRCA1 to interact with p53 and enhance its transcriptional activity (11, 12) or to interact with various co-repressors (e.g. RB1, RbAp46/48, HDAC-1/2, LMO4, and CtIP (which recruits the repressor CtBP)) (see review in Ref. 5). BRCA1 can also regulate transcription by interacting with components of the basal transcription machinery (e.g. RNA helicase A, p300) (13, 14), the SWI/SNF transcriptional complex (15), and a BRCA1-interacting protein (COBRA1) that mediates large scale chromatin folding (16). BRCA1 also interacts with STAT1 to stimulate interferon-
The aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) is the dimerization partner of a large family of transcriptional factors that act as environmental sensors and control the response of an organism to a wide array of environmental stimuli (26, 27). One of its heterodimeric partners, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), becomes activated in response to xenobiotic stress (for example, TCDD). Prior to ligand binding, AhR is sequestered in a cytoplasmic complex containing heat shock protein 90 (28), co-chaperone p23 (29), and the immunophilin homolog XAP2 (30). Following ligand binding, the AhR-containing complex moves to the nucleus where AhR dissociates from the chaperone complex and forms a heterodimer with ARNT, the basic helix-loop-helix/Per-ARNT-Sim protein. These heterodimers can then bind to xenobiotic response elements (XREs) in the promoter and enhancer regions of target genes where they regulate transcription. The regulation of cytochrome P450A1 (CYP1A1) expression has been studied extensively and has become a model for studying AhR activation (31). The cytochrome P450s are essential enzymes involved in the metabolism of drugs, foreign chemicals, arachidonic acid, cholesterol, steroids, and other physiologically relevant lipids. Recently, several drugs targeting particular P450 enzyme activities have been developed. Two of these drugs, DF203 and 5F203, potently inhibit human cancer cell growth, in part by affecting the AhR signaling pathway (32). In previous studies, we found that BRCA1 regulates multiple xenobiotic stress-inducible genes, including NQO1, UGT1A1, and gsta2 (25). The promoters or enhancer regions of each of these genes contain a XRE and respond to xenobiotic stressors (3336). In this study, we used TCDD, DF203, or 5F203 as xenobiotic stressors to investigate the role of BRCA1 in regulating the expression of CYP1A1 and CYP1B1, two genes whose xenobiotic stress-inducible responses in human breast cancer cells are well documented.
Cell Lines, Culture Conditions, and Drug TreatmentsHuman breast cancer cell lines MCF-7, T47D, and ZR-751 were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 5% fetal bovine serum, 100 units/ml penicillin and 100 µg/ml streptomycin. All cell culture reagents were purchased from BioWhittaker, Inc. (Walkersville, MD). TCDD, at >99% purity, was obtained from Cambridge Isotopes Laboratories (Andover, MA). TCDD was maintained as a stock solution (31 µM) in anhydrous tissue culture-grade dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO). The final concentration of Me2SO in all experiments was 0.1%. Both DF203 (National Service Center 674495) and its fluorinated analog 5F203 (National Service center 703786) were obtained from the drug repository of the Developmental Therapeutics Program of the National Cancer Institute (Rockville, MD) and were prepared in Me2SO at a concentration of 100 mM, aliquoted, and stored frozen at 20 °C until used. Immunoprecipitation (IP) and Western Blotting (WB)All IP procedures were carried out at 4 °C. Cells grown on 100-mm dishes were washed twice with phosphate-buffered saline and then lysed in a buffer (50 mM Tris (pH, 8.0), 150 mM NaCl, 1% Nonidet P-40) and immunoprecipitated with either anti-ARNT rabbit antibody (H-172, Santa Cruz Biotechnology) or a combination of anti-human BRCA1 mouse monoclonal antibodies (Abs) against N- and C-terminal epitopes on BRCA1 (Ab-1 + Ab-2 + Ab-3, Oncogene Research Products) as previously described (19). Immunoprecipitated proteins were detected by WB using either an anti-ARNT rabbit antibody (H-172, Santa Cruz Biotechnology) or an anti-BRCA1 rabbit antibody (C-20, Santa Cruz Biotechnology). Glutathione S-transferase (GST) Capture AssaysBriefly, purified GST fusion proteins or GST alone, produced in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) pLys cells, were incubated with glutathione-Sepharose-4B beads (Amersham Biosciences) to concentrate and immobilize them. Thereafter, the GST proteins immobilized on beads were mixed with a probe (in vitro translated [35S]-labeled ARNT) in a reaction buffer (40 units of RNasin Rnase inhibitor, 40 mM HEPES-KOH (pH 7.6), 6 mM ATP, 20% (v/v) glycerol, 8 mM MgCl2, 0.1% (v/v) Nonidet P-40, 6 mM creatine phosphate). The beads were centrifuged and then washed three times with a washing buffer (0.5 mM dithiothreitol, 0.1 mM EDTA, 4 mM MgCl2, 0.05% (v/v) Nonidet P-40, 20 mM HEPES-KOH (pH 7.6), 300 mM KCl, 10% (v/v) glycerol, 0.5 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride). The captured proteins were eluted in sample buffer and fractionated by SDS-PAGE. The gels were dried under vacuum at 80 °C and autoradiographed.
Quantitative Real-time PCRQuantitative real-time PCR was performed in duplicate using the 1x TaqMan Universal PCR Master Mix (Roche Applied Science), on an Applied Biosystems-Prism Sequence Detector System 7700 and analyzed with SDS software. Real-time PCR conditions were 2 min at 50 °C, 10 min at 95 °C, followed by 40 cycles of 15-s denaturation at 95 °C, 60-s annealing/extension at 60 °C. SYBR Green was used to monitor the amounts of amplified double-stranded DNA fragments. Cycle threshold values were obtained to determine the fold change. The mRNA level of Semiquantitative RT-PCRWell controlled semiquantitative reverse-transcription-PCR assays were performed as described previously (25). GAPDH, whose expression is unaffected by TCDD or BRCA1-siRNA, was used as the loading control. The PCR products were analyzed on 1% agarose gels, stained with ethidium bromide (0.1 mg/ml) and photographed under UV illumination. The CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 primers described above were also used for the semiquantitative RT-PCR. Forward and reverse primers for BRCA1 were 5'-ttg cgg gag gaa aat ggg tag tta-3' and 5'-tgt gcc aag ggt gaa tga tga aag-3', respectively. Forward and reverse primers for GAPDH were 5'-atg ttc gtc atg ggt gtg aa-3' and (5'-ttc agc tca ggg atg acc tt-3', respectively.
Luciferase Reporter AssaysCells ( Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) AssaysExponentially proliferating MCF-7 and T47D cells were treated with 10 nM TCDD. ChIP assays were performed as suggested in the manufacturer's instruction manual (Upstate%20Biotechnology">Upstate Biotechnology). In brief, cross-linking was achieved by adding formaldehyde to 1% and incubating at 37 °C for 10 min. The cells were then washed twice with ice-cold phosphate-buffered saline and then collected in 200 µl of SDS lysis buffer and incubated on ice for 10 min. The resuspended, lysed cells were sonicated, yielding DNA fragments raging in size from 200 to 900 bp. The samples were then centrifuged for 10 min at 4 °C (13,000 revolutions/min) and the supernatants collected and diluted 10-fold in ChIP dilution buffer. The diluted samples were precleared with 75 µl of salmon sperm DNA/protein A-agarose 50% slurry for 30 min at 4 °C with agitation. Supernatants were then immunoprecipitated with specific antibodies (anti-ARNT, -AhR, or -BRCA1) or control IgG as described above. Immunoprecipitated complexes were eluted from protein A beads with an elution buffer (1% SDS, 0.1 M NaHCO3). The immunoprecipitated DNA was separated from the protein complexes and used as a template for PCR reactions as described above. The following genomic sequences were used: CYP1A1 forward and reverse primers, 5'-taa gag ccc cgc ccc gac ttc ct-3' and 5'-tag ctt gcg tgc gcc ggc gac at-3'), respectively, and CYP1B1 forward and reverse primers, 5'-gtt ccc tta taa agg gag-3' and 5'-ctg cga tgg aag ccg ttg-3'), respectively, as previously reported (40). Transfection with siRNAExponentially proliferating cells were transfected with chemically synthesized siRNA (control-siRNA or BRCA1-siRNA) and Lipofectamine 2000 for 72 h as previously described (25). Alternatively, we used pKD-negative control (NC) empty vector or the pKD-BRCA1 siRNA expression vector (Upstate%20Biotechnology">Upstate Biotechnology, Inc.) (see Fig. 8A). For ARNT knockdown, we used pooled siRNA sequences obtained from Dharmacon Inc. Statistical MethodsStatistical comparisons were made using the two-tailed Student's t test where appropriate.
BRCA1 Overexpression Enhances Xenobiotic Stress-induced Gene and Protein ExpressionTCDD is the prototype for one class of xenobiotics, halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons, which induce stress in human cells. To determine whether BRCA1 protein levels affect the expression of genes known to be induced by this class of xenobiotics, control and BRCA1-transfected cells were incubated for 24 h and then treated with 10 nM TCDD for an additional 24 h. Thereafter, changes in CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 mRNA levels were measured by quantitative real-time PCR. We found that overexpressed BRCA1 enhanced TCDD-induced expression of both CYP1A1 (Fig. 1A) and CYP1B1 at the mRNA level (Fig. 1B) (p > 0.005 for comparisons of cells transfected with pCDNA3 versus BRCA1 in the presence of TCDD). To determine whether this enhanced response could reflect XRE-dependent transcriptional regulation, we transfected cells (MCF-7, T47D, and ZR-751) with pcDNA3, BRCA1, and p(XRE-1A1)-Luc (which contains three tandem XREs from human CYP1A1), and 24 h later, we added TCDD (10 nM). Only the BRCA1-expressing plasmid enhanced TCDD-stimulated XRE promoter reporter activity in a dose-dependent manner in these three ER(+) breast cancer cell lines (Fig. 2, AC) (p < 0.005 or < 0.05 for comparisons of cells transfected with pCDNA3 versus BRCA1). Similar results were obtained when p(Cyp1a1)-Luc, a reporter plasmid containing 1195 bp of the rat Cyp1a1 promoter cloned into pGL3, was used (Fig. 2D). This BRCA1 effect is not limited to TCDD-induced stress, because stress-induced transcription caused by two other xenobiotic drugs of the same class, DF203 and 5F203, was also enhanced by the BRCA1 expression plasmid (Fig. 3) (p < 0.005 or < 0.05).
BRCA1 Is Recruited to Endogenous CYP1A1 Promoters in Response to TCDDTo determine whether BRCA1 is recruited to endogenous promoters containing XREs, we used a ChIP assay. Recruitment of AhR, ARNT, and BRCA1 to the human genomic CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 proximal enhancer regions was monitored for 2 h following treatment of cell cultures with TCDD (10 nM). Genomic DNA, bound to proteins immunoprecipitated by antibodies specific for BRCA1, ARNT, or AhR, was used as a template for PCR to determine whether the association between these proteins and the CYP1A1 or CYP1B1 promoters was dependent on TCDD treatment (Fig. 4). We found that both BRCA1 and ARNT were detectably associated with the genomic CYP1A1 promoter in untreated MCF-7 and T47D cells and that TCDD treatment enhanced this association in both cell lines (Fig. 4A). In contrast, antibodies to BRCA1 and ARNT failed to immunoprecipitate detectable amounts of CYP1B1 promoter DNA from either cell line in the absence of TCDD treatment. Nevertheless, TCDD treatment enhanced BRCA1 and ARNT binding to CYP1B1 promoter DNA in both MCF-7 and T47D cells (Fig. 4B). The association of AhR with either promoter in either cell line was only weakly or not at all detectable under our conditions, possibly because of the relatively shorter half-life of activated AhR. We determined the effect of TCDD treatment on the total cellular levels of BRCA1 protein by WB analysis and found that they are unchanged after treatment with TCDD (Fig. 4C). To determine whether promoter occupancy by BRCA1 required ARNT, we performed ARNT knockdown (Fig. 4D) and then treated cells with TCDD and performed ChIP assays. We found that reduced amounts of ARNT resulted in reduced binding of BRCA1 to the CYP1A1 promoter (Fig. 4E).
BRCA1 Interacts with ARNTBecause BRCA1 regulates transcription via interactions with transcription factors, we investigated whether BRCA1 also interacts, directly or indirectly, with the transcription factor ARNT and whether this interaction increases after xenobiotic stress. To answer this question, lysates from MCF-7 cells were prepared and immunoprecipitated with anti-BRCA1 antibody. The presence of ARNT in the IP complex was assayed with anti-ARNT antibody. Vice versa, the presence of BRCA1 in IP complexes generated with an anti-ARNT antibody was assayed with an anti-BRCA1 antibody. Both types of IP complexes contained both BRCA1 and ARNT (Fig. 5A). Next, cells lysated from MCF-7 cells treated or not treated with 10 nM TCDD were prepared and bidirectional IP-WB was performed, as in Fig. 5A. The interaction between BRCA1 and ARNT was not affected by TCDD treatment, and TCDD did not change the levels of BRCA1 and ARNT expression in MCF-7 cells (Fig. 5B). Next, the regions of BRCA1 required for detecting an interaction with ARNT in our GST capture assays were investigated using in vitro translated ARNT (ARNT-IVT) as previously described (37, 41, 42). After incubating ARNT-IVT with a panel of GST-BRCA1 protein fragments, we found that ARNT-IVT was captured by GST-BRCA1 (aa 131539) and GST-BRCA1 (aa 521757). These data suggest that the N-terminal region of BRCA1 (aa 131757) may be both necessary and sufficient for interacting with ARNT. The GST-alone control and other GST-BRCA1 regions did not detectably capture ARNT-IVT in this assay (Fig. 5D).
N-terminal BRCA1 Mutants Have Reduced Capacity to Enhance Expression from the TCDD-induced CYP1A1 PromoterBecause the N-terminal region of BRCA1 interacts with ARNT, we tested whether N-terminal BRCA1 mutants (see Fig. 6A) impact the ability of BRCA1 to regulate TCDD-induced CYP1A1 gene expression. T300G, a point mutant (C61G) in the N-terminal ring domain, was able to stimulate TCDD-induced CYP1A1 luciferase reporter activity only about half as much as wild-type BRCA1 (Fig. 6B)(p < 0.005 for comparisons of cells transfected with wtBRCA1 versus mutant BRCA1 expression vectors). These promoter activity studies were performed in four wells in three independent experiments. The luciferase values are the means ± S.E. This difference cannot be explained as being the result of differential expression of T300G and wild-type BRCA1, because no significant difference was found when exogenously expressed protein levels were measured on WB analysis with an anti-BRCA1 antibody (Fig. 6C). Next, we measured the effects of two BRCA1 N-terminal deletion mutants ( BamHI and KpnI) on TCDD-induced CYP1A1 stimulation. Both deletion mutants had less capacity to stimulate TCDD-induced CYP1A1 transcription than wild-type BRCA1 (Fig. 6B). Equal amounts of the two mutant proteins were detected by WB analysis (Fig. 6C). BRCA1 Knockdown Reduced TCDD-mediated CYP1A1 Gene InducibilityThe results presented thus far suggest that endogenous BRCA1 levels might also affect TCDD-induced CYP1A1 promoter activity. To test this possibility, we reduced endogenous BRCA1 levels by transfecting MCF-7 and T47D cells with BRCA1-siRNA or control-siRNA (scrambled) and incubating for 72 h to assure a maximal effect (25). The normal endogenous BRCA1 level was reduced by >80% in cells transfected with the siRNA plasmid vector construct as previously reported (25). Subsequently, these cells were transfected with p(XRE-1A1)-Luc or p(Cyp1a1)-Luc reporters treated with 10 nM TCDD for 24 h and harvested for luciferase activity assays. We found reduced TCDD-stimulated luciferase activity in both cell types transfected with BRCA1-siRNA (Fig. 7, AC) (p < 0.05 for comparisons of cells transfected with control-siRNA versus BRCA1-siRNA in the presence of TCDD). This effect appears to occur at least partially at the mRNA level, because we found less TCDD-mediated induction of CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 mRNA in T47D cells transfected with BRCA1-siRNA than in the control-transfected cells when assayed by semiquantitative RT-PCR (Fig. 7D). This gel was scanned using densitometry, allowing a quantitative analysis of the data (Fig. 7E). Clearly, decreased induction of both CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 mRNA following TCDD occurs in BRCA1-depleted cells (p < 0.005 or < 0.05 for comparisons of cells transfected with control-siRNA versus BRCA1-siRNA in the presence of TCDD).
Altered Stability of ARNT in BRCA1-depleted CellsTo identify possible molecular mechanisms by which CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 induction by TCDD is reduced when BRCA1 levels are reduced, we performed a BRCA1 knockdown experiment and then treated cells with TCDD and prepared cell lysates for WB analysis to determine the ARNT expression level. No significant change in the levels in ARNT expression was found between pKD-NC-versus pKD-BRCA1-transfected and Me2SO-treated cells (Fig. 8, A and B). However, 30% less ARNT protein was found in cells transfected with pKD-BRCA1 and treated with TCDD (10 nM) (p < 0.005 comparisons of cells transfected with pKD-NC versus pKD-BRCA1). This decrease was not due to decreased ARNT mRNA (data not shown). It could be that TCDD differentially regulates the stability of ARNT in the presence and absence of BRCA1. To test this hypothesis, cells transfected with pKD-NC or pKD-BRCA1 were treated with TCDD (10 nM) for 3 h and then with cycloheximide (CHX, 100 µg/ml) for 0, 2, or 4 h before cell lysates were prepared for WB analysis. The results suggest that BRCA1 stabilizes ARNT when cells are under TCDD stress (Fig. 8C). Relatively unstable ARNT was detected in cells transfected with pKD-BRCA1 (Fig. 8D) (p < 0.005 for comparisons of cells transfected with pKD-NC versus pKD-BRCA1). Overexpressed ARNT Reversed the BRCA1 Knockdown Effect on CYP1A1 ExpressionThe data in Fig. 8 suggests that the decreased ability of TCDD to induce CYP1A1 gene expression following BRCA1 knockdown is associated with reduced ARNT protein levels. If reduced ARNT levels are indeed important for this reduced gene expression, overexpression of ARNT in BRCA1 knockdown cells exposed to TCDD may restore CYP1A1 gene expression to a normal level. To test this possibility, we transfected an ARNT expression vector (GFP-ARNT) and p(XRE-1A1)-Luc into cells previously transfected with BRCA1-siRNA or control-siRNA. As predicted, overexpression of ARNT restored TCDD-stimulated CYP1A1 reporter activity to essentially normal levels in the BRCA1-siRNA-transfected cells (Fig. 9) (p < 0.005 for comparisons of cells transfected with pCDNA3 versus ARNT in BRCA1 depleted cells). Similar results were obtained with a CYP1B1 reporter (data not shown). Overexpressed ARNT had a small, but probably insignificant, effect in the control-siRNA-transfected cells, suggesting that endogenous nuclear levels of ARNT do not limit the ability of the cells to respond to TCDD (10 nM).
The goal of this study was to determine the role of BRCA1 in regulating the expression of xenobiotic stress-inducible genes, such as CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 in human breast cancer cells. We found that overexpressed BRCA1 significantly enhanced TCDD-stimulated p(XRE-1A1)-Luc reporter activity in all three ER(+) human breast cancer cell lines examined (MCF-7, T47D, and ZR-751). We studied only ER(+) cell lines, because TCDD-mediated CYP1A1 induction requires a functionally active estrogen receptor in human breast cancer cells (43). Consequently and as expected, neither TCDD treatment nor BRCA1 overexpression or the combination stimulated p(XRE-1A1)-Luc reporter activity in two ER() breast cancer cell lines, MDA-MB-231 and Hs578T (data not shown). (This finding may be important, for mutation (or down-regulation) of BRCA1 is associated with a higher incidence of breast and/or ovarian cancer, both of which are estrogen-responsive tissues). These results do not depend on the particular XRE-Luc reporter, for similar results were obtained when p(Cyp1a1)-Luc containing wild type CYP1A1 promoter sequences was used (Fig. 2D). The results are also not dependent on the particular AhR ligand used to stimulate transcription from the XRE-Luc reporter, as BRCA1 also enhanced the reporter plasmid response to two drugs that activate the AhR receptor, DF203 and 5F203 (Fig. 3).
BRCA1 interacts with multiple transcription factors and affects their ability to regulate transcription. Our IP-WB study demonstrated that BRCA1 interacts with ARNT in human breast cancer cells. However, we have not yet determined whether this is a direct or indirect interaction. Although ARNT immunoprecipitated from our IVT system is likely to be relatively purer than ARNT immunoprecipitated from total cell lysates, we cannot exclude the possibility that the IVT system contains species that promote ARNT-BRCA1 interactions. In any case, this BRCA1-ARNT interaction was detectable only with either of two BRCA1 fragments containing N-terminal amino acids, aa 131757. This region is known to associate with other transcription factors, such as c-Myc (aa 175511) (24), p53 (aa 224500) (12), ER- (aa 1302) (19), Rad50 (aa 341748) (44), hMSH2, hMSH6 (aa 1625) (45), and Brg1 (aa 260553) (15). BRCA1 is normally a nuclear protein, targeted to the nucleus via its two nuclear localization signal sequences (NLS1 (501 KLKRKRR) and NLS2 (607 KKNRLRRK)), one of which (NLS1) is thought to be more important for nuclear targeting (4749). Because ARNT binds equally to GST-BRCA1 fusions containing either one of these signals (aa 131539 and aa 521757), it will be interesting to determine whether these ARNT-BRCA1 interactions, which we assume occur in the nucleus of intact cells, affects nuclear retention (or translocalization) of BRCA1. Previous studies have demonstrated that ARNT·AhR-mediated transcriptional activation requires co-activators. The ARNT·AhR co-activators currently known are the p160 family of coactivators (50), estrogen receptor-associated protein (ERAP140) (51), CBP/p300 (52), and components of SWI/SNF (46) and TRIP230 (40). Our experiments, in particular the transient transfection of a BRCA1 expression plasmid and reporter plasmids responsive to various AhR agonists, indicate that BRCA1 also functions as a co-activator for the ARNT-dependent transcription that occurs in response to TCDD, DF203, or 5F203. Although we do not yet know if this ARNT-dependent transcription is ARNT·AhR-dependent transcription, our ChIP assay data is consistent with such a hypothesis. That is, our ChIP assay showed that BRCA1 is recruited to sites of activated transcription at the CYP1A1 promoter in vivo in a TCDD-dependent fashion. On the other hand, reduced BRCA1 binding to the CYP1A1 promoter following TCDD was found in ARNT knocked down cells. This data suggests that BRCA1 is a physiologically important co-activator for ARNT/ARNT·AhR-dependent transcription in breast cancer cells. Taken together, the BRCA1 mutant and siRNA studies show that the presence of functional BRCA1 is important for a normal response to TCDD exposure that includes stimulation of XRE-dependent signals. Although the N-terminal end of BRCA1 appears to be essential for detecting ARNT-BRCA1 interactions under our conditions (Fig. 5), it contributes to but does not appear essential for xenobiotically induced transcription (Fig. 6B). This apparent discrepancy could have several explanations. The conditions used to detect the BRCA1-ARNT interaction may not detect all of the functional interactions, the C-terminal regions of BRCA1 used in Fig. 6 are larger than any of the C-terminal fragments used in the Fig. 5 experiment and thus could detectably interact with IVT ARNT, or these larger C-terminal fragments (either alone or by interacting with the endogenous wild type BRCA1 present in these cells) may contribute to xenobiotic stress-induced transcription via some other route. Our study found a correlation between reduced endogenous BRCA1 levels and an attenuated ability to achieve normal CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 expression in response to a classical xenobiotic stressor, TCDD. CYP1A1 is one of the cytochrome P450 enzymes that metabolically activates and detoxifies various xenobiotic stressors such as dioxins. Abnormal induction or expression of CYP1A1 may alter its activity in metabolizing xenotoxic chemicals and may have effects on detoxification processes. In any case, our findings suggest that breast cancer cells with mutations or reduced levels of BRCA1 may respond differently than normal breast cells to various endogenous or exogenous xenobiotic stresses. Whether the effects observed at the gene expression level (for CYP1A1 and CYP1B1) in BRCA1-depleted cultured cells indicates that similar effects occur at the enzymatic activity level (metabolic activation or detoxification) in vivo and whether such postulated effects influence tumor formation or progression needs to be investigated.
* This research was supported by a United States Army Idea Award (DAMD17-02-1-0525) (to I. B.), American Cancer Society Grant IRG 97-152-13 (to I. B.), NIEHS, National Institutes of Health (ES014440-01) (to I. B.), the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (BCTR119906) (to I. B.), and in part by NCI, National Institutes of Health (CA080000) (to E. M. R.). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. 1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Ctr., Georgetown University, 3970 Reservoir Rd., NW, Washington, DC 20057-1469. Tel.: 202-687-5267; Fax: 202-687-7256; E-mail: ib42{at}georgetown.edu.
2 The abbreviations used are: aa, amino acid(s); 5F203, 2-(4-amino-3-methylphenyl)-5-fluoro-benzothiazole; DF203, 2-(4-amino-3-methylphenyl)benzothiazole; AhR, aryl hydrocarbon receptor, ARNT, aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator; BRCA1, breast cancer susceptibility gene-1; IP, immunoprecipitation; ChIP, chromatin immunoprecipitation; CHX, cycloheximide; CMV, cytomegalovirus; CYP1A1, cytochrome P450/subfamily 1/polypeptide 1; ER, estrogen receptor; GST, glutathione S-transferase; Luc, luciferase; NC, negative control; RT, reverse transcription; siRNA, small interfering RNA; TCDD, 2,3,7,8-tetracholrodibeco-p-dioxin; WB, Western blotting; XRE, xenobiotic response element; IVT, in vitro translated; GFP, green fluorescent protein.
We thank Dr. Thomas L. Mattson for editorial assistance and helpful discussions. The GFP-ARNT expression plasmid was kindly provided by Dr. Hankinson (University of California).
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