title: A mutant of hepatitis B virus X protein (HBxDelta127) promotes cell growth through a positive feedback loop involving 5-lipoxygenase and fatty acid synthase.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide. Hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) contributes to the development of HCC, whereas HBx with COOH-terminal deletion is a frequent event in the HCC tissues. Previously, we identified a natural mutant of HBx-truncated 27 amino acids at the COOH-terminal (termed HBxDelta127), which strongly enhanced cell growth. In the present study, we focused on investigating the mechanism. Accordingly, fatty acid synthase (FAS) plays a crucial role in cancer cell survival and proliferation; thus, we examined the signaling pathways involving FAS. Our data showed that HBxDelta127 strongly increased the transcriptional activities of FAS in human hepatoma HepG2 and H7402 cells. Moreover, we found that 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) was responsible for the up-regulation of FAS by using MK886 (an inhibitor of 5-LOX) and 5-LOX small interfering RNA. We observed that HBxDelta127 could upregulate 5-LOX through phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases 1/2 and thus resulted in the increase of released leukotriene B4 (LTB4, a metabolite of 5-LOX) by ELISA. The additional LTB4 could upregulate the expression of FAS in the cells as well. Interestingly, we found that FAS was able to upregulate the expression of 5-LOX in a feedback manner by using cerulenin (an inhibitor of FAS). Collectively, HBxDelta127 promotes cell growth through a positive feedback loop involving 5-LOX and FAS, in which released LTB4 is involved in the up-regulation of FAS. Thus, our finding provides a new insight into the mechanism involving the promotion of cell growth mediated by HBxDelta127.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Research, Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology of Ministry of Education, Institute for Molecular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, PR China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Weiying
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001094:Arachidonate 5-Lipoxygenase / Q000378:metabolism*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002469:Cell Separation; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D064429:Fatty Acid Synthases / Q000378:metabolism*; D025461:Feedback, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015870:Gene Expression; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology*; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 / Q000378:metabolism; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D009154:Mutation; D034622:RNA Interference; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics*; D015854:Up-Regulation; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins
chemical_list: D015534:Trans-Activators; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins; C057628:hepatitis B virus X protein; D001094:Arachidonate 5-Lipoxygenase; D064429:Fatty Acid Synthases; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3