Tumor suppressor FOXO3 regulates ribonucleotide reductase subunit RRM2B and impacts on survival of cancer patients

Oncotarget. 2014 Jul 15;5(13):4834-44. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.2044.

Abstract

The role of Ribonucleotide reductase (RR) subunits in different cancers has been intensively studied in our laboratory. RRM2B was identified as a p53-inducible RR subunit that involves in various critical cellular mechanisms such as cell cycle regulation, DNA repair and replication, and mitochondrial homeostasis, etc. However, little is known about the p53-independent regulation of RRM2B in cancer pathology. In this study, we discovered tumor suppressor FOXO3 as the novel regulator of RRM2B. FOXO3 directly bound to and transcriptionally activated the promoter of RRM2B, and induced the expression of RRM2B at RNA and protein levels. Moreover, Overexpression of RRM2B and/or FOXO3 inhibited the proliferation of cancer cells. The cancer tissue microarray data also demonstrated a strong correlation between the co-expression of FOXO3 plus RRM2B and increased disease survival and reduced recurrence or metastasis in lung cancer patients. Our results suggest a novel regulatory control of RRM2B function, and imply the importance of FOXO signaling pathway in DNA replication modulation. This study provides the first time evidence that RRM2B is transcriptionally and functionally regulated independent of p53 pathway by FOXO3, and it establishes that FOXO3 and RRM2B could be used as predictive biomarkers for cancer progression.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Binding Sites / genetics
  • Blotting, Western
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / genetics
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / metabolism*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Forkhead Box Protein O3
  • Forkhead Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Forkhead Transcription Factors / metabolism*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Lung Neoplasms / genetics
  • Lung Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Lung Neoplasms / pathology
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic / genetics
  • Protein Binding
  • RNA Interference
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Ribonucleotide Reductases / genetics
  • Ribonucleotide Reductases / metabolism*
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / genetics
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / metabolism
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / genetics
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • FOXO3 protein, human
  • Forkhead Box Protein O3
  • Forkhead Transcription Factors
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins
  • RRM2B protein, human
  • Ribonucleotide Reductases