Abstract
Gene associated with retinoid-interferon-induced mortality (GRIM-19), an important subunit of mitochondrial complex I, has been identified as a tumor suppressor, and its reduced expression has been reported to be associated with tumorigenesis and metastasis. Autophagy has been proposed as a protective mechanism for cell survival under various stresses, including chemotherapy. However, it remains unknown whether GRIM-19 is linked to autophagy and chemotherapy resistance. Here, we showed that suppression of GRIM-19 by shRNA enhanced cell-type-dependent autophagy by activating extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK) and hypoxia inducible factor-1a (HIF-1a) in a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated manner, and thereby conferred resistance to paclitaxel. Besides, the antioxidant N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) and autophagy inhibitor 3-MA could in part overcome this resistance. We also found that GRIM-19 expression was significantly correlated with clinical stage and grade in patients with cervical cancers. Taken together, our results indicated that GRIM-19 inhibition induced autophagy and chemotherapy resistance, which could affect prognosis of cervical cancers. Our study has identified new function of GRIM-19 and its underlying mechanism, and it will provide possible avenues for therapeutic targeting in cervical cancers.
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded by Wuhan Yellow Crane Medical Talent Program Grant No. 2015-12 and by the supporting program of the Ministry of Human Resource of China Oversea Returned scholars, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81572608).
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**n Yue and Peiwei Zhao have contributed equally.
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Yue, X., Zhao, P., Wu, K. et al. GRIM-19 inhibition induced autophagy through activation of ERK and HIF-1α not STAT3 in Hela cells. Tumor Biol. 37, 9789–9796 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-016-4877-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-016-4877-5