Hsc70 contributes to cancer cell survival by preventing Rab1A degradation under stress conditions

PLoS One. 2014 May 6;9(5):e96785. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096785. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Heat shock cognate protein 70 (Hsc70) acts as a molecular chaperone for the maintenance of intracellular proteins, which allows cancer cells to survive under proteotoxic stress. We attempted to use Hsc70 to identify key molecules in cancer cell survival. Here, we performed mass-spectrometry-based proteomics analysis utilizing affinity purification with anti-Hsc70 antibodies; as a result, 83 differentially expressed proteins were identified under stress conditions. This result implies that there was a change in the proteins with which Hsc70 interacted in response to stress. Among the proteins identified under both serum-depleted and 5-fluorouracil-treated conditions, Rab1A was identified as an essential molecule for cancer cell survival. Hsc70 interacted with Rab1A in a chaperone-dependent manner. In addition, Hsc70 knockdown decreased the level of Rab1A and increased the level of its ubiquitination under stress conditions, suggesting that Hsc70 prevented the degradation of Rab1A denatured by stress exposure. We also found that Rab1A knockdown induced cell death by inhibition of autophagosome formation. Rab1A may therefore contribute to overcoming proteotoxic insults, which allows cancer cells to survive under stress conditions. Analysis of Hsc70 interactors provided insight into changes of intracellular status. We expect further study of the Hsc70 interactome to provide a more comprehensive understanding of cancer cell physiology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Apoptosis / drug effects
  • Autophagy / drug effects
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Fluorouracil / toxicity
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors
  • HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins / genetics
  • HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins / metabolism*
  • HT29 Cells
  • Humans
  • Protein Array Analysis
  • Proteins / analysis
  • Proteins / metabolism
  • Proteomics
  • RNA Interference
  • RNA, Small Interfering / metabolism
  • rab1 GTP-Binding Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors
  • rab1 GTP-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • rab1 GTP-Binding Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • HSC70 Heat-Shock Proteins
  • Proteins
  • RNA, Small Interfering
  • rab1 GTP-Binding Proteins
  • Fluorouracil

Grants and funding

This work was supported, in whole or in part, by JSPS KAKENHI (http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/index.html) Grant Numbers 24650637 (Masayuki Shiota) and 23650617 (Hiroshi Iwao), and Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (24-2543 for Masako Tanaka). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.