Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 α (HIF1α) is an essential part of the HIF-1 transcriptional complex that regulates angiogenesis, cellular metabolism, and cancer development. In von Hippel-Lindau (VHL)-null kidney cancer cell lines, we reported previously that HIF1α proteins can be acetylated and inhibited by histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors or specific siRNA against HDAC4. To investigate the mechanism and biological consequence of the inhibition, we have generated stable HDAC4 knockdown via shRNA in VHL-positive normal and cancer cell lines. We report that HDAC4 regulates HIF1α protein acetylation and stability. Specifically, the HIF1α protein acetylation can be increased by HDAC4 shRNA and decreased by HDAC4 overexpression. HDAC4 shRNA inhibits HIF1α protein stability. In contrast, HDAC1 or HDAC3 shRNA has no such inhibitory effect. Mutations of the first five lysine residues (lysine 10, 11, 12, 19, and 21) to arginine within the HIF1α N terminus reduce protein acetylation but render the mutant HIF1α protein resistant to HDAC4 and HDACi-mediated inhibition. Functionally, in VHL-positive cancer cell lines, stable inhibition of HDAC4 decreases both the HIF-1 transcriptional activity and a subset of HIF-1 hypoxia target gene expression. On the cellular level, HDAC4 inhibition reduces the hypoxia-related increase of glycolysis and resistance to docetaxel chemotherapy. Taken together, the novel biological relationship between HDAC4 and HIF1α presented here suggests a potential role for the deacetylase enzyme in regulating HIF-1 cancer cell response to hypoxia and presents a more specific molecular target of inhibition.

Lysine acetylation regulates protein stability and function. p300 is a component of the HIF-1 transcriptional complex and positively regulates the transactivation of HIF-1. Here, we show a novel molecular mechanism by which p300 facilitates HIF-1 activity. p300 increases HIF-1α (HIF1α) protein acetylation and stability. The regulation can be opposed by HDAC1, but not by HDAC3, and is abrogated by disrupting HIF1α-p300 interaction. Mechanistically, p300 specifically acetylates HIF1α at Lys-709, which increases the protein stability and decreases polyubiquitination in both normoxia and hypoxia. Compared with the wild-type protein, a HIF1α K709A mutant protein is more stable, less polyubiquitinated, and less dependent on p300. Overexpression of the HIF1α wild-type or K709A mutant in cancer cells lacking the endogenous HIF1α shows that the K709A mutant is transcriptionally more active toward the HIF-1 reporter and some endogenous target genes. Cancer cells containing the K709A mutant are less sensitive to hypoxia-induced growth arrest than the cells containing the HIF1α wild-type. Taken together, these data demonstrate a novel biological consequence upon HIF1α-p300 interaction, in which HIF1α can be stabilized by p300 via Lys-709 acetylation.

Despite recent advances, the efficacy of androgen/androgen receptor (AR)-targeted therapy remains limited for many patients with metastatic prostate cancer. This is in part because prostate cancers adaptively switch to the androgen/AR-independent pathway for survival and growth, thereby conferring therapy resistance. Tumor hypoxia is considered as a major cause of treatment resistance. However, the exact mechanism is largely unclear. Here we report that chronic-androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in the condition of hypoxia induces adaptive androgen/AR-independence, and therefore confers resistance to androgen/AR-targeted therapy, e.g., enzalutamide. Mechanistically, this is mediated by glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (GPI), which is transcriptionally repressed by AR in hypoxia, but restored and increased by AR inhibition. In turn, GPI maintains glucose metabolism and energy homeostasis in hypoxia by redirecting the glucose flux from androgen/AR-dependent pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) to hypoxia-induced glycolysis pathway, thereby reducing the growth inhibitory effect of enzalutamide. Inhibiting GPI overcomes the therapy resistance in hypoxia in vitro and increases enzalutamide efficacy in vivo.

To identify potential mechanisms underlying prostate cancer chemotherapy response and resistance, we compared the gene expression profiles in high-risk human prostate cancer specimens before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical prostatectomy. Among the molecular signatures associated with chemotherapy, transcripts encoding inhibitor of DNA binding 1 (ID1) were significantly upregulated. The patient biochemical relapse status was monitored in a long-term follow-up. Patients with ID1 upregulation were found to be associated with longer relapse-free survival than patients without ID1 increase. This in vivo clinical association was mechanistically investigated. The chemotherapy-induced ID1 upregulation was recapitulated in the prostate cancer cell line LNCaP. Docetaxel dose-dependently induced ID1 transcription, which was mediated by ID1 promoter E-box chromatin modification and c-Myc binding. Stable ID1 overexpression in LNCaP increased cell proliferation, promoted G₁ cell cycle progression, and enhanced docetaxel-induced cytotoxicity. These changes were accompanied by a decrease in cellular mitochondria content, an increase in BCL2 phosphorylation at serine 70, caspase-3 activation, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage. In contrast, ID1 siRNA in the LNCaP and C42B cell lines reduced cell proliferation and decreased docetaxel-induced cytotoxicity by inhibiting cell death. ID1-mediated chemosensitivity enhancement was in part due to ID1 suppression of p21. Overexpression of p21 in LNCaP-ID1–overexpressing cells restored the p21 level and reversed ID1-enhanced chemosensitivity. These molecular data provide a mechanistic rationale for the observed in vivo clinical association between ID1 upregulation and relapse-free survival. Taken together, it shows that ID1 expression has a novel therapeutic role in prostate cancer chemotherapy and prognosis. Cancer Res; 70(8); 3239–48. ©2010 AACR.