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Department of Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: James Hammond, The Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine, 500 University Drive, C6636, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033. E-mail: jhammond{at}psu.edu
| ABSTRACT |
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256; a C-terminal truncation mutant that possesses a functional DNA-binding domain, but lacks a transactivation domain) causes a dramatic increase in S-phase cells (>8-fold increase by both DNA content and bromodeoxyuridine incorporation assays). Surprisingly, this is not dependent on transactivation of the p27kip gene. We provide evidence that when FoxO1a activity is impeded, p27kip protein is largely localized to the cytosol, suggesting that FoxO1a blocks cell cycle entry by altering the compartmentalization of p27kip within the cell, increasing its concentration in the nucleus. These studies demonstrate for the first time that FoxO1a can regulate p27kip nuclear localization. | INTRODUCTION |
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In other cell types, the FOXO subfamily of forkhead transcription factors transactivates a number of genes that regulate cell proliferation and survival (13, 14, 15). Growth factor activation of the PI3-kinase pathway is thought to promote proliferation and survival in part by causing phosphorylation and inactivation of FOXO family members. The FOXO factors induce genes such as the cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) inhibitor p27kip and Fas ligand, which cause cell-cycle arrest and/or apoptosis, respectively (16, 17, 18).
Overexpressing FOXO transcription factors strongly inhibits cell proliferation in a variety of cell types (16, 18, 19, 20) causing arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle (20, 21, 22, 23). This FOXO-induced cell cycle arrest effect is, in part, due to an up-regulation of p27kip (16, 20). Increased levels of p27kip cause G0/G1 arrest by inhibiting cyclin/cdk complexes necessary for S-phase entry and progression. In some cells, induction of p27kip by FOXO factors is a result of direct transcriptional activation of the p27kip gene (16, 24, 25). However, FOXO1 may also regulate p27kip posttranscriptionally by prolonging its half-life (20).
In addition to the tight control of p27kip abundance, there is also important regulation at the level of p27kip subcellular localization. Throughout the cell cycle, p27kip shuttles between the nucleus and cytoplasm, with its import/export regulated by specific phosphorylation events (26, 27, 28, 29, 30). For example, p27kip is almost exclusively nuclear during G0, but when cells are stimulated by growth factors or other mitogens, p27kip is phosphorylated on Ser10 and exported to the cytoplasm (26).
In the ovary, p27kip is hormonally regulated during follicular development and is expressed to the greatest extent in granulosa cells undergoing terminal differentiation or in fully differentiated luteal cells (31). Foxo1a is also expressed and hormonally regulated in the ovary (9, 10). In cultured granulosa cells, its phosphorylation state and subcellular localization are determined by FSH and/or IGF-I. However, virtually nothing has been established concerning the action of this factor in ovarian cells. We investigated the effects of overexpressing either a wild-type (WT) Foxo1a or a dominant-negative truncation mutant of Foxo1a. We provide evidence that FoxO1a regulates the G1/S transition in this cell system, and that p27kip is posttranscriptionally regulated by FoxO1a. Our data indicate that FoxO1a both modulates p27kip abundance and directs its subcellular localization.
| RESULTS |
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256 Increases the Expression of Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA)
256, which retains its DNA binding domain but lacks a C-terminal transactivation domain). In Fig. 1
256 construct significantly increased proliferation of granulosa cells as judged by this marker 24 h post infection (Fig. 2
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256 construct on the cell cycle distribution in granulosa cells. DNA content as determined by propidium iodide (PI) staining and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis demonstrated that expression of these constructs altered the number of granulosa cells progressing through the G1/S phase transition (Fig. 3A
256 caused a significant increase in the number of S-phase cells (61.2% vs. 7.7% of null-infected cells or 3.2% of WT-Foxo1infected cells) (Fig. 3B
256 also showed a significant increase in the number of S-phase cells detected by immunohistochemistry after bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation (Fig. 4A
256infected cells, 79.6% were labeled vs. 7.6% of null-infected cells or 5.0% of WT-Foxo1-infected cells during a 4-h BrdU pulse (Fig. 4B
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256 construct. There was a significant increase in p27kip protein in cells infected with WT-Foxo1a and a decrease in p27kip when cells were infected with Foxo1a-
256 (Fig. 5A
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256 Partially Restores the Normal Cell Cycle Distribution in Granulosa Cells
256-infected cells, we hypothesized that changes in this protein could account for the observed effects of FoxO1a on cell cycle progression. To address this issue, we infected granulosa cells with both the dominant-negative Foxo1a-
256 construct and an adenovirus expressing WT p27kip (Fig. 6
256 reduced the cell cycle entry caused by expressing Foxo1a-
256 alone by approximately 50% (35.0% S-phase vs. 66.7% S-phase, respectively) (Fig. 6
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256, we found that expression of the dominant-negative Foxo1a-
256 resulted in p27kip becoming largely localized to the cytosol, sometimes exclusively (Fig. 7A
256 was coexpressed (Fig. 7B
256 had detectable levels of p27kip in the cytosol (25% of which were cells with p27kip predominantly or exclusively in the cytosol).
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256-infected cells that were also infected with WT-p27kip (Fig. 8
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| DISCUSSION |
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Forkhead transcription factors have been implicated in a remarkable number of diverse cellular processes from development and metabolism, to stress and aging, to proliferation and programmed cell death, depending on the family member and the system being studied (33, 34). Investigations focused on the FOXO subfamily have demonstrated that these transcription factors regulate the expression of a number of genes that are critical for the proliferative status of the cell as well as, in some tissues, genes involved in programmed cell death (15, 15, 35). Because we could not predict whether overexpression of WT-Foxo1a or the dominant-negative Foxo1a would result in an altered growth and/or a survival phenotype, our first set of studies examined DNA content 24 h after infection with either of the adenoviral constructs.
By FACS analysis, we did not find a major difference in apoptosis (n < 1) between the constructs at 24 h post transduction. However, caspase-3, a late marker of apoptosis, was activated by Western blot analysis in WT-Foxo1-infected cells (data not shown). The role of FoxO1a in granulosa cell death or survival must await more exacting studies.
A more dramatic effect was observed in the cell cycle profiles obtained by FACS. We immediately observed a significant increase in the number of cells in S-phase (DNA between 1N and 2N as calculated by ModFit software) when the dominant-negative Foxo1a-
256 was expressed (Fig. 3
). This was in agreement with the increase in PCNA (Fig. 2
) and the increase in BrdU incorporation we found in these dominant negative-expressing granulosa cells (Fig. 4
).
Several reports have revealed that FOXO-induced cell cycle arrest either correlates with, or in one case is dependent upon, p27kip expression (16, 20, 22). Proliferation of mammalian cells is under strict control, and p27kip is an essential participant in this regulation both in vitro and in vivo, along with multiple other components. First identified as an inhibitor of cyclin E-cdk2, p27kip arrests the cell cycle in G0 or early G1 when overexpressed in cultured cells (36, 37). It is well established that p27kip levels are highest in quiescent cells and decline in response to growth factors or other mitogenic stimuli. The critical role of p27kip in regulation of proliferation is perhaps best illustrated in the p27kip knockout mouse, which exhibits gigantism due to increased cell number (38, 39). In addition, the female p27kip/ mice are sterile (38, 39). Thus, p27kip appears to play an important role in fertility of normal cycling animals, which exhibit an increase in p27kip in follicular cells when they cease growing after ovulation (31).
Based on reports in the literature in other cell systems, we hypothesized that altered levels of p27kip expression might be mediating the changes in G1/S progression we observed in our granulosa cells as a result of infection with the Foxo1a adenoviral constructs. Subsequently, we determined that endogenous p27kip protein levels were indeed increased when the WT-Foxo1a was expressed, and decreased when Foxo1a-
256 was expressed, as predicted (Fig. 5A
). In contrast to several other reports, we did not find altered mRNA levels of p27kip under our culture conditions (Fig. 5B
), suggesting that transcriptional regulation of p27kip by FoxO1a did not account for the observed changes in cell cycle profiles, but rather was due to some posttranscriptional mechanism.
Multiple posttranscriptional mechanisms are known to regulate p27kip activity, which is controlled not only by its concentration, but also by its distribution among different cellular complexes, and its subcellular localization (37). One of the key mechanisms involved in controlling levels of p27kip in cycling cells is targeted degradation by the ubiquitin-proteosome system (26, 40). This pathway may play a role in the Foxo1a-
256-dependent decrease in p27kip in granulosa cells because cells expressing the dominant-negative Foxo1a-
256 exhibit a decrease in p27kip that is partially reversed by treatment of the cells with a general proteasome inhibitor, MG132 (data not shown). This would indicate a role for FoxO1a in stabilizing p27kip by counteracting proteosome-mediated proteolysis in some way, although this mechanism remains to be elucidated. This pathway (which is well supported in the literature) will be investigated in more detail in future studies.
Our initial studies (Figs. 24![]()
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) suggested that levels of p27kip correlated inversely with S-phase entry induced by experimental changes in FoxO1a activity. To examine the role of p27kip more directly, we overexpressed this protein in cells expressing the dominant-negative Foxo1-
256. Overexpressing WT-p27kip inhibited entry into the cell cycle but it only reduced the effect of Foxo1-
256 on granulosa cell S-phase entry by about 50% (Fig. 6
). Immunohistochemical experiments allowed us to verify that these cells coexpressed both constructs. In addition, these studies showed dramatic differences in p27kip localization within the cell. Blocking FoxO1a resulted in decreased nuclear p27kip. Because nuclear localization is a prerequisite for p27kip to function as a cell cycle regulator, our data suggest a novel FoxO1-mediated regulatory mechanism of p27kip, whereby its inhibitory properties are functionally activated or maintained.
Recently, data in other systems have also indicated that compartmentalization of p27kip during cell cycle progression plays a critical role in the actions and regulation of this protein. Multiple reports have shown that p27kip is almost completely nuclear in G0, whereas mitogenic stimulation causes cytoplasmic redistribution (26, 41, 42). It has been suggested that phosphorylation of p27kip on Ser10 and Thr157, by specific kinases such as kinase-interacting stathmin and Akt, are largely responsible for this compartmentalization (27, 28, 29, 30). Our data suggest that FoxO1a also modulates p27kip subcellular localization, although the mechanism of this effect is unknown. FoxO1a may induce, or indirectly repress, the expression of an intermediate phosphatase or kinase, respectively, which then regulates the phosphorylation and subcellular localization of p27kip. When FoxO1a is inhibited, as with FSH (9, 10) or a dominant-negative Foxo1a construct, the abundance of p27kip in the nucleus may fall below the threshold required for activation of cyclin-cdk2 complexes (30, 42, 43). This concept is supported by the fact that G1 nuclear export of p27kip precedes both cdk2 activation and degradation of the bulk of p27kip (43). In the cytosol, p27kip likely fails to inhibit events involved in the G1/S transition and may be susceptible to other regulatory processes that affect its stability/ degradation.
In the ovary, data have suggested that granulosa cell proliferation during follicular development is regulated, at least in part, by gonadotropins and estradiol that increase levels of cyclin D2 (the major cyclin D isoform in granulosa cells) relative to levels of p27kip (31). As discussed above, this relative difference may be achieved by altering the abundance or the localization of p27kip. In our previous study, we demonstrated that IGF-I and FSH regulate FoxO1a compartmentalization, and thus activity (10). p27kip also appears to be regulated by its compartmentalization. One explanation for these data could be that FoxO1a acts as a chaperone for p27kip, binding and escorting it out of the nucleus. However, to date, we have not found a protein-protein interaction between FoxO1a and p27kip by coimmunoprecipitation studies (data not shown).
This report demonstrates for the first time that FoxO1a plays a role in regulation of p27kip and the cell cycle in granulosa cells. Although much remains to be learned about these phenomena, this overexpression strategy has been useful to provide a first functional analysis of FoxO1a in granulosa cells and has shed new light on cell cycle regulation by these factors. To combat misinterpretation due to significant overexpression of these constructs, it will be necessary to complement these studies with others examining endogenous FoxO1a to confirm these findings. The expression and regulation of FoxO1a (and the genes and proteins it regulates, in turn) are extremely relevant to the ovary where they may govern granulosa cell replication and follicle growth.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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256. In certain experiments, cells were coinfected with a WT-p27kip-expressing adenovirus. Infection was carried out at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) = 10 in all cases. The Foxo1a adenoviral constructs were gifts from D. Accili (College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY) and were constructed as described in Ref. 45 . The WT-p27kip adenovirus was the gift of K. H. Park (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN) and C. T. Lee (Seoul National University, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea), and was constructed as described in (46). These viruses were amplified in monolayer cultures of 293 cells and plaque assays were performed to determine titers of virus in crude cell lysates, using standard methods as described in (47, 48). Granulosa cells were infected with lysates during a 1.5-h adsorption period in serum-free medium that was subsequently replaced with 3% FBS medium for 24 h.
Antibodies and Reagents
The following primary antibodies were used for this study: rabbit anti-HA (hemagglutin), mouse anti-HA, rabbit anti-p27kip (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA), mouse anti-BrdU (Oncogene Research Products/Calbiochem, San Diego, CA), and mouse antiactin (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO). Secondary antibodies include: antirabbit IgG-horseradish peroxidase and antimouse IgG-horseradish peroxidase (Santa Cruz Biotechnology), Texas Red-conjugated antimouse Ig(H&L), FITC-conjugated antirabbit Ig(H&L), and FITC-conjugated antimouse Ig(H&L) (Southern Biotechnology Associates, Inc., Birmingham, AL). All other reagents were from Sigma-Aldrich.
Immunoblot Analysis
Cells were harvested 24 h after infection. Whole cell lysates were prepared by scraping granulosa cells in 250 µl of cold lysis buffer [20 mM HEPES (pH 7.9), 150 mM NaCl, 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 1.0% Nonidet P-40] with additional protease and phosphatase inhibitors (2 µg/µl leupeptin, 2 µg/ul aprotinin, 2 µg/µl pepstatin, 0.2 mM EDTA, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 1 mM sodium fluoride) and 0.5 mM dithiothreitol. Protein concentrations were determined by a protein assay (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA). SDS-PAGE sample buffer was added and the samples were heat denatured. Proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE (412% gradient acrylamide running gel), and transferred to nitrocellulose. The membranes were blocked in 5% nonfat milk in TBS-T [10 mM Tris (pH 7.5), 150 mM NaCl, and 0.1% Tween 20] for 1 h at room temperature, and probed with primary antibody (1:1000) for 1.5 h at room temperature (or overnight at 4 C). After a series of 5-min TBS-T washes, the blot was incubated with a secondary antibody (1:5000) for 1 h at room temperature. The membrane was washed two times (20 min) in TBS-T and antigen-antibody complexes were visualized using enhanced chemiluminescence reagents (Amersham Pharmacia, Piscataway, NJ) exposed on Kodak Biomax Light film (Rochester, NY). Quantitation of bands was performed using a Molecular Dynamics densitometer (Sunnyvale, CA) and Bio-Rad Quantity One software.
RT-PCR
Total RNA was extracted from granulosa cells using the RNeasy RNA isolation kit (QIAGEN, Valencia, CA) according to the manufacturer. Reverse transcription was carried out using Superscript II (Invitrogen Life Technologies). Briefly, 2 µg of total RNA were mixed with 1 µM oligo-deoxythymidine16 primer (Roche/Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) and incubated at 70 C for 10 min. Reactions were placed on ice for 5 min and mixed with dithiothreitol, deoxynucleotide triphosphates, 5x reverse transcriptase buffer, and incubated at 42 C for 5 min. Superscript II ribonuclease H-reverse transcriptase was then added and the reaction was carried out at 42 C for 1 h and terminated by incubating at 70 C for 15 min.
The following oligonucleotides were synthesized for use as PCR primers: 5'-ATAAAGTCCTTCCCGCTGAC-3' (p27kip sense); 5'-GGCTCCTTAGAAACTCCCTTG-3' (p27kip antisense); 5'-AAGCCTGTGACTGTCCATTCC-3' (L19 sense); 5'-TGCTCCATGAGAATCCGCTTG-3' (L19 antisense). After activating Taq for 3 min at 95 C, PCR was carried out for 29 cycles (denaturing at 94 C for 30 sec, annealing at 58 C for 30 sec, and extension at 72 C for 45 sec) in a 50-µl reaction containing cDNA, 100 nM of each gene-specific primer, 10x PCR buffer, deoxynucleotide triphosphate, and JumpStart Taq Polymerase (Sigma-Aldrich). The PCR products were electrophoresed on a 1.2% agarose gel. Preliminary experiments with varying cycle number and/or varying template concentrations showed the result depicted to be on the linear portion of the amplification curve.
Cell Cycle Analysis
DNA content of infected granulosa cells was determined by PI staining of DNA and FACS analysis. Cells were collected and washed in PBS before being fixed in ice-cold 70% ethanol overnight. Cells were then centrifuged (800 rpm for 10 min) and the supernatant was removed. Cells were resuspended in Vindelovs reagent [1 M Tris-buffered saline (pH 7.6), ribonuclease A (10 µg/ml), PI (50 µg/ml), and 0.1% Nonidet P-40] and incubated for 1.5 h at room temperature. A 40-µm mesh was used to filter cells before being analyzed on the FACScan (Becton-Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ). Data analysis was performed using ModFit LT software (Verity Software House, Inc., Topsham, ME).
Immunocytochemical Analysis
Granulosa cells were plated on glass chamber slides (Nalge Nunc International, Naperville, IL) and grown as above. They were infected with one or more adenoviral constructs for 1.5 h and maintained in 3% FBS for 24 h. For BrdU incorporation experiments, BrdU (10 µM) was added directly to the culture medium at 20 h post infection (4-h pulse). Cells were then washed twice in PBS and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for 10 min. After two 5-min washes in PBS, the cells were permeabilized in acetone/methanol (1:1) for 1 min and washed twice more in PBS. The fixed cells were then blocked in 1% normal goat serum for 1 h and incubated with primary antibody overnight at 4 C. After three 10-min washes in PBS, the cells were incubated with a goat secondary antibody for 2 h and Hoechst 33342 (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR) for 15 min. Visualization and morphometric analysis took place on an IX50 inverted system microscope (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan) using SPOT RT software (Diagnostic Instruments, Inc., Sterling Heights, MI).
Statistics
Each result depicted reflects data from at least three independent experiments. For critical points, multiple independent experiments were quantified and analyzed by ANOVA with a Tukeys post hoc test (GraphPad Prism software, San Diego, CA).
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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256, and Paul Park (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN) and Choon-Taek Lee (Seoul National University, College of Medicine, Seoul Korea) for Ad-WT-p27kip. We thank David Spector for technical advice, and Michael Verderame and Patrick Quinn (all from Penn State University, College of Medicine, Hershey, PA) for comments on the manuscript. | FOOTNOTES |
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Abbreviations: BrdU, Bromodeoxyuridine; cdk, cyclin-dependent kinase; FACS, fluorescence-activated cell sorting; FBS, fetal bovine serum; FITC, fluorescein isothiocyanate; HA, hemagglutin; PCNA, proliferating cell nuclear antigen; PI, propidium iodide; PI3-kinase, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; WT, wild-type.
Received for publication February 18, 2004. Accepted for publication April 6, 2004.
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