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Journal of Virology, March 2007, p. 2102-2116, Vol. 81, No. 5
0022-538X/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.02348-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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Department of Genetics,1 Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 065102
Received 26 October 2006/ Accepted 11 December 2006
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We and others have described a model of induced senescence in cervical cancer cells (36, 57, 88). Cervical carcinogenesis is initiated by persistent infection of cervical keratinocytes with a high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), such as HPV16 or HPV18. Cervical carcinoma cells continuously express the HPV E6 and E7 oncogenes, resulting in sustained inactivation of the p53 and Rb pathways, respectively (54, 58). Repression of the E6 and E7 genes in cervical carcinoma cell lines such as HeLa cells by expression of the bovine papillomavirus (BPV) E2 transcriptional repressor reactivates the endogenous p53 and Rb pathways and induces a robust senescence response that proceeds rapidly and synchronously and becomes irreversible by 5 days after E2 expression (20, 24, 36, 41, 42, 45, 57, 88). Constitutive expression of the HPV16 E6 and E7 genes in HeLa cells can prevent BPV E2-induced senescence, demonstrating that HPV repression is required for this response (18, 27, 33, 34, 36, 45, 63, 64, 68). In contrast, high-level expression of HPV E2 proteins can result in cellular effects independently of E6/E7 repression (9, 19, 28, 66, 84).
To initiate a genetic dissection of the pathways leading to senescence in response to HPV repression, we engineered HeLa cells to constitutively express an exogenous HPV16 E6 gene (18). Repression of the endogenous HPV18 E7 gene in these cells by E2 expression activates the Rb but not the p53 pathway, which remains dormant because of enforced expression of HPV16 E6. Nevertheless, E7 repression efficiently induces senescence in these cells, demonstrating that p53 induction is not required for senescence (18). Genetic studies strongly suggest that this induced senescence response requires activation of the Rb family (63, 70, 88). In addition, inactivation of the Rb pathway in primary keratinocytes is required to bypass replicative senescence (22, 48) and Rb-dependent heterochromatic foci are a hallmark of cells undergoing replicative senescence (60). These findings indicate that the Rb family also plays a major role in regulating replicative senescence.
The best characterized E7 targets are p105Rb, p107, and p130, which comprise the Rb family. Rb family members regulate transcription primarily by modulating the activity of the E2F family of transcription factors (30). Complexes composed of E2F and Rb family members actively repress transcription of numerous genes required for cellular DNA replication and cell cycle progression by recruitment of chromatin-modifying enzymes, including histone deactylases, to the promoters of these genes (11). Expression of the E7 protein disrupts Rb/E2F complexes and stimulates degradation of the Rb family, relieving repression and converting E2F family members into transcriptional activators, resulting in cell cycle progression (58). Rb family members can also interact with a number of transcriptional activators, including c-jun and chromatin remodeling proteins (e.g., see references 26, 62, 65, 80, and 94).
The E7 protein binds numerous other proteins in addition to members of the Rb family (58), but the functional consequences of these interactions are poorly characterized. Therefore, in order to understand the mechanistic basis of induced senescence in cervical cancer cells, it is important to determine which of the transcriptional consequences of HPV E7 repression are caused by activation of the Rb pathway and which do not require Rb activation, and to explore the molecular basis for the transcriptional response to Rb activation. In addition as noted above, in some situations, papillomavirus E2 proteins can exert effects independently of HPV repression (9, 19-21, 28, 66, 84), presumably by binding and influencing the activity of cellular genes or proteins (e.g., see references 56 and 72). Therefore, although BPV E2-induced senescence requires E7 repression, it is also important to determine whether changes in gene expression that occur following E2 expression are solely due to repression of the endogenous HPV oncogenes or also require other effects of the E2 protein.
To address these issues, we conducted RNA microarray analysis on senescing HeLa cells in the absence of p53 activation. Our results revealed that few, if any, cellular genes are directly regulated by the BPV E2 protein or by responses to E7 repression independent of Rb family activation. Rather, the entire transcriptional response to the BPV E2 protein is mediated by E7 repression and activation of the Rb pathway. Our studies also provided insight into the mechanistic basis for the resulting transcriptional profile and senescent phenotype and revealed substantial overlap between Rb family-induced senescence and replicative senescence, suggesting that common transcriptional events may underlie both processes.
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21-24-28 stable cell lines referred to here as the E6, E6E7, and E6E7
21-24 cells, respectively, were previously described (70). HeLa cells constitutively expressing the HPV16 E6 gene and either the wild-type adenovirus 5 13S E1A gene (E6/E1A cells) or E1A with a point mutation (C124G) in the Rb-binding domain (E6/E1A-C124G cells) were generated by infecting HeLa/16E6-5K cells (single-cell cloned from HeLa/16E6-5 cells) (18) with retroviral stocks generated from pBabe-13S E1A or pBabe-13S E1A-C124G. Cells were pooled after 2 days of selection in 0.4 µg/ml puromycin. To generate HeLa cells constitutively expressing the HPV16 E6 gene and DEK (E6/DEK) or B-MYB (E6/BM), full-length DEK cDNA (Invitrogen Mammalian Gene Collection [IMGC], clone 5122743) was cloned into the pLPCX retroviral vector and full-length B-MYB (IMGC, clone 3162656) was cloned into the pBabe-Puro retroviral vector. Concentrated retrovirus was used to infect HeLa/16E6-5K cells. Cells were plated at low density and selected for 5 to 6 days in medium containing 0.4 µg/ml puromycin. After further incubation in the absence of selection, individual colonies were expanded to generate clonal cell lines. Lines maintaining a high level of expression of each transcription factor mRNA after expression of the E2 protein, as assessed by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), were selected for further analysis. To generate HeLa/E6 cells constitutively expressing the TAM67 dominant-negative deletion mutant of c-jun, the TAM67 c-jun gene was released from pLRT-TAM67 (46) with BamHI and cloned into the pBabe-Puro retroviral vector to generate pBabe-Puro-TAM67. Concentrated control Babe-Puro or Babe-Puro-TAM67 retrovirus was used to infect HeLa/16E6-5K cells, and cells were pooled after 2 days of selection in puromycin (0.4 µg/ml) to generate the E6/pBabe and E6/TAM67 cells, respectively. Primary human foreskin fibroblasts were harvested at passage 8 or serially passaged 1:4 until passage 26, at which time they had reached senescence. All cells were maintained in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 10 mM HEPES (pH 7.3), penicillin, and streptomycin. Retroviruses were generated by cotransfecting 293T cells with the retroviral plasmids of interest, pVSVg (Clontech) and pCL-ECO (61). Retroviral supernatants were harvested in OptiMEM every 24 h for 3 to 4 days, pooled, and concentrated with Centricon Ultracel PL-30 columns (Microcon). Cells were infected at a multiplicity of infection of 2 to 3 and selected in puromycin. The wild-type BPV E2 protein or E2 with a point mutation in the DNA-binding domain (E2C340R) was expressed by infection at a multiplicity of infection of 20 with high-titer recombinant simian virus 40 (SV40) viruses (E2 virus or E2 mutant virus), amplified and with the titer determined as previously described (35, 59).
Microarray analysis.
A total of 1 x 106 E6, E6E7, or E6E7
21-24 cells were plated per 150-mm-diameter dish and mock infected or infected with the mutant or wild-type E2 virus the following day. Two days later, inhibition of DNA synthesis by expression of the wild-type E2 protein was confirmed by measuring bromodeoxyuridine incorporation using a cell proliferation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay bromodeoxyuridine kit (Roche), and repression of the endogenous HPV18 E7 gene was confirmed by qRT-PCR. Three days after mock infection or infection with a virus expressing the wild-type or mutant E2 protein, cells were trypsinized and 1 x 106 cells were replated per 150-mm dish. Because expression of the E2 protein from the nonreplicating vector is diluted over time in proliferating cells, the E6E7 cells were reinfected with the E2 or E2 mutant virus at 4 days after the initial infection. Six days after the initial infection, total RNA was prepared using Qiashredder columns, the RNeasy Midi kit, and the RNase-free DNase set (QIAGEN). Three biological replicates of each cell sample were analyzed, one of which was hybridized twice. Labeled cDNA probes were prepared and microarrays were hybridized using protocols provided by the Keck Microarray Resource (KMR) at Yale University. Briefly, 50 µg of RNA concentrated using Microcon YM-30 columns (Millipore) was primed with random hexamers and oligo(dT) and reverse transcribed at 42°C for 2 h using Superscript II reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen) in the presence of 500 µM each dATP, dCTP, and dGTP and 200 µM each dTTP and amino-allyl dUTP. Reaction mixtures were treated with sodium hydroxide at 65°C for 20 min to remove the RNA template, neutralized, and purified using the CyScribe GFX purification kit (Amersham Biosciences) according to manufacturer's instructions, except columns were washed with 80% ethanol and samples were eluted with 0.1 M sodium bicarbonate, pH 9.0. Samples were labeled with Cy3 or Cy5 monoreactive dye (Amersham Biosciences) for 90 min in the dark. Reactions were quenched with ethanolamine, and the labeled cDNA probes were purified using the CyScribe GFX purification kit (Amersham Biosciences). Three micrograms each of differentially labeled E2-infected or control samples were mixed for each hybridization reaction, with the dyes used to label the E2-infected and control samples swapped in half of the replicates. Microarray slides were prepared by the KMR and contained approximately 28,000 unique oligonucleotide probes derived from the Human Genome Oligo set V2.0 and V3.0 (Operon) representing approximately 24,000 genes. Slides were covered with 22- by 60-mm LifterSlips (Erie Scientific), prehybridized at 55°C for 1 h, hybridized at 55°C overnight in Gene Machines hybridization chambers, washed, and scanned in an Axon GenePix 4000A scanner. Using the GenePix Pro3 software (Axon), spots were automatically detected and then the position and quality of each spot were manually confirmed. The Cy3 and Cy5 fluorescent intensities of each spot were quantified. Data for spots of good quality in which the fluorescence intensity was
3x above background in at least one channel were uploaded to the GeneSpring program (Silicone Genetics), and those genes which satisfied these criteria in at least half of the replicates were defined as expressed. A lowess normalization was applied, and the ratio of fluorescent intensities in the E2-infected samples and control samples was determined for each gene. Significant expression changes in HeLa cells were defined as a twofold or greater change in expression with a t test P value of
0.001. The gene ontology feature of GeneSpring and the online Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery 2006 (DAVID 2006) were used to classify genes according to function and subcellular location.
RNA for the microarray analysis of replicative senescence was harvested from the same strain of primary human foreskin fibroblasts at passage 8 and passage 26. Preparation of RNA, labeling of cDNA probes, hybridization of differentially labeled probes from senescent and proliferating cell samples to microarray slides, and data analysis were performed as described above for HeLa cells, except significant expression changes were defined as a twofold or greater change in expression with a t test P value of
0.01.
qRT-PCR. RNA for qRT-PCR was prepared 6 days after mock infection or wild-type E2 infection as described above for the microarrays. RNA was converted to cDNA using the iScript cDNA synthesis kit (Bio-Rad), and qRT-PCR was performed with Hot-Start iTaq DNA polymerase using 40 ng of cDNA and the iQ SYBR green supermix (Bio-Rad) in a single-color i-Cycler (Bio-Rad). Gene-specific primers were designed using the Universal ProbeLibrary ProbeFinder software (Roche). Results were normalized to expression of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, which did not change in response to the E2 protein.
Western blots. A total of 1 x 106 cells were lysed in 2x sample buffer (4% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 200 mM dithiothreitol, 300 mM Tris-HCl, pH 6.8, 20% glycerol, 5% ß-mercaptoethanol, 0.04% bromophenol blue). Lysates were cleared by centrifugation, and Western blot analysis was performed as previously described (70) using c-jun (D) primary antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc.) and horseradish peroxidase-conjugated donkey anti-rabbit secondary antibody (Jackson ImmunoResearch).
Gene knockdown. Short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) specifically targeting the Rb family members (p105Rb, p107, and p130), DEK, and B-MYB were designed using the BLOCK-iT RNA interference designer (Invitrogen). The following shRNAs were used for each gene: p105 sh#3, 5'-GGAAAGGACATGTGAACTTATCGAAATAAGTTCACATGTCCTTTCC-3'; p107 sh#1, 5'-GCACCAAGTGACCAACTTATACGAATATAAGTTGGTCACTTGGTGC-3'; p130 sh#1, 5'-GCATAGCTTGAGTCGTCTTCACGAATGAAGACGACTCAAGCTATGC-3'; DEK sh#1, 5'-GGAAGGCTAAGCGAACCAAATCGAAATTTGGTTCGCTTAGCCTTCC-3'; DEK sh#2, 5'-GCCTCGAAAGTGTCATCAATTCGAAAATTGATGACACTTTCGAGGC-3'; DEK sh#3, 5'-GCTTTCAGAGTTTGGTTAATCCGAAGATTAACCAAACTCTGAAAGC-3'; MYB sh#1, 5'-GAACTTCCAGTCCTGCTGTCCACGAATGGACAGCAGGACTGGAAG-3'; and MYB sh#2, 5'-GAAGTTCAGAAACTGGGAGGGCCGAAGCCCTCCCAGTTTCTGAAC-3'. These shRNAs were cloned into the pSIREN-RetroQ retroviral vector (BD Biosciences), in which expression of the shRNA was driven by the human U6 promoter. The negative control vector expresses a scrambled sequence that does not form a hairpin. To generate E6/shRbFam cells, serial infections with concentrated retrovirus were used to express p105 sh#3, p107 sh#1, and p130 sh#1 in HeLa/16E6-5K cells. After each infection, cells were selected for 2 to 3 days in medium containing 0.4 µg/ml puromycin, expanded, and screened by Western blotting or qRT-PCR for Rb family member knockdown. To inhibit expression of DEK and B-MYB in primary fibroblasts, concentrated retrovirus was used to infect proliferating primary human foreskin fibroblasts at passage 16. Cells were selected in 0.6 µg/ml puromycin for 4 to 5 days and stained 6 days later for SAß-gal activity at pH 6.0, as previously described (23).
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RNA was isolated in three independent experiments from E6 cells 6 days after mock infection or infection with the BPV E2 virus. This time point was chosen because preliminary studies showed that the vast majority of gene expression changes increased progressively following BPV E2 expression, and this time point allowed us to capture these changes with high statistical confidence. The RNA was reverse transcribed into cDNA and fluorescently labeled, and differentially labeled cDNAs from control cells and cells expressing the E2 protein were mixed and hybridized to arrays representing approximately 24,000 genes, 13,635 of which were expressed in E6 cells. The transcriptional response of these genes to E2 expression is shown in Fig. 1A, in which the relative expression of each gene is represented by a symbol. Using a P value cutoff of
0.001 applied to genes regulated twofold or more by E2 expression, 224 genes were induced and 352 genes were repressed. Thus, approximately 4% of the expressed genes were regulated twofold or more by the introduction of the BPV E2 gene into E6 cells.
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FIG. 1. E2 expression induces many changes in cellular gene expression in E6 cells. Each symbol represents a different gene, and genes are ordered along the x axis by change in expression in E6 cells in response to the E2 protein compared to mock-infected cells. Change in expression at 6 days after E2 expression is graphed on the y axis on a logarithmic scale. Blue symbols represent change after E2 expression in E6 cells when mock infection is used as a control. Green symbols represent change after E2 expression in E6 cells when infection with the E2 mutant is used as a control. (A) All 13,635 genes expressed in E6 cells. (B) A total of 352 genes repressed 2x in E6 cells in comparison to mock infection (P 0.001). (C) A total of 224 genes induced 2x in E6 cells in comparison to mock infection (P 0.001).
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In fact, the wild-type BPV E2 protein generated essentially the same transcriptional profile when either control sample was used. Figure 1B shows genes repressed twofold or more in E6 cells by the wild-type E2 protein, and Fig. 1C shows genes induced twofold or more. Similar levels of repression and induction of all of these genes occurred when either infection with the E2 mutant (green symbols) or mock infection (blue symbols) was used as a control sample. The repression of two poorly expressed genes (bottom 7th percentile of expressed genes) appeared partially blocked when the E2 mutant was used as a control, but qRT-PCR analysis demonstrated that both genes were repressed to similar extents in comparison to either control. Therefore, although it is possible that direct effects of virus infection occur at very early time points, virus infection per se does not affect the expression of any cellular genes at 6 days after infection. Furthermore, the DNA binding activity of the BPV E2 protein is required for its transcriptional effects.
Confirmation of regulated gene expression during senescence. To confirm the induction and repression of selected genes, independent RNA samples isolated from E6 cells at 6 days after infection with the wild-type or mutant E2 virus were analyzed by Northern blotting. This analysis confirmed that the HPV18 oncogenes and a major repressed cellular gene (FOXM1) were highly expressed in mutant-infected cells and displayed a substantial repression in response to the wild-type E2 protein and that a major induced gene (PSCA) was expressed at a low level in cells infected with the virus expressing the E2 mutant and underwent a substantial induction in response to the wild-type E2 protein (data not shown).
qRT-PCR analysis was used to examine the expression of a larger number of genes in a quantitative fashion. This analysis revealed excellent agreement with the microarray data, although in most cases the amplitude of the change was greater according to qRT-PCR. The NADH dehydrogenase (ubiquinone) 1ß gene (NDUFB10), a gene that did not change in expression by microarray analysis, similarly showed no change when expression was assessed by qRT-PCR (Fig. 2A). In contrast, all 20 genes examined that were repressed by microarray analysis were also repressed when assessed by qRT-PCR (Fig. 2A) (data not shown). Similarly, we confirmed the induction of 38 out of 39 (>97%) of the induced genes (Fig. 2B) (data not shown). Therefore, the microarray results are an accurate reflection of gene expression changes in response to the E2 protein.
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FIG. 2. Confirmation of significantly induced and repressed genes in E6 cells by quantitative real-time PCR. Change in expression at 6 days after E2 infection of E6 cells compared to mock infection, as detected by qRT-PCR normalized to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase expression, is graphed for selected repressed (A) and induced (B) genes. NDUFB10 is a gene that did not change in expression on the array and is shown as a control in panel A.
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FIG. 3. p53 pathway is not activated during induced senescence in E6 cells. Genes expressed in E6 cells were divided into six bins according to the magnitude of expression changes at 6 days after expression of the E2 protein compared to mock infection. The total number of genes in each bin is graphed for all 13,635 expressed genes (top panel) and the 72 p53-responsive genes expressed in E6 cells (bottom panel).
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21-24 cell line (E6E7
21-24 cells) constitutively expresses the HPV16 E6 gene and an HPV16 E7 mutant that is defective for binding and degrading Rb family members (70). This mutant does not block E2-induced senescence (70), but retains other E7 activities (3, 39, 40, 52). Therefore, any E2-induced changes in gene expression that are blocked by expression of the mutant E7 gene in E6E7
21-24 cells are likely Rb family-independent responses to E7 repression, whereas expression changes dependent on the Rb family should not be blocked by this mutant. As predicted, transient assays with an E2F-responsive reporter gene demonstrated that HPV18 E7 repression activated the Rb/E2F repressor pathway in E6 cells and that activation of the Rb pathway was blocked by constitutive expression of the wild-type HPV16 E7 protein in the E6E7 cells but not the E7 mutant in the E6E7
21-24 cells (data not shown). Microarray analysis was used to examine the global effect of the BPV E2 protein in the face of constitutive expression of the HPV16 E7 protein (Fig. 4). The repression and induction of essentially all of the genes significantly affected by the wild-type E2 protein in E6 cells (green symbols) were substantially inhibited by the wild-type HPV16 E7 protein (purple symbols). The five symbols representing genes significantly repressed by the E2 protein in E6E7 cells corresponded to the endogenous HPV18 DNA (circled symbols in Fig. 4, top panel). One gene appeared repressed by the E2 protein to a far greater extent in E6E7 cells, but because of the quality of the data for this gene, repression was not statistically significant (P = 0.2). Thus, gene induction and repression by the E2 protein were blocked by constitutive expression of the wild-type E7 protein in the E6E7 cells, indicating that transcriptional effects of the BPV E2 protein 6 days after E2 introduction require E7 repression.
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FIG. 4. Comparison between the transcriptional profiles of E6 cells (green), E6E7 cells (purple), and E6E7 21-24 cells (black) after expression of the E2 protein. Change in expression at 6 days after E2 infection is graphed for the genes repressed (top panel) or induced (bottom panel) twofold or more (P 0.001) in E6 cells compared to infection with the E2 mutant. Because the magnitude of gene expression changes was, in general, slightly decreased when infection with the E2 mutant virus rather than mock infection was used as a control, according to these criteria, the E2 protein induced 175 genes and repressed 294 genes. Each symbol indicates a different gene, ordered along the x axis by change in expression in E6 cells. Circled symbols correspond to integrated HPV DNA.
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Global transcriptional response to BPV E2 expression requires Rb family activation.
To determine whether there was a component of the transcriptional response to E7 repression that was independent of Rb family activation, we examined E2-mediated gene expression changes in E6E7
21-24 cells. As shown in Fig. 4, the transcriptional responses to BPV E2 expression were essentially identical in the E6 cells (green symbols) and the E6E7
21-24 cells (black symbols), but clearly divergent from the pattern in E6E7 cells (purple symbols). In fact, the vast majority (
98%) of genes were induced or repressed to similar extents in E6 cells and E6E7
21-24 cells. The expression of the handful of genes that appeared divergent in these two cell lines was assayed by qRT-PCR analysis of independent RNA samples. This analysis revealed that four of these induced genes did in fact display Rb family-dependent regulation and that the expression of the other outliers was either undetectable or was not regulated by E2 expression in E6 cells (data not shown). Thus, we did not identify a single gene that was regulated in an Rb family-independent manner. The inability of the HPV16 E7 mutant to block the transcriptional response to HPV18 E7 repression strongly suggests that the major expression changes during senescence induced by E7 repression were dependent on activation of the Rb family.
As an independent assessment of the role of the Rb family in generating the transcriptional profile after E7 repression, we analyzed E6 cells expressing either a wild-type adenovirus type 5 13S E1A protein, which binds and inactivates Rb family members, or 13S E1A-C124G, which contains a mutation in the LXCXE motif that prevents binding to p105Rb and p130, but retains a reduced ability to bind p107 (17). Other than the sequences required for the binding and degradation of the Rb family, the sequences of E7 and E1A are largely unrelated (69). The wild-type and mutant E1A proteins were expressed at similar levels, and the wild-type but not the mutant E1A protein prevented E2-mediated senescence (data not shown). RNA was isolated from these cells 6 days after mock infection or infection with the E2 virus and analyzed by qRT-PCR. Genes identified as being repressed or induced by microarray analysis of E6 cells were also repressed or induced in cells expressing the E1A mutant deficient for binding Rb family members, but regulation of these genes was markedly inhibited by expression of wild-type E1A, despite effective repression of the endogenous E7 gene in these cells (Fig. 5A and B). These results provide independent evidence that induction and repression of the vast majority of genes during induced senescence are dependent on activation of the Rb family.
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FIG. 5. Effect of adenovirus E1A on gene induction and repression by the E2 protein. Expression of selected repressed (A) and induced (B) genes was examined by qRT-PCR at 6 days after repeated E2 infection of E6/E1A cells (black) or E6/E1A-C124G cells (gray), compared to mock infection, and normalized for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase expression.
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FIG. 6. Short hairpin RNAs targeting the Rb family block E2-induced senescence and gene induction. (A) E6 cells or E6/shRbFam cells were stained for senescence-associated ß-galactosidase activity 10 days after mock infection or repeated E2 infection. (B) Expression of selected induced genes was examined by qRT-PCR analysis of RNA harvested 6 days after repeated E2 infection of E6 cells (gray) or E6/shRbFam cells (black), compared to mock infection, and normalized to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase expression.
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0.001) were present in the DAVID 2006 database. Nineteen percent of these 336 genes were classified as cell cycle-related genes, and the P value for this classification (a measure of overrepresentation of a functional category compared to its representation in the Homo sapiens proteome) was 2.7E-29. Twenty-six genes involved in DNA repair and 33 genes involved in mitosis, some of which were also in the cell cycle class, were repressed (P values of 3.6E-14 and 2.1E-27, respectively). |
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TABLE 1. Top 20 significantly induced genes in HeLa/16E6 cells
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TABLE 2. Top 20 significantly repressed genes in HeLa/16E6 cells
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FIG. 7. Regulation of specific functional classes of genes during induced senescence. Genes expressed in E6 cells were divided into six bins according to the magnitude of expression changes at 6 days after expression of the E2 protein compared to mock infection. Enrichment for a given functional class was calculated by dividing the percentage of genes in that functional class in each bin by the percentage of total expressed genes in that bin. The number of genes in each bin is shown above the bars.
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0.001) was highly significant (P value of 8.7E-9). Additional functional classes of induced genes that were significantly enriched (P
0.01) were the plexin/semaphorin/integrin class, the electron transport and oxidoreductase activity classes, the transporter activity class, the endoplasmic reticulum class, the calcium binding class, the protease class, and the complement pathway class (see Table S2 in the supplemental material). |
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TABLE 3. Induced lysosomal genes in HeLa/16E6 cells
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To analyze the role of c-jun activation in Rb family-dependent gene induction, we generated E6 cells expressing the TAM67 transactivation domain deletion mutant of c-jun, which functions as a dominant negative (46) (E6/TAM67 cells). Expression of the c-jun mutant in these cells was confirmed by Western blotting (Fig. 8A). E6/TAM67 cells efficiently entered senescence in response to expression of the E2 protein (Fig. 8B) (data not shown), indicating that c-jun activity was not required for senescence in this system. qRT-PCR was used to analyze RNA harvested from E6/TAM67 cells and control cells 6 days after mock infection or repeated E2 infection (Fig. 8C) (data not shown). All of the repressed genes examined, including the endogenous HPV18 E7 gene, and many of the induced genes, including the prostaglandin E synthase (PTGES) gene, were regulated by the E2 protein to a similar extent in the E6/TAM67 cells and in the control cells. PTGES lacks a recognizable AP1 site and is not a known c-jun target. However, expression of the dominant-negative c-jun mutant blocked the E2-mediated induction of several genes, most dramatically the gene coding for clusterin, a known target of c-jun (38) that contains an exact AP1 consensus site in its promoter. Inhibition of clusterin induction by TAM67 in three independent experiments was significant (P
0.007). Therefore the activation of c-jun transcriptional activity appears to be in part responsible for Rb family-dependent gene induction in response to E7 repression.
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FIG. 8. Expression of a dominant-negative c-jun mutant blocks E2-mediated induction of a known c-jun target gene. (A) Western blot of the c-jun TAM67 mutant. E6 cells transduced with an empty vector or E6/TAM67 cells are shown. An arrow indicates the TAM67 doublet at the predicted molecular size of 29 kDa (30K marker on the left). (B) E6/TAM67 cells that were stained for senescence-associated ß-galactosidase activity 10 days after repeated E2 infection. (C) RNA was isolated from E6 cells containing an empty vector (gray) or E6/TAM67 cells (black) 6 days after mock infection or two rounds of E2 infection and analyzed by qRT-PCR for expression of HPV18 E7 (18 E7), PTGES, or clusterin (CLU). Data are plotted as described in the legend to Fig. 2.
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TABLE 4. Repressed transcription factors in HeLa/16E6 cells
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FIG. 9. Inhibition of expression of DEK and B-MYB induces senescence in primary fibroblasts. Short hairpin interfering RNAs (shRNAs) specifically targeting DEK or B-MYB (DEK sh#2 or MYB sh#2) or a control vector was expressed in mid-passage primary human foreskin fibroblasts, and cells were stained in situ 10 days later for senescence-associated ß-galactosidase activity.
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Comparison between induced and replicative senescence. To compare the transcriptional profile of induced senescence to the most commonly studied system of replicative senescence, we used microarray analysis to identify differences in gene expression in late-passage primary human foreskin fibroblasts that had undergone replicative senescence compared to the same strain of fibroblasts at early passage. Because the amplitude of changes in gene expression was, in general, lower in the fibroblasts than in the senescent HeLa cells and displayed more variability between the biological replicates, the expression changes in the fibroblasts tended to display lower statistical significance than the changes in the HeLa cells. Therefore, a P value cutoff of 0.01 was used to identify 248 genes induced twofold or greater in fibroblasts during replicative senescence and 284 repressed genes. For the complete list of genes regulated during replicative senescence in primary fibroblasts, see Tables S1C and S1D in the supplemental material. In senescent fibroblasts, there was a 6.2-fold enrichment for induction of p53-responsive genes and a 7.7-fold enrichment for repression of Rb/E2F-responsive genes, indicating that as expected both the p53 and Rb pathways were activated during replicative senescence (data not shown). There was substantial overlap between the results of these microarray experiments and similar published studies of replicative senescence in late-passage human fibroblasts (e.g., reference 93) (data not shown).
A large number of genes were regulated in common in senescing HeLa cells and fibroblasts. A total of 207 genes were regulated twofold or more in both E6 cells (P
0.001) and primary fibroblasts (P
0.01), representing 39% of the genes regulated during replicative senescence. Twenty-seven of these 207 genes were induced in both cell types during senescence, and 174 were repressed in both cell types, and the expression of only 6 genes changed in different directions (Fig. 10 and see Table S3 in the supplemental material). Therefore, 97% of the genes regulated twofold or more in both systems of senescence were regulated in the same direction, while only 3% showed divergent regulation. The 27 genes induced in both senescent HeLa cells and fibroblasts include c-jun targets and the lysosomal genes acid ceramidase (ASAH1) and prenylcysteine oxidase 1 (PCYOX1) (Table 5). Strikingly, all 20 of the top repressed genes in senescent HeLa cells were also repressed in fibroblasts and are primarily cell-cycle-related genes (Table 2). Thus, there is considerable overlap in the transcriptional profiles of Rb family-mediated induced senescence in HeLa cells and replicative senescence in fibroblasts. This similarity establishes the critical role for the Rb family in driving the transcriptional profile of replicative senescence.
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FIG. 10. Comparison between the transcriptional profiles of replicative senescence and induced senescence. The 207 genes regulated twofold or more during senescence in both fibroblasts (P 0.01) and E6 cells (P 0.001, comparing E2 infected to mock infected) are shown. Change in fibroblasts is graphed on the y axis, and change in E6 cells is graphed on the x axis.
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TABLE 5. Genes induced in both HeLa/16E6 cells and fibroblasts
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Even though consensus E2 binding sites occur thousands of times in the human genome, our results indicate that the BPV E2 protein acts remarkably specifically on the integrated HPV18 genome. There are four conserved E2 binding sites in the viral long control region, including two separated by only 4 bp immediately upstream of the E6/E7 promoter. This arrangement may facilitate specific, cooperative binding and action of the BPV E2 protein at the viral DNA. It is also possible that cellular E2 sites are inaccessible to E2 binding because they are methylated or in heterochromatin. Methylation of CpG dinucleotides in the E2 binding sites blocks the ability of the E2 protein to bind (81) and affect transcription (47). Finally, the consensus E2 DNA binding site was determined in in vitro studies using naked DNA, but in vivo the E2 protein may prefer its natural sites in chromatin and in the presence of cellular proteins.
In addition to Rb family members, the E7 protein interacts with numerous other binding partners, including cdk inhibitors p21 and p27, several transcription factors, transcriptional coactivators, and proteins involved in chromatin remodeling (58), and Rb family-independent functions of E7 have been described (5, 8, 25). Nevertheless, the gene expression changes in E6 cells 6 days after expression of the BPV E2 protein were blocked by constitutive expression of wild-type 16 E7, but not by expression of an E7 mutant defective for binding and degradation of Rb family members. This E7 mutant is not globally disrupted but retains several biological activities, including the ability to bind the p600 Rb-associated protein, pCAF acetyltransferase, and the BRG1 component of SWI-SNF chromatin remodeling complexes and the ability to abrogate p21-induced cell cycle arrest (3, 39, 40, 52). In fact, interaction domains for most cellular E7-binding proteins are within the carboxyl terminus of E7, distal to the Rb binding motif (58). However, interaction between E7 and some cellular proteins other than Rb family members involves the Rb binding domain (7, 67), and the E7
21-24 mutation can affect p21 binding in vitro (44). Therefore, we used two additional approaches to independently confirm the Rb family dependence of the transcriptional response to E7 repression. Induction and repression of all the genes examined were also inhibited by expression of shRNAs targeting all three Rb family members or by expression of the wild-type adenovirus type 5 E1A protein, but not by an E1A mutant defective for binding Rb family members. Overall, different patterns of gene expression were not detected when various methods were used to ablate the Rb family pathway. Similarly, because we were not able to repress Rb family members individually and because the E1A mutant displayed only a partial defect in p107 binding, our results did not permit us to assign specific activities to different Rb family members. Taken together, these results establish that the transcriptional response to E7 repression in HeLa cells is dependent on activation of the Rb family and that interactions of the E7 protein with other binding partners are not sufficient to exert transcriptional effects in the absence of activation of the Rb family.
In our experiments, approximately one-third of the repressed genes were known targets of E2F4 or Rb family members. Furthermore, almost one-quarter of E2F target genes expressed in E6 cells were significantly repressed during induced senescence, consistent with activation of the Rb/E2F pathway. Typically, only a fraction of targets identified by global chromatin immunoprecipitation studies demonstrate regulated expression in complementary expression studies (e.g., see reference 38). Therefore, repression of E2F target genes, many of which are involved in cell cycle progression, is likely a direct effect of complex formation between Rb family members and repressor E2F family members and is undoubtedly responsible for cell cycle arrest. These results are consistent with the results of Jackson et al., who detected recruitment of Rb family members to promoters of cell cycle-related genes in MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells induced to senesce by doxorubicin treatment (43). Furthermore, stable repression of E2F-responsive genes in senescent human fibroblasts has been attributed to the Rb-dependent formation of senescence-associated heterochromatic foci, involving the recruitment of p105Rb to the promoters of these genes (60). Finally, our earlier studies demonstrated that repression of cdc25A expression by E7 repression in HeLa cells required an E2F site in the cdc25A promoter and was accompanied by the assembly of p105Rb/E2F4 complexes able to bind this site in vitro (91).
E7 repression and activation of the Rb family members also induced more than 200 genes, notably including genes encoding proteins involved in lysosome function. These results suggest that there is a transcriptional basis for the increased lysosome content characteristic of senescent cells, which may contribute to many features of the senescence phenotype, including increased autofluorescence, cellular granularity, and SAß-gal activity, the widely used marker of senescence, which is due to increased activity of lysosomal ß-galactosidase (23, 49, 51).
The ability of Rb family members to directly stimulate gene expression by interacting with various positively acting transcription factors and chromatin remodeling proteins may account for much of the gene induction observed. Direct support for this model is provided by our finding that induction of an AP1 target gene, coding for clusterin, was blocked by a dominant-negative version of c-jun. Induction of jun-responsive genes may involve not only direct activation of c-jun itself, but also the consequent autostimulation of the c-jun promoter, which contains an AP1 site. In addition, p105Rb associates with and activates the CBFA-1 transcription factor (83). Pituitary tumor-transforming 1 interacting protein (PTTG1IP), coded for by a gene induced in response to E7 repression, is a target of CBFA-1 (79). Similarly, p105Rb binds and activates GATA-1, C/EBP
(53), and C/EBPß (15). Genes significantly induced by E7 repression include targets of GATA-1, such as those coding for cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2B [p15 (CDKN2B)] and cellular repressor of E1A-stimulated genes (CREG) (74), as well as targets of C/EBP
and/or C/EBPß, such as genes coding for complement component 3 (C3) and S100 calcium binding protein A10 (29, 32).
Transcription factors repressed in an Rb family-dependent manner after E7 repression in E6 cells include the known Rb/E2F targets DEK and B-MYB. Some of the gene expression changes observed during induced senescence are likely to be downstream effects of the regulated expression of these transcription factors. In addition, inhibition of expression of either DEK or B-MYB by RNA interference induced senescence in primary cells. Thus, activation of the Rb family results in the delivery of multiple signals, several of which are independently sufficient to elicit senescence. The simultaneous delivery of reinforcing senescence-inducing signals may account for the profound growth inhibition caused by E7 repression and for our inability to block senescence by the expression of DEK, B-MYB, or dominant-negative c-jun.
Two previous microarray-based studies examined transcription in HeLa cells following E2-induced repression of both E6 and E7. Wells et al. described a transcriptional profile that included the induction of p53-responsive genes and repression of cell cycle-regulated genes (87). Two sets of regulated genes highlighted by Wells et al., the RAB vesicular transport genes and genes encoding the GAGE tumor-associated antigens, did not significantly change expression in our study, in which only E7 was repressed. Thierry et al. concluded that gene induction by a chimeric green fluorescent protein-HPV18 E2 protein was largely due to activation of the p53 pathway in response to E6 repression, while gene repression was attributed to the assembly of active Rb/E2F complexes in response to E7 repression, with mitotic genes representing a major repressed class (82). Both of these studies expressed the E2 protein from adenovirus vectors. Unlike these prior studies, we showed that the gene expression changes observed were not due to HPV-independent effects of E2 expression. We also eliminated effects of E6 repression, including p53-dependent gene expression changes, from the transcriptional profile of induced senescence. Furthermore, we demonstrated directly that the observed changes in gene expression were a consequence of HPV E7 repression and activation of the Rb family, identified lysosomal genes as the major induced class, and revealed a role of c-jun in mediating the transcriptional response.
In our experiments, the transcriptional profile of induced senescence driven by the Rb family in cervical carcinoma cells was compared to the profile of replicative senescence in primary fibroblasts triggered by telomere erosion. This analysis revealed substantial overlap between the transcriptional programs of these two senescence systems, indicating that activation of the Rb family plays a prominent role in driving the transcriptional events during replicative senescence. Furthermore, the common transcriptional response suggests that there is extensive mechanistic and phenotypic overlap between senescence in cancer cells and in primary cells. Therefore, this model of induced senescence, which is rapid, synchronous, and easily manipulated, can facilitate the genetic and biochemical characterization of senescence.
The DNA Microarray Resource of the Keck Biotechnology Center was supported by the Anna and Argall Hull Fund, the Swebilius Trust, and a grant from the NIH (DK58776). K.J. was supported in part by an MSTP training grant (GM07205) from NIGMS, and E.G. was supported in part by a grant (IRG 58-012-45) from the American Cancer Society. This work was supported by a grant from the NCI (CA16038) to D.D.
Published ahead of print on 20 December 2006. ![]()
Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jvi.asm.org/. ![]()
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