Abstract
Aberrant metabolism in hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) has been observed in several cancers, affecting cellular signaling and tumor progression. However, the role of O-GlcNAcylation, a post-translational modification through HBP flux, in apoptosis remains unclear. Here, we found that hyper-O-GlcNAcylation in lung carcinoma cells by O-GlcNAcase inhibition renders the cells to apoptosis resistance to cisplatin (CDDP). Profiling of various key regulatory proteins revealed an implication of either p53 or c-Myc in the apoptosis regulation by O-GlcNAcylation, independent of p53 status. Using co-immunoprecipitation and correlation analyses, we found that O-GlcNAcylation of p53 under certain cellular contexts, i.e. high p53 activation, promotes its ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation, resulting in a gain of oncogenic and anti-apoptotic functions. By contrast, O-GlcNAcylation of c-Myc inhibits its ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation. Gene manipulation studies revealed that O-GlcNAcylation of p53/c-Myc is in part a regulator of CDDP-induced apoptosis. Accordingly, we classified CDDP resistance by hyper-O-GlcNAcylation in lung carcinoma cells as either p53 or c-Myc dependence based on their molecular targets. Together, our findings provide novel mechanisms for the regulation of lung cancer cell apoptosis that could be important in understanding clinical drug resistance and suggest O-GlcNAcylation as a potential target for cancer therapy.