Abstract
Angiopoietin2 (Ang2) and its Tie2 receptor have extensive effects on tumor malignancy including angiogenesis and metastasis. In this study, we evaluated the protective effect of Ang2 on doxorubicin-induced apoptosis in HepG2 cells. Ang2 (400. ng/ml) attenuated doxorubicin-mediated cytotoxicity by upregulating the expression of Survivin and Ref-1, which was reversed by a soluble extracellular domain of Tie2. Mechanistic study showed Ang2 activated ERK-MSK cascade to induce histone H3 phosphorylation and inducible gene expression. The stimulatory effect of Ang2 on anti-apoptotic genes was attenuated by either MSK inhibitor (H89) or by overexpression of a kinase-deficient MSK1. Activated MSK1 phosphorylated the CREB at Ser133 and phosho-CREB was recruited to Ref-1 promoter rapidly to initiate the gene expression. Moreover, knockdown of MSK1 by specific siRNA also attenuated the pro-survival activity of Ang2 and CREB phosphorylation. Hence, our study suggests the existence of an Ang2-ERK-MSK signaling axis mediating survival responses and drug resistance of tumor cells.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 276-284 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Cancer Letters |
Volume | 337 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2013 |
Keywords
- Angiopoietin-2
- Apoptosis
- CREB
- Doxorubicin
- HepG2 cells
- MSK
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Cancer Research