Peroxiredoxin II restrains DNA damage-induced death in cancer cells by positively regulating JNK-dependent DNA repair

Kyung Wha Lee, Doo Jae Lee, Joo Young Lee, Dong Hoon Kang, Jongbum Kwon, Sang Won Kang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

51 Scopus citations

Abstract

The 2-Cys peroxiredoxins (Prx) belong to a family of antioxidant enzymes that detoxify reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and are distributed throughout the intracellular and extracellular compartments. However, the presence and role of 2-Cys Prxs in the nucleus have not been studied. This study demonstrates that the PrxII located in the nucleus protects cancer cells from DNA damage-induced cell death. Although the two cytosolic 2-Cys Prxs, PrxI and PrxII, were found in the nucleus, only PrxII knockdown selectively and markedly increased cell death in the cancer cells treated with DNA-damaging agents. The increased death was completely reverted by the nuclearly targeted expression of PrxII in an activity-independent manner. Furthermore, the antioxidant butylated hydroxyanisole did not influence the etoposide-induced cell death. Mechanistically, the knockdown of Prx II expression impaired the DNA repair process by reducing the activation of the JNK/c-Jun pathway. These results suggest that PrxII is likely to be attributed to a tumor survival factor positively regulating JNK-dependent DNA repair with its inhibition possibly sensitizing cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8394-8404
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume286
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 11 Mar 2011

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