Oncogene database

581

BAX

BCL2-associated X protein;BAX;BCL2-associated X protein

BCL2-associated X protein omega|Baxdelta2G9|Baxdelta2G9omega|Baxdelta2omega|apoptosis regulator BAX|bcl-2-like protein 4|bcl2-L-4

19q13.3-q13.4

protein-coding

The sequenced gammaherpesviruses each contain a single viral bcl-2 homolog (v-bcl-2) which may encode a protein that functions in preventing the apoptotic death of virus-infected cells. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a gammaherpesvirus associated with several lymphoid and epithelial malignancies, encodes the v-Bcl-2 homolog BHRF1. In this report the previously uncharacterized BALF1 open reading frame in EBV is identified as having significant sequence similarity to other v-bcl-2 homologs and cellular bcl-2. Transfection of cells with a BALF1 cDNA conferred apoptosis resistance. Furthermore, a recombinant green fluorescent protein-BALF1 fusion protein suppressed apoptosis and associated with Bax and Bak. These results indicate that EBV encodes a second functional v-bcl-2.

Bcl-2 and Bax proteins play major roles in the control of apoptosis. The Bcl-2/Bax ratio is considered a marker of a cell s susceptibility to apoptotic stimuli. Immunohistochemical expression of Bcl-2 and Bax in Meissner corpuscles was investigated in 30 human skin samples. ALL of the Meissner corpuscles showed immunoreactivity for Bcl-2 and Bax was negative. These data support a role for Bcl-2 as a resistance mechanism of these mechanoreceptors to apoptosis.

Oncogenic types of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) cause cervical cancer in humans. The antiapoptotic viral E6 gene has been identified as a key factor for maintaining the viability of HPV-positive cancer cells. Although E6 has the potential to modulate many apoptosis regulators, the crucial apoptotic pathway blocked by endogenous E6 in cervical cancer cells remained unknown. Using RNA interference (RNAi), here, we show that targeted inhibition of E6 expression in cervical cancer cells leads to the transcriptional stimulation of the PUMA promoter, in a p53-dependent manner. This is linked to the activation and translocation of Bax to the mitochondrial membrane, cytochrome c release into the cytosol, and activation of caspase-3, in a PUMA-dependent manner. Moreover, inhibition of Bax expression by RNAi efficiently reverts the apoptotic phenotype, which results from inhibition of E6 expression. Thus, interference with the p53/PUMA/Bax cascade is crucial for the antiapoptotic function of the viral E6 oncogene in HPV-positive cancer cells.

The chromosomal translocation t(11;14)(q13;q32) leading to cyclin-D1 overexpression plays an essential role in the development of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), an aggressive tumor that remains incurable with current treatment strategies. Cyclin-D1 has been postulated as an effective therapeutic target, but the evaluation of this target has been hampered by our incomplete understanding of its oncogenic functions and by the lack of valid MCL murine models. To address these issues, we generated a cyclin-D1-driven mouse model in which cyclin-D1 expression can be regulated externally. These mice developed cyclin-D1-expressing lymphomas capable of recapitulating features of human MCL. We found that cyclin-D1 inactivation was not sufficient to induce lymphoma regression in vivo; however, using a combination of in vitro and in vivo assays, we identified a novel prosurvival cyclin-D1 function in MCL cells. Specifically, we found that cyclin-D1, besides increasing cell proliferation through deregulation of the cell cycle at the G(1)-S transition, sequestrates the proapoptotic protein BAX in the cytoplasm, thereby favoring BCL2 s antiapoptotic function. Accordingly, cyclin-D1 inhibition sensitized the lymphoma cells to apoptosis through BAX release. Thus, genetic or pharmacologic targeting of cyclin-D1 combined with a proapoptotic BH3 mimetic synergistically killed the cyclin-D1-expressing murine lymphomas, human MCL cell lines, and primary lymphoma cells. Our study identifies a role of cyclin-D1 in deregulating apoptosis in MCL cells, and highlights the potential benefit of simultaneously targeting cyclin-D1 and survival pathways in patients with MCL. This effective combination therapy also might be exploited in other cyclin-D1-expressing tumors.

Since the expression of glutathione S-transferase P-form (GST-P) has been suggested from in vitro studies to be partly regulated by the oncogene product, c-Jun and c-Fos, their distributions were compared in normal rat tissues and preneoplastic hepatic lesions induced by the Solt-Farber protocol. Immunohistochemically demonstrated GST-P protein was positively correlated with expression of both c-Jun and c-Fos in the epidermis of the skin and the smooth muscle of adult lung and with either c-Jun or c-Fos respectively in the bile ducts and bronchial epithelium. However, GST-P expression was also observed in proximal and distal straight segments of the kidney and other tissues negative for c-Jun and c-Fos and both c-Jun and c-Fos were present in the renal proximal and distal convoluted tubules, where GST-P was lacking. Thus, the localization of GST-P was in some cases clearly separable from those of c-Jun or c-Fos. GST-P was found to be focally expressed from an early stage of hepatocarcinogenesis, when c-Jun was not detectable. At later stages, this oncogene product was stained in 35.7% of GST-P-positive foci, with a clear relation to the degree of GST-P staining. Since GST-P is not always accompanied by appreciable c-Jun or c-Fos, these oncogene products are apparently not prerequisites for its expression. However, c-Jun may be partly responsible for maintaining high levels of GST-P in hepatic foci at later stages of hepatocarcinogenesis.

The mechanisms of luteal maintenance and regression in women are uncertain, but morphological and oligonucleosome studies raise the possibility that apoptosis may be involved. BAX is a proto-oncogene of the BCL-2 family which can induce apoptosis. The aim of this study was to determine whether BAX is expressed in the human corpus luteum and whether the level of expression changes relative to the stage of the luteal phase or in simulated early pregnancy. Carefully timed samples of corpus luteum were studied by immunostaining, sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting. BAX protein was immunolocalized in luteal sections from ALL stages including luteal rescue but BAX production did not change during luteal maintenance or regression. Localization of BAX to the steroid-secreting cells of the corpus luteum implies a functional role and BAX may interact with other members of the BCL-2 family to affect luteal function.