BOK promotes chemical-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in mice

• Published in: Cell death and differentiation 2018-03, Vol.25 (4), p.708-720
• Main Authors: Rabachini, Tatiana, Fernandez-Marrero, Yuniel, Montani, Matteo, Loforese, Giulio, Sladky, Valentina, He, Zhaoyue, Bachmann, Daniel, Wicki, Simone, Villunger, Andreas, Stroka, Deborah, Kaufmann, Thomas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/67/1244; 631/67/70; Animals; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - drug effects; Apoptosis - genetics; Bax protein; Bcl-2 protein; BIM protein; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carcinogenesis; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - chemically induced; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - genetics; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - metabolism; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - pathology; Cell Biology; Cell cycle; Cell Cycle - drug effects; Cell Cycle - genetics; Cell Cycle Analysis; Cell death; Cell proliferation; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic - chemically induced; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic - genetics; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic - metabolism; Conserved sequence; Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21; Diethylamines - toxicity; Diethylnitrosamine; Endoplasmic reticulum; Gene expression; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Homology; Kinases; Life Sciences; Liver cancer; Liver Neoplasms - chemically induced; Liver Neoplasms - genetics; Liver Neoplasms - metabolism; Liver Neoplasms - pathology; Localization; Mice; Mice, Knockout; Mitochondria; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 - genetics; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 - metabolism; Stem Cells; Transformed cells; Tumors
• ISSN: 1350-9047; 1476-5403
• DOI: 10.1038/s41418-017-0008-0

BCL-2-related ovarian killer (BOK) is a conserved and widely expressed BCL-2 family member with sequence homology to pro-apoptotic BAX and BAK, but with poorly understood pathophysiological function. Since several members of the BCL-2 family are critically involved in the regulation of hepatocellular apoptosis and carcinogenesis we aimed to establish whether loss of BOK affects diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in mice. Short-term exposure to DEN lead to upregulation of BOK mRNA and protein in the liver. Of note, induction of CHOP and the pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins PUMA and BIM by DEN was strongly reduced in the absence of BOK. Accordingly, Bok -/ - mice were significantly protected from DEN-induced acute hepatocellular apoptosis and associated inflammation. As a consequence, Bok -/- animals were partially protected against chemical-induced hepatocarcinogenesis showing fewer and, surprisingly, also smaller tumors than WT controls. Gene expression profiling revealed that downregulation of BOK results in upregulation of genes involved in cell cycle arrest. Bok -/- hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) displayed higher expression levels of the cyclin kinase inhibitors p19 INK4d and p21 cip1 . Accordingly, hepatocellular carcinoma in Bok -/- animals, BOK-deficient human HCC cell lines, as well as non-transformed cells, showed significantly less proliferation than BOK-proficient controls. We conclude that BOK is induced by DEN, contributes to DEN-induced hepatocellular apoptosis and resulting hepatocarcinogenesis. In line with its previously reported predominant localization at the endoplasmic reticulum, our findings support a role of BOK that links the cell cycle and cell death machineries upstream of mitochondrial damage.