The importance of apoptosis in normal development and pathogenesis has been well recognized, and explosive progress towards dissecting its commitment step has been made during the past decade. Mitochondria, Apaf-l, caspase, and bcl-2 family members play central roles in the commitment step. However, it is still unclear how upstream cell survival pathways regulate apoptosis. It is also unknown whether the bcl-2 family members have any effect on the upstream survival pathways. Preliminary studies of this application demonstrate that the anti-apoptotic gene product bcl-2 greatly induces expression of the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) in human breast epithelial cells. Surprisingly, we found that TIMP-1, like bcl-2, is a potent inhibitor of apoptosis induced by a variety of stimuli. Functional studies indicate that TIMP-1 inhibits a classical apoptotic pathway mediated by caspases, and that focal adhesion kinase (FAK)/PI 3-kinase and mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) are critical for TIMP-1-mediated cell survival. Preliminary studies show specific association of TIMP-1 with the cell surface. Consistently, a 150-kDa surface protein was identified in MCF10A cells that specifically binds TIMP- 1. Taken together, we hypothesize that TIMP-1 binding on the cell surface induces a cell survival pathway that regulates the common apoptosis commitment step. To test our working hypothesis of a positive feedback loop between bcl-2 and TIMP-1 in apoptosis regulation, we propose to (1) investigate TIMP-1 induction of the FAK/PI 3-kinase/Akt and MAPK survival pathways, (2) determine the mechanism by which TIMP-1 inhibits caspase activation, (3) establish the structural basis for the anti-apoptotic activity of TIMP-1, and (4) study the cell surface binding of TIMP-1 and characterize its binding partner in MCF10A cells. The results of these studies will address a new paradigm in the regulation of apoptosis by an extracellular molecule TIMP-I, and also greatly enhance our understanding of TIMP-1's pleiotropic activity in many physiological and pathological processes. This information may also be useful in designing more rational therapeutic interventions aimed at modulating the anti-apoptotic activity of TIMP-1.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA089113-03
Application #
6769572
Study Section
Metabolic Pathology Study Section (MEP)
Program Officer
Spalholz, Barbara A
Project Start
2002-07-01
Project End
2007-06-30
Budget Start
2004-07-01
Budget End
2005-06-30
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$308,002
Indirect Cost
Name
Wayne State University
Department
Pathology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
001962224
City
Detroit
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48202
D'Angelo, Rosemarie Chirco; Liu, Xu-Wen; Najy, Abdo J et al. (2014) TIMP-1 via TWIST1 induces EMT phenotypes in human breast epithelial cells. Mol Cancer Res 12:1324-33
Jung, Young Suk; Liu, Xu-Wen; Chirco, Rosemarie et al. (2012) TIMP-1 induces an EMT-like phenotypic conversion in MDCK cells independent of its MMP-inhibitory domain. PLoS One 7:e38773
Chirco, Rosemarie; Liu, Xu-Wen; Jung, Ki-Kyung et al. (2006) Novel functions of TIMPs in cell signaling. Cancer Metastasis Rev 25:99-113
Taube, M E; Liu, X-W; Fridman, R et al. (2006) TIMP-1 regulation of cell cycle in human breast epithelial cells via stabilization of p27(KIP1) protein. Oncogene 25:3041-8
Jung, Ki-Kyung; Liu, Xu-Wen; Chirco, Rosemarie et al. (2006) Identification of CD63 as a tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 interacting cell surface protein. EMBO J 25:3934-42
Liu, Xu-Wen; Taube, Marcus E; Jung, Ki-Kyung et al. (2005) Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 protects human breast epithelial cells from extrinsic cell death: a potential oncogenic activity of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1. Cancer Res 65:898-906
Liu, Xu-Wen; Bernardo, M Margarida; Fridman, Rafael et al. (2003) Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 protects human breast epithelial cells against intrinsic apoptotic cell death via the focal adhesion kinase/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and MAPK signaling pathway. J Biol Chem 278:40364-72