In patients with the hereditary cancer syndrome VHL disease, inactivation of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene leads to the development of highly vascular tumors, including renal cell carcinomas and hemiangioblastomas. VHL is also inactivated in a majority of patients with sporadic renal carcinoma. Recent studies have suggested that the VHL protein (pVHL) functions as part of a multi-protein E3 ubiquitin ligase that targets the transcription factor Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) for proteasomal degradation. Tumors lacking pVHL no longer degrade HIF-1 under normoxic conditions, leading to the aberrant upregulation of downstream genes such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). While pVHL is involved in the cellular response to various stress stimuli, factors that regulate pVHL levels and function in the cell are poorly understood. In our laboratory, using a yeast-2-hybrid approach, we have determined that Tat binding protein-1 (TBP-1) interacts with pVHL. TBP-1 is a component of the 19S regulatory complex of the 26S proteasome. Preliminary studies suggest that TBP-1 binds to and stabilizes pVHL in vivo by protecting it from proteasomal degradation. In addition TBP-1 appears to potentiate pVHL-mediated degradation of HIF1alpha. We will explore the role of TBP-1 in regulating VHL function by testing the following hypotheses: (1) TBP-1 acts as an important regulator of pVHL function. (2) Specific mutations of pVHL found in human tumors will interfere with binding to TBP-1, leading to a reduction in the stability of pVHL, and (3) Ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis plays a central role in controlling intracellular levels of pVHL. The following specific aims will be pursued: (1) To analyze the effects of TBP-1 on pVHL function during the cellular response to hypoxia and other stressful stimuli. (2) To identify the protein domains responsible for the interaction between pVHL and TBP-1 using deletion constructs and naturally occurring VHL mutations in a yeast-2-hybrid system, and using co-immunoprecipitation experiments in vitro and in vivo, (3) To characterize expression levels of pVHL under cellular stress and examine the mechanism for pVHL degradation in vivo.
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