The Werner Protein Acts as a Coactivator of NF-{kappa}B on HIV-1 and IL-8 Promoters [Molecular Bases of Disease]
June 2nd, 2015 by Mizutani, T., Ishizaka, A., Furuichi, Y.
The Werner syndrome helicase (WRN) plays a role in maintaining genomic stability. The lack of WRN results in Werner syndrome (WS), a rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder, which causes premature aging accompanied by many complications such as rare forms of cancer and type 2 diabetes. However, the underlying mechanisms of these complications, arising due to the loss of WRN, are poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrated the function of WRN in transcriptional regulation of NF-κB targets. WRN physically interacts via its RQC domain with the Rel homology domain of both the RelA and p50 subunits of NF-κB. In the steady state, WRN is recruited to HIV-1 LTR, a typical NF-κB-responsive promoter as well as the p50/p50 homodimer, in an NF-κB site-dependent manner. The amount of WRN on LTR increased along with the transactivating RelA/p50 heterodimer in response to TNF-α stimulation. Further, a knockdown of WRN reduced the transactivation of LTR in exogenous RelA/p50 introduced or TNF-α stimulated cells. Additionally, knockdown of WRN reduced TNF-α stimulation-induced activation of the endogenous promoter of IL-8, an NF-κB-responsive gene, and WRN increased its association with the IL-8 promoter region together with RelA/p50 after TNF-α stimulation. In conjunction with studies that have shown NF-κB to be a key regulator of aging and inflammation, our results indicate a novel role of WRN in transcriptional regulation. Along with NF-κB, the loss of WRN is expected to result in incorrect regulation of downstream targets and leads to immune abnormalities and homeostatic disruption.