Noxa, a BH3-only pro-apoptotic BCL-2 family protein, causes apoptosis by specifically interacting with the anti-apoptotic protein MCL-1 to induce its proteasome-mediated degradation. We show here that the DNA damaging agents cisplatin and etoposide upregulate Noxa expression, which is required for the phosphorylation of MCL-1 at Ser64/Thr70 sites, proteasome-dependent degradation, and apoptosis. Noxa-induced MCL-1 phosphorylation at these sites occurs at the mitochondria and is primarily regulated by CDK2. MCL-1 and CDK2 form a stable complex and Noxa binds to this complex to facilitate the phosphorylation of MCL-1. When Ser64 and Thr70 of MCL-1 are substituted with alanine, the mutated MCL-1 is neither phosphorylated nor ubiquitinated, and becomes more stable than the wild-type protein. As a consequence, this mutant can inhibit apoptosis induced by Noxa overexpression or cisplatin treatment. These results indicate that Noxa-mediated MCL-1 phosphorylation followed by MCL-1 degradation is critical for apoptosis induced by DNA damaging agents through regulation of the Noxa/MCL-1/CDK2 complex.
Keywords: CDK2; MCL-1; Noxa; chemotherapy; phosphorylation.