Uterine leiomyomas, the most common tumors of the female reproductive system, are known to have a hypoxic microenvironment. However, the role of such environment in leiomyoma pathobiology remains unknown. The objective was to determine the effects of hypoxia on leiomyoma cells, and the mechanisms. We found that hypoxia induces proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in human leiomyoma cells. This pro-proliferative effect was accompanied by an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and the expression of NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4). The specific NOX4 inhibitor GLX351322 abrogated this hypoxia-induced ROS generation, cellular proliferation, and apoptosis inhibition. To further investigate the mechanism of NOX4-mediated proliferation, we treated leiomyoma cells grown in normoxia with media from leiomyoma cells cultured under hypoxia. This resulted in increased ROS generation and NOX4 expression, suggesting the hypoxia-induced effects are mediated by an autocrine mechanism. We worked to identify the nature of this autocrine factor. We found that the expression of TGF-β3 and its downstream signaling target pSmad3, are increased in hypoxic leiomyoma cells. To examine the hypothesis that TGF-β3 is, at least, a part of this autocrine mechanism, we treated hypoxic leiomyoma cells with the HIF-1α inhibitor KC7F2 which we discovered to ameliorate the hypoxia-induced TGF-β3 expression. Furthermore, pharmacologic inhibition with the TGF-β/Smad inhibitor SB431542 reduced hypoxia-induced NOX4 expression and ROS generation and attenuated cell proliferation. Thus, we have identified a novel mechanism by which hypoxia induces proliferation in leiomyoma cells. This finding adds to our understanding of leiomyoma pathobiology and can help in identifying new therapeutic targets.
Keywords: Leiomyoma; NOX4; ROS; TGF-β3; hypoxia; oxidative stress.