Transcriptional upregulation of MAPK15 by NF-κB signaling boosts the efficacy of combination therapy with cisplatin and TNF-α

Dan-Dan Wu; Li-Juan Dai; Heng Wee Tan; Xiao-Yun Zhao; Qi-Yao Wei; Qiu-Hua Zhong; Yan-Chen Ji; Xiao-Hui Yin; Fei-Yuan Yu; Dong-Yan Jin; Sheng-Qing Li; Andy T Y Lau; Yan-Ming Xu

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105459

Transcriptional upregulation of MAPK15 by NF-κB signaling boosts the efficacy of combination therapy with cisplatin and TNF-α

iScience. 2022 Oct 28;25(12):105459. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105459. eCollection 2022 Dec 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Epigenetics, Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, People's Republic of China.
² School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

The efficacy of cisplatin in treating advanced non-small cell lung cancer is limited mainly because of insensitivity and/or acquired resistance. MAPK15, previously shown by us to enhance the sensitivity of the anti-cancer drug arsenic trioxide, could also enhance the sensitivity of other anti-cancer drugs. Here, we explore the potential role of MAPK15 in chemosensitivity to cisplatin in human lung cancer cells. Our results indicated that the expression level of MAPK15 was positively correlated with cisplatin sensitivity through affecting the DNA repair capacity of cisplatin-treated cells. The expression of MAPK15 was transcriptionally regulated by the TNF-α-activated NF-κB signaling pathway, and TNF-α synergized with cisplatin, in a MAPK15-dependent manner, to exert cytotoxicity in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, levels of TNF-α dictate the responsiveness/sensitivity of lung cancer cells to cisplatin by transcriptionally upregulating MAPK15 to enhance chemosensitivity, suggesting manipulation of MAPK15 as a strategy to improve the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs.

Keywords: Biological sciences; Cancer; Molecular biology; Molecular mechanism of gene regulation.