Hypoxia regulates the expression of the neuromedin B receptor through a mechanism dependent on hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha.

Article Details

Citation

Park HJ, Kim MK, Kim SR, Bae SK, Bae MK

Hypoxia regulates the expression of the neuromedin B receptor through a mechanism dependent on hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha.

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 9;8(12):e82868. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082868. eCollection 2013.

PubMed ID
24349381 [ View in PubMed
]
Abstract

The neuromedin B receptor (NMB-R), a member of the mammalian bombesin receptor family, is frequently overexpressed in various tumors. In the present study, we found that exposure to hypoxic conditions increases the levels of NMBR mRNA and protein in breast cancer cells, which are tightly regulated by hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha). We confirmed the effect of HIF-1alpha on NMBR transcription by performing an NMBR promoter-driven reporter assay and then identified a functional hypoxia-responsive element (HRE) in the human NMBR promoter region. Further, the binding of HIF-1alpha to the NMBR promoter was corroborated by electrophoretic mobility shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, which showed that HIF-1alpha specifically and directly bound to the NMBR promoter in response to hypoxia. Immunohistochemical analysis of a xenograft and a human breast cancer tissue array revealed a significant correlation between NMB-R and HIF-1alpha expression. Taken together, our findings indicate that hypoxia induces NMB-R expression through a novel mechanism to regulate HIF-1alpha expression in breast cancer cells.