Zinc Downregulates HIF-1α and Inhibits Its Activity in Tumor Cells In Vitro and In Vivo

Hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) is responsible for the majority of HIF-1-induced gene expression changes under hypoxia and for the "angiogenic switch" during tumor progression. HIF-1α is often upregulated in tumors leading to more aggressive tumor growth and chemoresistance, therefore representing an important target for antitumor intervention. We previously reported that zinc downregulated HIF-1α levels. Here, we evaluated the molecular mechanisms of zinc-induced HIF-1α downregulation and whether zinc affected HIF-1α also in vivo.Here we report that zinc downregulated HIF-1α protein levels in human prostate cancer and glioblastoma cells under hypoxia, whether induced or constitutive. Investigations into the molecular mechanisms showed that zinc induced HIF-1α proteasomal degradation that was prevented by treatment with proteasomal inhibitor MG132. HIF-1α downregulation induced by zinc was ineffective in human RCC4 VHL-null renal carcinoma cell line; likewise, the HIF-1αP402/P564A mutant was resistant to zinc treatment. Similarly to HIF-1α, zinc downregulated also hypoxia-induced HIF-2α whereas the HIF-1β subunit remained unchanged. Zinc inhibited HIF-1α recruitment onto VEGF promoter and the zinc-induced suppression of HIF-1-dependent activation of VEGF correlated with reduction of glioblastoma and prostate cancer cell invasiveness in vitro. Finally, zinc administration downregulated HIF-1α levels in vivo, by bioluminescence imaging, and suppressed intratumoral VEGF expression.These findings, by demonstrating that zinc induces HIF-1α proteasomal degradation, indicate that zinc could be useful as an inhibitor of HIF-1α in human tumors to repress important pathways involved in tumor progression, such as those induced by VEGF, MDR1, and Bcl2 target genes, and hopefully potentiate the anticancer therapies

Zinc decreases tumor cell invasiveness <i>in vitro</i> and induces HIF-1α downregulation <i>in vivo</i>.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Serum-starved U373MG cells were treated with 100 µM ZnCl₂ and 200 µM CoCl₂ for, respectively 24 and 16 h and cell invasion was measured using a Boyden's chamber invasion assay. Cell invasion results (mean ±S.D.) for quadruplicates from four independent experiments are shown. *, P<0.0001. (<b>B</b>) Serum-starved C27 cells were treated with 100 µM for 24 h, under basal “hypoxic” condition and cell invasion was measured as in (A). Cell invasion results (mean ±S.D.) for quadruplicates from four independent experiments are shown. *, P<0.0001. (<b>C</b>) Representative tumors derived from human U373MG cells transfected with HIF-1α-ODD-luc and pcDNA3-luc control vectors marked with luciferase were imaged using the IVIS imaging system 200 series at day 6 after tumor cell injection and at day 10 following 4 days of zinc daily administration. Four mice/group are shown. (<b>D</b>) RNA samples from explanted tumors, at day 10 after tumor cell injection and after 4 days of zinc treatment, were used for reverse-transcription (RT)-PCR. The mRNA levels were normalized to GAPDH expression. (<b>E</b>) Tissue samples as in (D) were used for Western immunoblotting of VEGF and HIF-1α levels and anti-tubulin and anti-Hsp70 were used, respectively, as protein loading control. Similar results were obtained with different tissue samples.</p