The adenoviral early region 1A (E1A) protein has proapoptotic and angiogenic activity, along with its chemosensitizing effect, making it the focus of increased interest in the context of cancer therapy. It was previously shown that E1A-induced chemosensitization to different drugs, including histone deacetylases inhibitors (HDACi), appears to be mediated by Forkhead box O (FoxO) transcription factors. In this study, we explore the relationship between E1A expression and the modulation of FoxO activity with HDACi sodium butyrate (NaBut). We show here that the basal FoxO level is elevated in E1A-expressing cells. Prolonged NaBut treatment leads to the inhibition of the FoxO expression and activity in E1A-expressing cells. However, in E1A-negative cells, NaBut promotes the transactivation ability of FoxO over time. A more detailed investigation revealed that the NaBut-induced decrease of FoxO activity in E1A-expressing cells is due to the NaBut-dependent decrease in E1A expression. Therefore, NaBut-induced inhibition of FoxO in E1A-positive cells can be overcome under unregulated overexpression of E1A. Remarkably, the CBP/p300-binding domain of E1Aad5 is responsible for stabilization of the FoxO protein. Collectively, these data show that the expression of E1A increases the FoxO stability but makes the FoxO level more sensitive to HDACi treatment.
Keywords: E1A; FoxO; apoptosis; cancer; histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi).