Bif-1 haploinsufficiency promotes chromosomal instability and accelerates Myc-driven lymphomagenesis via suppression of mitophagy

Blood. 2013 Feb 28;121(9):1622-32. doi: 10.1182/blood-2012-10-459826. Epub 2013 Jan 3.

Abstract

Malignant transformation by oncogenes requires additional genetic/epigenetic changes to overcome enhanced susceptibility to apoptosis. In the present study, we report that Bif-1 (Sh3glb1), a gene encoding a membrane curvature–driving endophilin protein, is a haploinsufficient tumor suppressor that plays a key role in the prevention of chromosomal instability and suppresses the acquisition of apoptosis resistance during Myc-driven lymphomagenesis. Although a large portion of Bif-1–deficient mice harboring an Eμ-Myc transgene displayed embryonic lethality, allelic loss of Bif-1 dramatically accelerated the onset of Myc-induced lymphoma. At the premalignant stage, hemizygous deletion of Bif-1 resulted in an increase in mitochondrial mass, accumulation of DNA damage, and up-regulation of the antiapoptotic protein Mcl-1. Consistently, allelic loss of Bif-1 suppressed the activation of caspase-3 in Myc-induced lymphoma cells. Moreover, we found that Bif-1 is indispensable for the autophagy-dependent clearance of damaged mitochondria (mitophagy), because loss of Bif-1 resulted in the accumulation of endoplasmic reticulum–associated immature autophagosomes and suppressed the maturation of autophagosomes. The results of the present study indicate that Bif-1 haploinsufficiency attenuates mitophagy and results in the promotion of chromosomal instability, which enables tumor cells to efficiently bypass the oncogenic/metabolic pressures for apoptosis. .

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / genetics*
  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / physiology
  • Animals
  • Apoptosis / genetics
  • Apoptosis / physiology
  • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / genetics
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Chromosomal Instability / genetics*
  • Down-Regulation / genetics
  • Female
  • Genes, myc / physiology*
  • Haploinsufficiency / physiology*
  • Lymphoma / genetics*
  • Lymphoma / pathology
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Mitophagy / genetics*
  • Up-Regulation / genetics

Substances

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
  • Sh3glb1 protein, mouse