A lysosomal protein negatively regulates surface T cell antigen receptor expression by promoting CD3zeta-chain degradation.

Modulation of surface T cell antigen receptor (TCR) expression is an important mechanism for the regulation of immune responses and the prevention of T cell hyperactivation and autoimmunity. The TCR is rapidly internalized after antigen stimulation and then degraded in lysosomes. However, few of the molecules involved in this process have been identified.

3-Methyladenine suppresses cell migration and invasion of HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells through inhibiting phosphoinositide 3-kinases independently of autophagy inhibition.

3-Methyladenine (3-MA) inhibits class III phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and is widely used as an inhibitor of autophagy. 3-MA has also been shown to stimulate cell death of tumor cells under nutrient-starved conditions by inhibiting autophagy. To explore the possibility of this type of autophagy inhibitors as anticancer drugs, we examined the effects of 3-MA on the phenotypes of highly metastatic human fibrosarcoma HT1080 cells.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 mediates the expression of DNA polymerase iota in human tumor cells.

Hypoxia generated in tumors has been shown to contribute to mutations and genetic instability. However, the molecular mechanisms remain incompletely defined. Since reactive oxygen species (ROS) are overproduced immediately after reoxygenation of hypoxic cells and generate oxidized guanine, we assumed that the mechanisms might involve translesion DNA polymerases that can bypass oxidized guanine.

Role of DNA polymerase theta in tolerance of endogenous and exogenous DNA damage in mouse B cells.

DNA polymerase theta (Poltheta) is a family A polymerase that contains an intrinsic helicase domain. To investigate the function of Poltheta in mammalian cells, we have inactivated its polymerase activity in CH12 mouse B lymphoma cells by targeted deletion of the polymerase core domain that contains the catalytic aspartic acid residue. Compared to parental CH12 cells, mutant cells devoid of Poltheta polymerase activity exhibited a slightly reduced growth rate, accompanied by increased spontaneous cell death.