Regulation of NF-κB activity by IκB-related proteins in adenocarcinoma cells

Constitutive NF-κB activity varies widely among cancer cell lines. In this report, we studied the expression and the role of different IκB inhibitors in adenocarcinoma cell lines. High constitutive NF-κB activity and low IκB-α expression was found in a number of these cell lines. Moreover, some of these cells showed a high p100 expression, responsible for the cytoplasmic sequestration of most of p65 complexes. Treatment of these cells with TNF-α or other NF-κB activating agents induced only weakly nuclear NF-κB activity without significant p100 processing and led to a very weak transcription of NF-κB-dependent reporter gene. Induction of NF-κB activity can be restored by expression of the Tax protein or by treatment with antisense p100 oligonucleotides. In MCF7 A/Z cells stably transfected with a p100 expression vector, p65 complexes were sequestered in the cytoplasm by p100. These cells showed a reduced nuclear NF-κB induction and NF-κB-dependent gene transcription following TNF-α stimulation. As a consequence of a competition between IκB-α and p100, cells expressing high levels of p100 respond poorly to NF-κB activating stimuli as TNF-α.