HER-2/neu transcriptionally activates Jab1 expression via the AKT/β-catenin pathway in breast cancer cells

Jab1 is a co-activator of activating protein-1 (AP-1) transcription factor and the fifth subunit of the constitutive photomorphogenesis 9 (COP9) signalosome, which has been shown to mediate nuclear exportation and ubiquitin-dependent degradation of the tumor suppressor p27Kip1. Jab1 is overexpressed in several types of human cancer. However, de-regulation of Jab1 gene expression in cancer cells is largely unclear. In this study, we reported that expression of Jab1 was stimulated by HER-2/neu oncogene via transcriptional activation. Promoter deletion and mutation analysis indicated that HER-2/neu stimulated Jab1 via the T cell factor (TCF) binding site located at the −380/−368 region of the human Jab1 promoter. DNA affinity precipitation assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay verified that binding of β-catenin and TCF-4 to this consensus site was increased by HER-2/neu. In addition, dominant-negative mutant of TCF significantly attenuated the stimulatory effect of HER-2/neu. We also demonstrated that HER-2/neu increased β-catenin/TCF-mediated Jab1 expression via the AKT signaling pathway because chemical inhibitor or dominant-negative mutant of AKT effectively attenuated the stimulatory action of HER-2/neu. IGF-I, which is a well-known AKT activator, also up-regulated the expression of Jab1 in NIH/3T3 and MCF-7 cells. Knockdown of Jab1 by small interfering RNA (siRNA) preferentially inhibited proliferation of HER-2/neu-overexpressing breast cancer cells. Taken together, our results suggest that HER-2/neu transcriptionally activates Jab1 expression to promote proliferation of breast cancer cells.