A novel function for HSF1-induced mitotic exit failure and genomic instability through direct interaction between HSF1 and Cdc20

Although heat-shock factor (HSF) 1 is a known transcriptional factor of heat-shock proteins, other pathways like production of aneuploidy and increased protein stability of cyclin B1 have been proposed. In the present study, the regulatory domain of HSF1 (amino-acid sequence 212–380) was found to interact directly with the amino-acid sequence 106–171 of Cdc20. The association between HSF1 and Cdc20 inhibited the interaction between Cdc27 and Cdc20, the phosphorylation of Cdc27 and the ubiquitination activity of anaphase-promoting complex (APC). The overexpression of HSF1 inhibited mitotic exit and the degradations of cyclin B1 and securin, which resulted in production of aneuploidy and multinucleated cells, but regulatory domain-deficient HSF1 did not. Moreover, HSF1-overexpressing cells showed elevated levels of micronuclei and genomic alteration. The depletion of HSF1 from cells highly expressing HSF1 reduced nocodazole-mediated aneuploidy in cells. These findings suggest a novel function of HSF1 frequently overexpressed in cancer cells, to inhibit APC/C activity by interacting with Cdc20, and to result in aneuploidy development and genomic instability.