TAX1BP1 contributes to deoxypodophyllotoxin-induced glioma cell parthanatos via inducing nuclear translocation of AIF by activation of mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I

Parthanatos is a type of programmed cell death initiated by over-activated poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1). Nuclear translocation of apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) is a prominent feature of parthanatos. But it remains unclear how activated nuclear PARP1 induces mitochondrial AIF translocation into nuclei. Evidence has shown that deoxypodophyllotoxin (DPT) induces parthanatos in glioma cells via induction of excessive ROS. In this study we explored the downstream signal of activated PARP1 to induce nuclear translocation of AIF in DPT-triggered glioma cell parthanatos. We showed that treatment with DPT (450 nM) induced PARP1 over-activation and Tax1 binding protein 1 (TAX1BP1) distribution to mitochondria in human U87, U251 and U118 glioma cells. PARP1 activation promoted TAX1BP1 distribution to mitochondria by depleting nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). Knockdown of TAX1BP1 with siRNA not only inhibited TAX1BP1 accumulation in mitochondria, but also alleviated nuclear translocation of AIF and glioma cell death. We demonstrated that TAX1BP1 enhanced the activity of respiratory chain complex I not only by upregulating the expression of ND1, ND2, NDUFS2 and NDUFS4, but also promoting their assemblies into complex I. The activated respiratory complex I generated more superoxide to cause mitochondrial depolarization and nuclear translocation of AIF, while the increased mitochondrial superoxide reversely reinforced PARP1 activation by inducing ROS-dependent DNA double strand breaks. In mice bearing human U87 tumor xenograft, administration of DPT (10 mg· kg-1 ·d-1, i.p., for 8 days) markedly inhibited the tumor growth accompanied by NAD+ depletion, TAX1BP1 distribution to mitochondria, AIF distribution to nuclei as well as DNA DSBs and PARP1 activation in tumor tissues. Taken together, these data suggest that TAX1BP1 acts as a downstream signal of activated PARP1 to trigger nuclear translocation of AIF by activation of mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I.