NLK-mediated phosphorylation of HDAC1 negatively regulates Wnt signaling.

Masoumi KC, Daams R, Sime W, Siino V, Ke H, Levander F, Massoumi R

Mol. Biol. Cell 28 (2) 346-355 [2017-01-15; online 2016-11-30]

The Wnt signaling pathway is essential in regulating various cellular processes. Different mechanisms of inhibition for Wnt signaling have been proposed. Besides β-catenin degradation through the proteasome, nemo-like kinase (NLK) is another molecule that is known to negatively regulate Wnt signaling. However, the mechanism by which NLK mediates the inhibition of Wnt signaling was not known. In the present study, we used primary embryonic fibroblast cells isolated from NLK-deficient mice and showed that these cells proliferate faster and have a shorter cell cycle than wild-type cells. In NLK-knockout cells, we observed sustained interaction between Lef1 and β-catenin, leading to elevated luciferase reporter of β-catenin/Lef1-mediated transcriptional activation. The mechanism for the reduced β-catenin/Lef1 promoter activation was explained by phosphorylation of HDAC1 at serine 421 via NLK. The phosphorylation of HDAC1 was achieved only in the presence of wild-type NLK because a catalytically inactive mutant of NLK was unable to phosphorylate HDAC1 and reduced the luciferase reporter of β-catenin/Lef1-mediated transcriptional activation. This result suggests that NLK and HDAC1 together negatively regulate Wnt signaling, which is vital in preventing aberrant proliferation of nontransformed primary fibroblast cells.

Bioinformatics Support and Infrastructure [Collaborative]

Bioinformatics Support, Infrastructure and Training [Collaborative]

PubMed 27903773

DOI 10.1091/mbc.E16-07-0547

Crossref 10.1091/mbc.E16-07-0547

pii: mbc.E16-07-0547
pmc: PMC5231902


Publications 9.5.0