Ubiquilin-1 is a novel HASH-1-complexing protein that regulates levels of neuronal bHLH transcription factors in human neuroblastoma cells.

The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor mammalian achaete-scute homologue-1 (MASH-1 in mouse and HASH-1 in humans) is expressed in specific subsets of embryonic neuronal precursors of both the peripheral and central nervous systems. This gene is essential for development of olfactory and most peripheral autonomic neurons. Neuro-blastoma is a pediatric malignancy derived from sympathetic nervous system precursors and HASH-1 is expressed in a majority of neuroblastoma tumors and cell lines, indicating the immature phenotype of these cells. Using a human neuroblastoma cDNA library and the yeast two-hybrid system to identify novel HASH-1-interacting proteins, we isolated ubiquilin-1 (DA41, hPLIC-1), a gene that contains multiple ubiquitin-related domains. Further analyses showed that ubiquilin-1 interacts not only with HASH-1, but also with other tissue-specific bHLH proteins, including HES-1. Overexpression of ubiquilin-1 led to accumulation of HASH-1 and HES-1. Moreover, ubiquilin-1 was translocated from the cytoplasm to the nucleus upon co-expression with HASH-1. These results indicate that ubiquilin-1 plays an active role in the precise regulation of HASH-1 and of other tissue-specific bHLH proteins.