Von Hippel-Lindau gene product modulates TIS11B expression in renal cell carcinoma: impact on vascular endothelial growth factor expression in hypoxia.

TIS11B belongs to a group of RNA-binding proteins (including TIS11/tristetraprolin and TIS11D) that share characteristic tandem CCCH-type zinc-finger domains and can be rapidly induced by multiple stimuli. TIS11B has been shown to regulate vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA stability in adrenocorticotropic hormone-stimulated primary adrenocortical cells. TIS11B has also been documented as a negative regulator of VEGF during development, but nothing has yet been reported in the context of human cancers. The Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor protein regulates VEGF gene expression at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels in normoxia. However, whether it can do so in hypoxia is still unclear. Here, we report a unique regulatory function of VHL in VEGF expression in hypoxia that is mediated through modulation of TIS11B protein levels in renal cancer cells. In normoxia, we detected increased expression of the microRNA hsa-miR-29b in the VHL-overexpressing renal cancer cell line 786-O. We also show that this increased expression of hsa-miR-29b decreased TIS11B protein expression by post-transcriptional regulation in normoxia. In contrast, in hypoxia, increased TIS11B expression paralleled an increased TIS11B mRNA stability in VHL-overexpressing 786-O cells. This VHL-mediated TIS11B up-regulation in hypoxia may be important for TIS11B-regulated gene expression: we observed a down-regulation of VEGF mRNA in hypoxia in VHL-overexpressing cells compared with parental 786-O cells, and this effect was reversible by silencing TIS11B expression.