Nuclear Factor-κB Induced by Doxorubicin Is Deficient in Phosphorylation and Acetylation and Represses Nuclear Factor-κB–Dependent Transcription in Cancer Cells

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Abstract
The primary goal of chemotherapy is to cause cancer cell death. However, a side effect of many commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs is the activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), a potent inducer of antiapoptotic genes, which may blunt the therapeutic efficacy of these compounds. We have assessed the effect of doxorubicin, an anthracycline in widespread clinical use, on NF-κB activation and expression of antiapoptotic genes in breast cancer cells. We show that doxorubicin treatment activates NF-κB signaling and produces NF-κB complexes that are competent for NF-κB binding in vitro. Surprisingly, these NF-κB complexes suppress, rather than activate, constitutive- and cytokine-induced NF-κB–dependent transcription. We show that doxorubicin treatment produces RelA, which is deficient in phosphorylation and acetylation and which blocks NF-κB signaling in a histone deacetylase–independent manner, and we show that NF-κB activated by doxorubicin does not remain stably bound to κB elements in vivo. Together these data show that NF-κB signaling induced by doxorubicin reduces expression of NF-κB–dependent genes in cancer cells.

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