Glucose utilization is essential for hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha-dependent phosphorylation of c-Jun

Hypoxia and anoxia are important microenvironmental stresses that contribute to pathological events such as solid-tumor development. We have been investigating the effects of hypoxia and anoxia on expression of the proto-oncogene c-jun and the regulation of c-Jun/AP-1 transcription factors. In earlier work using genetically manipulated mouse embryo fibroblasts (mEFs), we found a functional relationship among c-jun expression, c-Jun N-terminal phosphorylation, and the presence of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha), the oxygen-regulated subunit of the HIF-1 transcription factor. Both the induction of c-jun mRNA expression and c-Jun N-terminal phosphorylation in cells exposed to hypoxia or anoxia were found to be dependent on the presence of HIF-1 alpha, but this was not the case in cells exposed to less-severe hypoxia. Here we describe new findings concerning HIF-1-dependent c-Jun N-terminal phosphorylation in cells exposed to hypoxia or anoxia. Specifically, we report that hypoxia-inducible c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activity, which involves JNKs or stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs), is dependent on enhanced glucose utilization mediated by HIF-1. These results suggest a model in which hypoxia-inducible JNK activity is connected to oxygen sensing through increased glucose absorption and/or glycolytic activity regulated by the HIF-1 system. We also found that basal threonine and tyrosine phosphorylation (within the TEY motif) of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) and the corresponding ERK1/2 activity were defective in hypoxic HIF-1 alpha-null mEFs but not in wild-type mEFs, independently of glucose uptake. Therefore, the activities of both JNKs/SAPKs and ERK1/2 are sensitive to HIF-1-dependent processes in cells exposed to hypoxia or anoxia.