Homer1 regulates the susceptibility to TRAIL

TRAIL is an apoptotic cell death-inducing ligand that belongs to a TNF superfamily. To identify the regulators that govern the susceptibility to TRAIL, TRAIL-resistant HeLa (TR) cells were established by repeatedly treating HeLa cells with TRAIL. Here we showed that scaffolding protein Homer1 plays a decisive role in regulating the apoptotic susceptibility to TRAIL. TR cells showing the normal susceptibility to FasL and chemotherapeutic agent etoposide expressed the lower protein levels of Homer1 than parental HeLa cells. They showed the delayed activation of caspases-8, Bid cleavage and Bax translocation to mitochondria in response to TRAIL. Reconstitution of Homer1 expression in TR cells significantly restored the susceptibility to TRAIL. In addition, knock-down of Homer1 using interfering shRNA in parental HeLa cells lost the susceptibility to TRAIL. Together, our data indicate that Homer1 plays a critical role in determining the apoptotic susceptibility to TRAIL.