Clusterin, a Novel DEC1 Target, Modulates DNA Damage-Mediated Cell Death

Differentiated embryonic chondrocyte expressed gene 1 (DEC1, also known as Sharp2/Stra13/BHLHE40) is a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor that plays an important role in circadian rhythms, cell proliferation, apoptosis, cellular senescence, hypoxia response, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of tumor cells. Secretory clusterin (sCLU) is a cytoprotective protein that guards against genotoxic stresses. Here, clusterin (CLU) was identified as a novel target gene of DEC1 and suppresses DNA damage-induced cell death in tumor cells. Mechanistically, based on chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase assays, DEC1 binds to and activates the promoter of the CLU gene. DEC1 and DNA-damaging agents induce sCLU expression, whereas DEC1 knockdown decreases the expression of sCLU upon DNA damage. Moreover, the data demonstrate that DEC1 inhibits, whereas sCLU knockdown enhances, DNA damage-induced cell death in MCF7 breast cancer cells. Given that DEC1 and sCLU are frequently overexpressed in breast cancers, these data provide mechanistic insight into DEC1 as a prosurvival factor by upregulating sCLU to reduce the DNA damage-induced apoptotic response. Together, this study reveals sCLU as a novel target of DEC1 which modulates the sensitivity of the DNA damage response.Implications: DEC1 and sCLU are frequently overexpressed in breast cancer, and targeting the sCLU-mediated cytoprotective signaling pathway may be a novel therapeutic approach. Mol Cancer Res; 16(11); 1641-51. ©2018 AACR.