H2O2 mediated FLIP and XIAP down-regulation involves increased ITCH expression and ERK-Akt crosstalk in imatinib resistant Chronic Myeloid Leukemia cell line K562.

Regulation of anti-apoptotic protein FLICE-like inhibitory protein (FLIP) and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) remains a crucial step in the cell fate determination and thus targeting these anti-apoptotic proteins could be a viable strategy for the treatment of cancer. However the regulation of FLIP and XIAP is not very well established till date. Here we have shown that ROS decreased XIAP and FLIP by activation of ubiquitin-proteasomal pathway in imatinib resistant K562 cells. Activation of the components of MAPK pathway, ERK and JNK, played a crucial role in XIAP and FLIP degradation because ectopic expression or knock down of ERK and JNK changed the pattern of ROS mediated down-regulation of these two proteins. We have also found that JNK and ERK differentially regulates FLIP and XIAP, respectively. Moreover, our data suggests that activated ERK decreased Akt phosphorylation and thus its binding to and stabilization of XIAP. On the other hand, JNK activation increased E3 ubiquitin ligase ITCH expression and its binding to FLIP which leads to its degradation. Thus, we have, for the first time elucidated that ROS mediated ERK-Akt crosstalk regulates XIAP. We have also shown for the first time that ROS regulates ITCH expression which controls FLIP degradation.