Dual Regulation of Cadmium-Induced Apoptosis by mTORC1 through Selective Induction of IRE1 Branches in Unfolded Protein Response

Cadmium (Cd) causes generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that trigger renal tubular injury. We found that rapamycin, an inhibitor of mTORC1, attenuated Cd-induced apoptosis in renal tubular cells. Knockdown of Raptor, a positive regulator of mTORC1, also had the similar effect. However, rapamycin did not alter generation of ROS, suggesting that mTORC1 is a target downstream of ROS. Indeed, ROS caused activation of mTORC1, which contributed to induction of a selective branch of the unfolded protein response (UPR); i.e., the IRE1 pathway. Although Cd triggered three major UPR pathways, activation of mTORC1 by Cd did not contribute to induction of the PERK–eIF2α and ATF6 pathways. Consistently, knockdown of Raptor caused suppression of JNK without affecting the PERK–eIF2α pathway in Cd-exposed cells. Knockdown of TSC2, a negative regulator of mTORC1, caused activation of mTORC1 and enhanced Cd induction of the IRE1–JNK pathway and apoptosis without affecting other UPR branches. Inhibition of IRE1α kinase led to suppression of JNK activity and apoptosis in Cd-treated cells. Dominant-negative inhibition of JNK also suppressed Cd-induced apoptosis. In contrast, inhibition of IRE1α endoribonuclease activity or downstream XBP1 modestly enhanced Cd-induced apoptosis. In vivo, administration with rapamycin suppressed activation of mTORC1 and JNK, but not eIF2α, in the kidney of Cd-treated mice. It was correlated with attenuation of tubular injury and apoptotic cell death in the tubules. These results elucidate dual regulation of Cd-induced renal injury by mTORC1 through selective induction of IRE1 signaling.