Translational repression protects human keratinocytes from UVB-induced apoptosis through a discordant eIF2 kinase stress response

This study delineates the mechanisms by which ultraviolet B (UVB) regulates protein synthesis in human keratinocytes and the importance of translational control in cell survival. Translation initiation is regulated by phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2~P), which causes decreased global protein synthesis coincident with enhanced translation of selected stress-related transcripts, such as ATF4. ATF4 is a transcriptional activator of the Integrated Stress Response (ISR), which has cytoprotective functions as well as apoptotic signals through the downstream transcriptional regulator CHOP (GADD153/DDIT3). We determined that UVB irradiation is a potent inducer of eIF2~P in keratinocytes, leading to decreased levels of translation initiation. However, expression of ATF4 or CHOP was not induced by UVB as compared to traditional ISR activators. The rationale for this discordant response is that ATF4 mRNA is reduced by UVB, and despite its ability to be preferentially translated there are diminished levels of available transcript. Forced expression of ATF4 and CHOP protein prior to UVB irradiation significantly enhanced apoptosis, suggesting that this portion of the ISR is deleterious in keratinocytes following UVB. Inhibition of eIF2~P and translational control reduced viability following UVB, which was alleviated by cycloheximide, indicating that translation repression through eIF2~P is central to keratinocyte survival.