Aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) isoforms control lymphoid cancer cell proliferation through differentially regulating tumor suppressor p53 activity

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) is involved in xenobiotic and hypoxic responses, and we previously showed that ARNT also regulates nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling by altering the DNA binding activity of the RelB subunit. However, our initial study of ARNT-mediated RelB modulation was based on simultaneous suppression of the two ARNT isoforms, isoform 1 and 3, and precluded the examination of their individual functions. We find here that while normal lymphocytes harbor equal levels of isoform 1 and 3, lymphoid malignancies exhibit a shift to higher levels of ARNT isoform 1. These elevated levels of ARNT isoform 1 are critical to the proliferation of these cancerous cells, as suppression of isoform 1 in a human multiple myeloma (MM) cell line, and an anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) cell line, triggered S-phase cell cycle arrest, spontaneous apoptosis, and sensitized cells to doxorubicin treatment. Furthermore, co-suppression of RelB or p53 with ARNT isoform 1 prevented cell cycle arrest and blocked doxorubicin induced apoptosis. Together our findings reveal that certain blood cancers rely on ARNT isoform 1 to potentiate proliferation by antagonizing RelB and p53-dependent cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Significantly, our results identify ARNT isoform 1 as a potential target for anticancer therapies.