Killing of Sarcoma Cells by Proapoptotic Bcl-XS: Role of the BH3 Domain and Regulation

Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) is the most common tumor affecting AIDS patients with over 20% of these patients afflicted by this disease. Previous studies have demonstrated that KS tumor cells predominantly express the prosurvival protein Bcl-XL compared with Bcl-2. In the current study, we have used an adenoviral vector that expresses Bcl-XS, a functional inhibitor of Bcl-XL, to study the significance of Bcl-XL expression in the KS cell line (SLK) or KS primary cultures. The results demonstrate that 75% to 80% of SLK or KS primary cells were killed by the Bcl-XS containing adenovirus whereas KS cells infected with control adenovirus showed no significant cell death or growth inhibition. Overexpression of Bcl-XL, but not Bcl-2, in SLK cells attenuated apoptosis induced by adenovirus Bcl-XS. Immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that adenoviral Bcl-XS associated with Bcl-XL, but not with Bcl-2. Mutational analysis showed that the 2 helical region of Bcl-XS containing the BH3 motif was critical for killing activity and interaction with Bcl-XL. These results suggest that Bcl-XS is a direct killer and Bcl-XL may act by interacting with and sequestering Bcl-XS. These studies also suggest that targeting Bcl -XL may be of therapeutic benefit for the treatment of tumors that are characterized by inappropriate expression of BclXL. Neoplasia (2001) 3, 437–445.