Hypoxia Suppresses Cysteine Deprivation-induced Cell Death

Cancer cells are frequently exposed to microenvironmental stresses, including amino acid deprivation and hypoxia, which are often targeted for cancer therapy. Here, we examined the effect of hypoxia in cysteine-deprived breast cancer cells and the mechanism to counteract the hypoxia effect.Cell death was determined by annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide staining. Expression of mRNAs and proteins was determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis, respectively.Cysteine deprivation or sulfasalazine, a potent inhibitor of cysteine/glutamate transporter, induced cell death by activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) up-regulation. Hypoxia significantly suppressed cell death and ATF4 up-regulation induced by cysteine deprived conditions. In addition, tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand reversed the effect of hypoxia on cysteine deprived conditions.Prevention of hypoxia may be a means for augmenting the effect of amino acid deprivation as a strategy for cancer therapy.