Investigating the targets and biological roles of the deubiquitylase USP43

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The cells in our body must be able to sense and respond to changes in their environment (hormones, UV damage, toxins) to maintain the healthy function of tissues and organs. Failure to do so progressively undermines cellular 'fitness' contributing to age-related declines in cell and tissue function that drive the normal ageing process and can contribute to age-related diseases such as chronic inflammation, cancer and dementia.Cells respond to tissue damage or infection by increasing the abundance of key proteins and enzymes that mitigate that damage. They do this through the activation of intracellular signalling pathways which transmit information into the cell. When a cell receives this signal the genes that code for enzymes are 'read' by 'transcription factors', discrete proteins that bind to DNA and transcribe the DNA information into RNA molecules, which are in turn 'translated' into the relevant proteins and enzymes. One such transcription factor, called 'NFkappaB' (NFkB), coordinates cellular responses to an inflammatory signal called 'TNF'. When cells are exposed to TNF, NFkB becomes activated as a result of phosphorylation - the attachment of phosphate groups; this requires two enzymes called the IkB kinase or IKKs. We have deleted the genes for both IKKs in human colon cells using CRISPR gene editing. By analyzing the changes in abundance of RNA molecules we found that TNF-NFkB signalling activates the gene that codes for a protein called USP43. TNF cannot increase USP43 abundance in cells that lack IKKs. We also noted that cells that lack IKK have increased cell-to-cell contacts (i.e. closer physical contact with neighbouring cells) and increased abundance of a protein called E-cadherin that mediates cell:cell adhesion signals. We therefore examined how cells respond to increasing cell density, which promotes cell:cell contacts. This led us to discover that USP43 abundance also increases with increasing cell density and that USP43 is found in cells close to E-cadherin at sites of cell-cell contacts. Formation of correct cell:cell contacts is vital for the formation and maintenance of complex tissues. If it fails it can cause inflammation, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Indeed, genetic defects in components of the TNF-IKK-NFkB pathway and E-cadherin have both been shown to contribute to IBD syndromes so it is very striking that USP43 abundance is controlled by both pathways and is found at sites of cell:cell contact in colon cells. Indeed, recent data from another lab has found mutations in the gene for USP43 which impair USP43 activity in patients with inflammation. For these reasons we are interested in the function of the USP43 protein, which belongs to a family of enzymes that cleave a protein called ubiquitin from other proteins. Many proteins in our cells are 'tagged' by the addition of ubiquitin and this changes the properties of such proteins, regulating their activity, directing them for destruction or directing them to specific compartments within the cell. USP43 reverses the addition of ubiquitin to proteins. We suspect that USP43 controls the activity or abundance of proteins that are critical for TNF-IKK-NFkB inflammatory signalling and E-cadherin signalling. In this project we will define how USP43 abundance is controlled, identify the targets of USP43 (those proteins that USP43 removes ubiquitin from) and other USP43 interacting proteins that may control its functions. We will delete the USP43 gene from human cells so that we can assess the role of the USP43 protein in regulating inflammatory signalling, cell:cell contacts, cell survival and cell division. The results will shed new light on how inflammation and tissue structure are controlled and may tell us whether USP43 is a possible new drug target for inflammatory disease.