Up-regulation of RhoB by glucocorticoids and its effects on the cell proliferation and NF-κB transcriptional activity

Although there is ample evidence that glucocorticoids (GCs) have an antiproliferative effect on many cell types, the molecular mechanism remains elusive. We reported in our previous study that Dex treatment led to cell growth arrest in a human ovarian cancer cell HO-8910. RhoB, as a member of Rho GTPases, have been implicated to be a negative regulator of cell proliferation. In this study, we provided novel evidence that Dex induced the expressions of small GTPase RhoB mRNA and protein, but not RhoA and RhoC mRNA in a dose- and time-dependent fashion via glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Over-expression of RhoB increased while inhibition of RhoB expression by RNA interference reversed Dex-induced growth arrest, indicating that RhoB signaling is involved in Dex-induced proliferation inhibition. We also presented the novel observation that over-expression or activation of RhoB signaling elevated the basal transcriptional activity of the transcription factor NF-κB in HO-8910 cells. Furthermore, elevating RhoB signaling enhanced the inhibitory effect of Dex on NF-κB activity, while attenuating RhoB signaling almost abrogated Dex suppression of NF-κB signaling, indicating that RhoB pathway is involved in the regulation of NF-κB activity and is essential for Dex transcriptional repression on NF-κB signaling in HO-8910 cells.