c-Fos degradation by the ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway in osteoclast progenitors

c-Fos is an immediate early gene type proto-oncogene that belongs to the AP (activator protein)-1 transcription factor family. Gene knockout experiments have demonstrated that, among the Fos family, only c-Fos is indispensable for osteoclast differentiation but that c-Fos can be substituted for by other Fos family members including FosB/ΔFosB, Fra-1 and Fra-2, in most other tissues and cells. To further understand a unique role of c-Fos in osteoclastogenesis, we investigated the temporal profile and regulatory mode of expression of c-Fos during the course of osteoclast differentiation. The results indicated that c-Fos protein gradually increased in preosteoclasts during differentiation to a greater extent than that of mRNA induction. We then determined the proteolytic pathway of c-Fos conferring unstable nature on c-Fos protein in a preosteoclastic cell line, RAW264.7. Proteasome inhibitors including MG132 and Z-LLF caused a rapid increase in c-Fos protein expression in these cells within several hours, but other inhibitors of cysteine protease (E-64), lysosome (chloroquine) and calpain (ALLM) did not. Moreover, the proteasome inhibitors caused an extensive accumulation of ubiquitinated c-Fos protein and an approximately three-fold extension of the c-Fos protein half-life. We therefore conclude that the ubiquitin-proteasome system is the major proteolytic pathway conferring instability on c-Fos protein in preosteoclasts. Our results further imply that c-Fos stabilization due to dynamic changes in the ubiquitin-proteasome-dependent degradation may be involved in the accumulation of c-Fos protein in differentiating preosteoclasts.