The role of cell cycle-dependent neuropathy target esterase in cell proliferation

Neuropathy target esterase (NTE) is a novel phospholipase B and plays a role in phospholipid homeostasis. Although over-expression of NTE inhibits cell division, the role of NTE in cell proliferation is still unknown. In the current study, we firstly used synchronous HeLa cells to study the expression profile of NTE during the cell cycle. NTE protein and activity are regulated during the cell cycle with highest level at G(1) and lowest at G(2)/M phase. However, NTE mRNA levels are constant during the cell cycle. The role of NTE in cell proliferation was investigated by short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to suppress the expression of NTE. Knockdown of NTE significant down-regulated of NTE expression and reduced the glycerophosphocholine level. However, suppression of NTE did not affect phosphatidylcholine content or cell cycle progression. In addition, NTE was demonstrated to be degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. These results suggested for the first time that NTE is a cell cycle-dependent protein, but is not essential for cell proliferation, and the ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis may be involved in the regulation of NTE during the cell cycle.