cluded WT and p53 null HCT116 colonic epithelial cells to assess the involvement of p53 in autophagy mediated by PHB knockdown. PHB levels inversely correlated with TNFa- or IFNc-induced autophagy Pomalidomide regardless of p53 status. As previously described, p532/2 HCT116 cells exhibited increased autophagy compared to WT cells. p53 knockout initially induces autophagy by ER stress followed by mitophagy. Knockdown of PHB caused a further increase in autophagy in p532/2 cells, suggesting that autophagy mediated by PHB knockdown is independent of p53. ER stress markers indicate that ER stress was not further increased upon PHB knockdown. We speculate that p53 null cells with PHB knockdown likely show more autophagy due to a combination of ER stress-induced autophagy and mitophagy. In conclusion, we demonstrate that the mitochondrial protein PHB modulates autophagy in intestinal epithelial cells via intracellular PubMed ID:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22179956 ROS signaling. Decreased PHB expression coupled with inhibition of autophagy, renders intestinal epithelial cells unable to maintain cell homeostasis and susceptible to mitochondrial damage and cytotoxicity. These findings have elucidated a molecular pathway whereby increased ROS by decreased PHB may enhance inflammation in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. PHB knockdown and overexpression Cells were transiently transfected with Stealth RNAiTM against PHB1 or Stealth RNAiTM siRNA Negative Control Med GC at 20 mm concentration. Caco2-BBEs were transfected using AmaxaH Cell Line Optimization NucleofectorH Kit T, while HCT116 were transfected with LipofectAmine 2000. Cells were transfected with siRNA for 96 hours. For PHB overexpression studies, Caco2-BBE cells were transiently transfected with either pEGFPN1 expression vector or pEGFPN1-PHB for 72 hours. Autophagy activation and inhibition Serum deprived cells were treated with 10 ng/ml recombinant human TNFa or 50 ng/ml recombinant human IFNc for 18 hours. When treating Caco2-BBE cells, TNFa was administered to the basolateral chamber, while IFNc was administered to the apical and basolateral chambers. To inhibit autophagy, cells were treated with 100 nM Bafilomycin A1 24 h prior to collection or co-transfected with 20 mm siATG16L1. Efficiency of siRNA knockdown was assessed by Western blotting. Cells were treated with 1.0 or 10.0 mM N-acetyl-L-cysteine, a ROS scavenger, for 24 hours prior to collection. Generation of stably-transfected Caco2-BBE cell expressing pEGFPN1-PHB A single PHB PCR product corresponding to the entire coding region of PHB was generated from Caco2-BBE cells using an antisense primer with a mutated PHB stop codon, underlined. The PCR product was ligated into pEGFPN1 vector using the Quick Ligation Kit and sequenced. Caco2-BBE cells were transfected with pEGFPN1-PHB or empty pEGFPN1 vector using Lipofectamine 2000 and the transfected clones were selected under 0.12% geneticin, and fluorescent cells were isolated using flow cytometry. Western blot analysis Total protein was collected from Caco2-BBE or HCT116 cells in lysis buffer containing 1% Triton X-100, 1% Nonidet P-40, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 1 mM sodium fluoride, and 1 ml/ml mammalian protease inhibitor cocktail 
to obtain total protein extracts. The samples were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfatepolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis using laemmli’s 26 SDS sample buffer and AnyKDTM gradient polyacrylamide gels followed by electrotransfer to nitrocellulose membranes. Membranes were incubated with p
