p14ARF induces apoptosis via an entirely caspase-3-dependent mitochondrial amplification loop

PRL-3 promotes breast cancer progression by downregulating p14ARF-mediated p53 expression

Prior studies have demonstrated that phosphatase of regenerating liver-3 (PRL-3) serves avital function in cell proliferation and metastasis in breast cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the function of PRL-3 in breast cancer remain unknown. PRL-3 expression was analyzed in 24 pairs of breast cancer and normal tissues using the reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay. The results of the present study identified that the expression of PLR-3 in breast cancer tissues was increased 4.2-fold, compared with normal tissues. Notably, overexpression of PRL-3 significantly promoted the proliferation of cancer cells and inhibited endogenous p53 expression by downregulating the expression level of p14 alternate reading frame (p14^ARF). In addition, decreased expression levels of PRL-3 resulted in decreased breast cancer cell proliferation and increased expression level of p14^ARF. These results suggested that PRL-3 enhances cell proliferation by downregulating p14^ARF expression, which results in decreased levels ofp53. The results of the present study demonstrated that PRL-3 promotes tumor proliferation by affecting the p14^ARF-p53 axis, and that it may serve as a prognostic marker for patients with breast cancer.

Intratumoral Immunization by p19Arf and Interferon-β Gene Transfer in a Heterotopic Mouse Model of Lung Carcinoma

Therapeutic strategies that act by eliciting and enhancing antitumor immunity have been clinically validated as an effective treatment modality but may benefit from the induction of both cell death and immune activation as primary stimuli. Using our AdRGD-PG adenovector platform, we show here for the first time that in situ gene transfer of p19Arf and interferon-β (IFNβ) in the LLC1 mouse model of lung carcinoma acts as an immunotherapy. Although p19Arf is sufficient to induce cell death, only its pairing with IFNβ significantly induced markers of immunogenic cell death. In situ gene therapy with IFNβ, either alone or in combination with p19Arf, could retard tumor progression, but only the combined treatment was associated with a protective immune response. Specifically in the case of combined intratumoral gene transfer, we identified 167 differentially expressed genes when using microarray to evaluate tumors that were treated in vivo and confirmed the activation of CCL3, CXCL3, IL1α, IL1β, CD274, and OSM, involved in immune response and chemotaxis. Histologic evaluation revealed significant tumor infiltration by neutrophils, whereas functional depletion of granulocytes ablated the antitumor effect of our approach. The association of in situ gene therapy with cisplatin resulted in synergistic elimination of tumor progression. In all, in situ gene transfer with p19Arf and IFNβ acts as an immunotherapy involving recruitment of neutrophils, a desirable but previously untested outcome, and this approach may be allied with chemotherapy, thus providing significant antitumor activity and warranting further development for the treatment of lung carcinoma.

Peptide-based tumor inhibitor encoding mitochondrial p14(ARF) is highly efficacious to diverse tumors

p14^ARF is one of the major tumor suppressors conventionally identified both as the mdm2‐binding molecule restoring p53 function in the nucleus, and as a nucleophosmin‐binding partner inside the nucleolous to stabilize ribosomal RNA. However, its recently reported mitochondrial localization has pointed to novel properties as a tumor suppressor. At the same time, functional peptides are gaining much attention in nanomedicine for their in vivo utility as non‐invasive biologics. We previously reported the p14^ARF‐specific peptide that restored the sensitivity to gefitinib on the gefitinib‐resistant lung cancer cells. Based on the information of this prototype peptide, here we generated the more powerful anti‐tumor peptide “r9‐CatB‐p14 MIS,” which comprises the minimal inhibitory sequence of the mitochondrial targeting p14^ARF protein in combination with the proteolytic cleavage site for cathepsin B, which is activated in various tumor cells, fused with the nine‐polyarginine‐domain for cell penetration, and demonstrated its novel action of regulating mitochondrial function in accordance with localization of endogenous p14^ARF. The p14 MIS peptide showed a potent tumor inhibiton in vitro and in vivo against not only lung cancer cells but also tumor cells of diverse lineages, via modulating mitochondrial membrane potential, with minimal cytotoxicity to non‐neoplastic cells and tissues. Hence, this mitochondrially targeted p14 peptide agent provides a novel basis for non‐invasive peptide‐based antitumor therapeutics.