Dissemination and tissue invasiveness in murine acute leukemia associated with acquisition of p53 mutation and loss of wild-type p53

Inhibition of the putative tumor suppressor gene TIMP-3 by tumor-derived p53 mutants and wild type p53

The p53 gene is a tumor suppressor that regulates the expression of genes required for cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. Mutations in p53 have been observed in over 60% of all human cancers. Certain classes of mutant p53 proteins maintain some of their activities or acquire novel activities and thus may contribute to the transformed phenotype. By carrying out an analysis of differential gene expression using cDNA expression arrays, we compared the expression patterns of cells expressing no p53 to isogenic lines expressing the codon 248 Arg to Trp mutant p53 allele (R248W). In this report, we show that the R248W and D281G p53 mutants, two of the more commonly occurring mutations, as well as wild type p53, repress transcription of the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases type 3 (TIMP-3) gene by greater than tenfold. TIMP-3 expression has been observed to be repressed in many tumors and its reduced expression is thought to contribute to tumor metastasis and invasiveness by allowing increased activity of metalloproteinases in the extracellular matrix. Since mutant forms of p53 tend to be expressed at greatly elevated levels in many human tumors, the retention of their ability to repress TIMP-3 illustrate one mechanism by which mutant forms of the p53 gene may contribute to tumorigenesis.

Genetics of susceptibility to radiation-induced lymphomas, leukemias and lung tumors studied in recombinant congenic strains

The genetic control of susceptibility to radiation-induced tumors in mice has been tested using the series of 20 CcS/Dem (CcS) Recombinant Congenic Strains, each carrying a different random set of 12.5% of genes of the resistant strain STS/A (STS) on the genetic background of the susceptible strain BALB/cHeA (BALB/c). Two classes of tumors were frequently observed: tumors of the haematopoietic system (lymphomas, myelocytic leukemias) and lung tumors. The results indicate that the genes controlling various aspects of tumor development were segregated in the CcS strain series. Large inter-strain differences were observed in the incidence of lung tumors. With lymphomas and leukemias, we not only observed strain differences in the incidence of tumors and in the latency of their development but also in the type of tumors (T- vs. B-cell lymphomas, myelocytic tumors) and in the frequency of their localized or disseminated (leukemic) form. Surprisingly, the myelocytic tumors, which occur very rarely or not at all in the parental strains BALB/c and STS or in their crosses, developed with high frequency in one of the CcS strains (CcS-2), indicating a unique combination of genes in this strain, which facilitates the development of myelocytic tumors. The effect of these genes is suppressed in the genetic composition of the parental strains. Tests of crosses of the resistant-strain CcS-13 with BALB/c indicated a suggestive linkage of a susceptibility gene for lymphomas to chromosome 5. These tests of the CcS strains illustrate the genetic complexity of the control of radiation-induced tumors in mice and suitability of these model systems to study their different facets.

Inhibition of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia proliferation in vivo by re-expression of the p16INK4a tumor suppressor gene

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is characterized by the presence of differentiation-inhibited pro- and pre-T-cell blasts. The p16INK4a tumor suppressor gene has been shown to be frequently deleted in human T-ALL cases. Deletion of p16INK4a may be associated with poor prognosis and relapse of the disease. Radiation-induced murine T-ALL in C57B1/6 mice shares pathogenetic and molecular characteristics with the human disease. We used the murine disease as a model to study the status of the INK4/ARF gene locus and to examine the effect of p16INK4a-re-expression in T-ALL cells on their leukemic potential in vivo. In 9 of 17 radiation-induced murine T-ALL cell lines, the p16INK4a protein was not expressed as determined by immunoblotting. Southern blot analysis revealed homozygous deletions of the p16INK4a gene locus in three of the nine lines, along with the genes encoding p15INK4b and p19ARF. Transduction of p16INK4a-negative T-ALL lines with retrovirus encoding p16INK4a significantly inhibited their in vitro proliferation by inducing G1-arrest. Importantly, re-expression of p16INK4a in p16INK4a-negative T-ALL cells obliterated the induction of lethal disseminated leukemia in syngeneic mice. This is the first demonstration that re-establishment of p16INK4a expression is critical for in vivo growth regulation of T-ALL cells.