p73-dependent expression of DAN during cisplatin-induced cell death and osteoblast differentiation

The expression of phosphatidic acid phosphatase 2a, which hydrolyzes lipids to generate diacylglycerol, is regulated by p73, a member of the p53 family

p73, a p53-related gene, is essential for a development of animals, while p53 is important for tumor formation. And little is known about the target genes specifically regulated by p73. Identifying the specific targets of p73 is important to understand the physiological roles of p73. To identify the genes specifically regulated by p73, we conducted serial analysis of gene expression to quantitatively evaluate messenger RNA populations. We found that the gene for phosphatidic acid phosphatase 2a (PAP2a), an enzyme that hydrolyzes lipids to generate diacylglycerol, was specifically upregulated by ectopic production of p73beta. The promoter region of this gene contains an element that is functionally responsive to p73beta. And the quantity of PAP2a protein was upregulated by ectopic production of p73beta. These results suggest that the expression of PAP2a is directly regulated by p73.

TP53INP1 is a novel p73 target gene that induces cell cycle arrest and cell death by modulating p73 transcriptional activity

TP53INP1 is an alternatively spliced gene encoding two nuclear protein isoforms (TP53INP1alpha and TP53INP1beta), whose transcription is activated by p53. When overexpressed, both isoforms induce cell cycle arrest in G1 and enhance p53-mediated apoptosis. TP53INP1s also interact with the p53 gene and regulate p53 transcriptional activity. We report here that TP53INP1 expression is induced during experimental acute pancreatitis in p53-/- mice and in cisplatin-treated p53-/- mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs). We demonstrate that ectopic expression of p73, a p53 homologue, leads to TP53INP1 induction in p53-deficient cells. In turn, TP53INP1s alters the transactivation capacity of p73 on several p53-target genes, including TP53INP1 itself, demonstrating a functional association between p73 and TP53INP1s. Also, when overexpressed in p53-deficient cells, TP53INP1s inhibit cell growth and promote cell death as assessed by cell cycle analysis and colony formation assays. Finally, we show that TP53INP1s potentiate the capacity of p73 to inhibit cell growth, that effect being prevented when the p53 mutant R175H is expressed or when p73 expression is blocked by a siRNA. These results suggest that TP53INP1s are functionally associated with p73 to regulate cell cycle progression and apoptosis, independently from p53.

Role of p73 in Regulating Human Caspase-1 Gene Transcription Induced by Interferon-γ and Cisplatin

Caspase-1, a cysteine protease is primarily involved in proteolytic activation of proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-1beta. It is also involved in some forms of apoptosis. Here we have analyzed the role of p73, a homolog of tumor suppressor p53, in regulating human caspase-1 gene transcription. The caspase-1 promoter was strongly activated by p73alpha and p73beta primarily through a p53/p73 responsive site. Overexpression of p73 by transient transfection increased the caspase-1 mRNA level. Treatment of cells with cisplatin (which increases p73 protein level) resulted in increased caspase-1 promoter activity and its mRNA level. Blocking of p73 function by a dominant negative mutant reduced basal as well as cisplatin-induced caspase-1 promoter activity. Mutation of the p73 responsive site abolished cisplatin-induced activation of the promoter. Interferon-gamma induced caspase-1 promoter activity and this was reduced by p73-directed small hairpin RNA and also by a dominant negative mutant of p73. Abrogation of the p73 responsive site partially inhibited interferon-gamma-induced activation of the caspase-1 promoter. Treatment of HeLa cells with interferon-gamma resulted in an increase in p73 protein as well as its activity. Mutation of the IRF-1 binding site abolished interferon-gamma-induced caspase-1 promoter activity but p73-induced activation was only marginally reduced. IRF-1 cooperated with p73 and cisplatin cooperated with interferon-gamma in the activation of the caspase-1 promoter. Our results show that p73 is a regulator of caspase-1 gene transcription, and is required for optimal activation of the caspase-1 promoter by interferon-gamma.

Accumulation of p27 KIP1 is associated with BMP2-induced growth arrest and neuronal differentiation of human neuroblastoma-derived cell lines

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) play an essential role in cell fate determination. In this study, we found that BMP2 treatment resulted in growth arrest and differentiation in human neuroblastoma-derived cell lines, SH-SY5Y and RTBM1. Within 30min of BMP2 exposure, phosphorylation of Smad1/5 was observed in these cell lines. In RTBM1 cells, BMP2-induced differentiation was accompanied by a significant decrease in the expression level of DAN, an antagonist of BMP in frog embryos. Immunoblot analysis revealed that BMP2 treatment caused a down-regulation of p53 family members and hence of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(WAF1). We found a significant accumulation of p27(KIP1) in response to BMP2, whereas the expression level of Skp2, which is required for ubiquitin-dependent p27(KIP1) degradation, was decreased during this differentiation process. Our results suggest that p27(KIP1) contributes to the BMP-induced growth arrest and neuronal differentiation of neuroblastoma, and BMP treatment might provide a new therapeutic strategy.