Wild Type p53 Conformation, Structural Consequences of p53 Mutations and Mechanisms of Mutant p53 Rescue

2007 ◽  
pp. 377-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas C. Joerger ◽  
Assaf Friedler ◽  
Alan R. Fersht
Blood ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 122 (21) ◽  
pp. 1330-1330
Author(s):  
Alfonso Quintas-Cardama ◽  
Sean M. Post ◽  
Kensuke Kojima ◽  
Yi Hua Qiu ◽  
Michael Andreeff ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The tumor suppressor p53 is frequently mutated in human cancer, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), particularly in cases with high-risk cytogenetics. It has been shown that p53 stabilization, which frequently occurs when the protein is mutated, can compromise its function. We have shown that p53 stabilization, regardless of the presence of mutations, suggesting alterations of other components in the p53 pathway. Methodology p53 expression was determined using high-throughput reverse phase protein array (RPPA) technology in 719 samples from 511 pts. Eleven CD34+ bone marrow (BM) and 10 normal peripheral blood (PB) lymphocyte samples were used as controls. Samples were printed as 5 serial 1:2 dilutions in duplicate using an Aushon 2470 Arrayer. Mutational status of p53 alleles was assessed by Sanger sequencing of exons 5 through 9. Expression of components of the p53 pathway was determined using standard immunohistochemical techniques. Nutlin-3a was used in in vitro culture experiments. Results Paired PB- and BM-derived AML samples expressed similar p53 levels (p=0.25). A trend towards higher p53 expression at relapsed was observed among 47 paired diagnosis/relapse samples (p=0.07). p53 expression correlated directly with CD34 (p=0.001) and inversely correlated with WBC (p=0.007), PB and BM blast burden (p=0.0001), and survival (p=0.01). High p53 (p53high) expression was more associated with unfavorable cytogenetics, particularly -5 (p=0.00001). p53high resulted in lower complete remission (CR) rates (51% vs 56%; p=??), higher relapsed rates (82% vs 62%; p=??), and shorter median overall survival (OS; 29.8 vs. 51 wks, p=0.009) compared to p53low pts. Most cases with p53high had unfavorable cytogenetics. We next correlated p53 stabilization with the presence of p53 mutations in 68 pts. p53 mutations were detected in 20/54 (37%) p53high pts and in 0/14 (0%) pts with p53low. p53high, either in the presence (29 wks) or in the absence (24 wks) of p53 mutations (p=1.0), was associated with significantly shorter OS compared with p53low pts (56 wks; p=0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed p53 expression to be an independent risk factor for survival in AML (p=0.02). p53high was positively correlated with p53pSER15 (p=0.00001), Rbp807p811 (p=0.0002), BAD (p=0.0001), cleaved PARP (p=0.002), and cleaved PARP (p=0.01), and negatively with p21 (p=0.01), and MDM2 (p=0.001).Given the similar OS in p53high pts carrying mutant or wild-type p53, we scored the immunohistochemical expression of MDM2, MDM4, and p21 in 30 p53high pts (9 p53 mutated, 21 wild-type p53). Overexpression of MDM2 was observed in 44% vs 48% pts with mutant vs wild-type p53, respectively, whereas rates were 67% vs 62% for MDM4, and 0% vs 19% for p21, for each respective genotype. Overall, of the 21 p53high pts carrying wild-type p53, 15 (71%) had overexpression of MDM2 and/or MDM4, whereas 81% had no p21 expression, indicating deficient activation of the p53 pathway similar to those cases carrying mutant p53. We are currently assessing response to nutlin-3a therapy in 24 primary AML samples (4 mutant p53, 20 wild-type p53). Results showing the impact of p53 mutation and/or stabilization, and expression levels of MDM2, MDM4, and p21 on nutlin-3a therapy will be presented. Conclusions p53 stabilization (p53high) is a powerful predictive and prognostic factor in AML, which is independent of the presence of mutant p53 alleles. Poor outcomes in pts with p53high lacking p53 mutations are very frequently associated with overexpression of negative regulators of p53 such as MDM2 and/or MDM4 and p21 downregulation, indicating a functionally altered p53 pathway. These findings may have implications for therapies targeting the MDM2/p53 axis in AML. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1471
Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
Yuan Hu ◽  
Vicente Escamilla-Rivera ◽  
Cassandra L. Gonzalez ◽  
Lin Tang ◽  
...  

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) develops through the multistep malignant progression of squamous epithelium. This process can be prevented by PD-1 blockade in a mouse model for oral carcinogenesis. OSCCs exhibit a high incidence of p53 mutations that confer oncogenic gain-of-function (GOF) activities that promote resistance to standard therapies and poor clinical outcomes. To determine whether epithelial p53 mutations modulate anti-PD-1-mediated oral cancer immunoprevention, we generated mouse models for oral carcinogenesis by exposing mice carrying epithelial-specific p53 mutations to the carcinogen 4NQO. Consistent with the oncogenic functions of mutant p53, mice with OSCCs expressing the p53R172H GOF mutation developed higher metastasis rates than mice with loss-of-function (LOF) p53 deletion or with wild-type p53. Throughout oral cancer progression, pre-invasive and invasive lesions showed a gradual increase in T-cell infiltration, recruitment of immunosuppressive regulatory T-cells (Tregs), and induction of PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint proteins. Notably, while PD-1 blockade prevented the development of OSCCs in mice with wild-type p53 or p53 deletion, GOF p53R172H abrogated the immunopreventive effects of anti-PD-1, associated with upregulation of IL17 signaling and depletion of exhausted CD8 cells in the microenvironment of the p53R172H tumors. These findings sustain a potential role for p53 profiling in personalized oral cancer immunoprevention.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 674-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cen Zhang ◽  
Juan Liu ◽  
Dandan Xu ◽  
Tianliang Zhang ◽  
Wenwei Hu ◽  
...  

Abstract p53 is a key tumor suppressor, and loss of p53 function is frequently a prerequisite for cancer development. The p53 gene is the most frequently mutated gene in human cancers; p53 mutations occur in >50% of all human cancers and in almost every type of human cancers. Most of p53 mutations in cancers are missense mutations, which produce the full-length mutant p53 (mutp53) protein with only one amino acid difference from wild-type p53 protein. In addition to loss of the tumor-suppressive function of wild-type p53, many mutp53 proteins acquire new oncogenic activities independently of wild-type p53 to promote cancer progression, termed gain-of-function (GOF). Mutp53 protein often accumulates to very high levels in cancer cells, which is critical for its GOF. Given the high mutation frequency of the p53 gene and the GOF activities of mutp53 in cancer, therapies targeting mutp53 have attracted great interest. Further understanding the mechanisms underlying mutp53 protein accumulation and GOF will help develop effective therapies treating human cancers containing mutp53. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in the studies on mutp53 regulation and GOF as well as therapies targeting mutp53 in human cancers.


Blood ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (21) ◽  
pp. 3589-3589
Author(s):  
Brandon James Aubrey ◽  
Andreas Strasser ◽  
Gemma Kelly ◽  
Lin Tai ◽  
Marco Herold

Abstract Deregulated c-MYC expression and mutations in p53 are among the most common changes detected in human cancer. It is now established that mutant p53 proteins confer a poor prognosis in human cancer through both loss of wild-type p53 activity as well as various proposed gain-of-function properties. The specific role of mutant p53 in MYC-driven tumorigenesis is not known. The Eμ-Myc mouse model carries a c-Myc transgene under the control of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene enhancer (Eμ), recapitulating the chromosomal translocation underlying human Burkitt Lymphoma (BL). These mice develop aggressive pre-B or B cell lymphomas and ~20% of those tumours exhibit p53 mutations. We have shown that MYC-driven lymphomas are exquisitely dependent on the pro-survival BCL-2 family member MCL-1 such that loss of a single allele of Mcl-1 leads to dramatic tumour regression and prolonged animal survival. Interestingly, we found that this dependency on MCL-1 is reduced, but not completely ablated, by the presence of a p53 mutation. This suggests an important role for mutant p53 in the sustained survival of MYC-driven lymphomas. We are investigating the effects of five different mutant mouse p53 proteins (V170M, I192S, G280, R246Q, R270H) on tumour initiation, sustained growth and chemoresistance in the Eμ-Myc mouse model. We are further examining the effect of p53 mutations on MCL-1 dependence by using a floxed Mcl-1 gene and a tamoxifen-inducible Cre-recombinase in established Eμ-Myc lymphomas. Preliminary data suggest that both loss of wild-type p53 function as well as retroviral over-expression of mutant p53 can compensate for reduced levels of MCL-1 (loss of one Mcl-1 allele). The underlying mechanisms for this are under investigation. The role of mutant p53 in lymphoma cell survival has been further examined in Eμ-Myc lymphoma-derived cell lines. Enforced over-expression of mutant p53 in cell lines containing wild-type p53 impaired induction of apoptosis by Nutlin3A, an inhibitor of Mdm-2 (the major negative regulator of p53). Remarkably, Nutlin-3a-induced apoptosis was impaired although it caused substantial transcriptional induction of the p53 apoptosis effectors, Puma and Noxa. Importantly, different mutant p53 proteins conferred different levels of protection against cell death. The observed protection against cell death may be partly due to dominant-negative effects of mutant p53, however, it does not appear to be robust enough to account for the extent of cell survival. Furthermore, mutant p53 conferred resistance to docetaxol, which is thought to induce cell death through predominantly p53-independent mechanisms. These data suggest that mutant p53 can protect against both p53-dependent and p53-independent cell death processes. Conversely, transcriptional induction of Noxa and Puma implies that “p53-restoration therapy” may remain a feasible treatment strategy even in tumours that bear mutations in p53 and that the role of a dominant-negative effect for some mutant p53 proteins may be less important than previously considered, at least in lymphoma cells. We are also examining the effect of mutant p53 on lymphoma development utilizing a hematopoietic reconstitution model and retroviral over-expression of mutant p53 proteins. The different mutant p53 proteins investigated exhibited distinct effects during tumorigenesis. The R246Q mutant p53 protein markedly accelerated lymphoma development in the context of MYC over-expression. The R246Q mutant p53 protein demonstrated strong selection in p53-deficient (p53-/-) hematopoietic cells during reconstitution indicative of an advantageous activity in emergency hematopoiesis. Overall, these findings provide evidence for a positive oncogenic role of mutant p53 in hematopoietic cells that provides a particularly potent selective advantage in the context of MYC driven lymphoma development. Importantly, different p53 mutations exhibit different functional properties such that different p53 mutations are likely to be associated with distinct risk in human malignant disease. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


1992 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 1886-1898 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Bargonetti ◽  
I Reynisdottir ◽  
P N Friedman ◽  
C Prives

1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1357-1365
Author(s):  
J M Nigro ◽  
R Sikorski ◽  
S I Reed ◽  
B Vogelstein

Human wild-type and mutant p53 genes were expressed under the control of a galactose-inducible promoter in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The growth rate of the yeast was reduced in cells expressing wild-type p53, whereas cells transformed with mutant p53 genes derived from human tumors were less affected. Coexpression of the normal p53 protein with the human cell cycle-regulated protein kinase CDC2Hs resulted in much more pronounced growth inhibition that for p53 alone. Cells expressing p53 and CDC2Hs were partially arrested in G1, as determined by morphological analysis and flow cytometry. p53 was phosphorylated when expressed in the yeast, but differences in phosphorylation did not explain the growth inhibition attributable to coexpression of p53 and CDC2Hs. These results suggest that wild-type p53 has a growth-inhibitory activity in S. cerevisiae similar to that observed in mammalian cells and suggests that this yeast may provide a useful model for defining the pathways through which p53 acts.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leixiang Yang ◽  
Tanjing Song ◽  
Qian Cheng ◽  
Lihong Chen ◽  
Jiandong Chen

ABSTRACT Missense p53 mutants often accumulate in tumors and drive progression through gain of function. MDM2 efficiently degrades wild-type p53 but fails to degrade mutant p53 in tumor cells. Previous studies revealed that mutant p53 inhibits MDM2 autoubiquitination, suggesting that the interaction inhibits MDM2 E3 activity. Recent work showed that MDM2 E3 activity is stimulated by intramolecular interaction between the RING and acidic domains. Here, we show that in the mutant p53-MDM2 complex, the mutant p53 core domain binds to the MDM2 acidic domain with significantly higher avidity than wild-type p53. The mutant p53-MDM2 complex is deficient in catalyzing ubiquitin release from the activated E2 conjugating enzyme. An MDM2 construct with extra copies of the acidic domain is resistant to inhibition by mutant p53 and efficiently promotes mutant p53 ubiquitination and degradation. The results suggest that mutant p53 interferes with the intramolecular autoactivation mechanism of MDM2, contributing to reduced ubiquitination and increased accumulation in tumor cells.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Elston ◽  
Gareth J. Inman

Wild-type p53 and TGF-β are key tumour suppressors which regulate an array of cellular responses. TGF-β signals in part via the Smad signal transduction pathway. Wild-type p53 and Smads physically interact and coordinately induce transcription of a number of key tumour suppressive genes. Conversely mutant p53 generally subverts tumour suppressive TGF-β responses, diminishing transcriptional activation of key TGF-β target genes. Mutant p53 can also interact with Smads and this enables complex formation with the p53 family member p63 and blocks p63-mediated activation of metastasis suppressing genes to promote tumour progression. p53 and Smad function may also overlap during miRNA biogenesis as they can interact with the same components of the Drosha miRNA processing complex to promote maturation of specific subsets of miRNAs. This paper investigates the crosstalk between p53 and TGF-β signalling and the potential roles this plays in cancer biology.


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