A chemical inhibitor of p53 that protects mice from the side effects of cancer therapy.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer often have severe side effects that limit their efficacy. Because these effects are in part determined by p53-mediated apoptosis, temporary suppression of p53 has been suggested as a therapeutic strategy to prevent damage of normal tissues during treatment of p53-deficient tumors. To test this possibility, a small molecule was isolated for its ability to reversibly block p53-dependent transcriptional activation and apoptosis. This compound, pifithrin-alpha, protected mice from the lethal genotoxic stress associated with anticancer treatment without promoting the formation of tumors. Thus, inhibitors of p53 may be useful drugs for reducing the side effects of cancer therapy and other types of stress associated with p53 induction.

The role of p53 in regulating genomic stability when DNA and RNA synthesis are inhibited.

In addition to its induction by DNA damage, p53 is induced by drugs that starve cells for DNA and RNA precursors, or by inhibitors of DNA or RNA polymerase. In normal cells, the induction of p53 by dNTP starvation serves a protective role, mediating rapid, reversible cell-cycle arrest without DNA damage. In most cell lines, this first line of defense is missing, so that starvation for dNTPs causes DNA to break, thus increasing the probability of genomic instability, chromosome deletions and gene amplification. The mechanism of how p53 is induced remains unclear.

MYC abrogates p53-mediated cell cycle arrest in N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate-treated cells, permitting CAD gene amplification.

Genomic instability, including the ability to undergo gene amplification, is a hallmark of neoplastic cells. Similar to normal cells, "nonpermissive" REF52 cells do not develop resistance to N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate (PALA), an inhibitor of the synthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides, through amplification of cad, the target gene, but instead undergo protective, long-term, p53-dependent cell cycle arrest. Expression of exogenous MYC prevents this arrest and allows REF52 cells to proceed to mitosis when pyrimidine nucleotides are limiting. This results in DNA breaks, leading to cell death and, rarely, to cad gene amplification and PALA resistance. Pretreatment of REF52 cells with a low concentration of PALA, which slows DNA replication but does not trigger cell cycle arrest, followed by exposure to a high, selective concentration of PALA, promotes the formation of PALA-resistant cells in which the physically linked cad and endogenous N-myc genes are coamplified. The activated expression of endogenous N-myc in these pretreated PALA-resistant cells allows them to bypass the p53-mediated arrest that is characteristic of untreated REF52 cells. Our data demonstrate that two distinct events are required to form PALA-resistant REF52 cells: amplification of cad, whose product overcomes the action of the drug, and increased expression of N-myc, whose product overcomes the PALA-induced cell cycle block. These paired events occur at a detectable frequency only when the genes are physically linked, as cad and N-myc are. In untreated REF52 cells overexpressing N-MYC, the level of p53 is significantly elevated but there is no induction of p21waf1 expression or growth arrest. However, after DNA is damaged, the activated p53 executes rapid apoptosis in these REF52/N-myc cells instead of the long-term protective arrest seen in REF52 cells. The predominantly cytoplasmic localization of stabilized p53 in REF52/N-myc cells suggests that cytoplasmic retention may help to inactivate the growth-suppressing function of p53.

The p53 activation and apoptosis induced by DNA damage are reversibly inhibited by salicylate.

Treatment of mouse (12)1/CA cells with adriamycin or irradiation with U.V.C. induces p53-dependent transcription of a beta-galactosidase reporter and the endogenous p21/Waf1/Cip1 gene. Despite the induction of Waf1, the cells arrest only transiently in G1 or G2, then resume growth and eventually undergo apoptosis. In situ analysis of beta-galactosidase activity in U.V.C.-irradiated cells revealed a much higher level of p53-dependent transcription in cells undergoing apoptosis compared to transiently arrested cells. Incubation of the treated cells with salicylate, which inhibits the activation of protein kinases and transcription factors involved in stress responses, inhibits both p53-dependent transcription and apoptosis. The inhibition of transcription is due mainly to impairment of the ability of p53 to bind to DNA. The treated cells resume their p53-dependent programs whenever the salicylate is removed, even after as long as 60 h after the DNA has been damaged. Therefore, the p53-activating signals generated by adriamycin or U.V.C. are very long lived. The resumption of p53-dependent transcription is not accompanied by additional accumulation of the p53 protein, indicating that the activation of p53 is regulated by a separate pathway.

[Assessment of the value of new methods for diagnostics and treatment of diseases of anhepatic biliary ducts].

The article analyzes the causes of insufficient efficacy of original surgery of bile-excreting duct pathologies. Based on this analysis, the authors suggest an algorithm for examination and treatment of patients with diseases of anhepatic biliary ducts and terminal part of the biliary duct. It was proved on the basis of the analysis of 1,024 patients that the developed algorithm can improve significantly the results of the treatment within a relatively short period of time.

Targeting RING domains of Mdm2-MdmX E3 complex activates apoptotic arm of the p53 pathway in leukemia/lymphoma cells.

Reactivation of tumor-suppressor p53 for targeted cancer therapy is an attractive strategy for cancers bearing wild-type (WT) p53. Targeting the Mdm2-p53 interface or MdmX ((MDM4), mouse double minute 4)-p53 interface or both has been a focus in the field. However, targeting the E3 ligase activity of Mdm2-MdmX really interesting new gene (RING)-RING interaction as a novel anticancer strategy has never been explored. In this report, we describe the identification and characterization of small molecule inhibitors targeting Mdm2-MdmX RING-RING interaction as a new class of E3 ligase inhibitors. With a fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based E3 activity assay in high-throughput screening of a chemical library, we identified inhibitors (designated as MMRis (Mdm2-MdmX RING domain inhibitors)) that specifically inhibit Mdm2-MdmX E3 ligase activity toward Mdm2 and p53 substrates. MMRi6 and its analog MMRi64 are capable of disrupting Mdm2-MdmX interactions in vitro and activating p53 in cells. In leukemia cells, MMRi64 potently induces downregulation of Mdm2 and MdmX. In contrast to Nutlin3a, MMRi64 only induces the expression of pro-apoptotic gene PUMA (p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis) with minimal induction of growth-arresting gene p21. Consequently, MMRi64 selectively induces the apoptotic arm of the p53 pathway in leukemia/lymphoma cells. Owing to the distinct mechanisms of action of MMRi64 and Nutlin3a, their combination synergistically induces p53 and apoptosis. Taken together, this study reveals that Mdm2-MdmX has a critical role in apoptotic response of the p53 pathway and MMRi64 may serve as a new pharmacological tool for p53 studies and a platform for cancer drug development.

Variations of endogenous chicken proviruses: characterization of new loci of endogenous proviruses in the genome of Italian partridge chickens.

The composition and structure of endogenous proviruses present in the genome of Italian Partridge chickens were studied by the method of blot hybridization using RAV-2 [32P]DNA or LTR of RSV as hybridization probes. The genomes of 5 out of 39 chickens analyzed did not contain endogenous proviruses related to RAV-2. Different sets of five so far undescribed endogenous proviruses, differing in the structure and location, were detected in the DNA of other IP chickens. None of them is identical in its structure to the DNA of the endogenous chicken virus RAV-0, all five loci of endogenous proviruses of IP chickens were defective. The origin, the patterns of genetic variation and the function of endogenous proviruses are discussed.

Genetic structure of the endogenous proviruses and expression of the gag gene in Brown Leghorn chickens.

Seven loci of endogenous proviruses were detected in the genome of Brown Leghorn chickens. Sets of endogenous proviruses in DNA of the chicken embryos examined were identified by blot hybridization with 32P-labelled DNA of RSV and EcoRI restriction endonuclease digestion. Comparison of the results showed that only one locus (A) of endogeneous provirus was associated with a gs+ phenotype as determined by the immunoperoxidase reaction and antibodies against gag gene products of RSV. Restriction endonuclease analysis with HindIII, BamHI and SacI revealed that proviruses A and F in Brown Leghorn chickens correspond to loci ev-3 and ev-6, respectively, in White Leghorn chickens. Other loci (B, C, D, E, and X) were designated ev-22, ev-23, ev-24, ev-25, ev-26, respectively. None of these loci expressed infectious virions. The structure of most of the endogenous proviruses examined is considerably different from the genome of the endogenous chicken virus RAV-O. The difference in structure may be one possible cause of the absence of endogenous provirus expression.

Methylation of endogenous proviruses of Brown Leghorn chickens.

Among the 7 endogenous proviruses we have detected in Brown Leghorn chickens none encodes the production of virions and only one, ev-3, expresses the gag gene. To study the possible role of DNA methylation in the inhibition of provirus expression, we performed blot hybridization and restriction endonuclease analysis with EcoRI and SmaI, is sensitive to methylation. Of the six endogenous proviral loci examined (ev-3, ev-6,, ev-22, ev-23, ev-24, ev-25), two loci, ev-23 and ev-24, were methylated at all SmaI restriction sites, in both the DNA from erythrocytes of adult chickens and the DNA from 10-day embryos. Since both these viruses are closely related to the genome of RAV-O, DNA methylation might be the cause of the absence of gene expression.

[Endogenous MMTV in the normal mammary gland and in dimethylanthracene-induced mammary cancer in BALB/c mice]. / Endogennye MMTV v normal'noi molochnoi zheleze i indutsirovannom dimetilbenzantratsenom kantserogeneze molochnoi zhelezy myshei BALB/c.

Immunization of DMBA-treated mice by the glycoprotein fraction from mammary glands of mice BALB/c did not decrease the frequencies of induction of mammary tumors. This is in contrast to the results obtained during immunization by the formaldehyde treated preparation of Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus (MMTV). EcoRI and HindIII cleaved DNA from the DMBA-induced mammary tumors did not contain the additional virus specific fragments. In mammary tumors the expression of p27 MMTV was registered in contrast to normal mammary glands and mammary epithelium cultures in which the proteins of MMTV are not expressed even after induction.

[The genome of chickens free of endogenous avian leukosis-sarcoma proviruses contains sequences distantly related to Rous sarcoma virus]. / V genome kur, svobodnykh ot éndogennykh provirusov leikozo-sarkomnogo kompleksa ptits, prisutstvuiu posledovatel'nosti, otdalenno rodstvennye virusu sarcomy Rausa.

Line of Brown leghorn chickens free of RAV-O-type endogenous proviruses was obtained by selection under blot hybridization control. A set of dispersed sequences distantly related to avian leukosis virus genome was found in DNA of these chickens by means of hybridization in non-stringent conditions. Different restriction fragments were detected by gag, pol and env hybridization probes.

[Characteristics of new loci of endogenous proviruses in chickens]. / Kharakteristika novykh lokusov éndogennykh provirusov kur.

The composition and structure of endogenous proviruses in the genome of Italian partridge chicken was studied by the blot-hybridization method using 32P-DNA of RAV-2 virus as a probe. Among 34 fowls examined, 5-contained no endogenous proviruses related to fowl leukemia viruses. DNA of the other fowls contained various combinations of 4 previously undescribed endogenous proviruses varying in structure and localization. None of them was identical in its structure with DNA of endogenous fowl virus RAV-0, all the four discovered loci have deletions. The origin, modes of genetic variability, and function of endogenous proviruses are discussed.

p53-dependent growth arrest of REF52 cells containing newly amplified DNA.

The rat cell line REF52 is not permissive for gene amplification. Simian virus 40 tumor (T) antigen converts these cells to a permissive state, as do dominant negative mutants of p53, suggesting that the effect of T antigen is due mainly to its ability to bind to p53. To manipulate permissivity, we introduced a temperature-sensitive mutant of T antigen (tsA58) into REF52 cells and selected for resistance to N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate (PALA). Most freshly isolated PALA-resistant colonies, each of approximately 200 cells, selected at a permissive temperature, arrested when shifted to a nonpermissive temperature. Growth arrest was stable, with no evidence of apoptosis, as long as T antigen was absent but was reversed when T antigen was restored. In contrast, PALA-resistant clones grown to approximately 10(7) cells at a permissive temperature did not arrest when shifted to a nonpermissive temperature. All PALA-resistant clones examined had amplified carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase-aspartate transcarbamoylase-dihydroorotase (CAD) genes, present in structures consistent with a mechanism involving bridge-breakage-fusion (BBF) cycles. We propose that p53-mediated growth arrest operates only early during the complex process of gene amplification, when newly formed PALA-resistant cells contain broken DNA, generated in BBF cycles. During propagation under permissive conditions, the broken DNA ends are healed, and, even though the p53-mediated pathway is still intact at a nonpermissive temperature and the cells contain amplified DNA, they are not arrested in the absence of broken DNA. The data support the hypothesis that BBF cycles are an important mechanism of amplification and that the broken DNA generated in each cycle is a key signal that regulates permissivity for gene amplification.

Stabilization and activation of p53 are regulated independently by different phosphorylation events.

Treatment of mouse or human cells with the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors H7 or bisindolylmaleimide I induced an increase in the lifetime of p53, leading to its accumulation. In inhibitor-treated cells, p53 translocated to the nuclei and bound to DNA but was not competent to induce transcription. However, transactivation could be induced by subsequent DNA damage. Phorbol ester, a potent activator of PKC, significantly inhibited the accumulation of p53 after DNA damage. Therefore, constitutive PKC-dependent phosphorylation of p53 itself, or of a protein that interacts with p53, is required for the rapid degradation of p53 in untreated cells. Furthermore, an increase in the lifetime of p53 is not accompanied necessarily by its activation. Treatment with the PKC inhibitors decreased the overall level of p53 phosphorylation but led to the appearance of a phosphopeptide not seen in tryptic digests of p53 from untreated cells. Therefore, the lifetime and activities of p53 are likely to be regulated by distinct alterations of the phosphorylation pattern of p53, probably caused by the actions of different kinases.

Regulation of ubiquitination and degradation of p53 in unstressed cells through C-terminal phosphorylation.

Previously, we found that the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor H7 stimulates p53 to accumulate in a form incapable of inducing transcription from p53-dependent promoters. We concluded that H7 inhibits constitutive C-terminal phosphorylation of p53, which regulates its turnover in unstressed cells. We now show that p53 and its inhibitor MDM2 (HDM2 in human cells) are together in the nuclei of H7-treated cells and can be co-immunoprecipitated. Despite this association of p53 with the ubiquitin ligase MDM2, ubiquitinated p53 was not detected in H7-treated cells. Furthermore, co-treatment with H7 and the proteosome inhibitor LLnL prevented the accumulation of ubiquitinated p53 that was observed in cells treated solely with LLnL. In addition, treatment of cells with the PKC activator phorbol ester stimulated the ubiquitination of p53 and reduced its ability to accumulate after stress. H7 did not induce the phosphorylation of human p53 on Ser-15 (Ser-18 in mouse protein), a modification that occurs in response to DNA damage and leads to the release of MDM2 and to transactivation by p53. We conclude that phosphorylation of the C-terminal domain of p53 by PKC increases its ubiquitination and degradation in unstressed cells.

The candidate tumour suppressor p33ING1 cooperates with p53 in cell growth control.

The candidate tumour-suppressor gene ING1 has been identified by using the genetic suppressor element (GSE) methodology. ING1 encodes a nuclear protein, p33ING1, overexpression of which inhibits growth of different cell lines. The properties of p33ING1 suggest its involvement in the negative regulation of cell proliferation and in the control of cellular ageing, anchorage dependence and apoptosis. These cellular functions depend largely on the activity of p53, a tumour-suppressor gene that determines the cellular response to various types of stress. Here we report that the biological effects of ING1 and p53 are interrelated and require the activity of both genes: neither of the two genes can, on its own, cause growth inhibition when the other one is suppressed. Furthermore, activation of transcription from the p21/WAF1 promoter, a key mechanism of p53-mediated growth control, depends on the expression of ING1. A physical association between p33ING1 and p53 proteins has been detected by immunoprecipitation. These results indicate that p33ING1 is a component of the p53 signalling pathway that cooperates with p53 in the negative regulation of cell proliferation by modulating p53-dependent transcriptional activation.

Regulation and mechanisms of gene amplification.

Amplification in rodent cells usually involves bridge-breakage-fusion (BBF) cycles initiated either by end-to-end fusion of sister chromatids, or by chromosome breakage. In contrast, in human cells, resistance to the antimetabolite N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate (PALA) can be mediated by several different mechanisms that lead to overexpression of the target enzyme carbamyl-P synthetase, aspartate transcarbamylase, dihydro-orotase (CAD). Mechanisms involving BBF cycles account for only a minority of CAD amplification events in the human fibrosarcoma cell line HT 1080. Here, formation of a 2p isochromosome and overexpression of CAD by other types of amplification events (and even without amplification) are much more prevalent. Broken DNA is recognized by mammalian cells with intact damage-recognition pathways, as a signal to arrest or to die. Loss of these pathways by, for example, loss of p53 or pRb tumour suppressor function, or by increased expression of ras and myc oncogenes, causes non-permissive rat and human cells to become permissive both for amplification and for other manifestations of DNA damage. In cells that are already permissive, amplification can be stimulated by overexpressing oncogenes such as c-myc or ras, or by damaging DNA in a variety of ways. To supplement genetic analysis of amplification in mammalian cells, an amplification selection has been established in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Selection with LiCl yields cells with amplified sod2 genes in structures related to those observed in mammalian cells. The effect on amplification in S. pombe can now be tested for any mutation in a gene involved in repair of damaged DNA or in normal cellular responses to DNA damage.

Use of genetic suppressor elements to dissect distinct biological effects of separate p53 domains.

p53 is a multifunctional tumor suppressor protein involved in the negative control of cell growth. Mutations in p53 cause alterations in cellular phenotype, including immortalization, neoplastic transformation, and resistance to DNA-damaging drugs. To help dissect distinct functions of p53, a set of genetic suppressor elements (GSEs) capable of inducing different p53-related phenotypes in rodent embryo fibroblasts was isolated from a retroviral library of random rat p53 cDNA fragments. All the GSEs were 100-300 nucleotides long and were in the sense orientation. They fell into four classes, corresponding to the transactivator (class I), DNA-binding (class II), and C-terminal (class III) domains of the protein and the 3'-untranslated region of the mRNA (class IV). GSEs in all four classes promoted immortalization of primary cells, but only members of classes I and III cooperated with activated ras to transform cells, and only members of class III conferred resistance to etoposide and strongly inhibited transcriptional transactivation by p53. These observations suggest that processes related to control of senescence, response to DNA damage, and transformation involve different functions of the p53 protein and furthermore indicate a regulatory role for the 3'-untranslated region of p53 mRNA.

Transgenic mice with p53-responsive lacZ: p53 activity varies dramatically during normal development and determines radiation and drug sensitivity in vivo.

To analyze the involvement of p53-dependent transcriptional activation in normal development and in response to DNA damage in vivo, we created transgenic mice with a lacZ reporter gene under the control of a p53-responsive promoter. Five independent strains showed similar patterns of transgene expression. In untreated animals, lacZ expression was limited to the developing nervous system of embryos and newborn mice and was strongly decreased in the adult brain. gamma-irradiation or adriamycin treatment induced lacZ expression in the majority of cells of early embryos and in the spleen, thymus and small intestine in adult mice. Transgene expression was p53 dependent and coincided with the sites of strong p53 accumulation. The lacZ-expressing tissues and early embryos, unlike other adult tissues and late embryos, are characterized by high levels of p53 mRNA expression and respond to DNA damage by massive apoptotic cell death. Analysis of p53-null mice showed that this apoptosis is p53 dependent. These data suggest that p53 activity, monitored by the reporter lacZ transgene, is the determinant of radiation and drug sensitivity in vivo and indicate the importance of tissue and stage specificity of p53 regulation at the level of mRNA expression.