Figure 2.
The role of ARTS in promoting mitochondrial apoptosis. ARTS is encoded by a p53-target gene whose expression is responsive to diverse apoptotic stimuli, such as DNA damage stress and TGF-β activation. There are three mechanisms for ARTS-induced mitochondrial apoptosis: (i) ARTS facilitates the mitochondrial localization of p53 and enhances the p53–BCL-XL interaction at the mitochondria; (ii) ARTS suppresses XIAP and promotes its proteasomal degradation by recruiting SIAH1 as a ternary complex; and (iii) ARTS bridges BCL-2 and XIAP by directly binding to them, allowing for XIAP-mediated proteasomal degradation of BCL-2.