Skip to main content
PMC home page
Molecular and Cellular Biology logoLink to Molecular and Cellular Biology
. 1994 Apr;14(4):2556–2563. doi: 10.1128/mcb.14.4.2556

Bcl-2 blocks p53-dependent apoptosis.

S K Chiou 1, L Rao 1, E White 1
PMCID: PMC358623  PMID: 8139558

Abstract

Adenovirus E1A expression recruits primary rodent cells into proliferation but fails to transform them because of the induction of programmed cell death (apoptosis). The adenovirus E1B 19,000-molecular-weight protein (19K protein), the E1B 55K protein, and the human Bcl-2 protein each cause high-frequency transformation when coexpressed with E1A by inhibiting apoptosis. Thus, transformation of primary rodent cells by E1A requires deregulation of cell growth to be coupled to suppression of apoptosis. The product of the p53 tumor suppressor gene induces apoptosis in transformed cells and is required for induction of apoptosis by E1A. The ability of Bcl-2 to suppress apoptosis induced by E1A suggested that Bcl-2 may function by inhibition of p53. Rodent cells transformed with E1A plus the p53(Val-135) temperature-sensitive mutant are transformed at the restrictive temperature and undergo rapid and complete apoptosis at the permissive temperature when p53 adopts the wild-type conformation. Human Bcl-2 expression completely prevented p53-mediated apoptosis at the permissive temperature and caused cells to remain in a predominantly growth-arrested state. Growth arrest was leaky, occurred at multiple points in the cell cycle, and was reversible. Bcl-2 did not affect the ability of p53 to localize to the nucleus, nor were the levels of the p53 protein altered. Thus, Bcl-2 diverts the activity of p53 from induction of apoptosis to induction of growth arrest, and it is thereby identified as a modifier of p53 function. The ability of Bcl-2 to bypass induction of apoptosis by p53 may contribute to its oncogenic and antiapoptotic activity.

Full text

PDF
2557

Images in this article

2557Image
on p.2557
2558Image
on p.2558
2559Image
on p.2559
2560Image
on p.2560
2561Image
on p.2561

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Alnemri E. S., Fernandes T. F., Haldar S., Croce C. M., Litwack G. Involvement of BCL-2 in glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis of human pre-B-leukemias. Cancer Res. 1992 Jan 15;52(2):491–495. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bissonnette R. P., Echeverri F., Mahboubi A., Green D. R. Apoptotic cell death induced by c-myc is inhibited by bcl-2. Nature. 1992 Oct 8;359(6395):552–554. doi: 10.1038/359552a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Clarke A. R., Purdie C. A., Harrison D. J., Morris R. G., Bird C. C., Hooper M. L., Wyllie A. H. Thymocyte apoptosis induced by p53-dependent and independent pathways. Nature. 1993 Apr 29;362(6423):849–852. doi: 10.1038/362849a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Debbas M., White E. Wild-type p53 mediates apoptosis by E1A, which is inhibited by E1B. Genes Dev. 1993 Apr;7(4):546–554. doi: 10.1101/gad.7.4.546. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Diller L., Kassel J., Nelson C. E., Gryka M. A., Litwak G., Gebhardt M., Bressac B., Ozturk M., Baker S. J., Vogelstein B. p53 functions as a cell cycle control protein in osteosarcomas. Mol Cell Biol. 1990 Nov;10(11):5772–5781. doi: 10.1128/mcb.10.11.5772. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Donehower L. A., Harvey M., Slagle B. L., McArthur M. J., Montgomery C. A., Jr, Butel J. S., Bradley A. Mice deficient for p53 are developmentally normal but susceptible to spontaneous tumours. Nature. 1992 Mar 19;356(6366):215–221. doi: 10.1038/356215a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Evan G. I., Wyllie A. H., Gilbert C. S., Littlewood T. D., Land H., Brooks M., Waters C. M., Penn L. Z., Hancock D. C. Induction of apoptosis in fibroblasts by c-myc protein. Cell. 1992 Apr 3;69(1):119–128. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90123-t. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Fanidi A., Harrington E. A., Evan G. I. Cooperative interaction between c-myc and bcl-2 proto-oncogenes. Nature. 1992 Oct 8;359(6395):554–556. doi: 10.1038/359554a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gannon J. V., Lane D. P. Protein synthesis required to anchor a mutant p53 protein which is temperature-sensitive for nuclear transport. Nature. 1991 Feb 28;349(6312):802–806. doi: 10.1038/349802a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Henderson S., Rowe M., Gregory C., Croom-Carter D., Wang F., Longnecker R., Kieff E., Rickinson A. Induction of bcl-2 expression by Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane protein 1 protects infected B cells from programmed cell death. Cell. 1991 Jun 28;65(7):1107–1115. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90007-l. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hirt B. Selective extraction of polyoma DNA from infected mouse cell cultures. J Mol Biol. 1967 Jun 14;26(2):365–369. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(67)90307-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hockenbery D., Nuñez G., Milliman C., Schreiber R. D., Korsmeyer S. J. Bcl-2 is an inner mitochondrial membrane protein that blocks programmed cell death. Nature. 1990 Nov 22;348(6299):334–336. doi: 10.1038/348334a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hollstein M., Sidransky D., Vogelstein B., Harris C. C. p53 mutations in human cancers. Science. 1991 Jul 5;253(5015):49–53. doi: 10.1126/science.1905840. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Kaczmarek L., Ferguson B., Rosenberg M., Baserga R. Induction of cellular DNA synthesis by purified adenovirus E1A proteins. Virology. 1986 Jul 15;152(1):1–10. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(86)90366-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Kastan M. B., Zhan Q., el-Deiry W. S., Carrier F., Jacks T., Walsh W. V., Plunkett B. S., Vogelstein B., Fornace A. J., Jr A mammalian cell cycle checkpoint pathway utilizing p53 and GADD45 is defective in ataxia-telangiectasia. Cell. 1992 Nov 13;71(4):587–597. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90593-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Levine B., Huang Q., Isaacs J. T., Reed J. C., Griffin D. E., Hardwick J. M. Conversion of lytic to persistent alphavirus infection by the bcl-2 cellular oncogene. Nature. 1993 Feb 25;361(6414):739–742. doi: 10.1038/361739a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Lowe S. W., Ruley H. E. Stabilization of the p53 tumor suppressor is induced by adenovirus 5 E1A and accompanies apoptosis. Genes Dev. 1993 Apr;7(4):535–545. doi: 10.1101/gad.7.4.535. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Lowe S. W., Schmitt E. M., Smith S. W., Osborne B. A., Jacks T. p53 is required for radiation-induced apoptosis in mouse thymocytes. Nature. 1993 Apr 29;362(6423):847–849. doi: 10.1038/362847a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Malkin D., Li F. P., Strong L. C., Fraumeni J. F., Jr, Nelson C. E., Kim D. H., Kassel J., Gryka M. A., Bischoff F. Z., Tainsky M. A. Germ line p53 mutations in a familial syndrome of breast cancer, sarcomas, and other neoplasms. Science. 1990 Nov 30;250(4985):1233–1238. doi: 10.1126/science.1978757. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Martinez J., Georgoff I., Martinez J., Levine A. J. Cellular localization and cell cycle regulation by a temperature-sensitive p53 protein. Genes Dev. 1991 Feb;5(2):151–159. doi: 10.1101/gad.5.2.151. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. McDonnell T. J., Korsmeyer S. J. Progression from lymphoid hyperplasia to high-grade malignant lymphoma in mice transgenic for the t(14; 18). Nature. 1991 Jan 17;349(6306):254–256. doi: 10.1038/349254a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Michalovitz D., Halevy O., Oren M. Conditional inhibition of transformation and of cell proliferation by a temperature-sensitive mutant of p53. Cell. 1990 Aug 24;62(4):671–680. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90113-s. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Nuñez G., Hockenbery D., McDonnell T. J., Sorensen C. M., Korsmeyer S. J. Bcl-2 maintains B cell memory. Nature. 1991 Sep 5;353(6339):71–73. doi: 10.1038/353071a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Raff M. C. Social controls on cell survival and cell death. Nature. 1992 Apr 2;356(6368):397–400. doi: 10.1038/356397a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Rao L., Debbas M., Sabbatini P., Hockenbery D., Korsmeyer S., White E. The adenovirus E1A proteins induce apoptosis, which is inhibited by the E1B 19-kDa and Bcl-2 proteins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Aug 15;89(16):7742–7746. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.16.7742. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Ryan J. J., Danish R., Gottlieb C. A., Clarke M. F. Cell cycle analysis of p53-induced cell death in murine erythroleukemia cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1993 Jan;13(1):711–719. doi: 10.1128/mcb.13.1.711. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Sarnow P., Ho Y. S., Williams J., Levine A. J. Adenovirus E1b-58kd tumor antigen and SV40 large tumor antigen are physically associated with the same 54 kd cellular protein in transformed cells. Cell. 1982 Feb;28(2):387–394. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90356-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Sentman C. L., Shutter J. R., Hockenbery D., Kanagawa O., Korsmeyer S. J. bcl-2 inhibits multiple forms of apoptosis but not negative selection in thymocytes. Cell. 1991 Nov 29;67(5):879–888. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90361-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Stabel S., Argos P., Philipson L. The release of growth arrest by microinjection of adenovirus E1A DNA. EMBO J. 1985 Sep;4(9):2329–2336. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03934.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Strasser A., Harris A. W., Cory S. bcl-2 transgene inhibits T cell death and perturbs thymic self-censorship. Cell. 1991 Nov 29;67(5):889–899. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90362-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Vaux D. L., Cory S., Adams J. M. Bcl-2 gene promotes haemopoietic cell survival and cooperates with c-myc to immortalize pre-B cells. Nature. 1988 Sep 29;335(6189):440–442. doi: 10.1038/335440a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Vogelstein B. Cancer. A deadly inheritance. Nature. 1990 Dec 20;348(6303):681–682. doi: 10.1038/348681a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. White E., Cipriani R. Role of adenovirus E1B proteins in transformation: altered organization of intermediate filaments in transformed cells that express the 19-kilodalton protein. Mol Cell Biol. 1990 Jan;10(1):120–130. doi: 10.1128/mcb.10.1.120. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. White E., Cipriani R., Sabbatini P., Denton A. Adenovirus E1B 19-kilodalton protein overcomes the cytotoxicity of E1A proteins. J Virol. 1991 Jun;65(6):2968–2978. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.6.2968-2978.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. White E., Grodzicker T., Stillman B. W. Mutations in the gene encoding the adenovirus early region 1B 19,000-molecular-weight tumor antigen cause the degradation of chromosomal DNA. J Virol. 1984 Nov;52(2):410–419. doi: 10.1128/jvi.52.2.410-419.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. White E., Sabbatini P., Debbas M., Wold W. S., Kusher D. I., Gooding L. R. The 19-kilodalton adenovirus E1B transforming protein inhibits programmed cell death and prevents cytolysis by tumor necrosis factor alpha. Mol Cell Biol. 1992 Jun;12(6):2570–2580. doi: 10.1128/mcb.12.6.2570. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. White E., Spector D., Welch W. Differential distribution of the adenovirus E1A proteins and colocalization of E1A with the 70-kilodalton cellular heat shock protein in infected cells. J Virol. 1988 Nov;62(11):4153–4166. doi: 10.1128/jvi.62.11.4153-4166.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Williams G. T. Programmed cell death: apoptosis and oncogenesis. Cell. 1991 Jun 28;65(7):1097–1098. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90002-g. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Wyllie A. H. Glucocorticoid-induced thymocyte apoptosis is associated with endogenous endonuclease activation. Nature. 1980 Apr 10;284(5756):555–556. doi: 10.1038/284555a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Wyllie A. H., Rose K. A., Morris R. G., Steel C. M., Foster E., Spandidos D. A. Rodent fibroblast tumours expressing human myc and ras genes: growth, metastasis and endogenous oncogene expression. Br J Cancer. 1987 Sep;56(3):251–259. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1987.186. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Yew P. R., Berk A. J. Inhibition of p53 transactivation required for transformation by adenovirus early 1B protein. Nature. 1992 May 7;357(6373):82–85. doi: 10.1038/357082a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Yonish-Rouach E., Grunwald D., Wilder S., Kimchi A., May E., Lawrence J. J., May P., Oren M. p53-mediated cell death: relationship to cell cycle control. Mol Cell Biol. 1993 Mar;13(3):1415–1423. doi: 10.1128/mcb.13.3.1415. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Yonish-Rouach E., Resnitzky D., Lotem J., Sachs L., Kimchi A., Oren M. Wild-type p53 induces apoptosis of myeloid leukaemic cells that is inhibited by interleukin-6. Nature. 1991 Jul 25;352(6333):345–347. doi: 10.1038/352345a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. Zambetti G. P., Levine A. J. A comparison of the biological activities of wild-type and mutant p53. FASEB J. 1993 Jul;7(10):855–865. doi: 10.1096/fasebj.7.10.8344485. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Molecular and Cellular Biology are provided here courtesy of Taylor & Francis

RESOURCES