Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1994 Mar 15;91(6):2026–2030. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.6.2026

Abrogation of oncogene-associated apoptosis allows transformation of p53-deficient cells.

S W Lowe 1, T Jacks 1, D E Housman 1, H E Ruley 1
PMCID: PMC43302  PMID: 8134344

Abstract

p53-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts were used to establish a direct mechanism of tumor suppression by p53 involving the destruction of oncogene-expressing cells by apoptosis. The absence of p53 enhanced cell growth, appeared sufficient for immortalization, and allowed a single oncogene [adenovirus early region 1A (E1A)] to transform cells to a tumorigenic state. p53 suppressed transformation of E1A-expressing cells by apoptosis. Apoptosis was associated with p53 stabilization and was triggered by environmental signals that normally suppress cell growth. Absence of even a single p53 allele significantly enhanced cell growth and survival. Although abrogation of apoptosis allowed transformation by E1A alone, escape from apoptosis susceptibility was not a prerequisite for tumor growth. Consequently, p53 mutation could enhance the survival of malignant cells expressing oncogenes activated early in tumor progression.

Full text

PDF
2026

Images in this article

2028Image
on p.2028
2028Image
on p.2028
2029Image
on p.2029
2029Image
on p.2029

Selected References

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

  1. Bernards R., de Leeuw M. G., Houweling A., van der Eb A. J. Role of the adenovirus early region 1B tumor antigens in transformation and lytic infection. Virology. 1986 Apr 15;150(1):126–139. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(86)90272-2. [DOI] [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. Blochlinger K., Diggelmann H. Hygromycin B phosphotransferase as a selectable marker for DNA transfer experiments with higher eucaryotic cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Dec;4(12):2929–2931. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.12.2929. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. 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]
  5. 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]
  6. Dittmer D., Pati S., Zambetti G., Chu S., Teresky A. K., Moore M., Finlay C., Levine A. J. Gain of function mutations in p53. Nat Genet. 1993 May;4(1):42–46. doi: 10.1038/ng0593-42. [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. Fearon E. R., Vogelstein B. A genetic model for colorectal tumorigenesis. Cell. 1990 Jun 1;61(5):759–767. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90186-i. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Franza B. R., Jr, Maruyama K., Garrels J. I., Ruley H. E. In vitro establishment is not a sufficient prerequisite for transformation by activated ras oncogenes. Cell. 1986 Feb 14;44(3):409–418. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90462-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Harvey D. M., Levine A. J. p53 alteration is a common event in the spontaneous immortalization of primary BALB/c murine embryo fibroblasts. Genes Dev. 1991 Dec;5(12B):2375–2385. doi: 10.1101/gad.5.12b.2375. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hicks G. G., Egan S. E., Greenberg A. H., Mowat M. Mutant p53 tumor suppressor alleles release ras-induced cell cycle growth arrest. Mol Cell Biol. 1991 Mar;11(3):1344–1352. doi: 10.1128/mcb.11.3.1344. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hinds P., Finlay C., Levine A. J. Mutation is required to activate the p53 gene for cooperation with the ras oncogene and transformation. J Virol. 1989 Feb;63(2):739–746. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.2.739-746.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Houweling A., van den Elsen P. J., van der Eb A. J. Partial transformation of primary rat cells by the leftmost 4.5% fragment of adenovirus 5 DNA. Virology. 1980 Sep;105(2):537–550. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(80)90054-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Jenkins J. R., Rudge K., Currie G. A. Cellular immortalization by a cDNA clone encoding the transformation-associated phosphoprotein p53. Nature. 1984 Dec 13;312(5995):651–654. doi: 10.1038/312651a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kastan M. B., Onyekwere O., Sidransky D., Vogelstein B., Craig R. W. Participation of p53 protein in the cellular response to DNA damage. Cancer Res. 1991 Dec 1;51(23 Pt 1):6304–6311. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. 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]
  18. Lane D. P. Cancer. p53, guardian of the genome. Nature. 1992 Jul 2;358(6381):15–16. doi: 10.1038/358015a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Levine A. J., Momand J., Finlay C. A. The p53 tumour suppressor gene. Nature. 1991 Jun 6;351(6326):453–456. doi: 10.1038/351453a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Livingstone L. R., White A., Sprouse J., Livanos E., Jacks T., Tlsty T. D. Altered cell cycle arrest and gene amplification potential accompany loss of wild-type p53. Cell. 1992 Sep 18;70(6):923–935. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90243-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Lowe S. W., Ruley H. E., Jacks T., Housman D. E. p53-dependent apoptosis modulates the cytotoxicity of anticancer agents. Cell. 1993 Sep 24;74(6):957–967. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(93)90719-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. 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]
  23. 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]
  24. 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]
  25. Ruley H. E. Transforming collaborations between ras and nuclear oncogenes. Cancer Cells. 1990 Aug-Sep;2(8-9):258–268. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Vogelstein B., Kinzler K. W. p53 function and dysfunction. Cell. 1992 Aug 21;70(4):523–526. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90421-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. 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]
  28. Wyllie A. H. Apoptosis (the 1992 Frank Rose Memorial Lecture). Br J Cancer. 1993 Feb;67(2):205–208. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1993.40. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. 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]
  30. Wyllie A. H. The biology of cell death in tumours. Anticancer Res. 1985 Jan-Feb;5(1):131–136. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. 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]
  32. 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]
  33. Zambetti G. P., Olson D., Labow M., Levine A. J. A mutant p53 protein is required for maintenance of the transformed phenotype in cells transformed with p53 plus ras cDNAs. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 May 1;89(9):3952–3956. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.9.3952. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES