Skip to main content
PMC home page
The EMBO Journal logoLink to The EMBO Journal
. 1990 May;9(5):1595–1602. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1990.tb08279.x

Activating mutations in p53 produce a common conformational effect. A monoclonal antibody specific for the mutant form.

J V Gannon 1, R Greaves 1, R Iggo 1, D P Lane 1
PMCID: PMC551855  PMID: 1691710

Abstract

Point mutations in the p53 gene are the most frequently identified genetic change in human cancer. They convert murine p53 from a tumour suppressor gene into a dominant transforming oncogene able to immortalize primary cells and bring about full transformation in combination with an activated ras gene. In both the human and murine systems the mutations lie in regions of p53 conserved from man to Xenopus. We have developed a monoclonal antibody to p53 designated PAb240 which does not immunoprecipitate wild type p53. A series of different p53 mutants all react more strongly with PAb240 than with PAb246. The PAb240 reactive form of p53 cannot bind to SV40 large T antigen but does bind to HSP70. In contrast, the PAb246 form binds to T antigen but not to HSP70. PAb240 recognizes all forms of p53 when they are denatured. It reacts with all mammalian p53 and chicken p53 in immunoblots. We propose that immunoprecipitation of p53 by PAb240 is diagnostic of mutation in both murine and human systems and suggest that the different point mutations which convert p53 from a recessive to a dominant oncogene exert a common conformational effect on the protein. This conformational change abolishes T antigen binding and promotes self-oligomerization. These results are consistent with a dominant negative model where mutant p53 protein binds to and neutralizes the activity of p53 in the wild type conformation.

Full text

PDF
1595

Images in this article

1596Fig. 1.
on p.1596
1596Fig. 2.
on p.1596
1597Fig. 3.
on p.1597
1597Fig. 4.
on p.1597
1600Fig. 7.
on p.1600

Selected References

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

  1. Baker S. J., Fearon E. R., Nigro J. M., Hamilton S. R., Preisinger A. C., Jessup J. M., vanTuinen P., Ledbetter D. H., Barker D. F., Nakamura Y. Chromosome 17 deletions and p53 gene mutations in colorectal carcinomas. Science. 1989 Apr 14;244(4901):217–221. doi: 10.1126/science.2649981. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Banks L., Matlashewski G., Crawford L. Isolation of human-p53-specific monoclonal antibodies and their use in the studies of human p53 expression. Eur J Biochem. 1986 Sep 15;159(3):529–534. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1986.tb09919.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Ben David Y., Prideaux V. R., Chow V., Benchimol S., Bernstein A. Inactivation of the p53 oncogene by internal deletion or retroviral integration in erythroleukemic cell lines induced by Friend leukemia virus. Oncogene. 1988 Aug;3(2):179–185. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Braithwaite A. W., Sturzbecher H. W., Addison C., Palmer C., Rudge K., Jenkins J. R. Mouse p53 inhibits SV40 origin-dependent DNA replication. Nature. 1987 Oct 1;329(6138):458–460. doi: 10.1038/329458a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cattoretti G., Rilke F., Andreola S., D'Amato L., Delia D. P53 expression in breast cancer. Int J Cancer. 1988 Feb 15;41(2):178–183. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910410204. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Eliyahu D., Michalovitz D., Eliyahu S., Pinhasi-Kimhi O., Oren M. Wild-type p53 can inhibit oncogene-mediated focus formation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Nov;86(22):8763–8767. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.22.8763. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Eliyahu D., Raz A., Gruss P., Givol D., Oren M. Participation of p53 cellular tumour antigen in transformation of normal embryonic cells. Nature. 1984 Dec 13;312(5995):646–649. doi: 10.1038/312646a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Finlay C. A., Hinds P. W., Levine A. J. The p53 proto-oncogene can act as a suppressor of transformation. Cell. 1989 Jun 30;57(7):1083–1093. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90045-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Finlay C. A., Hinds P. W., Tan T. H., Eliyahu D., Oren M., Levine A. J. Activating mutations for transformation by p53 produce a gene product that forms an hsc70-p53 complex with an altered half-life. Mol Cell Biol. 1988 Feb;8(2):531–539. doi: 10.1128/mcb.8.2.531. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Gannon J. V., Lane D. P. p53 and DNA polymerase alpha compete for binding to SV40 T antigen. Nature. 1987 Oct 1;329(6138):456–458. doi: 10.1038/329456a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Harlow E., Crawford L. V., Pim D. C., Williamson N. M. Monoclonal antibodies specific for simian virus 40 tumor antigens. J Virol. 1981 Sep;39(3):861–869. doi: 10.1128/jvi.39.3.861-869.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hinds P. W., Finlay C. A., Frey A. B., Levine A. J. Immunological evidence for the association of p53 with a heat shock protein, hsc70, in p53-plus-ras-transformed cell lines. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Aug;7(8):2863–2869. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.8.2863. [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. James C. D., Carlbom E., Nordenskjold M., Collins V. P., Cavenee W. K. Mitotic recombination of chromosome 17 in astrocytomas. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Apr;86(8):2858–2862. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.8.2858. [DOI] [PMC free article] [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. Lacy M. J., Voss E. W., Jr A modified method to induce immune polyclonal ascites fluid in BALB/c mice using Sp2/0-Ag14 cells. J Immunol Methods. 1986 Mar 13;87(2):169–177. doi: 10.1016/0022-1759(86)90527-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Lane D. P., Crawford L. V. T antigen is bound to a host protein in SV40-transformed cells. Nature. 1979 Mar 15;278(5701):261–263. doi: 10.1038/278261a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Linzer D. I., Levine A. J. Characterization of a 54K dalton cellular SV40 tumor antigen present in SV40-transformed cells and uninfected embryonal carcinoma cells. Cell. 1979 May;17(1):43–52. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90293-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Mackay J., Steel C. M., Elder P. A., Forrest A. P., Evans H. J. Allele loss on short arm of chromosome 17 in breast cancers. Lancet. 1988 Dec 17;2(8625):1384–1385. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(88)90584-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Nigro J. M., Baker S. J., Preisinger A. C., Jessup J. M., Hostetter R., Cleary K., Bigner S. H., Davidson N., Baylin S., Devilee P. Mutations in the p53 gene occur in diverse human tumour types. Nature. 1989 Dec 7;342(6250):705–708. doi: 10.1038/342705a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Parada L. F., Land H., Weinberg R. A., Wolf D., Rotter V. Cooperation between gene encoding p53 tumour antigen and ras in cellular transformation. Nature. 1984 Dec 13;312(5995):649–651. doi: 10.1038/312649a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Rovinski B., Benchimol S. Immortalization of rat embryo fibroblasts by the cellular p53 oncogene. Oncogene. 1988 May;2(5):445–452. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Simanis V., Lane D. P. An immunoaffinity purification procedure for SV40 large T antigen. Virology. 1985 Jul 15;144(1):88–100. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(85)90308-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Soussi T., Caron de Fromentel C., Méchali M., May P., Kress M. Cloning and characterization of a cDNA from Xenopus laevis coding for a protein homologous to human and murine p53. Oncogene. 1987 Mar;1(1):71–78. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Stürzbecher H. W., Addison C., Jenkins J. R. Characterization of mutant p53-hsp72/73 protein-protein complexes by transient expression in monkey COS cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1988 Sep;8(9):3740–3747. doi: 10.1128/mcb.8.9.3740. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Stürzbecher H. W., Brain R., Maimets T., Addison C., Rudge K., Jenkins J. R. Mouse p53 blocks SV40 DNA replication in vitro and downregulates T antigen DNA helicase activity. Oncogene. 1988 Oct;3(4):405–413. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Takahashi T., Nau M. M., Chiba I., Birrer M. J., Rosenberg R. K., Vinocour M., Levitt M., Pass H., Gazdar A. F., Minna J. D. p53: a frequent target for genetic abnormalities in lung cancer. Science. 1989 Oct 27;246(4929):491–494. doi: 10.1126/science.2554494. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Thomas R., Kaplan L., Reich N., Lane D. P., Levine A. J. Characterization of human p53 antigens employing primate specific monoclonal antibodies. Virology. 1983 Dec;131(2):502–517. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(83)90516-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Wade-Evans A., Jenkins J. R. Precise epitope mapping of the murine transformation-associated protein, p53. EMBO J. 1985 Mar;4(3):699–706. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03686.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Wang E. H., Friedman P. N., Prives C. The murine p53 protein blocks replication of SV40 DNA in vitro by inhibiting the initiation functions of SV40 large T antigen. Cell. 1989 May 5;57(3):379–392. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90913-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Welch W. J., Feramisco J. R. Rapid purification of mammalian 70,000-dalton stress proteins: affinity of the proteins for nucleotides. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Jun;5(6):1229–1237. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.6.1229. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Yewdell J. W., Gannon J. V., Lane D. P. Monoclonal antibody analysis of p53 expression in normal and transformed cells. J Virol. 1986 Aug;59(2):444–452. doi: 10.1128/jvi.59.2.444-452.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Yokota J., Wada M., Shimosato Y., Terada M., Sugimura T. Loss of heterozygosity on chromosomes 3, 13, and 17 in small-cell carcinoma and on chromosome 3 in adenocarcinoma of the lung. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Dec;84(24):9252–9256. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.24.9252. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. van den Berg F. M., Tigges A. J., Schipper M. E., den Hartog-Jager F. C., Kroes W. G., Walboomers J. M. Expression of the nuclear oncogene p53 in colon tumours. J Pathol. 1989 Mar;157(3):193–199. doi: 10.1002/path.1711570304. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The EMBO Journal are provided here courtesy of Nature Publishing Group

RESOURCES