Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P51532 (transcriptional activator)
 6,546 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Upon cellular DNA damage, the p53 tumor suppressor protein transmits a signal to genes that control the cell cycle and apoptosis. One function of p53 that is important for its role in this pathway is its ability to function as a sequence-specific transcriptional activator. We demonstrate here that short single DNA strands can markedly stimulate the ability of human and murine p53 proteins to bind specifically to a p53 response element in supercoiled DNA. We also show that single-stranded DNA does not stimulate binding by a truncated p53 that lacks the C-terminal domain. Finally, we establish that a peptide spanning the p53 C-terminus has the ability in trans to stimulate sequence-specific DNA binding by p53 dramatically. These data taken together suggest a model in which the p53 C-terminus can recognize DNA structures resulting from damage-induced lesions, and this interaction can be propagated to regulate positively p53 sequence-specific DNA binding.
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PMID:Activation of p53 sequence-specific DNA binding by short single strands of DNA requires the p53 C-terminus. 760 May 71

The p53 tumor suppressor protein is a transcriptional activator, which can mediate apoptotic cell death in a variety of cell types. To determine whether sequence-specific trans-activation is a prerequisite for the induction of apoptosis by p53, the apoptotic effects of various p53 deletion mutants were monitored in an assay based on the transient transfection of HeLa cells. A truncated protein (p53dl214), containing only the first 214 amino-terminal residues of murine p53, induced extensive apoptosis, albeit at a slower rate than trans-activation-competent wild-type p53. p53dl214 also suppressed the transformation of rat fibroblasts by several oncogene combinations and particularly by myc plus ras and HPV E7 plus ras. p53dl214 lacks a major portion of the DNA-binding domain and cannot activate p53-responsive promoters. Moreover, a human p53 protein carrying mutations in residues 22 and 23 also triggered HeLa cell apoptosis, despite failing to induce significant activation of relevant p53 target promoters. These data suggest the existence of two p53-dependent apoptotic pathways--one requiring activation of specific target genes, and the other independent of sequence-specific trans-activation. The latter pathway may actually be totally uncoupled from the binding of p53 to its consensus DNA sites. The relative contribution of trans-activation-independent apoptosis to tumor suppression by p53 may be dictated by the specific genetic lesions present in the particular tumor.
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PMID:Induction of apoptosis in HeLa cells by trans-activation-deficient p53. 765 68

p53 is a transcriptional activator and repressor, but recent evidence suggests that some of its many biological functions may not be dependent on transcription. To determine whether p53 exerts a direct influence on nuclear DNA replication, purified human p53 was added to a transcription-free DNA replication extract from Xenopus eggs. Full-length human p53 that inhibits SV40 DNA replication in vitro had no effect on nuclear DNA synthesis in the Xenopus system. In contrast, a C-terminal truncated form of p53 (p53 delta 30), which is constitutively active for DNA binding and similar to an alternately spliced form found in vivo, showed a concentration-dependent inhibition of DNA replication in both the soluble SV40 system and eukaryotic nuclei. This inhibition occurred primarily at initiation of DNA synthesis. Oxidation of p53 delta 30, which eliminates DNA binding activity, also abrogated the protein's ability to inhibit nuclear DNA synthesis. The p53 binding DNA consensus sequence enhanced rather than competed away inhibitory activity of p53 delta 30. Therefore, p53 that is constitutively active for DNA binding can inhibit nuclear DNA replication in the absence of transcription. This inhibition may require binding of p53 to DNA, in addition to interactions between p53 and proteins of the replication complex.
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PMID:A direct effect of activated human p53 on nuclear DNA replication. 774 15

The IE2 gene product of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is one of a few viral regulatory proteins expressed immediately upon infection of the host cell. It is a potent transcriptional activator of many viral and cellular promoters. We found that the retinoblastoma susceptibility gene product (Rb) dramatically suppressed this IE2 transactivation of various promoters. However, unlike another tumor suppressor protein, p53, Rb did not have any significant effect on basal levels of transcription, suggesting that Rb specifically interacts with IE2 rather than other cellular factors involved in the general transcription machinery. We found by protein-affinity chromatography that Rb in nuclear extracts or produced by in vitro translation directly bound to IE2. Our results suggest that Rb may regulate the life cycle of HCMV, which is endemic in the human population. Furthermore, these data may provide new insights into the slow rate of HCMV DNA replication in cells and the possible involvement of HCMV in tumorigenesis.
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PMID:The retinoblastoma gene product negatively regulates transcriptional activation mediated by the human cytomegalovirus IE2 protein. 774 17

Some mutant forms of the p53 protein have been shown to gain new functions that are not shared by the wild-type p53 protein; (1) mutant p53 proteins can transcriptionally transactivate the multi-drug resistance gene-1 (MDR-1) and (2) when expressed in non-tumorigenic cells with no endogenous p53 protein, mutant p53 proteins can enhance the tumorigenic potential of these cells (Dittmer et al., 1993). It has recently been shown (Lin et al., 1994b) that the transcriptional activator domain of the p53 protein contains two amino acids, leu-22 and trp-23, which are required by the wild-type p53 protein for transcriptional activity. To determine whether these same amino acid residues are utilized by mutant p53 proteins for their gain of function phenotype, the triple mutant p53 protein (at residues 22 and 23 in the transactivation domain and residue 281 in the DNA binding domain--a gain of function mutant) was made. While the p53-281 mutant transcriptionally activates the MDR-1 gene and enhances the tumorigenic potential of cells it is expressed in, the 22, 23, 281 triple mutant failed to carry out either of these functions.
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PMID:Two critical hydrophobic amino acids in the N-terminal domain of the p53 protein are required for the gain of function phenotypes of human p53 mutants. 778 87

The wild-type p53 protein is a potent growth suppressor when overexpressed in vitro. It functions as a transcriptional activator and causes growth arrest at the G1/S stage of the cell cycle. We monitored p53 transactivation as an indicator of p53 function throughout the cell cycle. We first demonstrate that cells which exhibited contact inhibition of growth lacked p53 transactivation function at high cell density. Since these cells were noncycling, we examined whether the ectopic expression of any cyclin could override contact inhibition of growth and restore p53 transactivation function. The transfection of cyclin E at high cell density stimulated the progression of cells through the cell cycle and restored p53 transactivation function. The transcriptional activity of p53 induced by cyclin E was regulated at the level of DNA binding. Cells that did not show contact inhibition of growth had a functional p53 regardless of cell density. Thus, contact inhibition of cell growth corresponded to a lack of p53 transactivation function and the overexpression of cyclin E in these contact-inhibited cells stimulated cell cycle progression and resulted in p53 transcriptional activity.
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PMID:Cyclin E restores p53 activity in contact-inhibited cells. 779 98

Alterations in the tumor suppressor gene p53 are the most commonly identified changes in cancer, including neoplasia of the breast. The activity of p53 is regulated post-translationally. Phosphorylation state, subcellular localization, and interaction with any of a number of cellular proteins are likely to influence the function of p53. The exact effect of p53-mediated growth suppression seems to be cell-type specific but appears to be directly related to the ability of p53 to act as a specific transcriptional activator. The role that transcriptional repression plays in the function of WT p53 is less clear. It is also possible that p53 has a more direct activity in DNA replication and repair. Most documented p53 mutations result in single amino acid substitutions which may confer one or more of a spectrum of transforming abilities on the protein. Mutation may lead to nuclear accumulation of p53 protein; however, inactivation of p53 by nuclear exclusion and interaction with the mdm2 protein also appear to be important in tumorigenesis. Used in conjunction with other established factors, accumulation of cellular p53 may be a useful prognostic indicator in breast cancer. A syngeneic mouse model system yielded evidence that p53 mutations are important in the early, preneoplastic stages of mammary tumorigenesis. This murine system may provide the ability to investigate the functions of p53 in the early stages of breast cancer which are technically difficult to examine in the human system.
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PMID:Tumor suppressor p53 mutations and breast cancer: a critical analysis. 779 21

Fanconi anemia belongs to a group of human genetic diseases characterized by chromosomal instability, sensitivity to genotoxic agents associated to impaired processing of DNA lesions, cell cycle anomalies and cancer predisposition. We recently added to this list of distinctive features reduced production of interleukin 6 and overproduction of tumor necrosis factor alpha. Since growth factor deprivation, TNF alpha treatment or DNA damage can trigger apoptosis, we monitored the apoptotic response of FA cell lines. We show here that, although the spontaneous rate of apoptosis is slightly more elevated in FA than in normal cell cultures, the apoptosis induced by gamma-irradiation is drastically reduced in FA. Since the induction of apoptosis by radiation is a p53-dependent mechanism, the induction of this protein in FA cells was also examined. We found that the p53 protein is not radio-induced in FA cells belonging to the two genetic complementation groups examined (C and D), in contrast to normal cells. Moreover, the same impairment in p53 induction is observed after exposure to mitomycin C, a chemical agent for which FA cells demonstrate a specific cellular and chromosomal hypersensitivity, as well as after u.v.-B irradiation, an agent known to cause oxidative stress. These observations are in line with recent reports showing that at least certain cell lines from other chromosome breakage syndromes, such as ataxia telangiectasia and Bloom syndrome, may be also defective for radiation-induced increase of p53 protein. As the p53 tumor suppressor gene encodes a transcriptional activator whose targets include genes that regulate genomic stability, cellular response to DNA damage and cell cycle progression, we suggest that altered expression of p53 may be relevant to the FA phenotype.
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PMID:p53-dependent pathway of radio-induced apoptosis is altered in Fanconi anemia. 782 83

The p53 gene encodes a transcriptional activator that is able to suppress transformation. The protein can be divided into three functional domains: the acidic activation domain at the amino terminus; the oligomerization and nonspecific DNA binding regions in the carboxyl terminus; and the conformation domain, responsible for specific DNA binding, in the middle. To further examine the structural/functional relationship of p53, we undertook a functional study of deletion mutants of the protein. We assayed these mutants for their abilities to activate transcription, transform rat embryo fibroblasts, and oligomerize. Analysis of the results indicates that: (a) besides specific DNA binding, an intact conformation domain is necessary for the transactivation and oligomerization functions of p53; and (b) p53 mutants that contain the amino and carboxyl termini do not oligomerize with wild-type p53, yet they transform cells. In fact, the amino terminus alone transforms rat embryo fibroblasts. Transformation by these mutants is probably effected by the amino terminus binding and sequestration of factors essential for wild-type p53 function.
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PMID:Structural and functional analysis of p53: the acidic activation domain has transforming capability. 784 3

The p53 tumor suppressor gene product is a transcriptional activator that may be associated with its ability to suppress tumor cell growth. The acidic amino terminus of the p53 protein has been shown to contain this trans-activation activity as well as the domains for mdm-2 and adenovirus 5 E1B 55-kD protein binding. An extensive genetic analysis of this amino-terminal p53 domain has been undertaken using site-specific mutagenesis. The results demonstrate that the acidic residues in the amino terminus of p53 may contribute to, but are not critical for, this trans-activation activity. Rather, the hydrophobic amino acid residues Leu-22 and Trp-23 of human p53 are both required for trans-activation activity, binding to the adenovirus E1B 55-kD protein and the human mdm-2-p53 protein in vitro. In addition, hydrophobic residues Leu-14 and Phe-19 are crucial for the interactions between p53 and human mdm-2 (hdm-2). Hydrophobic residues Trp-23 and Pro-27 are also important for binding to the adenovirus 5 (Ad5) E1B 55-kD protein in vitro. These mutations have no impact on the ability of the p53 protein to bind to a p53-specific DNA element. These results suggest that 2-4 critical hydrophobic residues in the amino-terminal domain of the p53 protein interact with the transcriptional machinery of the cell resulting in transcriptional activation. These very same hydrophobic residues contact the hdm-2 and Ad5 E1B 55-kD oncogene products.
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PMID:Several hydrophobic amino acids in the p53 amino-terminal domain are required for transcriptional activation, binding to mdm-2 and the adenovirus 5 E1B 55-kD protein. 792 27


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