Negative regulation of gene expression by the tumor suppressor p53

The tumor suppressor p53 inhibits the expression of a substantial number of genes whose protein products serve to promote cell survival or cell cycle progression, thereby ensuring efficient execution of p53-dependent apoptosis, cell-cycle arrest or senescence. Furthermore, p53-mediated repression has also been shown to participate in pathways that regulate diverse cellular processes, including angiogenesis, maintenance of pluripotency, and metabolic flux. p53 inhibits gene expression by both direct and indirect means. Briefly, p53 can block transcription through direct DNA binding, association with transcription factors, and through the induction of genes whose functional products facilitate downstream repression. Indirect regulation of gene repression by p53 often involves induction of intermediary factors that fall into several categories: proteins (e.g. p21), microRNAs (e.g. miR-34a), and lincRNAs (lincRNA-p21). This dissertation discusses multiple aspects of p53-dependent gene repression and presents novel targets of p53-mediated regulation. Specifically, we have found that p53 down-regulates the transcription of the oncogenic transcription factor FoxM1. Mechanistically, this repression is largely dependent upon the p53-inducible gene p21, and consequently involves the Rb-family of tumor suppressors. Functionally, p53-dependent repression of FoxM1 contributes to the maintenance of a stable G2 cell cycle arrest in response to DNA-damage. In addition, we have identified PVT1 as a novel target of p53-transactivation. PVT1 encodes both spliced non-coding RNAs (ncRNA), as well as a series of microRNAs (miR-1204, miR-1205, miR-1206, miR-1207-5p, miR-1207-3p and miR-1208). p53 upregulates PVT1 ncRNA, primary microRNAs, and mature miR-1204. Ectopic expression of miR-1204 induces changes in cell fate that are consistent with the role of p53 (cell death, cell cycle arrest), thus miR-1204 is likely to represent a functional target of p53 at the PVT1 locus

Nuclear pore component Nup98 is a potential tumor suppressor and regulates posttranscriptional expression of select p53 target genes

The p53 tumor suppressor utilizes multiple mechanisms to selectively regulate its myriad target genes, which in turn mediate diverse cellular processes. Here, using conventional and single-molecule mRNA analyses, we demonstrate that the nucleoporin Nup98 is required for full expression of p21, a key effector of the p53 pathway, but not several other p53 target genes. Nup98 regulates p21 mRNA levels by a posttranscriptional mechanism in which a complex containing Nup98 and the p21 mRNA 3\u27UTR protects p21 mRNA from degradation by the exosome. An in silico approach revealed another p53 target (14-3-3sigma) to be similarly regulated by Nup98. The expression of Nup98 is reduced in murine and human hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) and correlates with p21 expression in HCC patients. Our study elucidates a previously unrecognized function of wild-type Nup98 in regulating select p53 target genes that is distinct from the well-characterized oncogenic properties of Nup98 fusion proteins

Structure–function analysis of the SHOC2–MRAS–PP1C holophosphatase complex

Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)-RAS signalling through the downstream mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade regulates cell proliferation and survival. The SHOC2-MRAS-PP1C holophosphatase complex functions as a key regulator of RTK-RAS signalling by removing an inhibitory phosphorylation event on the RAF family of proteins to potentiate MAPK signalling1. SHOC2 forms a ternary complex with MRAS and PP1C, and human germline gain-of-function mutations in this complex result in congenital RASopathy syndromes2-5. However, the structure and assembly of this complex are poorly understood. Here we use cryo-electron microscopy to resolve the structure of the SHOC2-MRAS-PP1C complex. We define the biophysical principles of holoenzyme interactions, elucidate the assembly order of the complex, and systematically interrogate the functional consequence of nearly all of the possible missense variants of SHOC2 through deep mutational scanning. We show that SHOC2 binds PP1C and MRAS through the concave surface of the leucine-rich repeat region and further engages PP1C through the N-terminal disordered region that contains a cryptic RVXF motif. Complex formation is initially mediated by interactions between SHOC2 and PP1C and is stabilized by the binding of GTP-loaded MRAS. These observations explain how mutant versions of SHOC2 in RASopathies and cancer stabilize the interactions of complex members to enhance holophosphatase activity. Together, this integrative structure-function model comprehensively defines key binding interactions within the SHOC2-MRAS-PP1C holophosphatase complex and will inform therapeutic development

Point of care monitoring of hemodialysis patients with a breath ammonia measurement device based on printed polyaniline nanoparticle sensors

A device for measuring human breath ammonia was developed based on a single use, disposable, inkjet printed ammonia sensor fabricated using polyaniline nanoparticles. The device was optimized for sampling ammonia in human breath samples by addressing issues such as variations in breath sample volume, flow rate, sources of oral ammonia, temperature and humidity. The resulting system was capable of measuring ammonia in breath from 40 to 2993 ppbv (r2= 0.99, n = 3) as correlated with photoacoustic laser spectroscopy and correlation in normal human breath samples yielded a slope of 0.93 and a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.9705 (p < 0.05, n = 11). Measurement of ammonia in the breath of patients with end-stage kidney disease demonstrated its significant reduction following dialysis, while also correlating well with blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (r = 0.61, p < 0.01, n = 96). Excellent intraindividual correlations were demonstrated between breath ammonia and BUN (0.86 to 0.96), which demonstrates the possibility of using low cost point of care breath ammonia systems as a noninvasive means of monitoring kidney dysfunction and treatment. © 2013 American Chemical Society