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The promyelocytic leukaemia protein tumour suppressor functions as a transcriptional regulator of p63

Oncogene volume 24, pages 6982–6986 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

p63 plays unique developmental roles in epidermal morphogenesis, despite its structural similarity with p53. The p63 gene has two distinct promoters, coding for proteins containing an N-terminal transactivation domain (TA isoforms) and for proteins lacking this region (ΔN isoforms). The full-length transcriptionally active TAp63 isoforms are capable of transactivating the majority of the p53 target promoters thus inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. On the contrary, the ΔNp63 isoforms seem to counteract the transactivation activities of p53 and TAp63 proteins, thus possibly conferring a proliferative advantage to cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanisms controlling the transcriptional activity of p63 remain largely unclear. Here we present data indicating that (i) the promyelocytic leukaemia protein (PML) physically interacts with p63, (ii) p63 is localized into the PML nuclear-bodies (PML-NBs) in vivo, and (iii) PML regulates p63 transcriptional activity. We show that the interaction of p63 with PML increases the levels of p63 in cultured cells as well as its ability to transactivate the p53-responsive elements of the GADD45, p21 and bax promoters. These data are consistent with a general role for PML as a functional modulator of all the p53 family members. Our findings strengthen the relevance of the cross talk between PML and the p53 family members, imply a new tumour suppressive function of PML and unveil a possible role for PML in epidermal morphogenesis and differentiation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank CH Di Como for the GADD45 min-luc and p21 min-luc reporter plasmids, KS Chang for the polyclonal anti-PML antibody; the MSKCC confocal core facility for technical assistance; E Candi, A Terrinoni and P Salomoni for helpful discussion and critical review of the manuscript. This work was supported by the NIH CA-71692 awarded to PPP and by AIRC, EU-QLK-CT-2002-01956, Telethon-GGP04110, FIRB RBN01NWCH-008 to GM. The financial support by the Medical Research Council is also gratefully acknowledged.

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Author notes

  1. Francesca Bernassola and Andrew Oberst: These two authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, 10021, NY, USA

    Francesca Bernassola, Andrew Oberst & Pier Paolo Pandolfi

  2. c/o Department of Experimental Medicine, IDI-IRCCS Biochemistry Laboratory, University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Rome, 00133, Italy

    Francesca Bernassola, Andrew Oberst & Gerry Melino

  3. MRC, Toxicology Unit, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 9HN, UK

    Gerry Melino

Authors
  1. Francesca Bernassola
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  2. Andrew Oberst
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  3. Gerry Melino
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  4. Pier Paolo Pandolfi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pier Paolo Pandolfi.

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Bernassola, F., Oberst, A., Melino, G. et al. The promyelocytic leukaemia protein tumour suppressor functions as a transcriptional regulator of p63. Oncogene 24, 6982–6986 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1208843

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