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Targeting HPV16 E6-p300 interaction reactivates p53 and inhibits the tumorigenicity of HPV-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Oncogene volume 33, pages 1037–1046 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

The incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has rapidly increased over the past 30 years, prompting the suggestion that an epidemic maybe on the horizon. Therefore, there is a clinical need to develop alternate therapeutic strategies to manage the growing number of HPV-positive HNSCC patients. High-risk HPV E6 inactivates p53 through two distinct mechanisms; association with E6AP to degrade p53 and association with p300 to block p300-mediated p53 acetylation and activation. In this study, we determined if targeting the E6-p300 interaction is an effective approach to reactivate p53 in HPV-positive HNSCC. Ectopic expression of the CH1 domain of p300 in HPV-positive HNSCC blocks the association between E6 and p300, increases total and acetylated p53 levels and enhances p53 transcriptional activity. Moreover, expression of p21, miR-34a and miR-200c are increased, demonstrating functional p53 reactivation. CH1 overexpression in HPV-positive HNSCC has a global anticancer effect resulting in a decrease in cell proliferation and clonogenic survival and an increase in apoptosis. The in vivo tumor-initiating ability of HPV-positive HNSCC is severely compromised with CH1 overexpression, in part through a reduction in the cancer-initiating cell population. A novel small-molecule CH1 inhibitor, CH1iB, reactivates p53 and potentiates the anticancer activity of cis-platinum in HPV-positive HNSCC cells. Our work shows that CH1-domain inhibitors represent a novel class of p53-reactivation therapeutics for managing HPV-positive HNSCC patients.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grants R01CA135096 (to QP) and R01GM073943 (to PSA); Mary E. and John W. Alford Cancer Research Endowment Fund; The Michelle Theado Memorial Grant from the Joan Bisesi Fund for Head and Neck Oncology Research; and Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA

    X Xie, L Piao, A Smith, T Su, M Zhang, T N Teknos & Q Pan

  2. Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, OH, USA

    X Xie, L Piao, A Smith, T Su, M Zhang, T N Teknos & Q Pan

  3. Department of Chemistry, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    B N Bullock & P S Arora

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Xie, X., Piao, L., Bullock, B. et al. Targeting HPV16 E6-p300 interaction reactivates p53 and inhibits the tumorigenicity of HPV-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Oncogene 33, 1037–1046 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2013.25

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