Lic.-avh. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2007. / Härtill 2 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2006. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2007. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2007. / Title from PDF of title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 171 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2007. / Title from PDF of title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 131 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The p53 tumor suppressor protein is upregulated in response to DNA damage and other stress signals. The upregulation of p53 involves freeing it from negative regulation imposed by Mdm2 and MdmX (Mdm4). Accumulating evidence indicates that phosphorylation of Mdm proteins by different stress-activated kinases such as ATM or c-Abl significantly impacts p53 functions. We have previously shown that ATM phosphorylation of Mdm2 Ser394 is required for robust p53 stabilization and activation following DNA damage. This dissertation describes in vivo examination of the mechanism by which Mdm2 Ser394 phosphorylation impacts p53 activities and its contribution to suppression of oncogene and DNA damage-induced tumors. We determine that phosphorylation of Mdm2 Ser394 regulates p53 activity by modulating Mdm2 stability and paradoxically delays Myc-driven lymphomagenesis while increasing lymphomagenesis in sub-lethally irradiated mice. c-Abl phosphorylates the residue neighboring Mdm2 Ser394, Mdm2 Tyr393. This dissertation describes the generation of a novel Mdm2Y393F mutant mouse to determine if c-Abl phosphorylation of Mdm2 regulates p53-mediated DNA damage responses or tumor suppression in vivo. Mdm2Y393F mice develop accelerated spontaneous and oncogene-induced tumors, yet display no defects in p53 stabilization and activity following acute genotoxic stress. Furthermore, the effects of these phosphorylation events on p53 regulation are not additive, as Mdm2Y393F/S394A mice and Mdm2S394A mice display similar phenotypes. The studies presented herein further our understanding of the mechanisms by which DNA damage-associated kinases stabilize and activate p53, and influence p53-dependent responses and tumor suppression. A better understanding of the in vivo effects of Mdm2 phosphorylation may facilitate the development of novel therapeutics capable of stimulating p53 anti-tumor activity or alleviating p53- dependent toxicities in non-malignant tissues.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2008. / Title from PDF of title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 197 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The p53 transcription factor responds to various cellular stressors by regulating the expression of numerous target genes involved in cellular processes such as cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and senescence. As these downstream pathways are harmful to the growth and development of normal cells when prolonged or deregulated, p53 activity needs to be under tight regulatory control. The Mdm2 oncoprotein is the chief negative regulator of p53, and many mouse models have demonstrated that absence of Mdm2 expression leads to constitutive p53 activation in a variety of cell types. While unregulated p53 can be deleterious to cells, functional p53 is essential for tumor suppression, as many human cancers harbor p53 mutations and p53 knockout mice rapidly develop spontaneous tumors. Therefore, the mechanisms that control p53 regulation by Mdm2 are critical to ensure p53 activity in the appropriate cellular context. Many genetically engineered mouse models have been created to analyze p53 and Mdm2 functions and these studies have yielded valuable insights into their physiological roles. This dissertation will describe the generation and characterization of novel mutant Mdm2 mouse models and their use to interrogate the roles of p53-Mdm2 signaling in tissue homeostasis and cell stress responses. Deletion of Mdm2 in epidermal progenitor cells of the skin and hair follicles resulted in progressive hair loss and decreased skin integrity, phenotypes that are characteristic of premature aging. Furthermore, p53 protein levels, p53 target gene expression, and cellular senescence were all upregulated in the skins of these mice, and epidermal stem cell numbers and function were diminished. These results indicate that Mdm2 is necessary to limit p53 activity in adult tissues to ensure normal stem cell function. Additional mouse models used to determine the role of Mdm2 phosphorylation will also be presented. DNA damage triggers an extensive cellular response, including activation of the ATM kinase. ATM activity is necessary for p53 protein stabilization and, therefore, p53 activation, but in vivo evidence suggests that phosphorylation of p53 itself had little effect on p53 stability. ATM was previously shown to phosphorylate MDM2 at serine residue 395 (394 in mice), and we generated knock-in mutant mouse models to study the role of this posttranslational modification in vivo. Absence of this phosphorylation site led to greatly diminished p53 stability and function in response to γ-irradiation and increased spontaneous tumorigenesis in mice. Conversely, a phosphomimic model demonstrated prolonged p53 activation in cells treated with γ-irradiation, which revealed that phosphorylation of this Mdm2 residue controls the duration of the DNA damage response. Therefore, these mouse models have uncovered new roles for the p53-Mdm2 regulatory axis in vivo and will be useful reagents in future studies of posttranslational modifications in oncogene and DNA damage-induced tumorigenesis.

Animals have evolved complicated and overlapping mechanisms to guard against the development of cancer and infection by pathogenic organisms. ARF, a potent tumor suppressor, positively regulates p53 by antagonizing p53’s negative regulator, MDM2, which in turn results in either apoptosis or cell cycle arrest. ARF also has p53-independent tumor suppressor activity. The CtBP transcriptional co-repressors promote cancer cell survival and migration/invasion. CtBP senses cellular metabolism via a regulatory dehydrogenase domain, and is a target for negative regulation by ARF. ARF targets CtBP to the proteasome for degradation, which results in the up regulation of proapoptotic BH3-only proteins, and p53-independent apoptosis. CtBP inhibition by ARF also up regulates PTEN, reducing cancer cell motility, making CtBP a potential therapeutic target in human cancer. The CtBP dehydrogenase substrate 4-methylthio-2-oxobutyric acid (MTOB) can act as a CtBP inhibitor at high concentrations, and is cytotoxic to cancer cells from a wide variety of tissues. MTOB induced apoptosis was independent of p53, and correlated with the de-repression of the pro-apoptotic CtBP repression target Bik. CtBP over-expression, or Bik silencing, rescued MTOB-induced cell death. MTOB did not induce apoptosis in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), but was increasingly cytotoxic to immortalized and transformed MEFs, suggesting that CtBP inhibition may provide a suitable therapeutic index for cancer therapy. In human colon cancer cell peritoneal xenografts, MTOB treatment decreased tumor burden, and induced tumor cell apoptosis. To verify the potential utility of CtBP as a therapeutic target in human cancer the expression of CtBP and its negative regulator ARF was studied in a series of resected human colon adenocarcinomas. CtBP and ARF levels were inversely-correlated, with elevated CtBP levels (compared with adjacent normal tissue) observed in greater than 60% of specimens, with ARF absent in nearly all specimens exhibiting elevated CtBP levels. Targeting CtBP with a small molecule like MTOB may thus represent a useful and widely applicable therapeutic strategy in human malignancies. ARF has long been known to respond to virally encoded oncogenes. Recently, p14ARF was linked to the innate immune response to non-transforming viruses in mice. Therefore a wider role for the ARF pathway in viral infection was considered. Previous studies linking p53 to multiple points of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) life cycle suggested that ARF may also play a role in the HIV life cycle. In this study the interdependency of ARF and HIV infection was investigated. ARF expression was determined for a variety of cell types upon HIV infection. In every case, ARF levels exhibited dynamic changes upon HIV infection-in most cases ARF levels were reduced in infected cells. The impact of ARF over-expression or silencing by RNAi on HIV infection was also examined. Consistently, p24 levels were increased with ARF overexpression, and decreased when ARF was silenced. Thus ARF and HIV modulate each other, and ARF may paradoxically play a positive role in the HIV life cycle.

A síndrome de Li-Fraumeni (LFS) e sua variante like (LFL) são associadas a mutações germinativas no gene TP53 e predispõe ao alto risco para múltiplos tumores em idade jovem. Analisamos 91 famílias LFS/LFL do sul/sudeste do Brasil para mutações germinativas e haplótipos de TP53 (PIN2, PIN3 e PEX4) e MDM2 (309T-G). A mutação R337H ocorreu em 44,4% das famílias avaliadas. Em 750 controles da região a freqüência populacional da mutação foi 0,3%. A genotipagem de oito indivíduos não relacionados R337H-positivos para 29 TAG SNPs intragênicos demonstrou o mesmo haplótipo raro estabelecendo efeito fundador para R337H. O alelo duplicado no PIN3 apresenta impacto modificador e retardo de 17,1 anos na ocorrência de tumores em famílias com mutação no TP53, enquanto o SNP309 MDM2 modula a idade dos sarcomas de partes moles. / Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) and its variant like (LFL) are associated with germline mutations in the TP53 gene and predispose to a variety of cancers at an earlier age. We analyzed 91 LFS/LFL families from southern Brazil for germline mutations in TP53 and polymorphisms in TP53 (PIN2, PIN3, PEX4) and MDM2 (309T-G). The germline TP53 mutation R337H was found in 44.4% of all families included. In 750 controls from the same region, mutation prevalence was 0.3%. Genotyping of eight unrelated R337H-positive individuals for 29 intragenic TAG SNPs showed that they all shared the same rare haplotype confirming the founder effect for the mutation. Duplication of PIN3 had a modifier effect on the age of tumor onset (delay of 17.1 years) in TP53 mutation carriers whereas MDM2 SNP309 modulated age of onset for soft-tissue sarcomas.