Glioma Pathogenesis-Related Protein 1 Exerts Tumor Suppressor Activities through Proapoptotic Reactive Oxygen Species-c-Jun-NH2 Kinase Signaling

• Published in: Cancer research (Chicago, Ill.) Ill.), 2008-01, Vol.68 (2), p.434-443
• Main Authors: LIKUN LI, FATTAH, Elmoataz Abdel, GUANGWEN CAO, CHENGZHEN REN, GUANG YANG, GOLTSOV, Alexei A, CHINAULT, A. Craig, CAI, Wei-Wen, TIMME, Terry L, THOMPSON, Timothy C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Antineoplastic agents; Apoptosis - genetics; Apoptosis - physiology; Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins - genetics; Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic - genetics; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Genes, Tumor Suppressor - physiology; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; HCT116 Cells; Humans; JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases - metabolism; Male; Medical sciences; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Knockout; Neoplasm Proteins - genetics; Neoplasm Proteins - physiology; Neoplasms - genetics; Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics; Nerve Tissue Proteins - physiology; Neurology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism; Signal Transduction - physiology; Tumors; Tumors of the nervous system. Phacomatoses
• ISSN: 0008-5472; 1538-7445
• DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-07-2931

Glioma pathogenesis-related protein 1 (GLIPR1), a novel p53 target gene, is down-regulated by methylation in prostate cancer and has p53-dependent and -independent proapoptotic activities in tumor cells. These properties suggest an important tumor suppressor role for GLIPR1, yet direct genetic evidence of a tumor suppressor function for GLIPR1 is lacking and the molecular mechanism(s), through which GLIPR1 exerts its tumor suppressor functions, has not been shown. Here, we report that the expression of GLIPR1 is significantly reduced in human prostate tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal prostate tissues and in multiple human cancer cell lines. Overexpression of GLIPR1 in cancer cells leads to suppression of colony growth and induction of apoptosis. Mice with an inactivated Glipr1 gene had significantly shorter tumor-free survival times than either Glipr1(+/+) or Glipr1(+/-) mice in both p53(+/+) and p53(+/-) genetic backgrounds, owing to their development of a unique array of malignant tumors. Mechanistic analysis indicated that GLIPR1 up-regulation increases the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to apoptosis through activation of the c-Jun-NH(2) kinase (JNK) signaling cascade. Thus, our results identify GLIPR1 as a proapoptotic tumor suppressor acting through the ROS-JNK pathway and support the therapeutic potential for this protein.