P53 is a nuclear transcription factor with a pro-apoptotic function. Since over 50% of human cancers carry loss of function mutations in p53 gene, p53 has been considered to be one of the classical type tumor suppressors. Mutant p53 acts as the dominant-negative inhibitor toward wild-type p53. Indeed, mutant p53 has an oncogenic potential. In some cases, malignant cancer cells bearing p53 mutations display a chemo-resistant phenotype. In response to a variety of cellular stresses such as DNA damage, p53 is induced to accumulate in cell nucleus to exert its pro-apoptotic function. Activated p53 promotes cell cycle arrest to allow DNA repair and/or apoptosis to prevent the propagation of cells with serious DNA damage through the transactivation of its target genes implicated in the induction of cell cycle arrest and/or apoptosis. Thus, the DNA-binding activity of p53 is tightly linked to its tumor suppressive function. In the present review article, we describe the regulatory mechanisms of p53 and also p53-mediated therapeutic strategies to cure malignant cancers.

Lewis lung carcinoma-derived high metastatic A11 cells constitutively overexpress hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α mRNA compared with low metastatic P29 cells. Because A11 cells exclusively possess a G13997A mutation in the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 (ND6) gene, we addressed here a causal relationship between the ND6 mutation and the activation of HIF-1α transcription, and we investigated the potential mechanism. Using trans-mitochondrial cybrids between A11 and P29 cells, we found that the ND6 mutation was directly involved in HIF-1α mRNA overexpression. Stimulation of HIF-1α transcription by the ND6 mutation was mediated by overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and subsequent activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt and protein kinase C (PKC) signaling pathways. The up-regulation of HIF-1α transcription was abolished by mithramycin A, an Sp1 inhibitor, but luciferase reporter and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays indicated that Sp1 was necessary but not sufficient for HIF-1α mRNA overexpression in A11 cells. On the other hand, trichostatin A, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, markedly suppressed HIF-1α transcription in A11 cells. In accordance with this, HDAC activity was high in A11 cells but low in P29 cells and in A11 cells treated with the ROS scavenger ebselene, the PI3K inhibitor LY294002, and the PKC inhibitor Ro31-8220. These results suggest that the ROS-generating ND6 mutation increases HIF-1α transcription via the PI3K-Akt/PKC/HDAC pathway, leading to HIF-1α protein accumulation in hypoxic tumor cells.

The rearrangement of pre-existing genes has long been thought of as the major mode of new gene generation. Recently, de novo gene birth from non-genic DNA was found to be an alternative mechanism to generate novel protein-coding genes. However, its functional role in human disease remains largely unknown. Here we show that NCYM, a cis-antisense gene of the MYCN oncogene, initially thought to be a large non-coding RNA, encodes a de novo evolved protein regulating the pathogenesis of human cancers, particularly neuroblastoma. The NCYM gene is evolutionally conserved only in the taxonomic group containing humans and chimpanzees. In primary human neuroblastomas, NCYM is 100% co-amplified and co-expressed with MYCN, and NCYM mRNA expression is associated with poor clinical outcome. MYCN directly transactivates both NCYM and MYCN mRNA, whereas NCYM stabilizes MYCN protein by inhibiting the activity of GSK3β, a kinase that promotes MYCN degradation. In contrast to MYCN transgenic mice, neuroblastomas in MYCN/NCYM double transgenic mice were frequently accompanied by distant metastases, behavior reminiscent of human neuroblastomas with MYCN amplification. The NCYM protein also interacts with GSK3β, thereby stabilizing the MYCN protein in the tumors of the MYCN/NCYM double transgenic mice. Thus, these results suggest that GSK3β inhibition by NCYM stabilizes the MYCN protein both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the survival of MYCN transgenic mice bearing neuroblastoma was improved by treatment with NVP-BEZ235, a dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor shown to destabilize MYCN via GSK3β activation. In contrast, tumors caused in MYCN/NCYM double transgenic mice showed chemo-resistance to the drug. Collectively, our results show that NCYM is the first de novo evolved protein known to act as an oncopromoting factor in human cancer, and suggest that de novo evolved proteins may functionally characterize human disease. The MYCN oncogene has a central role in the genesis and progression of neuroblastomas, and its amplification is associated with an unfavorable prognosis. We have found that NCYM, a MYCN cis-antisense RNA, is translated in humans to a de novo evolved protein. NCYM inhibits GSK3β to stabilize MYCN, whereas MYCN induces NCYM transcription. The positive feedback regulation formed in the MYCN/NCYM-amplified tumors promotes the aggressive nature of human neuroblastoma. MYCN transgenic mice, which express human MYCN in sympathoadrenal tissues, spontaneously develop neuroblastomas. However, unlike human neuroblastoma, distant metastasis is infrequent. We established MYCN/NCYM double transgenic mice as a new animal model for studying neuroblastoma pathogenesis. We found that NCYM expression promoted both the metastasis and chemo-resistance of the neuroblastomas formed in the double transgenic mice. These results demonstrate that NCYM may be a potential target for developing novel therapeutic tools against high-risk neuroblastomas in humans, and that the MYCN/NCYM double transgenic mouse may be a suitable model for the screening of these new drugs.

Deletion of the distal region of chromosome 1 frequently occurs in a variety of human cancers, including aggressive neuroblastoma. Previously, we have identified a 500-kb homozygously deleted region at chromosome 1p36.2 harboring at least six genes in a neuroblastoma-derived cell line NB1/C201. Among them, only KIF1Bβ, a member of the kinesin superfamily proteins, induced apoptotic cell death. These results prompted us to address whether KIF1Bβ could be a tumor suppressor gene mapped to chromosome 1p36 in neuroblastoma. Hemizygous deletion of KIF1Bβ in primary neuroblastomas was significantly correlated with advanced stages (p = 0.0013) and MYCN amplification (p < 0.001), whereas the mutation rate of the KIF1Bβ gene was infrequent. Although KIF1Bβ allelic loss was significantly associated with a decrease in KIF1Bβ mRNA levels, its promoter region was not hypermethylated. Additionally, expression of KIF1Bβ was markedly down-regulated in advanced stages of tumors (p < 0.001). Enforced expression of KIF1Bβ resulted in an induction of apoptotic cell death in association with an increase in the number of cells entered into the G₂/M phase of the cell cycle, whereas its knockdown by either short interfering RNA or by a genetic suppressor element led to an accelerated cell proliferation or enhanced tumor formation in nude mice, respectively. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the rod region unique to KIF1Bβ is critical for the induction of apoptotic cell death in a p53-independent manner. Thus, KIF1Bβ may act as a haploinsufficient tumor suppressor, and its allelic loss may be involved in the pathogenesis of neuroblastoma and other cancers.