N-terminal isoforms of the p53 tumour suppressor protein : effects on p53 transcriptional activity and expression in cutaneous melanoma

• Main Author: Hafsi, Hind
• Language: English
• Published: Université Claude Bernard - Lyon I 2012
• Subjects: [SDV:MHEP] Life Sciences/Human health and pathology; [SDV:MHEP] Sciences du Vivant/Médecine humaine et pathologie; P53 tumour suppressor protein; Isoforms; Transcriptional regulation; Melanoma; Inactivation of p53
• Online Access: http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00995000; http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/99/50/00/PDF/TH2012Hafsi_Hind.pdf

The p53 tumour suppressor protein has a highly complex pattern of regulation at transcriptional and posttranslationallevels. The discovery of p53 isoforms has added another layer of complexity to the mechanisms thatregulate p53 functions. Indeed, p53 is expressed as 12 isoforms that differ in their N- and C-terminus due toalternative splicing, promoter or codon initiation usage. So far, there is limited understanding of the patterns ofexpression and of the functions of each of these isoforms.In this Thesis, we have focused on the two major p53 N-terminal isoforms, Δ40p53 and Δ133p53. We haveanalysed their patterns of interactions with the full-length p53 and we have investigated whether their expressioncould be deregulated in melanoma, a cancer type in which TP53 mutations are rare. Our results show that Δ40p53 can modulate p53 function with a bi-phasic effect, acting as a repressor or activator of p53 to control itslevels and activity. Moreover, we demonstrate that the internal P2 promoter produces Δ133p53 and is regulatedby p53 in response to genotoxic stress, identifying a novel auto-regulatory loop by which p53 may control theexpression of an isoform acting as an inhibitor of p53 activities. Finally, we show that mRNAs encoding Nterminalisoforms are often over-expressed in highly metastatic melanoma when compared to non-invasiveforms, suggesting that N-terminal isoforms contribute to functionally inactivate p53. Thus, we propose that Δ40p53 and Δ133p53 modulate p53 functions within dynamic fluctuations of aprotein network. Hence, p53 isoforms may have a major role in basal p53 activities as well as in the functionalinactivation of p53 in cancer cells.