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p73 is a human p53-related protein that can induce apoptosis

Nature volume 389, pages 191–194 (1997)Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 24 June 1999

Abstract

The protein p53 is the most frequently mutated tumour suppressor to be identified so far in human cancers1,2. The ability of p53 to inhibit cell growth is due, at least in part, to its ability to bind to specific DNA sequences and activate the transcription of target genes such as that encoding the cell-cycle inhibitor p21Waf1/Cip1 (ref. 3). A gene has recently been identified that is predicted to encode a protein with significant amino-acid sequence similarity to p53 (ref. 4). In particular, each of the p53 amino-acid residues implicated in direct sequence-specific DNA binding is conserved in this protein5. This gene, called p73, maps to the short arm of chromosome 1, and is found in a region that is frequently deleted in neuroblastomas6. Here we show that p73 can, at least when overproduced, activate the transcription of p53-responsive genes and inhibit cell growth in a p53-like manner by inducing apoptosis (programmed cell death).

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Figure 1: Expression and subcellular localization of p73.
Figure 2: p73 activates p53-responsive promoters.
Figure 3: Induction of endogenous p21 by ectopically produced p73.
Figure 4: p73 suppresses tumour cell growth and induces apoptosis.

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Acknowledgements

We thank L. Creancier, N. Bensaid and D. Caput for providing us with p73 cDNAs before publication; K. Yu and D. Cohen for p21 promoter plasmids; B. Bierer, L. Diller, D. Fisher and D.Haber for critically reading the manuscript; and members of the W.G.K.'s laboratory for discussions.

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  1. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, 44 Binney Street, Mayer 657, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Christine A. Jost, Maria C. Marin & William G. Kaelin Jr

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  2. Maria C. Marin
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Jost, C., Marin, M. & Jr, W. p73 is a human p53-related protein that can induce apoptosis. Nature 389, 191–194 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/38298

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