2. Academic Validation
  3. p52-ZER6: a determinant of tumor cell sensitivity to MDM2-p53 binding inhibitors

p52-ZER6: a determinant of tumor cell sensitivity to MDM2-p53 binding inhibitors

  • Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2022 Aug 22. doi: 10.1038/s41401-022-00973-9.
Wen-Fang Li  # 1 2,  Leader Alfason  # 1 2,  Can Huang  # 3,  Yu Tang 1 2,  Li Qiu 1 2,  Makoto Miyagishi 4,  Shou-Rong Wu 5 6 7,  Vivi Kasim 8 9 10
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China.
  • 2 The 111 Project Laboratory of Biomechanics and Tissue Repair, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China.
  • 3 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, China.
  • 4 Molecular Composite Medicine Research Group, Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, 305-8566, Japan.
  • 5 Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China. shourongwu@cqu.edu.cn.
  • 6 The 111 Project Laboratory of Biomechanics and Tissue Repair, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China. shourongwu@cqu.edu.cn.
  • 7 Chongqing Key Laboratory of Translational Research for Cancer Metastasis and Individualized Treatment, Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400030, China. shourongwu@cqu.edu.cn.
  • 8 Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China. vivikasim@cqu.edu.cn.
  • 9 The 111 Project Laboratory of Biomechanics and Tissue Repair, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China. vivikasim@cqu.edu.cn.
  • 10 Chongqing Key Laboratory of Translational Research for Cancer Metastasis and Individualized Treatment, Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400030, China. vivikasim@cqu.edu.cn.
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 35995868 DOI: 10.1038/s41401-022-00973-9
Abstract

Targeting MDM2-p53 interaction has emerged as a promising antitumor therapeutic strategy. Several MDM2-p53 inhibitors have advanced into clinical trials, but results are not favorable. The lack of appropriate biomarkers for selecting patients has been assumed as the critical reason for this failure. We previously identified ZER6 isoform p52-ZER6 as an oncogene upregulated in tumor tissues. In this study we investigated whether p52-ZER6 acted as a blocker of MDM2-p53 binding inhibitors, and whether p52-ZER6 could be used as a biomarker of MDM2-p53 binding inhibitors. In p53 wild-type colorectal carcinoma HCT116, hepatocarcinoma HepG2 and breast Cancer MCF-7 cells, overexpression of p52-ZER6 enhanced MDM2-p53 binding and promoted p53 ubiquitination/proteasomal degradation. Furthermore, overexpression of p52-ZER6 in the tumor cells dose-dependently reduced their sensitivity to both nutlin and non-nutlin class MDM2-p53 binding inhibitors. We showed that p52-ZER6 restored tumor cell viability, which was suppressed by nutlin-3, through restoring their proliferation potential while suppressing their apoptotic rate, suggesting that MDM2-p53 binding inhibitors might not be effective for patients with high p52-ZER6 levels. We found that nutlin-3 treatment or p52-ZER6 knockdown alone promoted the accumulation of p53 protein in the tumor cells, and their combinatorial treatment significantly increased the accumulation of p53 protein. In HCT116 cell xenograft nude mouse model, administration of shp52-ZER6 combined with an MDM2-p53 binding inhibitor nutlin-3 exerted synergistic antitumor response. In conclusion, this study reveals that p52-ZER6 might be a potential biomarker for determining patients appropriate for MDM2-p53 binding inhibition-based antitumor therapy, and demonstrates the potential of combinatorial therapy using MDM2-p53 binding inhibitors and p52-ZER6 inhibition.

Keywords

HDM201; MDM2-p53 binding inhibitors; RG7388; ZER6; nutlin; p52-ZER6.

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