Isolation and characterization of a novel TP53-inducible gene, TP53TG3

We applied the differential mRNA display method to isolate genes regulated by wild-type TP53 in cells of a colon-cancer line (SW480) in which we had established an inducible TP53 expression system under the control of the lactose operon. Here we report isolation and characterization of a novel TP53-inducible gene, termed TP53TG3 (TP53 target gene 3). Its DNA sequence was identical to sequences present in two BAC clones that had been mapped to chromosome band 16p13. The gene expressed several transcripts by alternative splicing; the two major transcripts, TP53TG3a and TP53TG3b, encoded 124- and 132-amino-acid peptides that were expressed predominantly in testis. Immunohistochemical analysis using cancer cells (HeLa or H1299) that had been transfected with plasmid DNA designed to express the MYC-fused TP53TG3 proteins indicated that these products were present mainly in the cytoplasm 20 hr after transfection. However, 40 hr after transfection, the recombinant proteins had accumulated in the nuclei of some cells. Because no known nuclear localization domain was present in the amino acid sequence, we suspect that this protein plays an important role in the TP53-mediated signaling pathway, when it forms complexes with other protein(s) and is transferred by them into the nucleus. Genes Chromosomes Cancer 26:329-335, 1999.