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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

Yeast As a Chassis for Developing Functional Assays to Study Human P53
Published on: August 4, 2019
[New insight into the mechanism of p53 inducing leukemia cell apoptosis]
Yuan-zhong Chen1, Yong Wu, Min Liang
1Fujian Institute of Hematology, Union Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350001, China.
Objective:
To investigate the expression changes of intrinsic cytokines TGF-beta(1) and TNF-alpha, telomerase activity and bcl-2 during ongoing apoptosis of HL-60 and K562 cells induced by p53.
Methods:
pN53cG (Val135), a temperature sensitive p53 mutant, which behaved like wild type p53 (wt-p53) at 32.5 degrees C, were introduced into p53-null HL-60 and K562 cells respectively by lipofectin. In the presence of G418, HL-60-pN53cG and K562 pN53cG clones expressing p53 protein were selected. The ongoing expression of intrinsic cytokines (TGF-beta(1) and TNF-alpha), bcl-2 oncogene and hTERT mRNA during the apoptosis of HL-60 and K562 cells induced by p53 and the effects of exogenous p53 gene, TGF-beta(1) and TNF-alpha antisense PS-ODNS on the apoptosis of HL-60 and K562 cells and the expression of bcl-2 were studied by RT-PCR, quantitative RT-PCR, DNA fragmentation, TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and flow cytometery. The levels of secreted TGF-beta(1) and telomerase activity were detected by ELISA and PCR-ELISA, respectively.
Results:
(1) The expressions of intrinsic TGF-beta(1) and TNF-alpha mRNA were up-regulated, while that of bcl-2 and hTERT down-regulated. The levels of TGF-beta(1) in the supernatant of HL-60 and K562 cells were increased, and the level of telomerase activity decreased. (2) Antisense PS-ODNS of TGF-beta(1) and TNF-alpha could obviously inhibit the p53 inducing cell apoptosis, and restore bcl-2 mRNA and protein to pre-treated level.
Conclusions:
Exogenous p53 induces leukemia cell apoptosis via up-regulating the expression of intrinsic TGF-beta(1) and TNF-alpha and down-regulating the expression of hTERT and bcl-2.
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