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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Yeast As a Chassis for Developing Functional Assays to Study Human P53
Published on: August 4, 2019
Metastasis-suppressing potential of ribonucleotide reductase small subunit p53R2 in human cancer cells
Xiyong Liu1, Bingsen Zhou, Lijun Xue
1Department of Clinical and Molecular Pharmacology, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California 91010-3000, USA.
Purpose:
Previous gene transfection studies have shown that the accumulation of human ribonucleotide reductase small subunit M2 (hRRM2) enhances cellular transformation, tumorigenesis, and malignancy potential. The latest identified small subunit p53R2 has 80% homology to hRRM2. Here, we investigate the role of p53R2 in cancer invasion and metastasis.
Experimental Design:
The immunohistochemistry was conducted on a tissue array including 49 primary and 59 metastatic colon adenocarcinoma samples to determine the relationship between p53R2 expression and metastasis. A Matrigel invasive chamber was used to sort the highly invasive cells and to evaluate the invasion potential of p53R2.
Results:
Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that p53R2 is negatively related to the metastasis of colon adenocarcinoma samples (odds ratio, 0.23; P<0.05). The decrease of p53R2 is associated with cell invasion potential, which was observed in both p53 wild-type (KB) and mutant (PC-3 and Mia PaCa-2) cell lines. An increase in p53R2 expression by gene transfection significantly reduced the cellular invasion potential to 54% and 30% in KB and PC-3 cells, respectively, whereas inhibition of p53R2 by short interfering RNA resulted in a 3-fold increase in cell migration.
Conclusions:
Opposite regulation of hRRM2 and p53R2 in invasion potential might play a critical role in determining the invasion and metastasis phenotype in cancer cells. The expression level of ribonucleotide reductase small subunits may serve as a biomarker to predict the malignancy potential of human cancers in the future.
Insights
The small subunit p53R2 suppresses cancer invasion and metastasis, unlike its counterpart hRRM2. Lower p53R2 levels correlate with increased cancer cell invasion and migration, suggesting its potential as a malignancy biomarker.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Oncology
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Human ribonucleotide reductase small subunit M2 (hRRM2) accumulation promotes cancer progression.
- The newly identified p53R2 shares 80% homology with hRRM2.
- The role of p53R2 in cancer metastasis remains largely unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the function of p53R2 in cancer invasion and metastasis.
- To compare the roles of p53R2 and hRRM2 in cancer malignancy.
- To assess p53R2 as a potential biomarker for cancer progression.
Main Methods:
- Immunohistochemistry on colon adenocarcinoma tissue arrays (49 primary, 59 metastatic).
- Matrigel invasion assays to evaluate cell invasion potential.
- Gene transfection and short interfering RNA (siRNA) to modulate p53R2 expression.
Main Results:
- p53R2 expression is negatively correlated with colon adenocarcinoma metastasis (OR=0.23, P<0.05).
- Decreased p53R2 levels are associated with increased cell invasion and migration in various cancer cell lines.
- Overexpression of p53R2 reduced invasion potential by 54% (KB cells) and 30% (PC-3 cells).
- siRNA-mediated inhibition of p53R2 increased cell migration threefold.
Conclusions:
- p53R2 exhibits an inverse regulatory role compared to hRRM2 in cancer invasion.
- p53R2 expression levels may serve as a predictive biomarker for cancer malignancy potential.
- Understanding the differential roles of ribonucleotide reductase subunits is crucial for cancer therapy development.
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