Tumor suppression in skin and other tissues via cross-talk between vitamin D- and p53-signaling

P53 and its family members have been implicated in the direct regulation of the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Vitamin D- and p53-signaling pathways have a significant impact on spontaneous or carcinogen-induced malignant transformation of cells, with VDR and p53 representing important tumor suppressors. VDR and the p53/p63/p73 proteins all function typically as receptors or sensors that turn into transcriptional regulators upon stimulus, with the main difference being that the nuclear VDR is activated as a transcription factor after binding its naturally occurring ligand 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D with high affinity while the p53 family of transcription factors, mostly in the nucleoplasm, responds to a large number of alterations in cell homeostasis commonly referred to as stress. An increasing body of evidence now convincingly demonstrates a cross-talk between vitamin D- and p53-signaling that occurs at different levels, has genome-wide implications and that should be of high importance for many malignancies, including non-melanoma skin cancer. One interaction involves the ability of p53 to increase skin pigmentation via POMC derivatives including alpha-MSH and ACTH. Pigmentation protects the skin against UV-induced DNA damage and skin carcinogenesis, yet on the other hand reduces cutaneous synthesis of vitamin D. A second level of interaction may be through the ability of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D to increase the survival of skin cells after UV irradiation. UV irradiation-surviving cells show significant reductions in thymine dimers in the presence of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D that are associated with increased nuclear p53 protein expression, and significantly reduced NO products. A third level of interaction is documented by the ability of vitamin D compounds to regulate the expression of the murine double minute 2 (MDM2) gene in dependence of the presence of wild-type p53. MDM2 has a well-established role as a key negative regulator of p53 activity. Finally, p53 and family members have been implicated in the direct regulation of VDR. This overview summarizes some of the implications of the cross-talk between vitamin D- and p53-signaling for carcinogenesis in the skin and other tissues.