Targeting HAUSP in both p53 wildtype and p53-mutant tumors

Inhibition of Mdm2 function is a validated approach to restore p53 activity for cancer therapy; nevertheless, inhibitors of Mdm2 such as Nutlin-3 have certain limitations, suggesting that additional targets in this pathway need to be further elucidated. Our finding that the Herpesvirus-Associated Ubiquitin-Specific Protease (HAUSP, also called USP7) interacts with the p53/Mdm2 protein complex, was one of the first examples that deubiquitinases (DUBs) exhibit a specific role in regulating protein stability. Here, we show that inhibitors of HAUSP and Nutlin-3 can synergistically activate p53 function and induce p53-dependent apoptosis in human cancer cells. Notably, HAUSP can also target the N-Myc oncoprotein in a p53-independent manner. Moreover, newly synthesized HAUSP inhibitors are more potent than the commercially available inhibitors to suppress N-Myc activities in p53 mutant cells for growth suppression. Taken together, our study demonstrates the utility of HAUSP inhibitors to target cancers in both a p53-depdentent and -independent manner.