Evidence for a mitochondrial localization of the retinoblastoma protein.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The retinoblastoma protein (Rb) plays a central role in the regulation of cell cycle, differentiation and apoptosis. In cancer cells, ablation of Rb function or its pathway is a consequence of genetic inactivation, viral oncoprotein binding or deregulated hyperphosphorylation. Some recent data suggest that Rb relocation could also account for the regulation of its tumor suppressor activity, as is the case for other tumor suppressor proteins, such as p53.

Results

In this reported study, we present evidence that a fraction of the total amount of Rb protein can localize to the mitochondria in proliferative cells taken from both rodent and human cells. This result is also supported by the use of Rb siRNAs, which substantially reduced the amount of mitochondrial Rb, an

SUBMITTER: Ferecatu I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2711044 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature