The double benefit of Spalax p53: surviving underground hypoxia while defying lung cancer cells in vitro via autophagy and caspase-dependent cell death.

ABSTRACT: The blind subterranean mole rat, Spalax ehrenbergi, is a model organism for hypoxia tolerance. This superspecies have adapted to severe environment by altering an array of hypoxia-mediated genes, among which an alteration in the p53 DNA binding domain (corresponding to R174K in humans) that hinders its transcriptional activity towards apoptotic genes. It is well accepted that apoptosis is not the only form of programmed cell death and that mechanisms that depend on autophagy are also involved. In the current work we have extended our research and investigated the possibility that Spalax p53 can activate autophagy. Using two complementary assays, we have established that over-expression of the Spalax p53 in p53-null cells (human lung cancer cells, H1299), potently induces autophagy. As Spal

SUBMITTER: Ellis M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5325360 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature