Abstract
Although p53 responses after DNA damage have been investigated extensively, p53 responses after heat shock, which exerts cytotoxic action by mechanisms other than direct induction of DNA damage, are less well characterized. We investigated, therefore, the effect of hyperthermic exposures on the levels and DNA‐binding activity of p53. Experiments were carried out with U2OS and ML‐1 cells, known to express wild‐type p53 protein. Although heating at 41°C for up to 6 h had only a small effect on p53 levels or DNA binding activity, exposure to temperatures between 42.5 and 45.5°C caused an immediate decrease in protein levels that was associated with a reduction in DNA binding activity. This observation is compatible with a high lability of p53 to heat shock, or heat sensitivity of the pathway regulating p53 levels in non‐stressed cells. When cells were heated to 42.5°C and returned to normal temperatures, a strong p53 response associated with an increase in protein levels and DNA binding activity was observed, suggesting the production of p53‐inducing cellular damage. At higher temperatures, however, this response was compromised in an exposure–time‐dependent manner. The increase in DNA binding activity was more heat sensitive than the increase in p53 levels and was inhibited at lower temperatures and shorter exposure times. Thus, the pathway of p53 activation is itself heat sensitive and compromised at high levels of exposure. Compared to p53 activation after exposure to ionizing radiation, heat‐induced activation is rapid and short lived. When cells were exposed to combined heat and radiation, the response observed approximated that of cells exposed to heat alone. Wortmannin at 10 μM inhibited p53 activation for up to 2 h after heat shock suggesting the involvement of wortmannin‐sensitive kinases, such as DNA‐PK and ATM. Heat shock causes phosphorylation of p53 at Serine‐15, but there is no correlation between phosphorylation at this site and activation of the protein. The results in aggregate indicate p53 activation in the absence of DNA damage by a heat‐sensitive mechanism operating with faster kinetics than radiation‐induced p53 activation. The former response may induce pathways preventing other stimuli from activating p53, as heat‐induced activation of p53 is dominant over activation of p53 by DNA damage in combined‐treatment experiments. These observations suggest means for abrogating p53 induction after DNA damage with the purpose of potentiating response and enhancing cell killing. J. Cell. Physiol. 190: 365–374, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.