Wild-type p53-induced apoptosis in a Burkitt lymphoma cell line is inhibited by interferon gamma

✍ Scribed by Olle Sangfelt; Stefan Einhorn; Ann Charlotte Björklund; Klas G. Wiman; Ismail Okan; Dan Grandér

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 623 KB
• Volume: 67
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19960703)67:1<106::aid-ijc18>3.0.co;2-c

✦ Synopsis

The tumor suppressor p53 plays a central role in negative growth control, including growth arrest and apoptosis. Interferons (IFNs) are capable of modulating a variety of cellular responses, including apoptosis. In this study, we have evaluated the influence of y-and a-interferon (IFN) on wild-type (wt) p53-induced apoptosis using a Burkitt lymphoma cell line, BL4 I , transfected with a temperature-sensitive p53 construct. y-IFN, but not a-IFN, was found to protect cells from wt p53-induced apoptosis. The y-IFN-dependent protection was due neither to down-regulation of p53, nor to the p53-induced genes, p2I (WAF-I) and bax, nor to up-regulation of bcl-2 or bcl-x,. Expression of the proto-oncogene c-myc, implicated in the control of both proliferation and apoptosis, was not affected by y-IFN. We conclude that y-IFN can suppress p53-induced apoptosis, and that the cytokine microenvironment may be decisive in the cellular response to wt p53 expression.