GADD34 induces p53 phosphorylation and p21/WAF1 transcription.

Recently, others and we have shown that one of the functions of GADD34 is a recovery from a shutoff of protein synthesis induced by endoplasmic reticulum stress. GADD34 has been shown to induce growth arrest and apoptosis. Main protein of apoptosis is p53, especially phosphorylation of p53. And one of the main proteins of growth arrest is p21/WAF1. Here we analyzed the effects of GADD34 on p53 phosphorylation and p21/WAF1 transcription. Transfected Myc-tagged p53 was dose-dependently phosphorylated at Ser15 by increasing the amount of GADD34. Transfection of GADD34 also induced the endogenous phosphorylation of p53 and enhanced p21 protein expression. Transfection of GADD34 induced p21/WAF1 promoter activity. This activity was dependent on p53, because GADD34 transfection to p53-deficient cells produced only a slight increase of p21/WAF1 promoter activity. The p21/WAF1 promoter activity was greatly enhanced by the transfection of p53. Both GADD34 and p53 transfection induced much higher p21/WAF1 promoter activity. The promoter activity of p21/WAF1 was very low in GADD34 deficient MEF. The transfection of GADD34 increased the p21/WAF1 promoter activity in GADD34 deficient MEF. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.