A single mutant, A276S of p53, turns the switch to apoptosis.

The tumor suppressor protein p53 induces apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and DNA repair along with other functions in a transcription-dependent manner [Vousden, K. H. Cell 2000, 103(5), 691-694]. The selection of these functions depends on sequence-specific recognition of p53 to a target decameric sequence of gene promoters [Kitayner, M.; et al. Mol. Cell 2006, 22(6), 741-753]. Amino acid residues in p53 that directly bind to DNA were analyzed, and the replacement of A276 in p53 with selected amino acids elucidated its importance in promoter transcription. For most apoptotic and cell cycle gene promoters, position 9 of the target decameric sequence is a cytosine, while for DNA repair gene promoters, thymine is found instead. Therefore, selective binding to the cytosine at the ninth position may transcribe apoptotic gene promoters and thus can induce apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Molecular modeling with PyMOL indicated that substitution of a hydrophilic residue, A276S, would prefer binding to cytosine at the ninth position of the target decameric sequence, whereas substitution of a hydrophobic residue (A276F) would fail to do so. Correspondingly, A276S demonstrated higher transcription of PUMA, PERP, and p21(WAF1/CIP1)gene promoters containing a cytosine at the ninth position and lower transcription of GADD45 gene promoter containing a thymine at the ninth position compared to wild-type p53. Cell cycle analysis showed that A276S maintained similar G1/G0 phase arrest as wild-type p53. Additionally, A276S induced higher apoptosis than wild-type p53 as measured by DNA segmentation and 7-AAD assay. Since the status of endogenous p53 can influence the activity of the exogenous p53, we examined the activity of A276S in HeLa cells (wild-type endogenous p53) in addition to T47D cells (mutated and mislocalized endogenous p53). The same apoptotic trend in both cell lines suggested A276S can induce cell death regardless of endogenous p53 status. Cell proliferation assay depicted that A276S efficiently reduced the viability of T47D cells more than wild-type p53 over time. We conclude that the predicted preferred binding of A276S to cytosine at the ninth position better transactivates a number of apoptotic gene promoters. Higher induction apoptosis than wild-type p53 makes A276S an attractive candidate for therapy to eradicate cancer.