Loss of the p16/MTS1 tumor suppressor gene causes E2F-mediated deregulation of essential enzymes of the DNA precursor metabolism.

Homozygous deletions of the tumor suppressor gene p16/MTS1 were reported in a wide variety of tumors and tumor cell lines. Its product inhibits the phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) by CDK4 and CDK6. Because phosphorylation of pRb is a major regulatory event in the activation of the transcription factor E2F, a role for p16 in the regulation of E2F-dependent transcription was presumed. We investigated the effect of the loss of p16 on E2F-mediated transcription in a tumor progression model consisting of three cell lines originating from a common precursor cell--one p16-positive cell line established from the primary biopsy and two lines derived from more advanced stages of the tumor representing the same cell clone after loss of p16. We observed up- and deregulation of E2F-dependent transcription during the cell cycle of the p16-negative cell clones, which returned to normal after transient expression of p16. This p16-dependent regulation affects a set of enzymes necessary for the activation of all four DNA precursors; it is paralleled by the interconversion of transcriptionally active free E2F and transcriptionally inactive higher molecular complexes of E2F and is dependent on the existence of endogenous pRb. Furthermore, we show that p16-negative cell clones exhibit a growth advantage compared to their p16-positive counterparts. One might speculate that one feature of tumor progression could be deregulation of E2F-dependent transcription caused by loss of p16.