Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Short Report
  • Published:

p21B, a variant of p21Waf1/Cip1, is induced by the p53 family

Oncogene volume 21, pages 1285–1294 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Alternative splicing or expression from an alternate promoter can produce variants of a gene. To determine whether the p21Waf1/Cip1 locus is regulated by these mechanisms, we searched for and found two transcripts, p21B and p21C, that are expressed from an alternate promoter in the first intron of the p21 gene. While p21C encodes the p21 cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p21B encodes a novel protein and the transcript is ubiquitously expressed in 16 human tissues tested. Like p21, both p21B and p21C are induced by DNA damage, p53, and other p53 family members through a proximal p53 response element in the promoter of p21B and p21C. However, unlike p21, which induces cell cycle arrest, we found that overexpression of p21B induces apoptosis. These findings indicate that the p21 locus expresses at least two structurally distinct, but functionally related, variants of the p21 gene from discrete promoters.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agarwal ML, Taylor WR, Chernov MV, Chernova OB, Stark GR . 1998 J. Biol. Chem. 273: 1–4

  • Benedict WF, Lerner SP, Zhou J, Shen X, Tokunaga H, Czerniak B . 1999 Oncogene 18: 1197–1203

  • Bunz F, Dutriaux A, Lengauer C, Waldman T, Zhou S, Brown JP, Sedivy JM, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B . 1998 Science 282: 1497–1501

  • Cain C, Miller S, Ahn J, Prives C . 2000 J. Biol. Chem. 275: 39944–39953

  • Chen X . 1999 Mol. Med. Today 5: 387–392

  • Chen X, Ko LJ, Jayaraman L, Prives C . 1996 Genes Dev. 10: 2438–2451

  • Di Como CJ, Gaiddon C, Prives C . 1999 Mol. Cell. Biol. 19: 1438–1449

  • Dohn M, Zhang S, Chen X . 2001 Oncogene 20: 3193–3205

  • Duro D, Bernard O, Della Valle V, Berger R, Larsen CJ . 1995 Oncogene 11: 21–29

  • el-Deiry WS . 1998 Semin. Cancer Biol. 8: 345–357

  • el-Deiry WS, Kern SE, Pietenpol JA, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B . 1992 Nat. Genet. 1: 45–49

  • el-Deiry WS, Tokino T, Velculescu VE, Levy DB, Parsons R, Trent JM, Lin D, Mercer WE, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B . 1993 Cell 75: 817–825

  • Evan GI, Vousden KH . 2001 Nature 411: 342–348

  • Funk WD, Pak DT, Karas RH, Wright WE, Shay JW . 1992 Mol. Cell. Biol. 12: 2866–2871

  • Gartel AL, Tyner AL . 1999 Exp. Cell. Res. 246: 280–289

  • Giaccia AJ, Kastan MB . 1998 Genes Dev. 12: 2973–2983

  • Green DR, Reed JC . 1998 Science 281: 1309–1312

  • Harper JW, Adami GR, Wei N, Keyomarsi K, Elledge SJ . 1993 Cell 75: 805–816

  • Jost CA, Marin MC, Kaelin Jr WG . 1997 Nature 389: 191–194

  • Kaelin Jr WG . 1999 J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 91: 594–598

  • Kaghad M, Bonnet H, Yang A, Creancier L, Biscan JC, Valent A, Minty A, Chalon P, Lelias JM, Dumont X, Ferrara P, McKeon F, Caput D . 1997 Cell 90: 809–819

  • Kern SE, Kinzler KW, Bruskin A, Jarosz D, Friedman P, Prives C, Vogelstein B . 1991 Science 252: 1708–1711

  • Ko LJ, Prives C . 1996 Genes Dev. 10: 1054–1072

  • Mao L, Merlo A, Bedi G, Shapiro GI, Edwards CD, Rollins BJ, Sidransky D . 1995 Cancer Res. 55: 2995–2997

  • Nakayama K . 1998 Bioessays 20: 1020–1029

  • Nelson WG, Kastan MB . 1994 Mol. Cell. Biol. 14: 1815–1823

  • Palmero I, Pantoja C, Serrano M . 1998 Nature 395: 125–126

  • Quelle DE, Zindy F, Ashmun RA, Sherr CJ . 1995 Cell 83: 993–1000

  • Schuler M, Bossy-Wetzel E, Goldstein JC, Fitzgerald P, Green DR . 2000 J. Biol. Chem. 275: 7337–7342

  • Serrano M . 1997 Exp. Cell Res. 237: 7–13

  • Sherr CJ, Roberts JM . 1999 Genes Dev. 13: 1501–1512

  • Sherr CJ, Weber JD . 2000 Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 10: 94–99

  • Somasundaram K, MacLachlan TK, Burns TF, Sgagias M, Cowan KH, Weber BL, el-Deiry WS . 1999 Oncogene 18: 6605–6614

  • Stone S, Jiang P, Dayananth P, Tavtigian SV, Katcher H, Parry D, Peters G, Kamb A . 1995 Cancer Res. 55: 2988–2994

  • Tokino T, Urano T, Furuhata T, Matsushima M, Miyatsu T, Sasaki S, Nakamura Y . 1996 Hum. Genet. 97: 625–631

  • Tsubari M, Tiihonen E, Laiho M . 1997 Cancer Res. 57: 2966–2973

  • Vogelstein B, Lane D, Levine AJ . 2000 Nature 408: 307–310

  • Waldman T, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B . 1995 Cancer Res. 55: 5187–5190

  • Xiong Y, Hannon GJ, Zhang H, Casso D, Kobayashi R, Beach D . 1993 Nature 366: 701–704

  • Yang A, Kaghad M, Wang Y, Gillett E, Fleming MD, Dotsch V, Andrews NC, Caput D, McKeon F . 1998 Mol. Cell. 2: 305–316

  • Yang A, McKeon F . 2000 Nature review Mol. Cell. Biol. 1: 199–207

  • Yu J, Zhang L, Hwang PM, Rago C, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B . 1999 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 14517–14522

  • Zhu J, Chen X . 2000 Mol. Cell. Biol. 20: 5602–5618

  • Zhu J, Jiang J, Zhou W, Chen X . 1998 Cancer Res. 58: 5061–5065

  • Zhu J, Zhang S, Jiang J, Chen X . 2000 J. Biol. Chem. 275: 39927–39934

  • Zhu K, Wang J, Zhu J, Jiang J, Shou J, Chen X . 1999 Oncogene 18: 7740–7747

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Jianhui Zhu for technical help, Bert Vogelstein for 8OS14 and HCT116 p53−/− cell lines, Charles Di Como and Carol Prives for p63 plasmids, and Rhea Markowitz, and Michael Dohn for critical reading of this manuscript. This work is supported in part by NIH Grant CA76069 and CA81237.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Biology, UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, 35294, Alabama, AL, USA

    Susan Nozell & Xinbin Chen

Authors
  1. Susan Nozell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xinbin Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xinbin Chen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nozell, S., Chen, X. p21B, a variant of p21Waf1/Cip1, is induced by the p53 family. Oncogene 21, 1285–1294 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1205191

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1205191

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links