Qimin Zhan

G1/S and G2/M cell cycle checkpoints maintain genomic stability in eukaryotes in response to genotoxic stress. We report here both genetic and functional evidence of a Gadd45-mediated G2/M checkpoint in human and murine cells. Increased expression of Gadd45 via microinjection of an expression vector into primary human fibroblasts arrests the cells at the G2/M boundary with a phenotype of MPM2 immunopositivity, 4n DNA content and, in 15% of the cells, centrosome separation. The Gadd45-mediated G2/M arrest depends on wild-type p53, because no arrest was observed either in p53-null Li-Fraumeni fibroblasts or in normal fibroblasts coexpressed with p53 mutants. Increased expression of cyclin B1 and Cdc25C inhibited the Gadd45-mediated G2/M arrest in human fibroblasts, indicating that the mechanism of Gadd45-mediated G2/M checkpoint is at least in part through modulation of the activity of the G2-specific kinase, cyclin B1/p34(cdc2). Genetic and physiological evidence of a Gadd45-mediated G2/M checkpoint was obtained by using GADD45-deficient human or murine cells. Human cells with endogenous Gadd45 expression reduced by antisense GADD45 expression have an impaired G2/M checkpoint after exposure to either ultraviolet radiation or methyl methanesulfonate but are still able to undergo G2 arrest after ionizing radiation. Lymphocytes from gadd45-knockout mice (gadd45 -/-) also retained a G2/M checkpoint initiated by ionizing radiation and failed to arrest at G2/M after exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Therefore, the mammalian genome is protected by a multiplicity of G2/M checkpoints in response to specific types of DNA damage.

Normal p53 function is required for optimal arrest of cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle following certain types of DNA damage. Loss of this cell cycle checkpoint may contribute to tumor development by increasing the number of genetic abnormalities in daughter cells following DNA damage. The MDM2 protein is an endogenous gene product that binds to the p53 protein and is able to block p53-mediated transactivation of cotransfected reporter constructs; thus, interactions between MDM2 and p53 in this checkpoint pathway following ionizing irradiation were examined. Though increases in p53 protein by DNA damage were not abrogated by MDM2 overexpression, increased levels of MDM2, resulting either from endogenous gene amplification or from transfection of an exogenous expression vector, were associated with a reduction in the ability of cells to arrest in G1 following irradiation. In addition, expression of endogenous MDM2 was enhanced by ionizing irradiation at the level of transcription in a p53-dependent fashion. These observations demonstrate that MDM2 overexpression can inhibit p53 function in a known physiologic pathway and are consistent with the hypothesis that MDM2 may function in a "feedback loop" mechanism with p53, possibly acting to limit the length or severity of the p53-mediated arrest following DNA damage.

Activation of the human GADD45 gene by ionizing radiation (IR) has previously been shown to be dependent on the tumor suppressor and transcription factor p53 (M. B. Kastan, et al., Cell 71: 587-597, 1992). Unlike GADD45, the response of other DNA damage-inducible genes to IR is not dependent on p53 based on the observation that induction in a panel of cell lines did not correlate with a normal p53 status; this included human GADD153, another member of the gadd (growth arrest and DNA damage inducible) group; MyD118, a gene related to GADD45; and the protooncogenes c-jun and c-fos. This p53-dependent response of GADD45 was further investigated in human cells with halogenated pyrimidines, which act as radiosensitizers when incorporated into cellular DNA. When cellular DNA contained halogenated pyrimidines such as iododeoxyuridine (IdUrd), GADD45 gamma-ray induction, as measured by increased mRNA, was enhanced. Rapid induction could be seen with doses as low as 0.5 Gy, and substitution with IdUrd resulted in an approximately 2-fold increase in induction over a wide dose range. This level of IdUrd substitution produced a similar fold increase in cellular radiosensitivity and has been shown previously (T. M. Kinsella et al., Int. J. Radiation Oncology Biol. Phys. 13: 733-739, 1987) to produce a similar fold increase in DNA strand breaks after IR. Considering that substitution with halogenated pyrimidines would be expected to have little effect on other cellular targets after IR, these experiments indicate that actual damage to DNA, primarily strand breaks, is a major signal for the activation of this p53-dependent pathway that is required for GADD45 induction and for activation of the G1 "checkpoint" cell cycle delay.