Tumor-stroma interactions play a major role in tumor development, maintenance and progression. Yet little is known on how the genetic alterations that underlie cell transformation elicit cell extrinsic changes modulating heterotypic cell interactions. We hypothesized that these events involve a modification in the complement of secreted proteins by the cell, acting as mediators of intercellular communication. To test this hypothesis, we examined the role of wt-p53, a major tumor suppressor, on the tumor microenvironment through its regulation of secreted factors. Using a combination of 2-DE and cICAT proteomic techniques, we found a total of 111 secreted proteins, 39 of which showed enhanced and 21 inhibited secretion in response to wt-p53 expression. The majority of these were not direct targets of p53 transcription factor activity, suggesting a novel role for wt-p53 in the control of intracellular protein trafficking and/or secreted protein stability. Evidence for p53-controlled post-translational modifications on nine secreted proteins was also found. These findings will enhance our understanding of wt-p53 modulated interactions of the tumor with its environment.

Many malignant glioma cells express death receptors for tumor necrosis factor‐related apoptosis‐inducing ligand (TRAIL), yet some of these cells are resistant to TRAIL. Here, we examined signaling events in TRAIL‐induced apoptosis and searched for therapeutic agents that could overcome TRAIL resistance in glioma cells. TRAIL induced apoptosis through death receptor 5 (DR5) and was mediated by caspase‐8‐initiated extrinsic and intrinsic mitochondrial pathways in sensitive glioma cell lines. TRAIL also triggered apoptosis in resistant glioma cell lines through the same pathways, but only if the cells were pretreated with chemotherapeutic agents, cisplatin, camptothecin and etoposide. Previous studies suggested that this was due to an increase in DR5 expression in wild‐type TP53 cells, but this mechanism did not account for cells with mutant TP53. Here, we show that a more general effect of these agents is to down regulate caspase‐8 inhibitor c‐FLIPS (the short form of cellular Fasassociated death domain‐like interleukin‐1‐converting enzyme‐inhibitory protein) and up‐regulate Bak, a pro‐apoptotic Bcl‐2 family member, independently of cell's TP53 status. Furthermore, we showed that TRAIL alone or in combination with chemotherapeutic agents, induced apoptosis in primary tumor cultures from patients with malignant gliomas, reinforcing the potential of TRAIL as an effective therapeutic agent for malignant gliomas.

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The tumor suppressor p53 can induce growth arrest and cell death via apoptosis in response to a number of cellular stresses. We have shown previously that the immunosuppressant cyclosporin A (CsA) induces programmed cell death with typical features of apoptosis in rat glioma cells. We report that CsA treatment results in increased level of the p53 tumor suppressor, its nuclear accumulation, and transcriptional activation of p53-dependent genes. The increase of p53 correlates with the elevation of p21Waf1 and Bax protein expression. The increased level of Bax protein was accompanied with changes in its subcellular localization and association with mitochondria. Importantly, we demonstrate that glioma cells stably transfected with a mutant p53 (p53Val135) fail to increase p21 and Bax protein levels and are less sensitive to CsA-induced apoptosis. Furthermore, primary fibroblasts from p53؊/؊ knockout mice are significantly more resistant to CsA-induced apoptosis compared with their corresponding counterparts containing functional p53. Together, our results suggest that the apoptotic program activated by CsA can be mediated by activation of p53 tumor suppressor and potentiation of its ability to initiate apoptosis.

A B S T R A C TAccumulating evidence argues that many proteins governing membrane sorting during endocytosis participate also in nuclear signaling and transcriptional regulation, mostly by

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Cyclosporin A (CsA) exerts its immunosuppressive effect by inhibiting the activity of nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT), thus preventing transcriptional induction of several cytokine genes. This effect is mediated through inactivation of the phosphatase calcineurin, which inhibits translocation of an NFAT component to the nucleus. We have previously reported that C5A inhibits the growth of rat 06 glioma cells in a dosedependent manner and induces apoptotic cell death.Here, we report that NFAT DNA-binding activity is present in the nuclear extracts from C6 glioma cells and that CsA treatment inhibits the formation of a functional NFAT complex. We provide evidence for the presence of a group of NFATc proteins in proliferating glioma cells. Immunoblot analyses show that stimulation of C6 glioma cells with a calcium-inducing agent, ionomycin, alters NFATc migration on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This alteration is inhibited by simultaneous treatment with CsA, suggesting a calcineurin involvement in the regulation of glioma NFATc proteins. Direct immunofluorescence reveals the presence of NFATc proteins in nuclei of proliferating glioma cells and their disappearance in CsA-treated cells. These data point to a new mechanism of transcription regulation in glioma cells and provide an explanation for the observed sensitivity of glioma cells to OsA. Key Words: Transcription factors-Nuclear factor of activated T cells-AP-1 -Cyclosporin A-Glioma cells-Programmed cell death.