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Oncogenic stimuli are thought to induce senescence in normal cells in order to protect against transformation and to induce proliferation in cells with altered p53 and/or retinoblastoma (Rb) pathways. In human fibroblasts, RAS initiates senescence through upregulation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16INK4A. We show here that in contrast to cultured fibroblast strains, freshly isolated normal fibroblasts are resistant to RAS-induced senescence and instead show some characteristics of transformation. RAS did not induce growth arrest or expression of senescence-associated beta-galactosidase, and Rb remained hyperphosphorylated despite elevated levels of p16. Instead, RAS promoted anchorage-independent growth of normal fibroblasts, although expression of hTert with RAS increased colony formation and allowed normal fibroblasts to bypass contact inhibition. To test the hypothesis that p16 levels determine how cells respond to RAS, we expressed RAS in freshly isolated fibroblasts that expressed very low levels of p16, in hTert-immortalized fibroblasts that had accumulated intermediate levels of p16, and in IMR90 fibroblasts with high levels of p16. RAS induced growth arrest in cells with higher p16 levels, and this effect was reversed by p16 knockdown in the hTert-immortalized fibroblasts. These findings indicate that culture-imposed stress sensitizes cells to RAS-induced arrest, whereas early passage cells do not arrest in response to RAS.

Human fibroblasts undergo cellular senescence after a finite number of divisions, in response to the erosion of telomeres. In addition to being terminally arrested in the cell cycle, senescent fibroblasts express genes that are normally induced upon wounding, including genes that remodel the extracellular matrix. We have identified the novel zinc finger protein APA-1, whose expression increased in senescent human fibroblasts independent of telomere shortening. Extended passage, telomerase-immortalized fibroblasts had increased levels of APA-1 as well as the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16. In fibroblasts, APA-1 was modified by the ubiquitin-like protein SUMO-1, which increased APA-1 half-life, possibly by blocking ubiquitin-mediated degradation. Overexpression of APA-1 did not cause cell cycle arrest; but, it induced transcription of the extracellular matrix-remodeling genes MMP1 and PAI2, which are associated with fibroblast senescence. MMP1 and PAI2 transcript levels also increased in telomerase-immortalized fibroblasts that had high levels of APA-1, demonstrating that the matrix-remodeling phenotype of senescent fibroblasts was not induced by telomere attrition alone. APA-1 was able to transactivate and bind to the MMP1 promoter, suggesting that APA-1 is a transcription factor that regulates expression of matrix-remodeling genes during fibroblast senescence.

Normal cells are thought to protect against transformation by undergoing a permanent cell cycle arrest, cellular senescence, in response to the expression of activated oncogenes such as RAS. We recently found that freshly established neonatal human fibroblasts are resistant to RAS-induced senescence. Moreover, extended passaging of normal fibroblasts leads to increased levels of the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor p16 and sensitizes cells to senescence induced by RAS. These findings implicate exogenous stress as a necessary cofactor in RAS-induced senescence and demonstrate that RAS expression can promote some characteristics of transformation in the absence of other genetic changes.