Search

The retinoblastoma protein pRB and its two homologs p130 and p107 form the family of pocket proteins and play a major role in cell-cycle regulation and suppression of human and mouse tumorigenesis. Pocket proteins regulate the activity of E2F transcription factors during G1-S transition. Two mechanisms have been described: (i) pocket protein binding blocks the transactivation domain of activator E2Fs, inhibiting E2F-dependent transcription and (ii) E2F-bound pocket proteins can recruit chromatin remodeling proteins containing an LxCxE motif (x encoding any amino acid), resulting in active repression of E2F target genes. To investigate the importance of pRB's LxCxE-interacting motif in cell-cycle control and tumor suppression, we generated mouse embryonic fibroblasts and mice expressing a mutant pRB protein carrying an asparagine for phenylalanine substitution at position 750, abrogating LxCxE binding. Because p130 may compensate for loss of pRB, we studied pRB(N750F) activity in the presence and absence of p130. The pRB-LxCxE interaction was not required for cell-cycle arrest upon mitogen deprivation and cell-cell contact, but did contribute to RAS(V12)- and radiation-induced cell-cycle arrest. Remarkably, the pRB-LxCxE interaction was not required for suppression of in vitro and in vivo transformation, even in the absence of p130. These results indicate that pRB's tumor suppressor activity is not effectuated by active silencing of E2F target genes, but rather by regulation of activator E2Fs or another unidentified mechanism. Furthermore, the in vitro response of pocket protein-perturbed cells to mitogen deprivation and cell-cell contact seems a better predictor of tumor development than the response to ectopic RAS(V12) expression. Cancer Res; 74(18); 5266-76. ©2014 AACR., (©2014 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) deficient for pocket proteins (i.e., pRB/p107-, pRB/p130-, or pRB/p107/p130-deficient MEFs) have lost proper G(1) control and are refractory to Ras(V12)-induced senescence. However, pocket protein-deficient MEFs expressing Ras(V12) were unable to exhibit anchorage-independent growth or to form tumors in nude mice. We show that depending on the level of pocket proteins, loss of adhesion induces G(1) and G(2) arrest, which could be alleviated by overexpression of the TBX2 oncogene. TBX2-induced transformation occurred only in the absence of pocket proteins and could be attributed to downregulation of the p53/p21(CIP1) pathway. Our results show that a balance between the pocket protein and p53 pathways determines the level of transformation of MEFs by regulating cyclin-dependent kinase activities. Since transformation of human fibroblasts also requires ablation of both pathways, our results imply that the mechanisms underlying transformation of human and mouse cells are not as different as previously claimed.