Overexpression of p53 activated by small activating RNA suppresses the growth of human prostate cancer cells

Qiangqiang Ge,1,* Chenghe Wang,2,* Yajun Ruan,1,* Zhong Chen,1 Jihong Liu,1 Zhangqun Ye1 1Department of Urology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 2Department of Urology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally tothis work Abstract: Previous research has reported that a particular double-stranded RNA, named dsP53-285, has the capacity to induce expression of the tumor suppressor gene TP53 in chimpanzee cells by targeting its promoter. Usually, it is the wild-type p53 protein, rather than mutants, which exhibits potent cancer-inhibiting effects. In addition, nonhuman primates, such as chimpanzees, share almost identical genome sequences with humans. This prompted us to speculate whether dsP53-285 can trigger wild-type p53 protein expression in human prostate cancer (PCa) cells and consequently suppress cell growth. The human PCa cell lines LNCaP and DU145 were transfected with dsP53-285 for 72hours. Compared with the dsControl and mock transfection groups, expression of both p53 messenger RNA and p53 protein was significantly enhanced after dsP53-285 transfection, and this enhancement was followed by upregulation of p21, which indirectly indicated that dsP53-285 induced wild-type p53 expression. Moreover, overexpression of wild-type p53 mediated by dsP53-285 downregulated the expression of Cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6, thereby inducing PCa cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase and then inhibiting cell proliferation and clonogenicity. More importantly, dsP53-285 suppressed PCa cells mainly by modulating wild-type p53 expression. In conclusion, our study provides evidence that dsP53-285 can significantly stimulate wild-type p53 expression in the human PCa cell lines LNCaP and DU145 and can exert potent antitumor effects. Keywords: p53, small activating RNA, prostate cancer