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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2022.05.29.493929

P-TEFb controls cell fate upon p53 activation by modulating intrinsic apoptosis pathway

Wang, Z.·Bugai, A.·Macakova, M.·Friedel, C.·Lenasi, T.·Barboric, M.
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Abstract

Positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) is the crucial player in RNA polymerase II (Pol II) pause release that has emerged as a promising target in cancer. Because single-agent therapy may fail to deliver durable clinical response, targeting of P-TEFb shall benefit when deployed as a combination therapy. We screened a comprehensive oncology library and identified clinically relevant antimetabolites and Mouse double minute 2 homolog (MDM2) inhibitors as top compounds eliciting p53-dependent death of colorectal cancer cells in synergy with selective inhibitors of P-TEFb. While the targeting of P-TEFb augments apoptosis by antimetabolite 5-fluorouracil, it switches the fate of cancer cells by the non-genotoxic MDM2 inhibitor Nutlin-3a from cell-cycle arrest to apoptosis. Mechanistically, the fate switching is enabled by the induction of p53-dependent pro-apoptotic genes and repression of P-TEFb-dependent pro-survival genes of the PI3K-AKT signaling cascade, which stimulates Caspase 9 and intrinsic apoptosis pathway in BAX/BAK-dependent manner. Finally, combination treatments trigger apoptosis of cancer cell spheroids. Together, co-targeting of P-TEFb and suppressors of intrinsic apoptosis could become a viable strategy to eliminate cancer cells.

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Wang, Z., Bugai, A., Macakova, M., Friedel, C., Lenasi, T., Barboric, M.. 2022-05-30. P-TEFb controls cell fate upon p53 activation by modulating intrinsic apoptosis pathway. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.29.493929

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