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Cancer-derived C-terminus-extended p53 mutation confers dominant-negative effect on its wild-type counterpart
Shibo Huang1,2,3 , Bo Cao2,3,4 , Jieqiong Wang2,3 , Yiwei Zhang2,3 , Elisa Ledet3 , Oliver Sartor3 , Yuqin Xiong1 , Shelya X. Zeng2,3,* , Hua Lu2,3,*
1Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, China
2Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA
3Tulane Cancer Center, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA
4College of Pharmacy, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA 70125, USA
*Correspondence to:Shelya X. Zeng , Email:szeng@tulane.edu Hua Lu , Email:hlu2@tulane.edu
J Mol Cell Biol, Volume 14, Issue 1, January 2022, mjab078,  https://doi.org/10.1093/jmcb/mjab078
Keyword: mutant p53-393*78, mutant p53-374*48, p53, longer C-terminus p53, dominant-negative effect, drug resistance, acetylation

The vast majority of p53 missense mutants lose the wild-type (wt) function and/or exert ‘dominant-negative’ effects on their wt counterpart. Here, we identify a novel form of p53 mutation with an extended C-terminus (p53 long C-terminus, p53LC) in a variety of human cancers. Interestingly, the two representative mutants (named ‘p53-374*48’ and ‘p53-393*78’) as tested in this study show both loss-of-function and dominant-negative phenotypes in cell proliferation and colony formation assays. Mechanistically, p53LCs interact with and retain wt p53 in the cytoplasm and prevent it from binding to the promoters of target genes, consequently inhibiting its transcriptional activity. Also, p53LCs are very stable, though not acetylated in cells. Remarkably, the p53LCs can desensitize wt p53-containing cancer cells to p53-activating agents. Together, our results unveil a longer form of p53 mutant that possesses a dominant-negative effect on its wt counterpart, besides losing its wt activity.