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Glioma Pathogenesis-Related Protein 1 Exerts Tumor Suppressor Activities through Proapoptotic Reactive Oxygen Species–c-Jun–NH₂ Kinase Signaling

¹ Scott Department of Urology, Departments of ² Human and Molecular Genetics, ³ Molecular and Cellular Biology, and ⁴ Radiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Requests for reprints: Timothy C. Thompson, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Unit 1374, Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030. Phone: 713-792-9955; Fax: 713-792-9956; E-mail: timthomp{at}mdanderson.org.

Glioma pathogenesis-related protein 1 (GLIPR1), a novel p53 target gene, is down-regulated by methylation in prostate cancer and has p53-dependent and -independent proapoptotic activities in tumor cells. These properties suggest an important tumor suppressor role for GLIPR1, yet direct genetic evidence of a tumor suppressor function for GLIPR1 is lacking and the molecular mechanism(s), through which GLIPR1 exerts its tumor suppressor functions, has not been shown. Here, we report that the expression of GLIPR1 is significantly reduced in human prostate tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal prostate tissues and in multiple human cancer cell lines. Overexpression of GLIPR1 in cancer cells leads to suppression of colony growth and induction of apoptosis. Mice with an inactivated Glipr1 gene had significantly shorter tumor-free survival times than either Glipr1^+/+ or Glipr1^+/– mice in both p53^+/+ and p53^+/– genetic backgrounds, owing to their development of a unique array of malignant tumors. Mechanistic analysis indicated that GLIPR1 up-regulation increases the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to apoptosis through activation of the c-Jun–NH₂ kinase (JNK) signaling cascade. Thus, our results identify GLIPR1 as a proapoptotic tumor suppressor acting through the ROS-JNK pathway and support the therapeutic potential for this protein. [Cancer Res 2008;68(2):434–43]