Abstract
Although the role of autophagy in tumorigenesis remains controversial, recent reports support the notion that the inhibition of autophagy promotes tumor promotion. DRAM (damage-regulated autophagy regulator) has been identified as an effector molecule which is critical for p53-mediated apoptosis, and we supposed that there might be other DRAM-like molecules which link autophagy and apoptosis. In this study, we describe the cloning and characterization of a novel DRAM homologue protein, DRAM2. The expression of DRAM2 is down-regulated in tumors, and both amino acid starvation and p53 expression induce DRAM2 expression. Whereas the overexpression of DRAM2 induces autophagy, the silencing of endogenous DRAM2 interferes with starvation-induced autophagy, and also attenuates p53-mediated cell death. Thus, we propose that DRAM2 is a novel DRAM-like transmembrane protein that mediates autophagy.
Citation Information: In: Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res; 2009 Apr 18-22; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2009. Abstract nr LB-182.
Footnotes
100th AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 18-22, 2009; Denver, CO
- American Association for Cancer Research