Abstract
The p53-regulated gene product p21WAF1/CIP1 is the prototype of a family of small proteins that negatively regulate the cell cycle. To learn more about p21WAF1/CIP1 regulation in vivo, monoclonal antibodies were developed for immunohistochemistry. These revealed that p21WAF1/CIP1 expression followed radiation-induced DNA damage in human skin in a pattern consistent with its regulation by p53. A detailed comparison of the human, rat, and mouse p21WAF1/CIP1 promoter sequences revealed that this induction was probably mediated by conserved p53-binding sites upstream of the transcription start site. In unirradiated tissues, p21WAF1/CIP1 expression was apparently independent of p53 and was observed in a variety of cell types. Moreover, there was a striking compartmentalization of p21WAF1/CIP1 expression throughout the gastrointestinal tract that correlated with proliferation rather than differentiation. As epithelial cells migrated up the crypts, the K167-expressing proliferating compartment near the crypt base ended abruptly, with the coincident appearance of a nonproliferating compartment expressing p21WAF1/CIP1. In colonic neoplasms, this distinct compartmentalization was largely abrogated. Cell cycle inhibitors are thus subject to precise topological control, and escape from this regulation may be a critical feature of neoplastic transformation.
Footnotes
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↵1 This work was supported by NIH Grants GM07184, CA43460, and CA62924 (to B. V.) and by MRC and NECRC (to J. L. R.). W. S. E-D. is an Assistant Investigator and B. V. is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, B. V. is an American Cancer Society Research Professor.
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↵2 The first two authors contributed equally to this work.
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↵3 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Molecular Genetics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, 424 North Bond Street, Baltimore, MD 21231-1001.
- Received April 21, 1995.
- Accepted April 27, 1995.
- ©1995 American Association for Cancer Research.
Volume 55, Issue 13
