Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access originally published online on October 11, 2007
Nucleic Acids Research 2007 35(20):6924-6934; doi:10.1093/nar/gkm824
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Nucleic Acids Research, 2007, Vol. 35, No. 20 6924-6934
© 2007 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Molecular Biology |
p53-dependent stimulation of redox-related genes in the lymphoid organs of 
-irradiated mice—identification of Haeme-oxygenase 1 as a direct p53 target gene
1Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), UMR217, route du Panorama BP6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses Cedex and 2CNRS FRE2937, Institut André Lwoff, 7, rue Guy Moquet, BP8, 94801 Villejuif Cedex, France
* To whom the correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +33 1 49 58 34 25; Fax: +33 1 49 58 34 25; Email: may.evelyne{at}wanadoo.fr
Received August 9, 2007. Revised September 18, 2007. Accepted September 19, 2007.
Recent data showed that p53 stimulates the expression of genes encoding not only pro- but also antioxidant enzymes. It was suggested that antioxidant genes could be induced under physiologic levels of stress while the prooxidant ones respond to higher level of stress. Results presented in this article illustrate an additional degree of complexity. We show that the expression of Haeme-oxygenase 1 (HO-1), a stress-inducible gene that codes for an enzyme having antioxidant properties, is stimulated in a p53-dependent manner in the thymus and spleen of irradiated mice. We prove that HO-1 is a direct p53 target gene by showing that the p53RE identified within human and mouse genes is specifically bound by p53. The threshold of irradiation dose required to induce a significant response of HO-1 in the lymphoid organs of the irradiated mice is higher than that for Waf1/p21 that encodes an universal inhibitor of cell cycle. Moreover, induction of HO-1 occurs later than that of Waf1/p21. Finally, the higher stimulation of HO-1 is reached when Waf1/p21 stimulation starts to decrease.
Present addressess: Anne Meiller, Plateforme de Physiologie, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 8 avenue Rockefeller – 69373 Lyon Cedex 08, France
Pascal Drané, CNRS FRE 2944, Institut André Lwoff, 7, rue Guy Moquet, BP8 - 94801 Villejuif Cedex, France.
The authors wish it to be known that, in their opinion, the first two authors should be regarded as joint First Authors.