Susceptibility to p53 dependent apoptosis correlates with increased levels of Gas2 and Gas3 proteins

p53 dependent apoptosis is a critical regulator of tumorigenesis. In this paper we demonstrate that BALB/c cells transformed with a LT mutant perturbing pRb but not p53 functions (LT-2809) show unrestrained cell division under low serum condition which is actively counterbalanced by apoptosis. BALB/c cells transformed with a LT mutant perturbing p53 but not pRb functions (LT-K1), show similar unrestrained cell division but no evident signs of apoptosis when grown in low serum. Such apoptotic response of LT-2809 cells is characterised by increased expression of Gas2 which becomes proteolytically processed. Similarly Gas3 expression is markedly increased in LT-2809 cells with respect to LT-K1. Since both Gas2 and Gas3 have been previously associated with the apoptotic response at growth arrest, our observations suggest that they could also contribute to the regulation of cellular susceptibility to p53 dependent apoptosis.