Functional impact of concomitant versus alternative defects in the Chk2-p53 tumour suppressor pathway

Recent evidence identified a genetic and functional link between Chk2 kinase and p53 as a candidate genome integrity checkpoint and a tumour suppressor pathway. Here we report that in human cells, Chk2 and p53 form protein-protein complexes whose abundance increased upon DNA damage, and whose formation was abrogated through cancer associated mutations in the FHA domain of Chk2, or mutations in the tetramerization domain of p53. Whereas among Li-Fraumeni syndrome families mutations of Chk2 or p53 occur in a mutually exclusive manner, we document that the colon cancer cell line HCT-15 concomitantly lacks functions of both Chk2 and p53, the latter demonstrated by a non-invasive reporter assay monitoring p53-dependent transactivation in live cells. Despite the preserved ability of common cancer-derived mutant p53 proteins to bind and potentially 'titrate' activated Chk2, the integrity of the S phase checkpoint response to ionizing radiation remained largely intact and dependent on Chk2 in cells with wild-type, mutant, or no p53. These results provide new mechanistic insights into the Chk2-p53 interplay, suggest how mutations in Chk2 may abrogate its tumour suppressor function, and indicate that compared with individual defects in either Chk2 or p53, concomitant mutations in both of these cell cycle checkpoint regulators may provide some additional selective advantage to tumour cells.