Abstract
The activating protein-1 transcription factor, in particular the Jun proteins play critical roles in the regulation of cell proliferation and tumor progression. To study the potential clinical relevance of interfering with JunB expression, we generated retroviruses expressing short hairpin RNA. Reduction of JunB levels causes increased proliferation and tumorigenicity in wild-type murine fibroblasts, whereas in c-Jun knockout cells p53-independent cell cycle arrest and apoptosis are induced. Using melanoma-derived B16-F10 cancer cells the combination of JunB knockdown and c-Jun/JNK inactivation leads to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis-inducing factor-dependent apoptosis. Furthermore, the combined treatment extends survival of mice inoculated with the tumor cells. These results indicate that in the absence of c-Jun, JunB can act as a tumor promoter and inactivation of both, c-Jun and JunB, could provide a valuable strategy for antitumor intervention.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a grant from the ‘Fundación de investigación médica Mutua Madrileña Automovilística’ FMMA, Madrid, Spain. The Centro de Biología Molecular SO is the recipient of an institutional grant from the Ramón Areces Foundation and EN Gurzov was supported by a grant from the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid-España. The IMP is funded by Boehringer Ingelheim.
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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Oncogene website (http://www.nature.com/onc).
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Gurzov, E., Bakiri, L., Alfaro, J. et al. Targeting c-Jun and JunB proteins as potential anticancer cell therapy. Oncogene 27, 641–652 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1210690
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1210690
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