Impact of cadmium on hOGG1 and APE1 as a function of the cellular p53 status

The tumor suppressor protein p53, often called the guardian of the genome, is involved in important cellular processes, such as cell cycle control, apoptosis and DNA repair. With respect to BER, p53 might physically interact with and affect the transcription of different BER proteins such as hOGG1, APE1 or Polβ. In studies in HCT116 p53−/− cells previously published, activity and mRNA expression of hOGG1 were found to be significantly decreased, while down-regulation of APE1 mRNA and protein levels in response to genotoxic stress were only described in HCT116 p53+/+ cells, but not in the isogenic p53 knockout cell line. The predominantly indirect genotoxic carcinogen cadmium inhibits the BER pathway and potentially interferes with zinc binding proteins such as p53. Therefore, this study was accomplished to investigate whether p53 is involved in the cadmium-induced inhibition of BER activity. To address this issue we applied a non-radioactive cleavage test system based on a Cy5-labeled oligonucleotide. We present evidence that p53 is not essential for hOGG1 and APE1 gene expression as well as OGG and APE activity in unstressed HCT116 cells; however, it plays an important role in the cellular response to cadmium treatment. Here, a direct involvement of p53 was only observed with respect to APE1 gene expression contributing to an altered APE activity, while OGG activity was presumably affected indirectly due to a stronger accumulation of cadmium in HCT116 p53+/+ cells. In summary, p53 indeed affects the BER pathway directly and indirectly in response to cadmium treatment.

► p53 is involved in cadmium-induced inhibition of base excision repair.
► Inhibition of OGG and APE activities in p53 proficient cells, albeit by different mechanisms.
► Higher accumulation of cadmium in p53 proficient cells.