Recently Gadd45, a p53-regulated stress protein, has been implicated in the activation of a G2/M checkpoint after damage by UV radiation and alkylating agents. While inhibitory phosphorylation of Cdc2 and suppression of cyclin B1 levels are known to be involved in G2 delays after genotoxic stress, Gadd45 has now been found to directly inhibit the activity of Cdc2/Cyclin B1 complex, while it had no appreciable eect on Cdk2/ Cyclin E activity even at very high levels of Gadd45. In contrast, p21Cip1/Waf1 is an universal cdk/cyclin inhibitor and inhibited both of the cyclin complexes tested here. Gadd45 was also able to physically interact with Cdc2, but not Cyclin B1. Addition of Gadd45 to immunoprecipitated Cdc2/Cyclin B1 in vitro led to a dissociation of this complex, and thus may represent a new checkpoint mechanism whereby Cdc2/Cyclin B1 can be inhibited. With the use of an antisense approach, reduced Gadd45 expression attenuated the suppression of Cdc2/Cyclin B1 activity in UV-irradiated human cells. Taken together, these results implicate Gadd45 in the control of G2/M cell cycle progression after certain stresses.

This report demonstrates that Gadd45, a p53-responsive stress protein, can facilitate topoisomerase relaxing and cleavage activity in the presence of core histones. A correlation between reduced expression of Gadd45 and increased resistance to topoisomerase I and topoisomerase II inhibitors in a variety of human cell lines was also found. Gadd45 could potentially mediate this effect by destabilizing histone-DNA interactions since it was found to interact directly with the four core histones. To evaluate this possibility, we investigated the effect of Gadd45 on preassembled mononucleosomes. Our data indicate that Gadd45 directly associates with mononucleosomes that have been altered by histone acetylation or UV radiation. This interaction resulted in increased DNase I accessibility on hyperacetylated mononucleosomes and substantial reduction of T4 endonuclease V accessibility to cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers on UV-irradiated mononucleosomes but not on naked DNA. Both histone acetylation and UV radiation are thought to destabilize the nucleosomal structure. Hence, these results imply that Gadd45 can recognize an altered chromatin state and modulate DNA accessibility to cellular proteins.

In response to DNA damage, the cell cycle checkpoint is an important biological event in maintaining genomic fidelity. Gadd45, a p53-regulated and DNA damage inducible protein, has recently been demonstrated to play a role in the G2-M checkpoint in response to DNA damage. In the current study, we further investigated the biochemical mechanism(s) involved in the GADD45-activated cell cycle G2-M arrest. Using the tetracycline-controlled system (tet-off), we established GADD45-inducible lines in HCT116 (wild-type p53) and Hela (inactivated p53 status) cells. Following inducible expression of the Gadd45 protein, cell growth was strongly suppressed in both HCT116 and Hela cells. Interestingly, HCT116 cells revealed a significant G2-M arrest but Hela cells failed to arrest at the G2-M phases, indicating that the GADD45-activated G2-M arrest requires normal p53 function. The GADD45-induced G2-M arrest was observed independent of p38 kinase activity. Importantly, induction of Gadd45 protein resulted in a reduction of nuclear cyclin B1 protein, whose nuclear localization is critical for the completion of G2-M transition. The reduced nuclear cyclin B1 levels correlated with inhibition of Cdc2/cyclin B1 kinase activity. Additionally, overexpression of cyclin B1 substantially abrogated the GADD45-induced cell growth suppression. Therefore, GADD45 inhibition of Cdc2 kinase activity through alteration of cyclin B1 subcellular localization may be an essential step in the GADD45-induced cell cycle G2-M arrest and growth suppression.

Cell cycle growth arrest is an important cellular response to genotoxic stress. Gadd45, a p53-regulated stress protein, plays an important role in the cell cycle G 2 -M checkpoint following exposure to certain types of DNA-damaging agents such as UV radiation and methylmethane sulfonate. Recent findings indicate that Gadd45 interacts with Cdc2 protein and inhibits Cdc2 kinase activity. In the present study, a series of Myctagged Gadd45 deletion mutants and a Gadd45 overlapping peptide library were used to define the Gadd45 domains that are involved in the interaction of Gadd45 with Cdc2. Both in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that the interaction of Gadd45 with Cdc2 involves a central region of the Gadd45 protein (amino acids 65-84). The Cdc2-binding domain of Gadd45 is also required for Gadd45 inhibition of Cdc2 kinase activity. Sequence analysis of the central Gadd45 region reveals no homology to inhibitory motifs of known cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, indicating that the Cdc2-binding and -inhibitory domains on Gadd45 are a novel motif. The peptide containing the Cdc2-binding domain (amino acids 65-84) disrupted the Cdc2-cyclin B1 protein complex, suggesting that dissociation of this complex results from a direct interaction between the Gadd45 and Cdc2 proteins. GADD45-induced cell cycle G 2 -M arrest was abolished when its Cdc2 binding motif was disrupted. Importantly, a short term survival assay demonstrated that GADD45-induced cell cycle G 2 -M arrest correlates with GADD45-mediated growth suppression. These findings indicate that the cell cycle G 2 -M growth arrest mediated by GADD45 is one of the major mechanisms by which GADD45 suppresses cell growth.