p21 Cip1/Waf1 cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (p21) is inducible by Raf and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK), but the level of regulation is unknown. We show here by conditional and transient Rasexpression models that Ras induces p21. Induction of p21 in conditionally Ras-expressing cells is posttranscriptional utilizing mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Transient, high-level Ras-expression induces transcriptional activation of p21 mediated by a GC-rich region in p21 promoter -83-54 bp relative to the transcription initiation site containing binding sites for Sp1-family transcription factors. Mutation of either Sp1-binding site 2 or 4 in this region decreases the magnitude of induction of promoter activity by Ras, but only the simultaneous mutation of both sites abolishes fully the induction. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays using an oligonucleotide corresponding to Sp1-binding site 2 indicate that both Sp1 and Sp3 transcription factors bind to this region. The results demonstrate that the central cytosolic growth regulator Ras is a potent transcriptional and posttranscriptional inducer of the nuclear growth inhibitor p21.

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DNA damage-induced activation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene is suggested to be central in the cellular damage response pathway. In this study, we analyzed the responses of p53 to UVC radiation in synchronized mouse fibroblasts in terms of p53 accumulation, transcriptional activation, and sequence-specific DNAbinding activity. UVC was found to induce accumulation of p53 cell cycle dependently in G 1 /S-and S-phase cells but not in G 0 or G 1 cells. In contrast, p53 transcriptional activity and its target genes, p21 and GADD45, were stimulated by UVC in G 0 and G 1 cells in the absence of detectable p53 protein. The accumulation of p53 and increased p21 and GADD45 expression were replication dependent in S-phase cells. Interestingly, sequence-specific p53 DNA-binding activity was stimulated also replication independently in S phase, though the effect was not conveyed to stimulation of p53 target genes, suggesting that additional events are required for p53-stimulated gene expression. The results show that opposed to the cell cycle dependence of p53 accumulation, the UVC-mediated transactivation by p53 is independent of the cell cycle phase and protein stabilization.

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