ABSTRACT
To investigate the effects of wt-p53 gene on proliferation and differentiation of K562 cells and to explore the feasibility of wt-p53 in leukemia gene therapy, pC53-SN(3), containing wt-p53 cDNA, and temperature-sensitive p53 mutant pN53cG(Val135) which behaved like wt-p53 at 32.5 degrees C, were introduced into p53-null K562 cells respectively by lipofectin mediated DNA transfection. In the presence of G418, K-SN(3) and K-pN53cG clones expressing P53 protein were selected. The effects of exogenous wt-p53 gene on the proliferation and differentiation of K562 cells were studied by detection of cell growth curves, leukemic colony formation, cell cycle analysis and DNA fragmentation, TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and benzidine staining. The results showed: (1) The level of p53 mRNA in K-SN(3) cells was lower than that in K-pN53cG cells by RT-PCR. (2) K-SN(3) and K-pN53cG(32.5 degrees C) cells proliferated more slowly than the control K562 cells, and their colony formation was obviously suppressed. The cells in G(0)/G(1) phase increased, and the cells in S phase decreased. These features were more obvious in K-pN53cG(32.5 degrees C). (3) K-pN53cG(32.5 degrees C) showed the feature of apoptosis and K-SN(3) showed the characteristics of erythroid lineage differentiation. It was indicated that exogenous of wt-p53 was capable of inhibiting the proliferation of K562 cells and inducing apoptosis of the cells at higher p53 level and interestingly, inducing the cells differentiation on erythroid lineage at lower p53 level.