Gapmer Antisense Oligonucleotides Targeting 5S Ribosomal RNA Can Reduce Mature 5S Ribosomal RNA by Two Mechanisms.

In this study, we demonstrate that 5S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), a highly structured and protein-bound RNA, is quite difficult to reduce with antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs). However, we found a single accessible site that was targetable with a high-affinity complementary ASO. The ASO appeared to bind to the site, recruit RNaseH1, and cause degradation of the 5S RNA. Intriguingly, we also observed that the same ASO induced an accumulation of pre-5S RNA, which may contribute to reduced levels of mature 5S rRNA. As expected, ASO mediated reduction of 5S RNA, and modest inhibition of processing of pre-5S RNA resulted in nucleolar toxicity. However, the toxicity induced was minimal compared with actinomycin D, consistent with its modest effects on pre-5S rRNA. Mechanistically, we show that the accumulation of pre-5S rRNA required ASO hybridization to the cognate rRNA sequence but was independent of RNaseH1 activity. We found that Ro60 and La, proteins known to bind misprocessed RNAs, likely sequester the ASO-pre-5S rRNA species and block RNaseH1 activity, thus identifying another example of competitive mechanisms mediated by proteins that compete with RNaseH1 for binding to ASO-RNA heteroduplexes.

Dynamic roles of p53-mediated metabolic activities in ROS-induced stress responses.

The p53 tumor suppressor is a multifaceted polypeptide that impedes tumorigenesis by regulating a diverse array of cellular processes. Triggered by a wide variety of stress stimuli, p53 transcriptionally regulates genes involved in the canonical tumor suppression pathways of apoptosis, cell-cycle arrest, and senescence. We recently discovered a novel mechanism whereby p53 inhibits cystine uptake through repression of the SLC7A11 gene to mediate ferroptosis. Importantly, this p53-SLC7A11 axis is preserved in the p53(3KR) mutant, and contributes to its ability to suppress tumorigenesis in the absence of the classical tumor suppression mechanisms. Here, we report that wild type p53 can induce both apoptosis and ferroptosis upon reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced stress. Furthermore, we demonstrate that p53's functional N-terminal domain is required for its capacity to regulate oxidative stress responses and ferroptosis. Notably, activated p53 dynamically modulates intracellular ROS, causing an initial reduction and a subsequent increase of ROS levels. Taken together, these data implicate ferroptosis as an additional component of the cell death program induced by wild type p53 in human cancer cells, and reveal a complex and dynamic role of p53 in oxidative stress responses.