Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Review
  • Published:

p53 and Nur77/TR3 – transcription factors that directly target mitochondria for cell death induction

Abstract

The complex apoptotic functions of the p53 tumor suppressor are central to its antineoplastic activity in vivo. Conversely, p53 function is altered or attenuated in one way or another in the majority of human cancers. Besides its well-understood action as a transcriptional regulator of multiple apoptotic genes, p53 also exerts a direct pro-apoptotic role at the mitochondria by engaging in protein–protein interactions with anti- and pro-apoptotic Bcl2 family members, thereby executing the shortest known circuitry of p53 death signaling. Nur77, also known as TR3 or NGFI-B, is a unique transcription factor belonging to the orphan nuclear receptor superfamily. Even more extreme than p53, Nur77 can exert opposing biological activities of survival and death. Its activities are regulated by subcellular distribution, expression levels, protein modification and heterodimerization with retinoid X receptor. In cancer cells, Nur77 functions in the nucleus as an oncogenic survival factor, but becomes a potent killer when certain death stimuli induce its migration to mitochondria, where it binds to Bcl2 and conformationally converts it to a killer that triggers cytochrome c release and apoptosis. This review focuses on their unexpected transcription-independent pro-death programs at mitochondria and highlights the remarkable mechanistic similarities between them. Moreover, an accumulating body of evidence provides ample rationale to further investigate how these mitochondrial p53 and Nur77 pathways could become exploitable targets for new cancer therapeutics.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Achanta G, Sasaki R, Feng L, Carew JS, Lu W, Pelicano H et al. (2005). EMBO J 24: 3482–3492.

  • Arima Y, Nitta M, Kuninaka S, Zhang D, Fujiwara T, Taya Y et al. (2005). J Biol Chem 280: 19166–19176.

  • Arriola EL, Rodriguez-Lopez AM, Hickman JA, Chresta CM . (1999). Oncogene 18: 1457–1464.

  • Baker KD, Shewchuk LM, Kozlova T, Makishima M, Hassell A, Wisely B et al. (2003). Cell 113: 731–742.

  • Bissonnette RP, Brunner T, Lazarchik SB, Yoo NJ, Boehm MF, Green DR et al. (1995). Mol Cell Biol 15: 5576–5585.

  • Bogenhagen DF, Wang Y, Shen EL, Kobayashi R . (2003). Mol Cell Proteomics 2: 1205–1216.

  • Bonafe M, Salvioli S, Barbi C, Trapassi C, Tocco F, Storci G et al. (2004). Cell Death Differ 11: 962–973.

  • Bonini P, Cicconi S, Cardinale A, Vitale C, Serafino AL, Ciotti MT et al. (2004). J Neurosci Res 75: 83–95.

  • Bras A, Albar JP, Leonardo E, de Buitrago GG, Martinez AC . (2000). Cell Death Differ 7: 262–271.

  • Bykov VJ, Issaeva N, Shilov A, Hultcrantz M, Pugacheva E, Chumakov P et al. (2002). Nat Med 8: 282–288.

  • Cao X, Liu W, Lin F, Li H, Kolluri SK, Lin B et al. (2004a). Mol Cell Biol 24: 9705–9725.

  • Cao X, Liu W, Lin F, Li H, Kolluri SK, Lin B et al. (2004b). Mol Cell Biol 24: 9705–9725.

  • Castro-Obregon S, Rao RV, del Rio G, Chen SF, Poksay KS, Rabizadeh S et al. (2004). J Biol Chem 279: 17543–17553.

  • Catz SD, Johnson JL . (2003). Apoptosis 8: 29–37.

  • Chang C, Kokontis J, Liao SS, Chang Y . (1989). J Steroid Biochem 34: 391–395.

  • Chen GQ, Lin B, Dawson MI, Zhang XK . (2002). Int J Cancer 99: 171–178.

  • Chen L, Willis SN, Wei A, Smith BJ, Fletcher JI, Hinds MG et al. (2005). Mol Cell 17: 393–403.

  • Chen RH, Blenis J . (1990). Mol Cell Biol 10: 3204–3215.

  • Chen RH, Chung J, Blenis J . (1991). Mol Cell Biol 11: 1861–1867.

  • Cheng EH, Kirsch DG, Clem RJ, Ravi R, Kastan MB, Bedi A et al. (1997a). Science 278: 1966–1968.

  • Cheng LE, Chan FK, Cado D, Winoto A . (1997b). EMBO J 16: 1865–1875.

  • Chinnaiyan P, Varambally S, Tomlins SA, Ray S, Huang S, Chinnaiyan AM et al. (2006). Int J Cancer 118: 1041–1050.

  • Chintharlapalli S, Burghardt R, Papineni S, Ramaiah S, Yoon K, Safe S . (2005). J Biol Chem 280: 24903–24914.

  • Chipuk JE, Bouchier-Hayes L, Kuwana T, Newmeyer DD, Green DR . (2005). Science 309: 1732–1735.

  • Chipuk JE, Kuwana T, Bouchier-Hayes L, Droin NM, Newmeyer DD, Schuler M et al. (2004). Science 303: 1010–1014.

  • Cory S, Huang DC, Adams JM . (2003). Oncogene 22: 8590–8607.

  • Costantini P, Jacotot E, Decaudin D, Kroemer G . (2000). J Natl Cancer Inst 92: 1042–1053.

  • Culmsee C, Mattson MP . (2005). Biochem Biophys Res Commun 331: 761–777.

  • Dagher PC . (2004). Kidney Int 66: 506–509.

  • Daidone MG, Luisi A, Veneroni S, Benini E, Silvestrini R . (1999). Endocr Relat Cancer 6: 61–68.

  • Davis IJ, Hazel TG, Chen RH, Blenis J, Lau LF . (1993). Mol Endocrinol 7: 953–964.

  • Dawson MI, Hobbs PD, Peterson VJ, Leid M, Lange CW, Feng KC et al. (2001). Cancer Res 61: 4723–4730.

  • de Souza-Pinto NC, Harris CC, Bohr VA . (2004). Oncogene 23: 6559–6568.

  • de Urquiza AM, Liu S, Sjoberg M, Zetterstrom RH, Griffiths W, Sjovall J et al. (2000). Science 290: 2140–2144.

  • Deverman BE, Cook BL, Manson SR, Niederhoff RA, Langer EM, Rosova I et al. (2002). Cell 111: 51–62.

  • Dumont P, Leu JI, Della Pietra III AC, George DL, Murphy M . (2003). Nat Genet 33: 357–365.

  • Erlacher M, Michalak EM, Kelly PN, Labi V, Niederegger H, Coultas L et al. (2005). Blood 106: 4131–4138.

  • Erster S, Mihara M, Kim RH, Petrenko O, Moll UM . (2004). Mol Cell Biol 24: 6728–6741.

  • Fahrner TJ, Carroll SL, Milbrandt J . (1990). Mol Cell Biol 10: 6454–6459.

  • Fan YY, Spencer TE, Wang N, Moyer MP, Chapkin RS . (2003). Carcinogenesis 24: 1541–1548.

  • Fannjiang Y, Kim CH, Huganir RL, Zou S, Lindsten T, Thompson CB et al. (2003). Dev Cell 4: 575–585.

  • Ferri KF, Kroemer G . (2001). Bioessays 23: 111–115.

  • Fontana JA, Rishi AK . (2002). Leukemia 16: 463–472.

  • Forman BM, Umesono K, Chen J, Evans RM . (1995). Cell 81: 541–550.

  • Foster BA, Coffey HA, Morin MJ, Rastinejad F . (1999). Science 286: 2507–2510.

  • Gasparini G, Barbareschi M, Doglioni C, Palma PD, Mauri FA, Boracchi P et al. (1995). Clin Cancer Res 1: 189–198.

  • Gennari A, Bleumink R, Viviani B, Galli CL, Marinovich M, Pieters R et al. (2002). Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 181: 27–31.

  • Gilman CP, Chan SL, Guo Z, Zhu X, Greig N, Mattson MP . (2003). Neuromolecular Med 3: 159–172.

  • Goldstein JT, Dobrzyn A, Clagett-Dame M, Pike JW, DeLuca HF . (2003). Arch Biochem Biophys 420: 185–193.

  • Gonzalez-Garcia M, Perez-Ballestero R, Ding L, Duan L, Boise LH, Thompson CB et al. (1994). Development 120: 3033–3042.

  • Grandgirard D, Studer E, Monney L, Belser T, Fellay I, Borner C et al. (1998). EMBO J 17: 1268–1278.

  • Haldar S, Jena N, Croce CM . (1995). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92: 4507–4511.

  • Han Y-H, Cao X, Lin B, Kin F, Kolluri SK, Reed JC et al. (2006). Oncogene, Jan 23.

  • Hazel TG, Misra R, Davis IJ, Greenberg ME, Lau LF . (1991). Mol Cell Biol 11: 3239–3246.

  • Hazel TG, Nathans D, Lau LF . (1988). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85: 8444–8448.

  • Herman JG, Baylin SB . (2003). N Engl J Med 349: 2042–2054.

  • Hirata Y, Kiuchi K, Chen HC, Milbrandt J, Guroff G . (1993). J Biol Chem 268: 24808–24812.

  • Holla VR, Mann JR, Shi Q, Dubois RN . (2005). J Biol Chem.

  • Holmes WF, Soprano DR, Soprano KJ . (2003a). J Cell Biochem 89: 262–278.

  • Holmes WF, Soprano DR, Soprano KJ . (2003b). Oncogene 22: 6377–6386.

  • Holmes WF, Soprano DR, Soprano KJ . (2004). J Cell Physiol 199: 317–329.

  • Hsu HC, Zhou T, Mountz JD . (2004). Curr Drug Targets Inflamm Allergy 3: 413–423.

  • Hsu YT, Wolter KG, Youle RJ . (1997). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94: 3668–3672.

  • Igaki T, Kanuka H, Inohara N, Sawamoto K, Nunez G, Okano H et al. (2000). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97: 662–667.

  • Jacobs CM, Boldingh KA, Slagsvold HH, Thoresen GH, Paulsen RE . (2004). J Biol Chem 279: 50097–50101.

  • Jacobs CM, Paulsen RE . (2005). Biochem Biophys Res Commun 336: 646–652.

  • Jeong JH, Park JS, Moon B, Kim MC, Kim JK, Lee S et al. (2003). Ann NY Acad Sci 1010: 171–177.

  • Kastner P, Mark M, Chambon P . (1995). Cell 83: 859–869.

  • Katagiri Y, Takeda K, Yu ZX, Ferrans VJ, Ozato K, Guroff G . (2000). Nat Cell Biol 2: 435–440.

  • Kaufmann T, Schlipf S, Sanz J, Neubert K, Stein R, Borner C . (2003). J Cell Biol 160: 53–64.

  • Kaul SC, Aida S, Yaguchi T, Kaur K, Wadhwa R . (2005). J Biol Chem 280: 39373–39379.

  • Ke N, Claassen G, Yu DH, Albers A, Fan W, Tan P et al. (2004). Cancer Res 64: 8208–8212.

  • Kelly KJ, Plotkin Z, Vulgamott SL, Dagher PC . (2003). J Am Soc Nephrol 14: 128–138.

  • Kochel I, Rapak A, Ziolo E, Strzadala L . (2005). Biochem Biophys Res Commun 334: 1102–1106.

  • Kolluri SK, Cao X, Bruey-Sedano N, Lin B, Lin F, Han Y et al. (2003). Mol Cell Biol 23: 8651–8667.

  • Kolluri SK, Corr M, James SY, Bernasconi M, Lu D, Liu W et al. (2005). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102: 2525–2530.

  • Komarov PG, Komarova EA, Kondratov RV, Christov-Tselkov K, Coon JS, Chernov MV et al. (1999). Science 285: 1733–1737.

  • Kuwana T, Bouchier-Hayes L, Chipuk JE, Bonzon C, Sullivan BA, Green DR et al. (2005). Mol Cell 17: 525–535.

  • Labelle Y, Bussieres J, Courjal F, Goldring MB . (1999). Oncogene 18: 3303–3308.

  • Labelle Y, Zucman J, Stenman G, Kindblom LG, Knight J, Turc-Carel C et al. (1995). Hum Mol Genet 4: 2219–2226.

  • Le W, Conneely OM, He Y, Jankovic J, Appel SH . (1999). J Neurochem 73: 2218–2221.

  • Lee JM, Lee KH, Farrell CJ, Ling PD, Kempkes B, Park JH et al. (2004). J Virol 78: 12694–12697.

  • Lee JM, Lee KH, Weidner M, Osborne BA, Hayward SD . (2002). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99: 11878–11883.

  • Lee KW, Ma L, Yan X, Liu B, Zhang XK, Cohen P . (2005). J Biol Chem 280: 16942–16948.

  • Lee MO, Kang HJ, Cho H, Shin EC, Park JH, Kim SJ . (2001). Biochem Biophys Res Commun 288: 1162–1168.

  • Lengqvist J, Mata De Urquiza A, Bergman AC, Willson TM, Sjovall J, Perlmann T et al. (2004). Mol Cell Proteom 3: 692–703.

  • Leu JI, Dumont P, Hafey M, Murphy ME, George DL . (2004). Nat Cell Biol 6: 443–450.

  • Lewis J, Oyler GA, Ueno K, Fannjiang YR, Chau BN, Vornov J et al. (1999). Nat Med 5: 832–835.

  • Li H, Kolluri SK, Gu J, Dawson MI, Cao X, Hobbs PD et al. (2000). Science 289: 1159–1164.

  • Li Y, Lin B, Agadir A, Liu R, Dawson MI, Reed JC et al. (1998). Mol Cell Biol 18: 4719–4731.

  • Lim RW, Varnum BC, Herschman HR . (1987). Oncogene 1: 263–270.

  • Lin B, Kolluri S, Lin F, Liu W, Han YH, Cao X et al. (2004a). Cell 116: 527–540.

  • Lin XF, Zhao BX, Chen HZ, Ye XF, Yang CY, Zhou HY et al. (2004b). J Cell Sci 117: 5609–5621.

  • Liu D, Jia H, Holmes DI, Stannard A, Zachary I . (2003). Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 23: 2002–2007.

  • Liu S . (2002). World J Gastroenterol 8: 446–450.

  • Liu ZG, Smith SW, McLaughlin KA, Schwartz LM, Osborne BA . (1994). Nature 367: 281–284.

  • Lotan R . (2003). J Biol Regul Homeost Agents 17: 13–28.

  • Maddika S, Booy EP, Johar D, Gibson SB, Ghavami S et al. (2005). J Cell Sci 118: 4485–4493.

  • Mangelsdorf DJ, Evans RM . (1995). Cell 83: 841–850.

  • Marchenko ND, Zaika A, Moll UM . (2000). J Biol Chem 275: 16202–16212.

  • Martin B, Paesmans M, Berghmans T, Branle F, Ghisdal L, Mascaux C et al. (2003). Br J Cancer 89: 55–64.

  • Martinez-Gonzalez J, Badimon L . (2005). Cardiovasc Res 65: 609–618.

  • Masuyama N, Oishi K, Mori Y, Ueno T, Takahama Y, Gotoh Y . (2001). J Biol Chem 276: 32799–32805.

  • Meinke G, Sigler PB . (1999). Nat Struct Biol 6: 471–477.

  • Mihara M, Erster S, Zaika A, Petrenko O, Chittenden T, Pancoska P et al. (2003). Mol Cell 11: 577–590.

  • Milbrandt J . (1988). Neuron 1: 183–188.

  • Moll U . (2000). New p53-based strategies for cancer therapy. Natick, MA: Eaton Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mu X, Chang C . (2003). J Biol Chem 278: 42840–42845.

  • Nemajerova A, Erster S, Moll UM . (2005a). Cell Death Differ 12: 197–200.

  • Nemajerova A, Wolff S, Petrenko O, Moll UM . (2005b). FEBS Lett 579: 6079–6083.

  • Park KC, Song KH, Chung HK, Kim H, Kim DW, Song JH et al. (2005). Mol Endocrinol 19: 12–24.

  • Pei L, Castrillo A, Chen M, Hoffmann A, Tontonoz P . (2005a). J Biol Chem 280: 29256–29262.

  • Pei L, Castrillo A, Tontonoz P . (2005b). Mol Endocrinol 20: 786–794.

  • Pekarsky Y, Hallas C, Palamarchuk A, Koval A, Bullrich F, Hirata Y et al. (2001). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98: 3690–3694.

  • Peng Z . (2005). Hum Gene Ther 16: 1016–1027.

  • Perlmann T, Jansson L . (1995). Genes Dev 9: 769–782.

  • Petros AM, Gunasekera A, Xu N, Olejniczak ET, Fesik SW . (2004). FEBS Lett 28073: 1–4.

  • Petros AM, Medek A, Nettesheim DG, Kim DH, Yoon HS, Swift K et al. (2001). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98: 3012–3017.

  • Pfahl M, Piedrafita FJ . (2003). Oncogene 22: 9058–9062.

  • Philips A, Lesage S, Gingras R, Maira MH, Gauthier Y, Hugo P et al. (1997). Mol Cell Biol 17: 5946–5951.

  • Rajpal A, Cho YA, Yelent B, Koza-Taylor PH, Li D, Chen E et al. (2003). EMBO J 22: 6526–6536.

  • Ramaswamy S, Ross KN, Lander ES, Golub TR . (2003). Nat Genet 33: 49–54.

  • Reed JC . (1998). Oncogene 17: 3225–3236.

  • Sakurada K, Ohshima-Sakurada M, Palmer TD, Gage FH . (1999). Development 126: 4017–4026.

  • Sansome C, Zaika A, Marchenko ND, Moll UM . (2001). FEBS Lett 488: 110–115.

  • Schuler M, Green DR . (2001). Biochem Soc Trans 29: 684–688.

  • Shin HJ, Lee BH, Yeo MG, Oh SH, Park JD, Park KK et al. (2004). Carcinogenesis 25: 1467–1475.

  • Shipp MA, Ross KN, Tamayo P, Weng AP, Kutok JL, Aguiar RC et al. (2002). Nat Med 8: 68–74.

  • Slagsvold HH, Ostvold AC, Fallgren AB, Paulsen RE . (2002). Biochem Biophys Res Commun 291: 1146–1150.

  • Speidel D, Helmbold H, Deppert W . (2005). Oncogene.

  • Srivastava RK, Mi QS, Hardwick JM, Longo DL . (1999). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96: 3775–3780.

  • Subramanian T, Chinnadurai G . (2003). J Cell Biochem 89: 1102–1114.

  • Suzuki S, Suzuki N, Mirtsos C, Horacek T, Lye E, Noh SK et al. (2003). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100: 8276–8280.

  • Swanson KD, Taylor LK, Haung L, Burlingame AL, Landreth GE . (1999). J Biol Chem 274: 3385–3395.

  • Talos F, Petrenko O, Mena P, Moll UM . (2005). Cancer Res 65: 9971–9981.

  • Uemura H, Chang C . (1998). Endocrinology 139: 2329–2334.

  • Uhlmann EJ, Subramanian T, Vater CA, Lutz R, Chinnadurai G . (1998). J Biol Chem 273: 17926–17932.

  • Vousden KH, Lu X . (2002). Nat Rev Cancer 2: 594–604.

  • Wang Z, Benoit G, Liu J, Prasad S, Aarnisalo P, Liu X et al. (2003). Nature 423: 555–560.

  • Wansa KD, Harris JM, Muscat GE . (2002). J Biol Chem 277: 33001–33011.

  • Wansa KD, Harris JM, Yan G, Ordentlich P, Muscat GE . (2003). J Biol Chem 278: 24776–24790.

  • Wei MC, Lindsten T, Mootha VK, Weiler S, Gross A, Ashiya M et al. (2000). Genes Dev 14: 2060–2071.

  • Wei MC, Zong WX, Cheng EH, Lindsten T, Panoutsakopoulou V, Ross AJ et al. (2001). Science 292: 727–730.

  • Weih F, Ryseck RP, Chen L, Bravo R . (1996). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93: 5533–5538.

  • Willis SN, Chen L, Dewson G, Wei A, Naik E, Fletcher JI et al. (2005). Genes Dev 19: 1294–1305.

  • Wilson AJ, Arango D, Mariadason JM, Heerdt BG, Augenlicht LH . (2003). Cancer Res 63: 5401–5407.

  • Wingate AD, Campbell DG, Peggie M, Arthur JS . (2005). Biochem J.

  • Woronicz JD, Calnan B, Ngo V, Winoto A . (1994). Nature 367: 277–281.

  • Woronicz JD, Lina A, Calnan BJ, Szychowski S, Cheng L, Winoto A . (1995). Mol Cell Biol 15: 6364–6376.

  • Wu Q, Dawson MI, Zheng Y, Hobbs PD, Agadir A, Jong L et al. (1997a). Mol Cell Biol 17: 6598–6608.

  • Wu Q, Li Y, Liu R, Agadir A, Lee MO, Liu Y et al. (1997b). EMBO J 16: 1656–1669.

  • Wu Q, Liu S, Ye XF, Huang ZW, Su WJ . (2002a). Carcinogenesis 23: 1583–1592.

  • Wu WS, Heinrichs S, Xu D, Garrison SP, Zambetti GP, Adams JM et al. (2005). Cell 123: 641–653.

  • Wu WS, Xu ZX, Ran R, Meng F, Chang KS . (2002b). Oncogene 21: 3925–3933.

  • Xue D, Horvitz HR . (1997). Nature 390: 305–308.

  • Yamamoto K, Ichijo H, Korsmeyer SJ . (1999). Mol Cell Biol 19: 8469–8478.

  • Yang Y, Bailey J, Vacchio MS, Yarchoan R, Ashwell JD . (1995). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92: 3051–3055.

  • Yang Y, Vacchio MS, Ashwell JD . (1993). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 90: 6170–6174.

  • Yoo YA, Kim MJ, Park JK, Chung YM, Lee JH, Chi SG et al. (2005). Mol Cell Biol 25: 6603–6616.

  • Yoo YG, Yeo MG, Kim DK, Park H, Lee MO . (2004). J Biol Chem 279: 53365–53373.

  • Yoshida Y, Izumi H, Torigoe T, Ishiguchi H, Itoh H, Kang D et al. (2003). Cancer Res 63: 3729–3734.

  • Zeimet AG, Marth C . (2003). Lancet Oncol 4: 415–422.

  • Zetterstrom RH, Solomin L, Jansson L, Hoffer BJ, Olson L, Perlmann T . (1997). Science 276: 248–250.

  • Zhang XK . (2002). Endocr Relat Cancer 9: 87–102.

  • Zhao Y, Chaiswing L, Velez JM, Batinic-Haberle I, Colburn NH, Oberley TD et al. (2005). Cancer Res 65: 3745–3750.

  • Zhong Q, Gao W, Du F, Wang X . (2005). Cell 121: 1085–1095.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to U M Moll.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Moll, U., Marchenko, N. & Zhang, Xk. p53 and Nur77/TR3 – transcription factors that directly target mitochondria for cell death induction. Oncogene 25, 4725–4743 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1209601

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1209601

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links