Open AccessSOX14 activates the p53 signaling pathway and induces apoptosis in a cervical carcinoma cell line
Author(s) -
D. Stanisavljević,
Isidora Petrović,
Vladanka Vuković,
Marija Schwirtlich,
Marija Gredic,
Milena Stevanović,
Jelena Popović
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0184686
Subject(s) - hela , apoptosis , biology , cancer research , transcription factor , signal transduction , suppressor , tumor suppressor gene , cervical carcinoma , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , cell culture , carcinogenesis , cervical cancer , genetics , cancer
SOX14 is a member of the SOX family of transcription factors mainly involved in the regulation of neural development. Recently, it became evident that SOX14 is one of four hypermethylated genes in cervical carcinoma, considered as a tumor suppressor candidate in this type of malignancy. In this paper we elucidated the role of SOX14 in the regulation of malignant properties of cervical carcinoma cells in vitro . Functional analysis performed in HeLa cells revealed that SOX14 overexpression decreased viability and promoted apoptosis through altering the expression of apoptosis related genes. Our results demonstrated that overexpression of SOX14 initiated accumulation of p53, demonstrating potential cross-talk between SOX14 and the p53 signaling pathway. Further analysis unambiguously showed that SOX14 triggered posttranslational modification of p53 protein, as detected by the significantly increased level of phospho-p53 (Ser-15) in SOX14-overexpressing HeLa cells. Moreover, the obtained results revealed that SOX14 activated p53 protein, which was confirmed by elevated p21 Waf1/Cip1 , a well known target gene of p53. This study advances our understanding about the role of SOX14 and might explain the molecular mechanism by which this transcription factor could exert tumor suppressor properties in cervical carcinoma.