Lack of p16INK4 or retinoblastoma protein (pRb), or amplification-associated overexpression of cdk4 is observed in distinct subsets of malignant glial tumors and cell lines.
These results suggest: (a) the involvement of P16INK4 in glioma progression; (b) that mechanisms other than mutation or deletion can down-regulate expression of the p16/CDKN2 gene; and (c) that the balance between CDK4 and its cognate inhibitor, P16INK4, may confer a cell growth advantage and facilitate tumor progression.
The 18A2/mts1 was expressed in all the cells studied with the exception of fetal brain cells and the low grade non-invasive glioma derived IPRK-7 cell line.
Here we have examined 32 glioma cell lines for amplification-associated overexpression of the CDK4 gene as an alternative mechanism for abrogating the growth-regulatory effects of p16.
The findings also provide corroborative evidence that CDKN2/p16 and RB are the critical glioma tumor suppressor genes on chromosomes 9p and 13q, respectively.
These results suggest that p16/CDKN2 inactivation is a significant factor in the genesis and progression of gliomas and that the restoration of the wild-type p16 protein could have clinical and therapeutic utility.
Structural alterations in the p16INK4 gene were examined in early passage human glioma cell lines and related to the expression of p16 transcripts and protein.
Alterations in P16ink4 or in the gene encoding one of its ligands, cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4), have been reported in human glioma cell lines and primary tumors but not in primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs), the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood.
These results might suggest that deletion of p16 genes promoted unrestrained growth in human glioma but has no relationship to the chemosensitivity to CDDP, ACNU and AZC.
We have analysed the significance of the loss of this gene in gliomas by introducing the cDNA for p16INK4A into the human glioma cell line U-1242 MG which has a deleted CDKN2 locus.
In order to test the candidacy of p16beta as a glioma suppressor, we replaced p16(INK4a), p15(INK4b) and p16beta wild-type as well as a series of seven glioma-derived p16beta alleles (R87H, A112V, R120H, A121V, G125R, A128A and A128V), into glioma cell lines that had either CDKN2A-/RB+ (U-87MG and U-251MG) or CDKN2A+/RB- (LN-319) endogenous backgrounds and demonstrated that p16beta can act as a functional glioma cell growth suppressor.
Thus, despite the association between the sporadic forms of high-grade glioma and abnormalities of p16(INK4A), p15(INK4B), or CDK4, we found no evidence that germ-line mutations in the coding region of these three genes predispose to inherited glial tumors.
These findings indicate that the p16 gene plays an important role in the regulation of glioma angiogenesis, suggesting a novel function of the p16 gene.
Six constitutional missense mutations of the p53 gene were identified (13.6%), but no mutations of the p16 and PTEN genes were found, suggesting that (1) germline p53 mutations contribute to a small portion of astrocytic tumors, (2) inherited mutations of the p16 and PTEN gene do not predispose to the development of gliomas, and (3) other genes are involved in glioma predisposition.