Differential regulation of p73 variants in response to cisplatin treatment in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells

The present study aims to investigate the role of p73 in response to cisplatin treatment in p53 wild-type neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. Results showed that cisplatin induced a dose-dependent up-regulation of p53, p73, and a number of p53-responsive genes. Interestingly, endogenous Deltaexon2p73-expression was down-regulated by cisplatin treatment. Neither p21 nor GADD45 induction was observed in p53-deficient Lan-1 cells, although endogenous TAp73 expression was markedly induced. In the presence of cisplatin, exogenous TAp73 overexpression in SH-SY5Y cells induced p21 up-regulation without altering the apoptotic sub-G1 cell population. Moreover, siRNA-mediated suppression of TAp73 expression did not alter the sub-G1 population. Collectively, our results suggest that wt-p53 SH-SY5Y cells respond to cisplatin by inducing p73 isoform regulation and sustaining p53-dependent apoptosis that is independent of TAp73alpha.