Role of p73 in regulation of cell death: specific role in mitotic cell death and potential regulation of caspase- 2S

Abstract

p73 is a member of the p53 family of transcription factors. It shares similar properties to p53 such as the induction of genes required for regulating cell arrest and apoptosis. In this PhD project, we found that p73 but not p53, is important for inducing mitotic cell death. Cells lacking p73 or cells in which p73 expression is silenced are resistant to mitotic cell death. In addition, we have discovered caspase-2S to be a novel target gene of p73. Caspase-2S is a smaller variant of caspase-2 and is known for promoting survival instead of cell death. Ectopic expression of p73 do not affect the transcript level of any other caspases tested except caspase-2S.