Diverse stresses dramatically alter genome-wide p53 binding and transactivation landscape in human cancer cells (ChIP-seq)

The effects of diverse stresses on promoter selectivity and transcription regulation by the tumor suppressor p53 are poorly understood. We have taken a comprehensive approach to characterizing the human p53 network that includes p53 levels, binding, expression and chromatin changes under diverse stresses. Human osteosarcoma U2OS cells treated with anti-cancer drugs Doxorubicin or Nutlin-3 led to strikingly different p53 gene binding patterns based on ChIP-seq experiments. While two contiguous RRRCWWGYYY decamers is the consensus binding motif, p53 can bind a single decamer and function in vivo. Although the number of sites bound by p53 was 6-times greater for Nutlin-3 than Doxorubicin, expression changes induced by Nutlin-3 were much less dramatic compared to Doxorubicin. Unexpectedly, the solvent DMSO alone induced p53 binding to many sites common to Doxorubicin; however, this binding had no effect on target gene expression. Together, these data imply a two-stage mechanism for p53 transactivation where p53 binding only constitutes the first stage. Furthermore, both p53 binding and transactivation were associated with increased active histone modification H3K4me3. We discovered 149 putative new p53 target genes including several that are relevant to tumor suppression, revealing potential new targets for cancer therapy and expanding our understanding of the p53 regulatory network. Overall design: ChIP-seq profiles of p53 binding in U2OS cells with no treatment or treated with either Doxorubicin, Nutlin-3, or DMSO. Input sequences were used as controls.