The ING tumor suppressors in cellular senescence and chromatin

The Inhibitor of Growth (ING) proteins represent a type II tumor suppressor family comprising five conserved genes, ING1 to ING5. While ING1, ING2 and ING3 proteins are stable components of the mSIN3a-HDAC complexes, the association of ING1, ING4 and ING5 with HAT protein complexes was also reported. Among these the ING1 and ING2 have been analyzed more deeply. Similar to other tumor suppressor factors the ING proteins are also involved in many cellular pathways linked to cancer and cell proliferation such as cell cycle regulation, cellular senescence, DNA repair, apoptosis, inhibition of angiogenesis and modulation of chromatin. A common structural feature of ING factors is the conserved plant homeodomain (PHD), which can bind directly to the histone mark trimethylated lysine of histone H3 (H3K4me3). PHD mutants lose the ability to undergo cellular senescence linking chromatin mark recognition with cellular senescence. ING1 and ING2 are localized in the cell nucleus and associated with chromatin modifying enzymes, linking tumor suppression directly to chromatin regulation. In line with this, the expression of ING1 in tumors is aberrant or identified point mutations are mostly localized in the PHD finger and affect histone binding. Interestingly, ING1 protein levels increase in replicative senescent cells, latter representing an efficient pathway to inhibit cancer proliferation. In association with this, suppression of p33ING1 expression prolongs replicative life span and is also sufficient to bypass oncogene-induced senescence. Recent analyses of ING1- and ING2-deficient mice confirm a tumor suppressive role of ING1 and ING2 and also indicate an essential role of ING2 in meiosis. Here we summarize the activity of ING1 and ING2 as tumor suppressors, chromatin factors and in development.