Reactivation of TAp73 tumor suppressor by protoporphyrin IX, a metabolite of aminolevulinic acid, induces apoptosis in TP53-deficient cancer cells

BACKGROUND: The p73 protein is a tumor suppressor that shares structural and functional similarity with p53. p73 is expressed in two major isoforms; the TA isoform that interacts with p53 pathway, thus acting as tumor suppressor and the N-terminal truncated ΔN isoform that inhibits TAp73 and p53 and thus, acts as an oncogene. RESULTS: By employing a drug repurposing approach, we found that protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), a metabolite of aminolevulinic acid applied in photodynamic therapy of cancer, stabilizes TAp73 and activates TAp73-dependent apoptosis in cancer cells lacking p53. The mechanism of TAp73 activation is via disruption of TAp73/MDM2 and TAp73/MDMX interactions and inhibition of TAp73 degradation by ubiquitin ligase Itch. Finally, PpIX showed potent antitumor effect and inhibited the growth of xenograft human tumors in mice. CONCLUSION: Our findings may in future contribute to the successful repurposing of PpIX into clinical practice. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13008-018-0043-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.