Arsenic induces apoptosis through a c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase-dependent, p53-independent pathway.

Arsenic has been used as an effective chemotherapy agent for some human cancers, such as acute promyelocytic leukemia. In this study, we found that arsenic induces activation of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinases (JNKs) at a similar dose range for induction of apoptosis in JB6 cells. In addition, we found that arsenic did not induce p53-dependent transactivation. Similarly, there was no difference in apoptosis induction between cells with p53 +/+ or p53 -/-. In contrast, arsenic-induced apoptosis was almost totally blocked by expression of a dominant-negative mutant of JNK1. These results suggest that the activation of JNKs is involved in arsenic-induced apoptosis of JB6 cells. Taken together with previous findings that p53 mutations are involved in approximately 50% of all human cancers and nearly all chemotherapeutic agents kill cancer cells mainly by apoptotic induction, we suggest that arsenic may be a useful agent for the treatment of cancers with p53 mutation.