Loss of the candidate tumor suppressor BTG3 triggers acute cellular senescence via the ERK-JMJD3-p16(INK4a) signaling axis.

The B-cell translocation gene 3 (BTG3) is a member of the antiproliferative BTG gene family and a downstream target of p53. BTG3 also binds and inhibits E2F1. Although it connects functionally two major growth-regulatory pathways, the physiological role of BTG3 remains largely uncharacterized. Here, we present evidence that loss of BTG3 in normal cells induced cellular senescence, which was correlated with enhanced ERK-AP1 signaling and elevated expression of the histone H3K27me3 demethylase JMJD3/KDM6B, leading to acute induction of p16(INK4a). Importantly, we also found that BTG3 expression is specifically downregulated in prostate cancer, thus providing a physiological link with human cancers. Our data suggest that BTG3 may have a fail-safe role against tumorigenic progression.