The Codon 72 Polymorphism Contributes to TSC Tumorigenesis through the Notch-Nodal Axis.

We discovered that 90.3% of patients with angiomyolipomas, lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), and tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) carry the arginine variant of codon 72 (R72) of and that R72 increases the risk for angiomyolipoma. R72 transactivates and better than the proline variant of codon 72 (P72); therefore, the expression of and is increased in angiomyolipoma cells that carry R72. The loss of and within nestin-expressing cells in mice resulted in the development of renal cell carcinomas (RCC) with high and expression, suggesting that similar downstream mechanisms contribute to tumorigenesis as a result of p53 loss in mice and p53 polymorphism in humans. The loss of murine or expression of human R72 contributes to tumorigenesis via enhancing epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and motility of tumor cells through the Notch and Nodal pathways. IMPLICATIONS: This work revealed unexpected contributions of the p53 polymorphism to the pathogenesis of TSC and established signaling alterations caused by this polymorphism as a target for therapy. We found that the codon 72 TP53 polymorphism contributes to TSC-associated tumorigenesis via Notch and Nodal signaling.