Taylor and Francis Group, Cell Cycle, 15(14), p. 2484-2493, 2015
DOI: 10.1080/15384101.2015.1044178
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TAp73 is a tumour suppressor transcriptional factor, belonging to p53 family. Alteration of TAp73 in tumours might lead to reduced DNA damage response, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Carcinogen-induced TAp73−/− tumours display also increased angiogenesis, associated to hyperactivition of hypoxia inducible factor signaling. Here, we show that TAp73 suppresses BNIP3 expression, directly binding its gene promoter. BNIP3 is a hypoxia responsive protein, involved in a variety of cellular processes, such as autophagy, mitophagy, apoptosis and necrotic-like cell death. Therefore, through different cellular process altered expression of BNIP3 may differently contribute to cancer development and progression. We found a significant upregulation of BNIP3 in human lung cancer datasets, and we identified a direct association between BNIP3 expression and survival rate of lung cancer patients. Our data therefore provide a novel transcriptional target of TAp73, associated to its antagonistic role on HIF signaling in cancer, which might play a role in tumour suppression.