CROBM CROBM & JDR Merger
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Todd, R.
Right arrow Articles by Wong, D.T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Todd, R.
Right arrow Articles by Wong, D.T.
13(1):51-61 (2002)     Crit Rev Oral Biol Med
© 2002 International and American Associations for Dental Research

CELL CYCLE DYSREGULATION IN ORAL CANCER

R. Todd1,*
P.W. Hinds2
K. Munger2
A.K. Rustgi3,4,5
O.G. Opitz3
Y. Suliman3
D.T. Wong6

1 Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard School of Dental Medicine, 188 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115; 2 Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115; 3 Gastroenterology Division, 4 Department of Genetics, and 5 Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, 415 Curie Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104; 6 Department of Oral Diagnostic Sciences, Division of Oral Pathology, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, 188 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115;

* corresponding author, randy_todd{at}hms.harvard.edu

(I) Introduction
(II) Extracellular Signaling and Cell Cycle Regulation
    (A) THE CELL CYCLE CLOCK
    (B) THE RETINOBLASTOMA TUMOR SUPPRESSOR AND REGULATION OF THE RESTRICTION POINT
    (C) CYCLIN D1 AND MITOGEN-ACTIVATED CELL CYCLE PROGRESSION
    (D) REGULATION OF R-POINT BY ANTI-MITOGENIC EXTRACELLULAR FACTORS
(III) Cell Cycle Regulation Response to Intracellular Events
    (A) THE P53 PATHWAY AND GENOMIC DAMAGE
    (B) THE P53 PATHWAY AND ABERRANT CELL PHYSIOLOGY
(IV) Novel Cell Cycle Regulators
    (A) P12DOC-1 CELL CYCLE BIOLOGY
(V) Cell Cycle Dysregulation and Multistep Carcinogenesis
    (A) P16INK4a AND MULTISTEP CARCINOGENESIS
    (B) HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUSES AND ORAL CANCER
(VI) Future Directions and Clinical Applications
REFERENCES

   Abstract
Top
 Next
 
The dysregulation of the molecular events governing cell cycle control is emerging as a central theme of oral carcinogenesis. Regulatory pathways responding to extracellular signaling or intracellular stress and DNA damage converge on the cell cycle apparatus. Abrogation of mitogenic and anti-mitogenic response regulatory proteins, such as the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (pRB), cyclin D1, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 6, and CDK inhibitors (p21WAF1/CIP1, p27KIP1, and p16INK4a), occur frequently in human oral cancers. Cellular responses to metabolic stress or genomic damage through p53 and related pathways that block cell cycle progression are also altered during oral carcinogenesis. In addition, new pathways and cell cycle regulatory proteins, such as p12DOC-1, are being discovered. The multistep process of oral carcinogenesis likely involves functional alteration of cell cycle regulatory members combined with escape from cellular senescence and apoptotic signaling pathways. Detailing the molecular alterations and understanding the functional consequences of the dysregulation of the cell cycle apparatus in the malignant oral keratinocyte will uncover novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

Key words. Oral cancer, cell cycle, proliferation, apoptosis, senescence


   (I) Introduction
Top
 Previous
 Next
 
Dysregulation of the cell cycle machinery is a fundamental hallmark of cancer progression (Lundberg and Weinberg, 1999). The cellular programs of proliferation, differentiation, senescence, and apoptosis are intimately linked to the cell cycle regulatory machinery. Many of the molecular alterations that cause abnormal biologic behavior of cancer cells are based on aberrations of cell cycle regulation. For example, escape from dependence on mitogens or induction of resistance to anti-mitogens, tolerance to DNA damage, apoptosis resistance, and progression of cells with activated oncogenes and/or inactivated tumor suppressor genes through multiple checkpoints resulting in increased genomic instability—all affect and/or are affected by cell cycle regulatory proteins (Lundberg and Weinberg, 1999).

We are beginning to understand the dysregulation of cell cycle progression during oral carcinogenesis. The signaling pathways stimulated by exogenous and endogenous signals will be discussed as they relate specifically to oral keratinocyte biology. In addition, we will explore the potential clinical impact of this knowledge and highlight some important questions that remain regarding the contribution of cell cycle dysregulation during oral carcinogenesis.


   (II) Extracellular Signaling and Cell Cycle Regulation
Top
 Previous
 Next
 
    (A) THE CELL CYCLE CLOCK
The cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) form the core of cell cycle regulation (Fig. 1Go) (Sherr, 2000). Expression of cyclins is cell cycle phase-dependent and is regulated transcriptionally, post-transcriptionally, and translationally/post-translationally. The cyclin family members interact with CDKs, and these complexes are required to pass through specific phases of the cell cycle. D-type cyclins interact with CDK4 and CDK6 and are necessary for G0/G1 transition. Cyclin E binds to CDK2 and mediates S phase entry. The cyclin A/CDK2 complex regulates passage through the S-phase. Later, in conjunction with CDC 2, cyclin A also induces the G2 phase of the cell cycle. Cyclin B1 and CDC2 trigger the molecular events associated with mitosis (Lundberg and Weinberg, 1999).



View larger version (83K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		Figure 1. Regulation of the G1 to S phase transition by the retinoblastoma suppressor protein (pRB). G0, G1, S, G2, and M refer to the quiescence, first gap, DNA synthesis, second gap, and mitosis phases of the cell cycle. CDK refers to cyclin-dependent kinases. CDC-2 refers to cell cycle control-2. Phosphorylated pRB is represented as pRB-P. Briefly, pRB-E2F transcriptional repression of genes regulating DNA synthesis is released by phosphorylation of pRB, allowing for cell cycle progression from G1 to the S phase.

 
In contrast to the cyclins, the steady-state levels of CDKs are not markedly modulated during the cell division cycle. The cyclins complex with the CDKs and activate their catalytic activities, and these cyclin/CDK complexes each phosphorylate-specific sets of target proteins that regulate cell cycle progression.

    (B) THE RETINOBLASTOMA TUMOR SUPPRESSOR AND REGULATION OF THE RESTRICTION POINT
The decision to activate the cascade of events leading to DNA synthesis and ultimately cell division occurs at the restriction (R) point. The sum of signals accumulated in the first two-thirds of the G1 phase may trigger cell cycle progression, cause the cell to revert to G0 (or quiescence), or lead to cellular differentiation. After passing the R point late in G1, a cell will disregard exogenous signals and will enter DNA synthesis. Thus, the molecular mechanisms that control progression through the R point are of central importance in governing entry into the cell cycle. After DNA synthesis, major intracellular insults such as genomic damage or metabolic disruption can halt cell cycle progression, and the cells will arrest at other checkpoints in the S, G2, or M phase.

The retinoblastoma protein (pRB) is likely a key switch at the R-point (Lundberg and Weinberg, 1999) (Fig. 1Go). Phosphorylation results in structural conformation of proteins that initiate or inhibit cell physiologic events. Cells arrest near the R-point when pRB is hypophosphorylated. Upon pRB phosphorylation, cells advance to late G1 and subsequently undergo DNA synthesis. Initial pRB phosphorylation events are mediated by cyclin D1/CDK4 and/or cyclin D1/CDK6 complexes. Cyclin E/CDK2 additionally phosphorylates pRB during entry into and progression through the S-phase (Hinds et al., 1992, 1994; Sherr, 1993). Hypophosphorylated pRB inhibits S phase entry by physically associating with members of the E2F transcription factor family, a group of five members (E2F1-5). E2F1-3 preferentially bind to pRB; E2F4 and 5 bind to pRB-related proteins p107 and p130. The E2F-pRB complex actively represses transcription of target genes that regulate DNA synthesis (Nevins, 1998). Upon pRB phosphorylation, pRB/E2F complexes are disrupted, and E2F can now transcriptionally activate these promoters. Genes transcriptionally activated by E2F family members binding include c-MYC, n-MYC, CDC-2, p21WAF-1, cyclin A c-MYB, and the epidermal growth factor receptor (Goodger et al., 1997). Over-expression of E2F-1 has been shown to reverse the effects of telomerase activity in head and neck cancer cell lines (Henderson et al., 2000). Therefore, pRB or members of its regulatory pathway become critical molecular targets for malignant progression.

The function of pRB is lost in all retinoblastomas, a relatively rare form of hereditary childhood eye tumor. In addition, mutations in pRB due to somatic inactivation are also found in a variety of other tumors, including sarcomas, small-cell lung carcinomas, and bladder cancers. Re-introduction of the RB cDNA into such cancer cells inhibits their proliferation and tumorigenic properties, thus supporting the critical role of pRB-inactivating mutations in the formation of neoplastic cells (Weinberg, 1995). A central role for pRB in the genesis of human tumors is also suggested by the observation that pRB is targeted by the oncoproteins encoded by several DNA tumor viruses, including the human papilloma virus (HPV) E7 oncoprotein (Dyson and Harlow, 1992). Many other tumors, including those of the breast, prostate, and brain, however, show only infrequent loss of pRB expression (Weinberg, 1995). The delineation of the signal transduction pathways that govern pRB activity has suggested that pRB function may also be abrogated by mutations of specific components in this pathway. This concept has been validated, and it is now recognized that almost every human tumor has sustained an aberration in the pRB pathway. Interestingly, specific alterations in the pRB pathway are preferentially observed in individual tumor types, suggesting that there is additional complexity in this pathway.

Although pRB mutations are rare in oral cancer, the pRB regulatory circuit is also abrogated in these tumors. Several reports suggest that pRB function is absent in malignant oral epithelium (Pavelic et al., 1996; Yokoyama et al., 1996; Saito et al., 1999; Schoelch et al., 1999). Studies demonstrating reduced pRB expression frequently did so only in tumors with normal p16INK4a (El-Naggar et al., 1999; Lai and El-Naggar, 1999; Sartor et al., 1999). Other reports demonstrate elevated pRB levels during oral cancer progression, suggesting that pRB overexpression may be protective against apoptosis (Regezi et al., 1999). Altered expression was found to be associated with clinically aggressive oral cancers and tobacco/betal quid use, but did not correlate with early (< 35 yrs) or late (> 75 yrs) onset of disease (Pavelic et al., 1996; Pande et al., 1998; Regezi et al., 1999). While the direct contribution of altered pRB expression during oral carcinogenesis has not been completely defined, there is mounting evidence that the pRB pathway is rendered dysfunctional in oral cancers by abrogating upstream-positive (cyclin D1 and CDK6) or -negative (p21WAF1, p27KIP1, p16INK4a, and p19ARF) regulators.

    (C) CYCLIN D1 AND MITOGEN-ACTIVATED CELL CYCLE PROGRESSION
D-type cyclins represent a link between upstream mitogenic stimuli and regulation of pRB function (Sherr, 1993, 1994a) (Fig. 2Go). Human cyclin D1 was first isolated in human parathyroid adenomas as a gene rearranged by translocation to the parathyroid hormone locus at 11q13 (Motokura et al., 1991). Two other human D-type cyclin genes, cyclins D2 and D3, have also been cloned. All three human D-type cyclin genes encode 33-34-kDa proteins that share an average of 57% identity over the entire coding region and 78% in the cyclin box, the region of the cyclins that interacts with CDKs. There is compelling evidence for a role of cyclin D1 in G1 phase progression in the cell cycle. Microinjection of cyclin D1 antibody or antisense cyclin D1 blocks cells from entering the S phase (Baldin et al., 1993). Overexpression of cyclin D1 accelerates progression through the G1 phase of the cell cycle and reduces the requirement of the cell for mitogens (Quelle et al., 1993). D-type cyclins and their catalytic partners, CDK4 and CDK6, play an important role in modulating the response to extracellular stimuli and are believed to be essential for passage through the G1 phase (Sherr, 1993).



View larger version (86K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		Figure 2. Mitogen-activated G1 transition to the S phase. Mitogen stimulation leads to cyclin D1 synthesis. Together with its catalytic partners CDK4 and CDK6, cyclin D1 accelerates G1 progression by phosphorylating pRB.

 
As indicated earlier, pRB and pRB-related proteins (p107, p130) are important physiological substrates of CDK4/cyclin D and CDK6/cyclin D complexes, although other substrates likely exist (e.g., myb-like transcription factor, or mib) (Neuman et al., 1997; Stepanova et al., 2000). Phosphorylation of pRB by cyclin D/CDK4/6 complexes occurs late during the G1 phase and abrogates its growth-inhibitory function.

Cyclin D1's role as an oncogene has been established by its ability to cooperate with RAS or complement a defective adenoviral E1a oncogene in cell transformation assays (Hinds et al., 1994; Robles et al., 1996, 1998; Rodriguez-Puebla et al., 1999a,b). Overexpression of cyclin D1 has been reported in a variety of human tumors, including breast carcinomas, mantle cell lymphomas, and squamous cell carcinomas derived from the oral cavity, larynx, and esophagus as well as from other sites (Sicinski et al., 1995). The mechanisms underlying cyclin D1 overexpression in cancer include gene amplification, chromosomal translocation, and mitogenic stimulation of gene transcription (Hinds et al., 1994; Sherr, 1994a). The abrogation of mitogenic pathways that might lead to overexpression of cyclin D1 during oral carcinogenesis has been reviewed extensively elsewhere (Kamer et al., 1999). In the majority of primary oral cancers and cell lines, cyclin D1 overexpression appears independent of p16INK4a inactivation (Okami et al., 1999). The role of cyclins D2 and D3 in oral carcinogenesis is poorly understood. Expression of antisense cyclin D1 induces apoptosis and tumor shrinkage in squamous cell carcinomas (Sauter et al., 1999). Moreover, cyclin D1 overexpression has also been linked to increased risk of occult metastases and poor prognosis in oral cancer patients (Capaccio et al., 2000).

Animal models are currently being used to elucidate the contribution of cyclin D1 to human development and carcinogenesis (Bodrug et al., 1994; Lovec et al., 1994; Fantl et al., 1995; Mueller et al., 1997; Soonpa et al., 1997; Ma et al., 1998). Expression of the human cyclin D1 gene from the MMTV promoter caused mammary hyperplasia and carcinomas in lactating transgenic mice (Wang et al., 1994). When expression of human cyclin D1 is targeted to the oral-esophageal squamous epithelium with the EBV ED-L2 promoter, the ED-L2 cyclin D1 transgenic mice develop severe oral dysplasia. Expression of cyclin D1 from a keratin promoter (K5) also causes similar lesions (Nakagawa et al., 1997). The targeting of the cyclin D1 oncogene by an Epstein-Barr virus promoter in transgenic mice causes dysplasia in the tongue, esophagus, and forestomach (Mueller et al., 1997; Nakagawa et al., 1997). A transgenic mouse model with cyclin D1 overexpression results in cell cycle, epidermal growth factor receptor, and p53 abnormalities (Mueller et al., 1997). Ongoing work suggests that when the ED-L2 cyclin D1 transgenic mice are bred with mice in which the p53 gene product is ablated, the compound or hybrid mice show accelerated oral squamous dysplasia which progresses to oral squamous cancer (Opitz et al., unpublished observations). Thus, in this mouse model of oral carcinogenesis, cyclin D1 overexpression and p53 inactivation cooperate. Given the parallels to human oral carcinogenesis, this model will be useful for the testing of chemopreventive and therapeutic agents.

Altered CDK6 expression has also been detected in an oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cell line (Timmermann et al., 1997). Further analysis of a set of human oral SCC lines showed that activity of CDK6 was increased in these lines in the absence of cyclin D1 overexpression (Timmermann et al., 1997). The specific hyperactivity of CDK6 found in these oral cancer cell lines may reflect a unique role for CDK6 in promoting proliferation in these cells that cannot be fulfilled by CDK4 (Timmermann et al., 1997). Indeed, a role of CDK6 in promoting G1 transit has also been observed in cultured osteosarcoma cells, and may involve both spatial regulation and target specificity of this kinase (Grossel et al., 1999). In any case, it is clear that loss of p16INK4a expression, usually by methylation of the promoter or by deletion, is a common mechanism for CDK6 activation and dysregulation of the pRB pathway in oral carcinoma cell lines (Timmermann et al., 1997, 1998).

    (D) REGULATION OF R-POINT BY ANTI-MITOGENIC EXTRACELLULAR FACTORS
Exogenous anti-mitogenic signals also converge on the pRB regulatory pathway (Fig. 3Go). Various extracellular signals, such as growth factor deprivation or the TGF-ß signaling cascade, inhibit cellular proliferation by inhibiting CDK activity through CDK inhibitors (CDKi). Mitogenic stimuli also appear to act on CDKis. The CIP/KIP family of CDKis (p21WAF1/CIP1, p27KIP1, p57KIP2) can inhibit any cyclin/CDK complex. In addition, binding of p21WAF1/CIP1 to the CDK2-proliferating cell nuclear antigen results in slowing of DNA replication (by inhibiting the elongation of the strand being polymerized and allowing repairs to be made to damaged DNA) (Goodger et al., 1997). In addition, the CIP/KIP family members also play an important role in the assembly of functional CDK4 and CDK6/cyclin D complexes. In contrast, the INK family of CDKis (p15INK4b, p16INK4a, p18INK4c, p19INK4d) specifically inhibits CDK4 and CDK6 by disrupting active kinase complexes with cyclin D1, and does not inhibit other CDKs.



View larger version (94K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		Figure 3. Cell cycle block by anti-mitogenic signals. Anti-mitogenic signals stimulate cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CDKi) such as p16INK4a, p21WAF1/CIP1, and p27KIP1. Conversely, mitogenic stimulation leads to reduced levels and loss of CDKi-mediated inhibition of cyclin D1/CDK complexes.

 
Down-regulation of CDKis has been described in oral cancers. Loss of p16INK4a function is frequently observed in a variety of human cancers, including oral and esophageal cancers (Timmermann et al., 1997, 1998; Pande et al., 1998; El-Naggar et al., 1999; Sartor et al., 1999; Schoelch et al., 1999). p16INK4a is one of the proteins encoded by the MTS-1 tumor suppressor locus on chromosome 9p. Inactivation of this locus can be the result of chromosomal deletion, point mutation, or promoter hypermethylation (Akanuma et al., 1999; Cody et al., 1999; Miracca et al., 1999; Sanchez-Cespedes et al., 2000). Reduced p16INK4a function was frequently found in pRB-positive oral tumors (Pande et al., 1998; Timmermann et al., 1998; El-Naggar et al., 1999; Sartor et al., 1999). p16INK4a inactivation is believed to be an early event in oral carcinogenesis that is related to loss of replicative senescence/ immortalization (Loughran et al., 1996; Papadimitrakopoulou et al., 1997; Rocco et al., 1998; Timmermann et al., 1998; Chen et al., 1999). Loss of p16INK4a function is correlated with a poor prognosis in oral cancer patients (Bova et al., 1999; Danahey et al., 1999). A reduction of p27KIP1 during oral carcinogenesis has also been reported (Schoelch et al., 1999; Kudo et al., 2000a). Overexpression of p27KIP1, either experimentally in oral cancer cell lines using a proteasome inhibitor or as observed by inmmunohistodetection in human oral cancer biopsies, appears to correlate with the induction of apoptosis (Fujieda et al., 1999; Kudo et al., 2000b). Reduced p27KIP1 levels have been correlated with unfavorable treatment response, shorter overall survival, and shorter disease-free survival (Mineta et al., 1999; Venkatesan et al., 1999). Forced expression of p21WAF1/CIP1 in human squamous cell carcinoma xenografts in athymic mice has been shown to retard cell proliferation (Cardinali et al., 1998). In oral tumors, proliferating malignant oral keratinocytes have been demonstrated to co-express cyclin D1, suggesting that the latter can override p21WAF1/CIP1 inhibition of cell cycle progression (van Oijen et al., 1998). Reduced expression of p21WAF1/CIP1 appears to correlate with poor patient survival better than does reduced p53 expression (Tatemoto et al., 1998; Kudo et al., 1999). Interestingly, no correlation has been found between p53 and p21WAF1/CIP1 expression, suggesting that p21WAF1/CIP1 expression may rely on p53-dependent and p53-independent pathways (Yook and Kim, 1998; Kudo et al., 1999).


   (III) Cell Cycle Regulation Response to Intracellular Events
Top
 Previous
 Next
 
Cell cycle progression may be delayed or blocked by genotoxic and metabolic insults. Signaling pathways, such as p53, can govern both the arrest of cell division and the initiation of an apoptotic response, dependent on the cellular damage. Therefore, cellular pathways such as differentiation, senescence, and apoptosis converge with, and are frequently activated by, inhibitors of cell division.

    (A) THE P53 PATHWAY AND GENOMIC DAMAGE
Genomic damage and other cellular stress signals elicit a cellular response pathway that delays or prevents cell division (Fig. 4Go). The p53 tumor suppressor protein acts as a master regulator of this pathway and induces cell cycle inhibition and/or apoptosis following DNA damage. Under normal cellular growth conditions, p53 has a short half-life, and the cellular steady-state levels are very low. When treated with a variety of DNA-damaging agents, such as ultraviolet or ionizing radiation and certain chemotherapeutic drugs, normal cells respond by a rapid, non-transcriptional induction of p53 as well as post-translational modification including phosphorylation through the ATM/ATR and DNA PK family of protein kinases (Giaccia and Kastan, 1998). Depending on the circumstances, this induction of p53 causes cell cycle arrest or apoptotic cell death (Prives, 1993). The p53-mediated induction of apoptosis is the subject of intense research and involves both transcriptional and non-transcriptional mechanisms (Caelles et al., 1994; Dynlacht et al., 1994, 1997; Qin et al., 1994; Krek et al., 1995; Miyashita and Reed, 1995).



View larger version (79K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		Figure 4. p53 and cell cycle regulation. Metabolic stresses (such as anoxia) and DNA damage lead to elevated p53 activity, resulting in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.

 
The induction of G1 growth arrest by p53 is mediated by the transcriptional activity of p53. Expression of p21WAF1/CIP1 mRNA and protein is strongly induced by p53 under these conditions, and p21WAF1/CIP1 can itself inhibit cell proliferation upon introduction into cultured cells (El-Deiry et al., 1993; Harper et al., 1993). The ability of p21WAF1/CIP1 to inhibit many different cyclin/CDK complexes suggests that p21WAF1/CIP1 has a broad effect on cell cycle progression (Sherr, 1994b). This p53-mediated cell cycle arrest in response to DNA damage is thought to prevent the perpetuation of genomic mutations by allowing a cell to repair DNA damage before it undergoes a new round of DNA replication. Thus, p53 is involved in maintaining the integrity of the genome and has been referred to as the 'guardian of the human genome' (Lane, 1992). Moreover, it is widely believed that the common absence of functional p53 in human tumors contributes to genomic instability, which is a hallmark of human tumors and pathologically manifested as nuclear pleomorphism.

    (B) THE P53 PATHWAY AND ABERRANT CELL PHYSIOLOGY
The p53 and pRB tumor suppressor pathways are linked in many ways. On one hand, the ability of p53 to induce G1 growth arrest critically depends on the integrity of pRB (Lundberg and Weinberg, 1999). Conversely, abnormalities in the pRB pathway are sensed by p53. Normally, E2F activity is tightly regulated by pRB. Dysregulated E2F activity, for example, caused by a mutation in the pRB pathway triggers apoptosis that is at least in part p53-mediated.

Loss of p53 function is well-documented in oral cancers, and p53 mutations have been reported in over 60% of oral squamous cell carcinomas (Sakai et al., 1992). Mutation of p53 frequently induces a stabilization of the mutated protein. While little p53 is detected in normal oral epithelia and low-grade leukoplakias (mild to > moderate dysplasia), p53 accumulation (indicative of p53 mutation) is more frequent in high-grade leukoplakias (severe dysplasia) (Lui et al., 1999). Accumulation of the mutated p53 in malignant oral epithelium has been demonstrated by several immunohistochemical studies (Zariwala et al., 1994; Saito et al., 1999). Elevated p53 in oral cancers correlates with heavy smoking but not with patient age (Field et al., 1991; Brennan et al., 1995b; Regezi et al., 1999). However, younger patients demonstrate p53 accumulation earlier during malignant progression (Castle et al., 1999). Mutant p53 has been investigated as both a diagnostic and a therapeutic adjunct (Brennan et al., 1995a; Breau and Clayman, 1996; Clayman et al., 1998, 1999). Last, p53 has been used as a prognostic marker for current head and neck cancer therapy (Dijkema et al., 2000; Obata et al., 2000; Temam et al., 2000; Warnakulasuriya et al., 2000). These studies mostly correlate the mutation of p53 with an unfavorable response to chemotherapy and radiation. However, the heterogeneity of p53 mutations renders the design of simple assays for this biomarker exceedingly difficult (van Houten et al., 2000).


   (IV) Novel Cell Cycle Regulators
Top
 Previous
 Next
 
The signaling networks providing input into the cell cycle clock are continually being refined. While assigning cell cycle regulators to either extracellularly or intracellularly triggered pathways might help us begin to understand their biologic context, these designations are highly artificial: We are still discovering the pleotropic nature of the cell cycle regulators, as well as the overlap and interplay of the pathways where they function.

    (A) P12DOC-1 CELL CYCLE BIOLOGY
p12DOC-1, a growth suppressor identified and isolated from normal keratinocytes, has been identified to be a novel regulator of the cell division cycle (Todd et al., 1995) (Fig. 5Go). DOC-1 is a highly conserved cellular gene located on chromosome 12q24 whose cDNA has been cloned from humans, mice, and hamsters (Gordon et al., 1992; Todd et al., 1995; Daigo et al., 1997; Tsuji et al., 1998). Homologues have been located in EST databases of rat, Drosophila, and C. elegans. Human p12DOC-1 is a 115-amino-acid peptide with a molecular mass of 12.4 kDa (pI of 9.62) and with a 97% amino acid identity with the mouse and hamster p12DOC-1 protein sequences.



View larger version (89K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		Figure 5. p12DOC-1-mediated cell cycle arrest. p12DOC-1 is a CDK2-associating protein, binds to the monomeric non-phosphorylated form, and suppresses the binding to cyclin E and cyclin A. In addition, p12DOC-1 suppresses DNA replication by binding DNA polymerase-alpha/primase.

 
The cell-cycle-related function of p12DOC-1 was recently revealed by two sets of parallel studies. p12DOC-1 was found to interact with two cellular proteins of importance in S phase biology: DNA polymerase-{alpha}/primase (Matsuo et al., 2000) and CDK2 (Shintani et al., 2001a). The pol-{alpha}:primase binding domain in p12DOC-1 is mapped to the amino terminal six amino acid (MSYKPN). The biological effect of p12DOC-1 on pol-{alpha}:primase was examined by means of in vitro DNA replication assays. With the SV40 DNA replication assay, p12DOC-1 was shown to suppress DNA replication, leveling at about 50%. Similar results were obtained with the M13 single-stranded DNA synthesis assay. Analysis of the DNA replication products revealed that p12DOC-1 affects the initiation step, not the elongation phase. The p12DOC-1 suppression of DNA replication is likely to be mediated either by a direct inhibitory effect on pol-{alpha}:primase or by its effect on CDK2, a recently identified p12DOC-1-associated protein known to stimulate DNA replication by phosphorylating pol-{alpha}:primase. p12DOC-1 suppresses CDK2-mediated phosphorylation of pol-{alpha}:primase. Analysis of these data supports a role of p12DOC-1 as a regulator of DNA replication by direct inhibition of pol-{alpha}:primase or by negatively regulating the CDK2-mediated phosphorylation of pol-{alpha}:primase. Pol-{alpha}:primase is the only eukaryotic enzyme that can initiate DNA replication de novo. While p21WAF1/CIP1 has been shown to associate with proliferating-cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and to inhibit DNA replication (Waga et al., 1994), analysis of our data demonstrates a proximal control mechanism whereby the first step of DNA replication, initiation, can be regulated upon interaction with p12DOC-1, suggesting that p12DOC-1 is a regulator of DNA replication negatively regulating the activity of pol-{alpha}:primase.

p12DOC-1 has also been found to associate with CDK2. More specifically, p12DOC-1 associates with the monomeric non-phosphorylated form of CDK2 (p34CDK2). Ectopic expression of p12DOC-1 resulted in decreased cellular CDK2, reduced CDK2-associated kinase activities, and a shift in the cell cycle positions of p12DOC-1 transfectants ({uparrow} G1 and {downarrow} S). The p12DOC-1-mediated decrease of CDK2 is prevented if the p12DOC-1 transfectants were grown in the presence of the proteosome inhibitor clasto-lactacystin ß-lactone, suggesting that p12DOC-1 may target CDK2 for proteolysis. A CDK2 binding mutant was created and found to block p12DOC-1/CDK2-associated cell cycle phenotypes. Analysis of these data supports p12DOC-1 as a specific CDK2-associated protein that negatively regulates CDK2 activities by sequestering the monomeric pool of CDK2 and/or targets CDK2 for proteolysis, thereby reducing the active pool of CDK2.

Expression of p12DOC-1 is cell-cycle-dependent and peaks in the S phase. The effect of p12DOC-1 on the biochemical pathway of CDK2 activation does not affect downstream phosphorylations by WEE1 and CAK. WEE1 and CAK kinase activities are not affected in the presence of p12DOC-1. The net effect of the interaction of p12DOC-1 with CDK2 is therefore the reduction of the intracellular pool of active CDK2, leading to the suppression of CDK2-mediated cell cycle phenotypes (G1/S transition, S phase progression, and DNA replication). CDK2-mediated cell cycle phenotypes are suppressed in cells ectopically expressing p12DOC-1. It is consistently observed that when cells are transfected with p12DOC-1, there is an associated growth suppression, change in cell cycle profile ({uparrow}G1 and {downarrow}S), and suppression of DNA replication (p < 0.05) (Shintani et al., 2001a). It is intriguing to note that while the p21WAF1/CIP1 family of CDK inhibitors is universal for CDKs and the p16INK4a family is specific for CDK4 and CDK6, p12DOC-1 may be a specific CDK2-associated protein that suppresses CDK2 activities.

The role of p12DOC-1 in oral cancer cell cycle dysregulation has yet to be fully elucidated. In surveys including rodent oral keratinocyte cell lines, expression of DOC-1 has been consistently found to be down-regulated or lost in malignant keratinocytes (Todd et al., 1995), human cell lines, and oral cancer tissues (Tsuji et al., 1998). Reduced expression of p12DOC-1 in human oral cancer tissues correlated with negative prognostic indicators such as tumor mode of invasion (p = 0.0314), risk of cervical lymph node metastasis (p = 0.0226), and reduced patient 10-year survival status (p = 0.0032) (Shintani et al., 2001b).


   (V) Cell Cycle Dysregulation and Multistep Carcinogenesis
Top
 Previous
 Next
 
Malignant progression is a multistep process. Escape of the cancer cell from cell cycle regulation reflects an important aspect of this multistep process (Lundberg and Weinberg, 1999). In many ways, pre-malignant cells with activated oncogenes or inactivated tumor suppressor genes are frequently prevented from clonally expanding by internal sensing mechanisms that lead to the induction of senescence (growth arrest) or apoptosis. Activation of the MYC oncogene results in the induction of apoptosis, while RAS activation induces senescence (Evan et al., 1992; Serrano et al., 1997). Therefore, the pathways leading to senescence or apoptosis must be abrogated in pre-malignant cells for malignant progression to occur. Alteration of p16INK4a activity and the association of human papillomavirus (HPV) during oral carcinogenesis are examples of the importance that cell cycle abrogation can be coupled with escape from differentiation, senescence, or apoptotic programs during malignant progression (Goodger et al., 1997).

    (A) P16INK4a AND MULTISTEP CARCINOGENESIS
Dysregulation of the cell cycle regulators, such as p16INK4a, not only leads to uncontrolled cellular proliferation, but also contributes to escape from other checkpoints such as senescence and apoptosis. Inactivation of the CDKN2A locus occurs in the majority of oral cancers (Wu et al., 1999). Loss of p16INK4a inhibition of cyclin D1/CDK4 inhibition of the G1->S transition is a major abrogation of cell cycle regulation. p16INK4a activity leads to replicative senescence, and this phenotype can be restored in oral malignant oral keratinocytes that have ceased to express p16INK4a due to promoter methylation by 5-aza-2' deoxycytidine treatment (Timmermann et al., 1997). In addition, an alternative reading frame of p16INK4a encodes the p19ARF protein (Quelle et al., 1995). p19ARF inhibits p53 degradation by antagonizing MDM2 (Haupt et al., 1997; Kamijo et al., 1998; Zhang et al., 1998). Alteration of MDM2 expression has been associated with the pre-invasive stages of oral carcinogenesis and may suggest a more biologically aggressive tumor (Agarwal et al., 1999; Partridge et al., 1999). p53 can lead to either growth arrest or apoptosis, depending on the severity of the insult and the individual cell type response. Several reports implicate the p53 pathway as an important mediator of apoptosis in oral keratinocytes (Lui et al., 1999; Schoelch et al., 1999). In addition, loss of p53 activity also reduces p21WAF1/CIP1 induction of senescence (Ng et al., 1999). Once allowed to expand clonally, the pre-malignant cells continue to grow and replicate their genome regardless of unrepaired damage (Lin et al., 1991; Livingstone et al., 1992). Therefore, the likelihood of one of the pre-malignant clones undergoing the next critical genetic 'hit' increases markedly. Coupling cell cycle dysregulation with the abrogation of differentiation, senescence, and apoptotic programs may also be virally mediated during oral carcinogenesis.

    (B) HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUSES AND ORAL CANCER
Infections of the genital tract epithelia with specific HPVs can lead to a variety of clinical outcomes. Low-risk HPVs cause benign genital warts such as condyloma acuminata, which only rarely progress to carcinoma. In contrast, however, infection with a high-risk HPV causes pre-malignant squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs), which in some cases can progress to invasive cervical carcinoma. More than 90% of all cervical carcinomas express high-risk HPV. Since the high-risk HPV E6 and E7 oncoproteins, which are consistently expressed in these cancers, can inactivate the p53 and pRB tumor suppressor pathways, a high-risk HPV infection can functionally substitute for at least two mutational hits and mechanistically contribute to the multistep process of epithelial carcinogenesis (zur Hausen, 1996) (Fig. 6Go).



View larger version (86K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		Figure 6. Multistep abrogation of cell cycle regulation. Dysregulation of cell cycle progression likely requires both a direct regulatory checkpoint loss combined with a failure to activate cellular senescence, differentiation, and/or apoptotic programs. The human papillomavirus (HPV) synthesizes two proteins, E6 and E7, that abrogate the p53 and pRB pathways.

 
In the cervix, most HPV infections occur at the transitional zone between squamous and columnar epithelium (the 'transformation zone'), presumably because replicating basal epithelial cells are most easily accessible to the virus at this location. A similar junction of stratified squamous and columnar epithelium exists between the esophagus and the stomach. This anatomical location is much less accessible to HPV transmission than the cervical transitional zone. Thus, in a healthy individual, HPV infection of basal cells may be a rare event in the oral cavity. Severe alcohol and tobacco abuse and poor oral hygiene lead to ulcerations and other tissue damage in the oral cavity, and these changes are significant additional risk factors for oral carcinogenesis (Field, 1992). Similar to anogenital keratinocytes, primary cultures of oral keratinocytes are immortalized by high-risk HPVs (Park et al., 1991), and these cell lines progress to a fully transformed phenotype when treated with carcinogens (Kim et al., 1993), coinciding with increased genomic instability (Shin et al., 1996). This observation indicates that the biochemical activities of the E6/E7 oncoproteins have the same biological consequences in epithelial cells of both oral and anogenital origin.

Studies addressing the involvement of HPV in oral carcinogenesis have yielded ambiguous results (Yeudall, 1992). Although high-risk HPVs are detected in oral cancers, their possible role in oral carcinogenesis is obscure. Some studies have indicated that oral cancers may contain sequence variants of known high-risk HPV types (Maitland et al., 1987; Yeudall and Campo, 1991). In particular, it has been reported that oral-cancer-associated HPV variants may have mutations in the long control region that result in increased expression of the E6 and E7 genes compared with the prototypical HPV isolate (Chen et al., 1997). A very recent study demonstrated that about 25% of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas are positive for integrated HPV genomes (Gillison et al., 2000). This finding suggests that HPV-positive head and neck cancers may constitute a distinct class of disease with better prognosis than those that are HPV-negative. These tumors can occur in patients without other risk factors (smoking, alcohol consumption) and are less frequently associated with p53 mutations than HPV-negative cancers.


   (VI) Future Directions and Clinical Applications
Top
 Previous
 Next
 
The oral cancer problem primarily involves the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity (Silverman, 1988). While recent advances have reduced the morbidity of oral cancer, the five-year survival rate for these patients has remained largely unchanged at ~ 50% for the last 30 years, because early stages of the disease are associated with minimal signs and symptoms, and advanced stages generally respond poorly to current cancer therapies (Silverman, 1998). This review highlights the current status of investigative efforts to understand the identity and function of specific cell cycle defects in human oral cancer. While the majority of oral cancers harbor p53 mutations, CDK6 hyperactivation is a unique defect in the pRB tumor suppressor pathway, in addition to frequent cyclin D1 overexpression and p16INK4a mutations. The ability to map the signature cell cycle defects in human oral cancer is of value not only for the biological understanding of the disease but more importantly toward the translational utilization of this information for early diagnosis and biology-based therapy. Many of the cell cycle regulators reviewed have been associated as biologic predictors of oral cancer behavior. In the future, our ability to profile, comprehensively, the gene expression differences among normal, pre-malignant, and tumor cells from the same patient will allow us better to index the consistently altered cell cycle defects in human oral cancer (Shillitoe et al., 2000). Development of new animal models will advance our understanding of the functional consequences of these cell cycle defects. Understanding the identity and function of oral cancer cell cycle defects will provide novel biological/genomic parameters for patient outcome monitoring and treatment therapy decisions and options.

Two new head and neck cancer therapeutic approaches under investigation are cell-cycle-based. ONYX-015 is an E1B attenuated adenovirus that is believed to replicate selectively in p53 mutant cells, therefore sparing normal/wild-type p53 cells (Bischoff et al., 1996). However, other studies fail to correlate mutant p53 and viral replication (Hall et al., 1998). When administered intratumorally to patients with recurrent head and neck cancer, ONYX-015 produced tumor necrosis in four of five patients with mutant p53 (Ganly et al., 2000). ONYX-015 treatments, which were easily administered and well-tolerated, may serve as an adjunct to current chemotherapeutic approaches to head and neck cancer patients (Kirn et al., 1999). Recently, a phase II trial on recurrent head and neck cancers was completed, demonstrating improved response to intratumoral ONYX-015 injection with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil vs. either viral treatment or chemotherapy alone (Khuri et al., 2000). Flavopiridol is a novel cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor that has been demonstrated to have anti-neoplastic properties (Weinstein et al., 1997). Recently, flavopiridol has been shown to suppress head and neck carcinoma growth by inducing apoptosis (Patel et al., 1998). Exposure of malignant oral keratinocytes to flavopiridol diminished CDC2 and CDK2 activity, as well as reduced cyclin D1 expression. Certainly, understanding the mechanisms of cell cycle dysregulation of the oral keratinocyte during oral carcinogenesis will serve as an adjunct to present diagnostic and therapeutic options and provide the basis for novel strategies in the future.


   Acknowledgments
 
Supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (P01 DE12467).


   REFERENCES
Top
 
Agarwal S, Mathur M, Srivastava A, Ralhan R (1999). MDM2/p53 co-expression in oral premalignant and malignant lesions: potential prognostic implications. Oral Oncol 35:209–216.[Medline]

Akanuma D, Uzawa N, Yoshida MA, Negishi A, Amagasa T, Ikeuchi T (1999). Inactivation patterns of the p16 (INK4a) gene in oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines. Oral Oncol 35:476–483.[Medline]

Baldin V, Lukas J, Marcote MJ, Pagano M, Draetta G (1993). Cyclin D1 is a nuclear protein required for cell cycle progression in G1. Genes Dev 7:812–821.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Bischoff JR, Kirn DH, Williams A, Heise C, Horn S, Muna M, et al. (1996). A mutant adenovirus which selectively replicates in tumor cells with nonfunctional p53. Science 274:373–376.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Bodrug SE, Warner BJ, Bath ML, Lindeman GJ, Harris AW, Adams JM (1994). Cycli D1 transgene impedes lymphocyte maturation and collaborates in lymphomagenesis with the myc gene. EMBO J 13:2124–2130.[Medline]

Bova RJ, Quinn DI, Nankervis JS, Cole IE, Sheridan BF, Jensen MJ, et al. (1999). Cyclin D1 and p16INK4A expression predict reduced survival in carcinoma of the anterior tongue. Clin Cancer Res 5:2810–2819.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Breau RL, Clayman GL (1996). Gene therapy for head and neck cancer. Curr Opin Onco l8:227–231.

Brennan JA, Mao L, Hruban RH, Boyle JO, Eby YJ, Koch WM, et al. (1995a). Molecular assessment of histopathological staging in squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. N Engl J Med 332:429–435.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Brennan JA, Boyle JO, Koch WM, Goodman SN, Hruban RH, Eby YJ, et al. (1995b). Association between cigarette smoking and mutation of the p53 gene in squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. N Engl J Med 332:712–717.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Caelles C, Helmberg A, Karin M (1994).p53-dependent apoptosis in the absence of transcriptional activation of p53-target genes. Nature 370:220–223.[Medline]

Capaccio P, Pruneri G, Carboni N, Pagliari AV, Quatela M, Cesana BM, et al. (2000). Cyclin D1 expression is predictive of occult metastases in head and neck cancer patients with clinically negative cervical lymph nodes. Head Neck 22:234–240.[Medline]

Cardinali M, Jakus J, Shah S, Ensley JF, Robbins KC, Yeudall WA (1998). p21 (WAF1/Cip1) retards the growth of human squamous cell carcinomas in vivo. Oral Oncol 34:211–218.[Medline]

Castle JT, Cardinali M, Kratochvil FJ, Abbondanzo SL, Kessler HP, Auclair PL, et al. (1999).p53 and cyclin D1 staining patterns of malignant and premalignant oral lesions in age-dependent populations. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 88:326–332.[Medline]

Chen Q, Lue G, Li B, Samaranayake LP (1999). Expression of p16 and CDK4 in oral premalignant lesions and oral squamous cell carcinomas: a semi-quantitative immunohistochemical study. J Oral Pathol Med 28:158–164.[Medline]

Chen Z, Storthz KA, Shillitoe EJ (1997). Mutations in the long control region of human papillomavirus DNA in oral cancer cells, and their functional consequences. Cancer Res 57:1614–1619.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Clayman GL, el-Naggar AK, Lippman SM, Henderson YC, Frederick M, Merritt JA, et al. (1998). Adenovirus-mediated p53 gene transfer in patients with advanced recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. J Clin Oncol 16:2221–2232.[Abstract]

Clayman GL, Frank DK, Bruso PA, Goepfert H (1999). Adenovirus-mediated wild-type p53 gene transfer as a surgical adjuvant in advanced head and neck cancers. Clin Cancer Res 5:1715–1722.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Cody DT, Huang Y, Darby CJ, Johnson GK, Domann FE (1999). Differential DNA methylation of the p16 INK4A/CDKN2A promoter in human oral cancer cells and normal human oral keratinocytes. Oral Oncol 35:516–522.[Medline]

Daigo Y, Suzuki K, Maruyama O, Miyoshi Y, Yasuda T, Kabuto T, et al. (1997). Isolation, mapping and mutation analysis of a human cDNA homologous to the doc-1 gene of the Chinese hamster, a candidate tumor suppressor for oral cancer. Genes Chromosomes Cancer 20:204–207.[Medline]

Danahey DG, Tobin EJ, Schuller DE, Bier-Laning CM, Weghorst CM, Lang JC (1999).p16 mutation frequency and clinical correlation in head and neck cancer. Acta Otolaryngol 119:285–288.[Medline]

Dijkema IM, Struikmans H, Dullens HF, Kal HB, van der Tweel I, Battermann JJ (2000). Influence of p53 and bcl-2 on proliferative activity and treatment outcome in head and neck cancer patients. Oral Oncol 36:54–60.[Medline]

Dynlacht BD, Flores O, Lees JA, Harlow E (1994). Differential regulation of E2F transactivation by cyclin/cdk2 complexes. Genes Dev 8:1772–1786.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Dynlacht BD, Moberg K, Lees JA, Harlow E, Zhu L (1997). Specific regulation of E2F family members by cyclin-dependent kinases. Mol Cell Biol 17:3867–3875.[Abstract]

Dyson N, Harlow E (1992). Adenovirus E1A targets key regulators of cell proliferation. Cancer Surv 12:161–195.[Medline]

El-Deiry WS, Tokino T, Velculescu VE, Levy DB, Parsons R, Trent JM, et al. (1993). WAF1, a potential mediator of p53 tumor suppression. Cell 75:817–825.[Medline]

El-Naggar AK, Lai S, Clayman GL, Zhou JH, Tucker SA, Myers, et al. (1999). Expression of p16, Rb, and cyclin D1 gene products in oral and laryngeal squamous carcinoma: biological and clinical implications. Hum Pathol 30:1013–1018.[Medline]

Evan GI, Wyllie AH, Gilbert CS, Land H, Brooks M, Waters CM, et al. (1992). Induction of apoptosis in fibroblasts by c-myc. Cell 69:119–128.[Medline]

Fantl V, Stamp G, Andrews A, Rosewell I, Dickson C (1995). Mice lacking cyclin D1 are small and show defects in eye and mammary gland development. Genes Dev 9:2364–2372.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Field JK (1992). Oncogenes and tumour-suppressor genes in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Eur J Cancer B Oral Oncol 28(B):67–76.

Field JK, Spandidos DA, Malliri A, Gosney JR, Yiagnisis M, Stell PM (1991). Elevated p53 expression correlates with a history of heavy smoking in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Br J Cancer 64:573–577.[Medline]

Fujieda S, Inuzuka M, Tanaka N, Sunaga H, Fan GK, Ito T, et al. (1999). Expression of p27 is associated with Bax expression and spontaneous apoptosis in oral and oropharyngeal carcinoma. Int J Cancer 84:315–320.[Medline]

Ganly I, Kirn D, Eckhard SG, Rodriguez GI, Soutar DS, Otto R, et al. (2000). A phase I study of ONYX-015, an E1B attenuated adenovirus, administered intratumorally to patients with recurrent head and neck cancer. Clin Cancer Res 6:798–806.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Giaccia AJ, Kastan MB (1998). The complexity of p53 modulation: emerging patterns from divergent signals. Genes Dev 12:2973–2983.[Free Full Text]

Gillison ML, Koch WM, Capone RB, Spafford M, Westra WH, Wu L, et al. (2000). Evidence for a causal association between human papillomavirus and a subset of head and neck cancers. J Natl Cancer Inst 92:709–720.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Goodger NM, Gannon J, Hunt T, Morgan PR (1997). Cell cycle regulatory proteins — an overview with relevance to oral cancer. Oral Oncol 33:61–73.[Medline]

Gordon HM, Kucera G, Salvo R, Boss JM (1992). Tumor necrosis factor induces genes involved in inflammation, cellular and tissue repair, and metabolism in murine fibroblasts. J Immunol 148:4021–4027.[Abstract]

Grossel MJ, Baker GL, Hinds PW (1999). Cdk6 can shorten G1 phase dependent on the N-terminal INK4 interaction domain. J Biol Chem 274:29960–29967.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Hall AR, Dix BR, O'Carroll SJ, Braithwaite AW (1998).p53 dependent cell death/apoptosis is required for a productive adenovirus infection. Nat Med 4:1068–1072.[Medline]

Harper JW, Adami GR, Wei N, Keyomarsi K, Elledge SJ (1993). The p21 CDK-interacting protein cip1 is a potent inhibitor of G1 cyclin-dependent kinases. Cell 75:805–808.[Medline]

Haupt Y, Maya R, Kazaz A, Oren M (1997). Mdm2 promotes the rapid degradation of p53. Nature 387:296–299.[Medline]

Henderson YC, Breau RL, Liu TJ, Clayman GL (2000). Telomerase activity in head and neck tumors after wild-type p53, p21, p16, and E2F-1 genes by means of recombinant adenovirus. Head Neck 22:347–354.[Medline]

Hinds PW, Mittnacht S, Dulic V, Arnold A, Reed SI, Weinberg RA (1992). Regulation of retinoblastoma protein functions by ectopic expression of human cyclins. Cell 70:993–1006.[Medline]

Hinds PW, Dowdy SF, Eaton EN, Arnold A, Weinberg RA (1994). Function of a human cyclin gene as an oncogene. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91:709–713.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Kamer AR, Krebs L, Hoghooghi SA, Liebow C (1999). Proliferative and apoptotic responses in cancers with special reference to oral cancers. Crit Rev Oral Biol Med 10:58–78.[Abstract]

Kamijo T, Weber JD, Zambetti G, Zindy F, Roussel MF, Sherr CJ (1998). Functional and physical interactions of the ARF tumor suppressor with p53 and Mdm2. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:8292–8297.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Khuri FR, Nemunaitis J, Ganly I, Arseneau J, Tannock IF, Romel L, et al. (2000). A controlled trial of intratumoral ONYX-015, a selectively replicating adenovirus, in combination with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil in patients with recurrent head and neck cancer. Nat Med 6:879–885.[Medline]

Kim MS, Shin KH, Baek JH, Cherrick HM, Park NH (1993). HPV-16, tobacco-specific N nitrosamine, and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine in oral carcinogenesis. Cancer Res 53:4811–4816.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Kirn DH, Khuri F, Ganly I, Romel JC, Tannock I, Bore M, et al. (1999). A phase II trial of ONYX-015, a selectively replicating adenovirus, in combination with cisplatin and fluorouracil in patients with recurrent head and neck cancer (abstract). J Clin Oncol 18:389a.

Krek W, Xu G, Livingston DM (1995). Cyclin A-kinase regulation of E2F-1 DNA binding function underlies suppression of an S-phase checkpoint. Cell 83:1149–1158.[Medline]

Kudo Y, Takata T, Ogawa I, Sato S, Nikai H (1999). Expression of p53 and p21CIP1/WAF1 proteins in oral epithelial dysplasias and squamous cell carcinomas. Oncol Rep 6:539–545.[Medline]

Kudo Y, Takata T, Ogawa I, Zhao M, Sato S, Takekoshi T, et al. (2000a). Reduced expression of p27 (Kip1) correlates with an early stage of cancer invasion in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer Lett 151:217–222.[Medline]

Kudo Y, Takata T, Ogawa I, Kaneda T, Sato S, Takekoshi T, et al. (2000b).p27Kip1 accumulation by inhibition of proteasome function induces apoptosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma cells. Clin Cancer Res 6:916–923.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Lai S, El-Naggar AK (1999). Differential expression of key cell cycle genes (p16/cyclin D1/pRb) in head and neck squamous carcinomas. Lab Invest 79:255–260.[Medline]

Lane DP (1992).p53, guardian of the genome. Nature 358:15–16.[Medline]

Lin BT-Y, Gruenwald S, Morla AO, Lee W-H, Wang JYJ (1991). Retinoblastoma cancer suppressor gene product is a substrate of the cell cycle regulator cdc2 kinase. EMBO J 10:857–864.[Medline]

Livingstone LR, White A, Sprouse J, Livanos E, Jacks T, Tlsty TD (1992). Altered cell cycle arrest and gene amplification potential accompany loss of wild-type p53. Cell 70:923–935.[Medline]

Loughran O, Malliri A, Owens D, Gallimore PH, Stanley MA, Ozanne B, et al. (1996). Association of CDKN2A/p16INK4A with human head and neck keratinocyte replicative senescence: relationship of dysfunction to immortality and neoplasia. Oncogene 13:561–568.[Medline]

Lovec H, Grzeschiczek A, Kowalski MB, Moroy T (1994). Cyclin D1/bcl-1 cooperates with myc genes in the generation of B-cell lymphoma in transgenic mice. EMBO J 13:3487–3495.[Medline]

Lui SC, Hu Y, Sauter ER, Clapper ML, Chen SY, Lanfanchi HE, et al. (1999). Image analysis of p53 and cyclin D1 expression in premalignant lesions of the oral mucosa. Anal Quant Cytol Histol 21:166–173.[Medline]

Lundberg AS, Weinberg RA (1999). Control of the cell cycle and apoptosis. Eur J Cancer 35:1886–1894.

Ma C, Papermaster D, Cepko CL (1998). A unique pattern of photoreceptor degeneration in cyclin D1 mutant mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:9938–9943.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Maitland NJ, Cox MF, Lynas C, Prime SS, Meanwell CA, Scully C (1987). Detection of human papillomavirus DNA in biopsies of human oral tissue. Br J Cancer 56:245–250.[Medline]

Matsuo K, Shintani S, Tsuji T, Nagata E, Lerman M, McBride J, et al. (2000).p12DOC-1, a growth suppressor, associates with DNA polymerase {alpha}/primase. FASEB J 14:1318–1324.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Mineta H, Miura K, Suzuki I, Takebayashi S, Amano H, Araki K, et al. (1999). Low p27 expression correlates with poor prognosis for patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer 85:1011–1017.[Medline]

Miracca EC, Kowalski LP, Nagai MA (1999). High prevalence of p16 genetic alterations in head and neck tumours. Br J Cancer 81:677–683.[Medline]

Miyashita T, Reed JC (1995). Tumor suppressor p53 is a direct transcriptional activator of the human bax gene. Cell 80:293–299.[Medline]

Motokura T, Bloom T, Kim HG, Juppner H, Ruderman JV, Kronenberg HM, et al. (1991). A novel cyclin encoded by a bcl1-linked candidate oncogene. Nature 350:512–515.[Medline]

Mueller A, Odze R, Jenkins TD, Shahsesfaei A, Nakagawa H, Inomoto T, et al. (1997). A transgenic mouse model with cyclin D1 overexpression results in cell cycle, epidermal growth factor receptor and p53 abnormalities. Cancer Res 57:5542–5549.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Nakagawa H, Wang TC, Zukerberg L, Odze R, Togawa K, May GHW, et al. (1997). The targeting of the cyclin D1 oncogene by an Epstein-Barr virus promoter in transgenic mice causes dysplasia in the tongue, esophagus and forestomach. Oncogene 14:1185–1190.[Medline]

Neuman E, Ladha MH, Lin N, Upton TM, Miller SJ, DiRenzo J, et al. (1997). Cyclin D1 stimulation of estrogen receptor transcriptional activity independent of cdk4. Mol Cell Biol 17:5338–5347.[Abstract]

Nevins JR (1998).E2F: a link between the Rb tumor suppressor protein and viral oncoproteins. Science 258:424–429.

Ng IO, Lam KY, Ng M, Regezi JA (1999). Expression of p21/waf1 in oral squamous cell carcinomas—correlation with p553 and mdm2 and cellular proliferation index. Oral Oncol 35:63–69.[Medline]

Obata A, Eura M, Sasaki J, Saya H, Chickamatsu K, Tada M, Iggo RD, et al. (2000). Clinical significance of p53 functional loss in squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx. Int J Cancer 89:187–193.[Medline]

Okami K, Reed AL, Cairns P, Koch WM, Westra WH, Whage S, et al. (1999). Cyclin D1 amplification is independent of p16 inactivation in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Oncogene 18:3541–3545.[Medline]

Pande P, Mathur M, Shukla NK, Ralhan R (1998). pRb and p16 protein alterations in human oral tumorigenesis. Oral Oncol 34:396–403.[Medline]

Papadimitrakopoulou V, Izzo J, Lippman SM, Lee JS, Fan YH, Clayman G, et al. (1997). Frequent inactivation of p16INK4a in oral premalignant lesions. Oncogene 14:1799–1803.[Medline]

Park NH, Min BM, Li SL, Huang MZ, Cherick HM, Doniger J (1991). Immortalization of normal human oral keratinocytes with type 16 human papillomavirus. Carcinogenesis 12:1627–1631.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Partridge M, Kiguwa S, Emilion G, Pateromichelakis S, A'Hern R, Langdon JD (1999). New insights into p53 stabilisation in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Oral Oncol 35:45–55.[Medline]

Patel V, Senderowicz AM, Pinto D, Igishi T, Raffeld M, Quintanilla-Marinez L, et al. (1998). Flavopiridol, a novel cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, suppresses the growth of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas by inducing apoptosis. J Clin Invest 102:1674–1681.[Medline]

Pavelic ZP, Lamar M, Pavelic L, Sorensen C, Stambrook PJ, Zimmermann N, et al. (1996). Absence of retinoblastoma gene product in human primary oral cavity carcinomas. Eur J Cancer B Oral Oncol 32B:347–351.

Prives C (1993). Doing the right thing: feedback control and p53. Curr Opin Cell Biol 5:214–218.[Medline]

Qin XQ, Livingston DM, Kaelin WG, Adams PD (1994). Deregulated transcription factor E2F-1 expression leads to S-phase entry and p53-mediated apoptosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91:10918–10922.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Quelle DE, Ashmun RA, Shurtleff SA, Kato JY, Bar-Sagi D, Roussel MF, et al. (1993). Overexpression of mouse D-type cyclins accelerates G1 phase in rodent fibroblasts. Genes Dev 7:1559–1571.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Quelle DE, Zindy F, Ashmun RA, Sherr CJ (1995). Alternative reading frames of the INK4a tumor suppressor gene encode two unrelated proteins capable of inducing cell cycle arrest. Cell 83:993–1000.[Medline]

Regezi JA, Dekker NP, McMillan A, Ramirez-Amador V, Meneses-Garcia A, Ruiz-Godoy Rivera LM, et al. (1999).p53, p21, Rb, and MDM2 proteins in tongue carcinoma from patients <35 versus >75 years. Oral Oncol 35:379–383.[Medline]

Robles AI, Larcher F, Whalin RB, Murillas R, Richie E, Gimenez-Conti IB, et al. (1996). Expression of cyclin D1 in epithelial tissues of transgenic mice results in epidermal hyperproliferation and severe thymic hyperplasia. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:7634–7638.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Robles AI, Rodriguez-Puebla ML, Glick AB, Trempus C, Hansen L, Sicinski P, Tennant RW, et al. (1998). Reduced skin tumor development in cyclin D1-deficient mice highlights the oncogenic ras pathway in vivo. Genes Dev 12:2469–2474.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Rocco JW, Li D, Liggett WH, Duan L, Saunders JK, Sidransky D, et al. (1998).p16INK4a adenovirus-mediated gene therapy for human head and neck squamous cell cancer. Clin Cancer Res 4:1697–1704.[Abstract]

Rodriguez-Puebla ML, LaCava M, Conti CJ (1999a). Cyclin D1 overexpression in mouse epidermis increases cyclin-dependent kinase activity and cell proliferation in vivo but does not affect skin tumor development. Cell Growth Differ 10:467–472.