Tumor prone phenotype of mice deficient in a novel apoptosis-inducing gene, drs.

The drs gene was originally isolated as a suppressor of v-src transformation. Expression of drs mRNA is markedly downregulated in a variety of human cancer cell lines and tissues, suggesting the potential role of this gene as a tumor suppressor. Previously, we found that Drs protein associates with ASY/Nogo-B/RTN-x(S), an apoptosis-inducing protein in the endoplasmic reticulum, and sequentially activates caspases to induce apoptosis in human cancer cells without involvement of the mitochondria. In this study, we investigated the tumor suppressor function of drs and the correlation between Drs-mediated apoptosis and tumor suppression by generating a gene-knockout (KO) mouse. Between 7 and 12 months after birth, malignant tumors including lymphomas, lung adenocarcinomas and hepatomas were generated in about 30% of the drs KO mice, whereas no tumors were found in any of the wild-type mice during the same period of time. drs KO embryonic fibroblasts also showed enhanced sensitivity to transformation by v-src oncogene. Reintroduction of drs into a tumor cell line derived from the tumor of a drs KO mouse led to the suppression of tumor formation in nude mice, which was accompanied by enhanced apoptosis and the activation of caspase-9 and -3. Furthermore, introduction of drs into this cell line enhanced sensitivity to apoptosis mediated by caspase-3, -9 and -12 under low serum culture conditions. The present results thus indicate that drs contributes to the suppression of malignant tumor formation, and this suppression is closely correlated with drs-mediated apoptosis.

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