Prescription Drugs 2 Go

Authors: Carney BK, Cassimeris L
Stathmin, a microtubule regulatory protein, is overexpressed in many cancers and required for survival of several cancer lines. In a study of breast cancer cell lines, Alli et al. (Oncogene. 26:1003-12) proposed that stathmin is required for survival of cells lacking p53, but this hypothesis was not tested directly. Here we tested their hypothesis by examining cell survival in cells depleted of stathmin, p53 or both proteins. Comparing HCT116 colon cancer cell lines differing in TP53 genotype, stathmin depletion resulted in significant death only in cells lacking p53. As a second experimental system, we compared the effects of stathmin depletion from HeLa cells, which normally lack detectable levels of p53 due to expression of the HPV E6 protein. Stathm…