HSP27 regulates p53 transcriptional activity in doxorubicin-treated fibroblasts and cardiac H9c2 cells : p21 upregulation and G2/M phase cell cycle arrest

Treatment of cancer patients with anthracyclin-based chemotherapeutic drugs induces congestive heart failure by a mechanism involving p53. However, it is not known how p53 aggravates doxorubicin (Dox)-induced toxicity in the heart. On the basis of in vitro acute toxicity assay using heat shock factor-1 (HSF-1) wild-type (HSF-1+/+) and HSF-1-knockout (HSF-1−/−) mouse embryonic fibroblasts and neonatal rat cardiomyocyte-derived H9c2 cells, we demonstrate a novel mechanism whereby heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) regulates transcriptional activity of p53 in Dox-treated cells. Inhibition of p53 by pifithrin-α (PFT-α) provided different levels of protection from Dox that correlate with HSP27 levels in these cells. In HSF-1+/+ cells, PFT-α attenuated Dox-induced toxicity. However, in HSF-1−/− cells (which express a very low level of HSP27 compared with HSF-1+/+ cells), there was no such attenuation, indicating an important role of HSP27 in p53-dependent cell death. On the other hand, immunoprecipitation of p53 was...