p53-Dependent activation of a molecular beacon in tumor cells following exposure to doxorubicin chemotherapy

In an effort to begin developing a non-invasive strategy for in-vivo detection of the cellular DNA damage response, we engineered a molecular beacon to detect expression of p21(WAF1/CIP1), a gene whose transcription is directly activated by the p53 tumor suppressor protein. Introduction of a phosphorothioate-modified p21-beacon by transfection in human tumor cells led to a slight background signal that increased in a dose dependent manner between 50 and 400 nM beacon. Strong nuclear signal was observed following treatment of wild-type p53-expressing human H460 lung cancer cells for 8 hours with the chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin (adriamycin). Similar induction was observed in wild-type p53-expressing HCT116 cells. Interestingly, following doxorubicin exposure, there was activation of the p21-beacon in p21-null HCT116 cells, which was not observed in p53-null HCT116, or mutant p53-expressing DLD1 cells that are either wild-type or p21-null. Increased signal from the phosphorothioate-modified p21-beacon...