The Bad Guy Cooperates with Good Cop p53: Bad Is Transcriptionally Up-Regulated by p53 and Forms a Bad/p53 Complex at the Mitochondria To Induce Apoptosis

ABSTRACT Although the regulation of several Bcl-2 family molecules, including Puma, Noxa, Bax, and Bid, by p53 has been studied intensively, the interplay between Bad (Bcl-2 antagonist of cell death) and p53 has not yet been reported thus far. Here, we report that p53 activates Bad transcription and expression through binding to a short conserved sequence located approximately 6.6 kb upstream of the translation start point. We also demonstrate that Bad physically interacts with cytoplasmic p53, thereby preventing p53 from entering the nucleus and resulting in reduced transcription of Bad. Moreover, Bad is able to direct p53 to the mitochondria and forms a p53/Bad complex at the mitochondria. Two lines of evidences support this hypothesis: first, when mitochondria purified from p53-deficient H1299 cells are incubated with p53 and either wild-type (wt) Bad or mutant Bad (this mutant binds p53 yet is unable to migrate to mitochondria), p53 can be detected only in mitochondria incubated with wt Bad and not in those incubated with mutant Bad; second, knockdown of Bad expression reduces mitochondrial localization of p53. The mitochondrial p53/Bad complex promotes apoptosis via activation and oligomerization of Bak. Elimination of Bad expression by RNA interference notably attenuates apoptosis induced by etoposide. Hence, our collective data provide the first evidence that Bad plays dual roles in both p53 transcription-dependent and -independent pathways.