The cellular response to genotoxic stress is a complex cascade of events including altered
protein expression, interactions, modifications, and relocalization, leading to cell cycle arrest and DNA repair or to apoptosis. p53
protein has a central role in this process, and p53 status is an important factor in the response of a
tumor to genotoxic anticancer
therapy. We studied p53-related changes postexposure to ionizing radiation using top-down mass spectrometry. Initially two cell lines were compared, HCT116 p53 wild type (wt) and p53(-/-), in a time course study postirradiation. In the p53 wt cell line a striking increase of a 10.2-kDa
protein was detected, and this
protein was identified with MS/MS analysis as S100A6. Further MS profiling led to detection of two post-translationally modified variants of S100A6, namely glutathionylated and cysteinylated forms. In p53 wt cells, a specific shift from glutathionylated to cysteinylated S100A6 occurred postirradiation. The p53 dependence of this specific change in
protein level and modification pattern of S100A6 postirradiation was confirmed in a panel of four
lung cancer cell lines (H23, U1810, H69, and A549) with different p53 status and using
small interfering RNA against p53. Interestingly the closely related S100 family
protein S100A4 showed the same changes in modification pattern post-ionizing radiation in the p53 wt
lung cancer cell line, and S100A4 also showed p53-dependent expression. Using confocal microscopy, relocalization of S100A6 from nucleus to cytosol and a colocalization with
tropomyosin in stress fibers was detected in A549 cells postirradiation. This relocalization coincided with the change in S100A6 modification pattern. Based on these results, we suggest that S100A6 and S100A4 are regulated via redox modifications in vivo and that these
proteins are involved in the cellular response to genotoxic stress.