Disturbed flow: P53 SUMOylation in the turnover of endothelial cells

Abstract

Disturbed blood flow induces apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells, which causes atherosclerosis. In this issue, Heo et al. (2011. J. Cell Biol. doi:10.1083/jcb.201010051) sheds light on p53's role in this phenomenon. Disturbed flow induces peroxynitrite production, which activates protein kinase C ζ and it's binding to the E3 SUMO (small ubiquitin-like modifier) ligase PIASy (protein inhibitor of activated STATy). This leads to p53 SUMOylation and its export to the cytosol, where it binds to the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 to induce apoptosis. © 2011 Takabe et al.