Studies in fibroblasts have shown that H2O2, as a model for oxidative damage, leads to a G1 growth arrest phenotypically similar to senescence. These observations as well as the observation that bladder cancer is associated with deletions of CDKN2, a gene important in normal senescence, led us to examine normal urothelial cell response to H2O2. We hypothesized that low dose H2O2 exposure would lead to p16 and/or p14arf mediated senescence. We show that H2O2 leads to endogenous beta-galactosidase expression similar to senescence, but instead of G1 arrest, it leads to G2/M growth arrest without induction of either p16 or p14arf. Lack of p21 induction and a similar G2/M growth arrest in E6 immortalized uroepithelial cells suggests that this response is independent of p53 as well. An increased level of cdc2 tyrosine-15 phosphorylation following H2O2 treatment suggests that the observed growth arrest is mediated by a G2 checkpoint mechanism.

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