Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.1.21 (thymidine kinase)
 7,561 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Targeted gene silencing in mammalian cells by RNA interference (RNAi) using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) was recently described by Elbashir et al. (S. M. Elbashir et al., Nature (Lond.), 411: 494-498, 2001). We have used this methodology in several human cell strains to reduce expression of the Prkdc (DNA-PKcs) gene coding for the catalytic subunit of the DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PKcs) that is involved in the nonhomologous end joining of DNA double-strand breaks. We have also demonstrated a radiosensitization for several phenotypic endpoints of radiation damage. In low-passage normal human fibroblasts, siRNA knock-down of DNA-PKcs resulted in a reduced capacity for restitution of radiation-induced interphase chromosome breaks as measured by premature chromosome condensation, an increased yield of acentric chromosome fragments at the first postirradiation mitosis, and an increased radiosensitivity for cell killing. For three strains of related human lymphoblasts, DNA-PKcs-targeted siRNA transfection resulted in little or no increase in radiosensitivity with respect to cell killing, a 1.5-fold decrease in induced mutant yield in TK6- and p53-null NH32 cells, but about a 2-fold increase in induced mutant yield in p53-mutant WTK1 cells at both the hypoxanthine quanine phosphoribosyl transferase (hprt) and the thymidine kinase loci.
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PMID:Silencing expression of the catalytic subunit of DNA-dependent protein kinase by small interfering RNA sensitizes human cells for radiation-induced chromosome damage, cell killing, and mutation. 1243 23

A novel delivery system was used to study NO-mediated cyto- and genotoxicity in two human lymphoblastoid cell lines, TK6 (wild-type p53) and NH32 (p53-null but isogenic to TK6). The delivery system, which supplied NO and O(2) continuously by diffusion through gas permeable tubing, was found to maintain the NO and O(2) concentrations at constant, predictable values. Cellular rates of NO and O(2) consumption and mass transfer coefficients for the two gases were measured in separate experiments and used to calculate the NO concentrations during exposure experiments. The TK6 and NH32 cells were each exposed to several steady state NO concentrations for varying lengths of time, so that the total dose (area under the concentration-time curve) covered a wide range. End point assays, including lethality, apoptosis, mitochondrial damage, and mutation rate in the thymidine kinase (TK1) gene locus, were performed at different posttreatment times. Control experiments using Ar instead of NO resulted in normal cell proliferation for all exposure times tested (up to 36 h). As compared to those controls, significant cell death, apoptosis, and mitochondrial membrane depolarization were observed in NO-treated TK6 cells, and the TK1 mutation rate was elevated. Of particular importance, toxic effects were observed only when the NO concentration and dose were greater than threshold values of approximately 0.5 micro M and approximately 150 micro M min, respectively. If neither or only one threshold was exceeded, the effects were insignificant; when both were exceeded, total cell survival and the number of nonapoptotic cells both decreased exponentially with increasing NO dose. In general, the NH32 cells were much more resistant to NO-induced damage and death than TK6 cells, demonstrating that p53 status is an important determinant of NO-induced cytotoxicity.
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PMID:Thresholds of nitric oxide-mediated toxicity in human lymphoblastoid cells. 1292 28

Toxicity induced by nitric oxide (NO(*)) has been extensively investigated in many in vitro and in vivo experimental models. Recently, our laboratories found that both concentration and cumulative total dose are critical determinants of cell death caused by NO(*). Here, we report results of studies designed to define total dose thresholds and threshold effects for several NO(*)-induced toxicity and cellular responses and to determine impacts of p53 on them. We exposed human lymphoblastoid TK6 cells harboring wild-type p53 and isogenic p53-null NH32 cells to NO(*) delivered by a membrane delivery system. Cells were exposed at a steady state concentration of 0.6 microM for varying lengths of time to deliver increasing cumulative doses (expressed in units of microM min), and several end points of cytotoxicity and mutagenesis were quantified. Threshold doses for NO(*)-induced cytotoxicity were 150 microM min in TK6 cells and 300 microM min in NH32 cells, respectively. Threshold doses for NO(*)-induced apoptosis were identical to those for cytotoxicity, but mitochondrial depolarization thresholds were lower than those for cytotoxicity and apoptosis in both cell types. To gain insight into underlying mechanisms, cells of both types were exposed to sublethal (33% of cytotoxicity threshold), cytotoxicity threshold, or toxic (twice the cytotoxicity threshold) doses of NO(*). In TK6 cells (p53), the sublethal threshold dose induced DNA double-strand breaks, but nucleobase deamination products (xanthine, hypoxanthine, and uracil) in DNA were increased only modestly (<50%) by toxic doses. Increased mutant fraction at the thymidine kinase gene (TK1) locus was observed only at the toxic dose of NO(*). Treatment of NH32 cells with NO(*) at the threshold or toxic dose elevated mutagenesis of the TK1 gene, but did not cause detectable levels of DNA double-strand breaks. At similar levels of cell viability, the frequency of DNA recombinational repair was higher in p53-null NH32 cells than in wild-type TK6 cells. NO(*) treatment induced p53-independent cell cycle arrest predominately at the S phase. Akt signaling pathway and antioxidant proteins were involved in the modulation of toxic responses of NO(*). These findings indicate that exposure to doses of NO(*) at or above the cytotoxicity threshold dose induces DNA double-strand breaks, mutagenesis, and protective cellular responses to NO(*) damage. Furthermore, recombinational repair of DNA may contribute to resistance to NO(*) toxicity and potentially increase the risk of mutagenesis. The p53 plays a central role in these responses in human lymphoblastoid cells.
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PMID:Threshold effects of nitric oxide-induced toxicity and cellular responses in wild-type and p53-null human lymphoblastoid cells. 1654 44

Many studies have shown that an alteration of p53 affects various cellular responses to DNA damage after treatment with ionizing radiation. The human lymphoblast cell WTK1, which contains a mutant p53 (ile237), is 10-fold hypermutable at the thymidine kinase (tk) locus compared with TK6 cells, which are from the same donor but contain wild-type p53. These results implied that the specific p53 mutation found in WTK1 may actively contribute to mutagenesis in a gain of function manner. To further investigate this, the present experiments involved transfecting WTK1 cells with a wild-type p53 vector; this restored p53 activity in WTK1 cells, as evidenced by radiation-induced expression of p21. We compared radiosensitivity, as measured both by clonogenic survival and the induction of apoptosis, as well as mutant fractions (MFs) at the tk locus. WTK1 cells expressing wild-type p53 were more sensitive to gamma-ray-induced toxicity as measured by either clonogenic survival or apoptosis. The mutation assays revealed that both the spontaneous and gamma-ray-induced MFs were significantly decreased in WTK1 cells expressing wild-type p53; the MFs were similar to those observed in p53-null NH32 cells, also derived from the same donor. These results indicate that wild-type p53 can reduce the apparent gain-of-function hypermutable effects of a particular p53 gene mutation and thereby help maintain genomic stability.
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PMID:Wild-type p53 reduces radiation hypermutability in p53-mutated human lymphoblast cells. 1756 29

Epidemiological data have suggested an increased cancer rates in diabetic patients, for which the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. We studied whether high level of glucose (HG) treatment that mimic the hyperglycemic condition in diabetes mellitus is mutagenic. Mutagenesis studies were carried out at both hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (hprt) and thymidine kinase (tk) loci. Role of p53 in HG-induced mutagenesis was also investigated by using human lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from same donor but differs in p53 statuses; TK6 has wild-type p53, NH32 has null p53, and WTK1 has mutant p53 (ile237). In addition, we studied the influence of antioxidant treatment on HG-induced mutagenesis. Mutation fractions at both loci increased significantly in all three lines at 21 and 28 days after HG treatments. At tk locus, the increase of a class of mutants with normal growth rate is mainly responsible for the overall increased mutant fraction. Compared to TK6 cells, both NH32 and WTK1 cells showed an early onset of mutagenesis. Treatment of cells with antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine partially reduced HG induced mutagenesis. This study is the first to indicate that HG is able to induce gene mutation which may be one of the important mechanisms of diabetes-associated carcinogenesis.
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PMID:High level glucose increases mutagenesis in human lymphoblastoid cells. 1784 82

Using RNA interference techniques to knock down key proteins in two major double-strand break (DSB) repair pathways (DNA-PKcs for nonhomologous end joining, NHEJ, and Rad54 for homologous recombination, HR), we investigated the influence of DSB repair factors on radiation mutagenesis at the autosomal thymidine kinase (TK) locus both in directly irradiated cells and in unirradiated bystander cells. We also examined the role of p53 (TP53) in these processes by using cells of three human lymphoblastoid cell lines from the same donor but with differing p53 status (TK6 is p53 wild-type, NH32 is p53 null, and WTK1 is p53 mutant). Our results indicated that p53 status did not affect either the production of radiation bystander mutagenic signals or the response to these signals. In directly irradiated cells, knockdown of DNA-PKcs led to an increased mutant fraction in WTK1 cells and decreased mutant fractions in TK6 and NH32 cells. In contrast, knockdown of DNA-PKcs led to increased mutagenesis in bystander cells regardless of p53 status. In directly irradiated cells, knockdown of Rad54 led to increased induced mutant fractions in WTK1 and NH32 cells, but the knockdown did not affect mutagenesis in p53 wild-type TK6 cells. In all cell lines, Rad54 knockdown had no effect on the magnitude of bystander mutagenesis. Studies with extracellular catalase confirmed the involvement of H2O2 in bystander signaling. Our results demonstrate that DSB repair factors have different roles in mediating mutagenesis in irradiated and bystander cells.
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PMID:Deficiencies of double-strand break repair factors and effects on mutagenesis in directly gamma-irradiated and medium-mediated bystander human lymphoblastoid cells. 1822 Apr 73