Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0043346 (xeroderma pigmentosum)
 2,924 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

DNA polymerase eta (Pol eta) is the product of the Polh gene, which is responsible for the group variant of xeroderma pigmentosum, a rare inherited recessive disease which is characterized by susceptibility to sunlight-induced skin cancer. We recently reported in a study of Polh mutant mice that Pol eta is involved in the somatic hypermutation of immunoglobulin genes, but the cancer predisposition of Polh-/- mice has not been examined until very recently. Another translesion synthesis polymerase, Pol iota, a Pol eta paralog encoded by the Poli gene, is naturally deficient in the 129 mouse strain, and the function of Pol iota is enigmatic. Here, we generated Polh Poli double-deficient mice and compared the tumor susceptibility of them with Polh- or Poli-deficient animals under the same genetic background. While Pol iota deficiency does not influence the UV sensitivity of mouse fibroblasts irrespective of Polh genotype, Polh Poli double-deficient mice show slightly earlier onset of skin tumor formation. Intriguingly, histological diagnosis after chronic treatment with UV light reveals that Pol iota deficiency leads to the formation of mesenchymal tumors, such as sarcomas, that are not observed in Polh(-/-) mice. These results suggest the involvement of the Pol eta and Pol iota proteins in UV-induced skin carcinogenesis.
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PMID:UV-B radiation induces epithelial tumors in mice lacking DNA polymerase eta and mesenchymal tumors in mice deficient for DNA polymerase iota. 1701 82

Xeroderma pigmentosum variant (XPV) patients have normal DNA excision repair, yet are predisposed to develop sunlight-induced cancer. They exhibit a 25-fold higher than normal frequency of UV-induced mutations and very unusual kinds (spectrum), mainly transversions. The primary defect in XPV cells is the lack of functional DNA polymerase (Pol) eta, the translesion synthesis DNA polymerase that readily inserts adenine nucleotides opposite photoproducts involving thymine. The high frequency and striking difference in kinds of UV-induced mutations in XPV cells strongly suggest that, in the absence of Pol eta, an abnormally error-prone polymerase substitutes. In vitro replication studies of Pol iota show that it replicates past 5'T-T3' and 5'T-U3' cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers, incorporating G or T nucleotides opposite the 3' nucleotide. To test the hypothesis that Pol iota causes the high frequency and abnormal spectrum of UV-induced mutations in XPV cells, we identified an unlimited lifespan XPV cell line expressing two forms of Pol iota, whose frequency of UV-induced mutations is twice that of XPV cells expressing one form. We eliminated expression of one form and compared the parental cells and derivatives for the frequency and kinds of UV-induced mutations. All exhibited similar sensitivity to the cytotoxicity of UV((254 nm)), and the kinds of mutations induced were identical, but the frequency of mutations induced in the derivatives was reduced to </=50% that of the parent. These data strongly support the hypothesis that in cells lacking Pol eta, Pol iota is responsible for the high frequency and abnormal spectrum of UV-induced mutations, and ultimately their malignant transformation.
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PMID:Evidence that in xeroderma pigmentosum variant cells, which lack DNA polymerase eta, DNA polymerase iota causes the very high frequency and unique spectrum of UV-induced mutations. 1740 8