Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P16104 (H2AX)
 3,930 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The human tumor suppressor gene ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) encodes a 3056 amino-acid protein kinase that regulates cell cycle checkpoints. ATM is defective in the neurodegenerative and cancer predisposition syndrome ataxia-telangiectasia. ATM protein kinase is activated by DNA damage and responds by phosphorylating downstream effectors involved in cell cycle arrest and DNA repair, such as p53, MDM2, CHEK2, BRCA1 and H2AX. ATM is probably a component of, or in close proximity to, the double-stranded DNA break-sensing machinery. We have observed purified human ATM protein, ATM-DNA and ATM-DNA-avidin bound complexes by single-particle electron microscopy and obtained three-dimensional reconstructions which show that ATM is composed of two main domains comprising a head and an arm. DNA binding to ATM induces a large conformational movement of the arm-like domain. Taken together, these three structures suggest that ATM is capable of interacting with DNA, using its arm to clamp around the double helix.
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PMID:Electron microscopy and 3D reconstructions reveal that human ATM kinase uses an arm-like domain to clamp around double-stranded DNA. 1281 60

We employed gene targeting to study H2AX, a histone variant phosphorylated in chromatin surrounding DNA double-strand breaks. Mice deficient for both H2AX and p53 (H(delta/delta)P(-/-)) rapidly developed immature T and B lymphomas and solid tumors. Moreover, H2AX haploinsufficiency caused genomic instability in normal cells and, on a p53-deficient background, early onset of various tumors including more mature B lymphomas. Most H2AX(delta/delta)p53(-/-) or H2AX(+/delta)p53(-/-) B lineage lymphomas harbored chromosome 12 (IgH)/15 (c-myc) translocations with hallmarks of either aberrant V(D)J or class switch recombination. In contrast, H2AX(delta/delta)p53(-/-) thymic lymphomas had clonal translocations that did not involve antigen receptor loci and which likely occurred during cellular expansion. Thus, H2AX helps prevent aberrant repair of both programmed and general DNA breakage and, thereby, functions as a dosage-dependent suppressor of genomic instability and tumors in mice. Notably, H2AX maps to a cytogenetic region frequently altered in human cancers, possibly implicating similar functions in man.
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PMID:Histone H2AX: a dosage-dependent suppressor of oncogenic translocations and tumors. 1291

Histone H2AX becomes phosphorylated in chromatin domains flanking sites of DNA double-strand breakage associated with gamma-irradiation, meiotic recombination, DNA replication, and antigen receptor rearrangements. Here, we show that loss of a single H2AX allele compromises genomic integrity and enhances the susceptibility to cancer in the absence of p53. In comparison with heterozygotes, tumors arise earlier in the H2AX homozygous null background, and H2AX(-/-) p53(-/-) lymphomas harbor an increased frequency of clonal nonreciprocal translocations and amplifications. These include complex rearrangements that juxtapose the c-myc oncogene to antigen receptor loci. Restoration of the H2AX null allele with wild-type H2AX restores genomic stability and radiation resistance, but this effect is abolished by substitution of the conserved serine phosphorylation sites in H2AX with alanine or glutamic acid residues. Our results establish H2AX as genomic caretaker that requires the function of both gene alleles for optimal protection against tumorigenesis.
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PMID:H2AX haploinsufficiency modifies genomic stability and tumor susceptibility. 1291 1

p53 mutant tumour cells respond to genotoxic insults by bypassing G1 arrest and halting in G2. Following release from G2 arrest they undergo mitotic catastrophe, whereby mitotic cycling is suppressed, delayed apoptosis begins and endopolyploid cells are produced. The ability of these endopolyploid cells to participate in the restitution process is controversial. To facilitate recovery, these endopolyploid cells must repair the extensive DNA damage induced. DNA damage and its resolution were studied by observing the kinetics of gamma-H2AX foci formation and by comet assay analysis. Subsequently, the kinetics and distribution of Rad51 foci were studied as a measure of homologous recombination. Here we present evidence of the resolution of DNA damage in endopolyploid cells through a decrease of tail moment by comet assay and in the number of cells expressing gamma-H2AX foci. Rad51 foci expression reached a maximum in endopolyploid cells on days 5-6 after irradiation, when delayed apoptosis was maximal, indicating that cells were being selected for survival at this time. Furthermore, the proportion of Annexin-V-positive polyploid cells decreased as they continued ongoing rounds of DNA replication, suggesting endoreduplication is involved in selecting cells resistant to apoptosis. Our findings suggest that after severe genotoxic insult endopolyploid cells have a transient survival advantage that may contribute to radioresistance of tumours that undergo mitotic catastrophe.
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PMID:Endopolyploid cells produced after severe genotoxic damage have the potential to repair DNA double strand breaks. 1295 71

Cell cycle checkpoints that monitor DNA damage and spindle assembly are essential for the maintenance of genetic integrity, and drugs that target these checkpoints are important chemotherapeutic agents. We have examined how cells respond to DNA damage while the spindle-assembly checkpoint is activated. Single cell electrophoresis and phosphorylation of histone H2AX indicated that several chemotherapeutic agents could induce DNA damage during mitotic block. DNA damage during mitotic block triggered CDC2 inactivation, histone H3 dephosphorylation, and chromosome decondensation. Cells did not progress into G1 but seemed to retract to a G2-like state containing 4N DNA content, with stabilized cyclin A and cyclin B1 binding to Thr14/Tyr15-phosphorylated CDC2. The loss of mitotic cells was not due to cell death because there was no discernible effect on caspase-3 activation, DNA fragmentation, or viability. Extensive DNA damage during mitotic block inactivated cyclin B1-CDC2 and prevented G1 entry when the block was removed. The mitotic DNA damage responses were independent of p53 and pRb, but they were dependent on ATM. CDC25A that accumulated during mitosis was rapidly destroyed after DNA damage in an ATM-dependent manner. Ectopic expression of CDC25A or nonphosphorylatable CDC2 effectively inhibited the dephosphorylation of histone H3 after DNA damage. Hence, although spindle disruption and DNA damage provide conflicting signals to regulate CDC2, the negative regulation by the DNA damage checkpoint could overcome the positive regulation by the spindle-assembly checkpoint.
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PMID:DNA damage during the spindle-assembly checkpoint degrades CDC25A, inhibits cyclin-CDC2 complexes, and reverses cells to interphase. 1451 13

NFBD1/MDC1 (mediator of DNA damage checkpoint 1) is a nuclear factor with an amino-terminal FHA (forkhead-associated) domain and a tandem repeat of BRCT (breast cancer susceptibility gene-1 carboxyl terminus) domains. We have previously shown that NFBD1 is an early participant in DNA damage signaling pathways and that ionizing radiation-induced nuclear foci (IRIF) of NFBD1 colocalize with several DNA checkpoint signaling and repair factors. We report here that NFBD1 physically associates with ATM, p53, components of the MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 (MRN) complex, and gamma-H2AX. An overexpressed FHA domain-containing fragment of NFBD1 binds to endogenous NFBD1 and components of the MRN complex, but not to gamma-H2AX. This fragment interferes with IRIF formation by endogenous NFBD1, MRE11, or NBS1. A BRCT domain-containing fragment of NFBD1 binds to gamma-H2AX and 53BP1, but not to components of the MRN complex, and abolishes IRIF formation by NFBD1, MRE11, NBS1, 53BP1, CHK2 phospho-T68, gamma-H2AX, and possible ATM/ATR substrates recognized by anti-phospho-SQ/TQ antibody. These results suggest that NFBD1 is an ATM/ATR-dependent organizer that recruits DNA checkpoint signaling and repair proteins to the sites of DNA damage.
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PMID:NFBD1/MDC1 regulates ionizing radiation-induced focus formation by DNA checkpoint signaling and repair factors. 1451 63

Severe levels of hypoxia (oxygen concentrations of less that 0.02%) have been shown to induce a rapid S-phase arrest. The mechanism behind hypoxia-induced S-phase arrest is unclear, we show here that it was not mediated by a shortage of nucleosides and was not dependent on p53, p21 or Hif 1alpha status. The drugs aphidicolin and hydroxyurea both induce rapid replication arrest and have been used throughout the literature to study the ATR-mediated response to stalled replication. We have shown previously that hypoxia induces ATR-dependent phosphorylation of p53, Chk1 and histone H2AX. Using comet-assays to detect DNA-damage we found that both aphidicolin and hydroxyurea induced significant levels of DNA-damage while hypoxia did not. Here we show that like aphidicolin and hydroxyurea, hypoxia induces phosphorylation of Nbs1 at serine 343 and Rad17 serine 645. Hypoxia-dependent phosphorylation of Nbs1 and Rad17 was ATM-independent and therefore likely to be a result of the ATR kinase activity. In contrast, p53 was phosphorylated differentially in response to the three treatments considered here. p53 was phosphorylated at serine 15 in response to all three treatments but was only phosphorylated at serine 20 in response to the drug treatments. We propose that treatment with either aphidicolin or hydroxyurea leads to not only replication arrest but also DNA-damage and therefore both ATM and ATR-mediated signaling. In contrast replication arrest induced by severe hypoxia is sensed exclusively through ATR, with ATM only having a role to play after re-oxygenation.
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PMID:Comparison of hypoxia-induced replication arrest with hydroxyurea and aphidicolin-induced arrest. 1464 37

The histone H2A variant, H2AX, is a core component of chromatin that is phosphorylated in chromatin flanking DNA double strand breaks (DSBs). Here, we summarize H2AX functions and outline a specific "anchoring" model, that can explain the translocation prone phenotype of H2AX-deficient and H2AX/p53-deficient mice. We also discuss how this model of H2AX function could account for some aspects of the genomic instability and cancer prone human phenotypes associated with Ataxia Telangiectasia (AT), Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome (NBS), Ataxia Telangiectasia Like Disorder (ATLD), and Bloom's Syndrome (BS).
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PMID:H2AX may function as an anchor to hold broken chromosomal DNA ends in close proximity. 1471 78

The complex containing the Mre11, Rad50, and Nbs1 proteins (MRN) is essential for the cellular response to DNA double-strand breaks, integrating DNA repair with the activation of checkpoint signaling through the protein kinase ATM (ataxia telangiectasia mutated). We demonstrate that MRN stimulates the kinase activity of ATM in vitro toward its substrates p53, Chk2, and histone H2AX. MRN makes multiple contacts with ATM and appears to stimulate ATM activity by facilitating the stable binding of substrates. Phosphorylation of Nbs1 is critical for MRN stimulation of ATM activity toward Chk2, but not p53. Kinase-deficient ATM inhibits wild-type ATM phosphorylation of Chk2, consistent with the dominant-negative effect of kinase-deficient ATM in vivo.
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PMID:Direct activation of the ATM protein kinase by the Mre11/Rad50/Nbs1 complex. 1506 16

Disruption of the mechanisms that regulate cell-cycle checkpoints, DNA repair, and apoptosis results in genomic instability and the development of cancer in multicellular organisms. The protein kinases ATM and ATR, as well as their downstream substrates Chk1 and Chk2, are central players in checkpoint activation in response to DNA damage. Histone H2AX, ATRIP, as well as the BRCT-motif-containing molecules 53BP1, MDC1, and BRCA1 function as molecular adapters or mediators in the recruitment of ATM or ATR and their targets to sites of DNA damage. The increased chromosomal instability and tumor susceptibility apparent in mutant mice deficient in both p53 and either histone H2AX or proteins that contribute to the nonhomologous end-joining mechanism of DNA repair indicate that DNA damage checkpoints play a pivotal role in tumor suppression.
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PMID:DNA damage tumor suppressor genes and genomic instability. 1510 99


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