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)

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP1) facilitates DNA repair by binding to DNA breaks and attracting DNA repair proteins to the site of damage. Nevertheless, PARP1-/- mice are viable, fertile and do not develop early onset tumours. Here, we show that PARP inhibitors trigger gamma-H2AX and RAD51 foci formation. We propose that, in the absence of PARP1, spontaneous single-strand breaks collapse replication forks and trigger homologous recombination for repair. Furthermore, we show that BRCA2-deficient cells, as a result of their deficiency in homologous recombination, are acutely sensitive to PARP inhibitors, presumably because resultant collapsed replication forks are no longer repaired. Thus, PARP1 activity is essential in homologous recombination-deficient BRCA2 mutant cells. We exploit this requirement in order to kill BRCA2-deficient tumours by PARP inhibition alone. Treatment with PARP inhibitors is likely to be highly tumour specific, because only the tumours (which are BRCA2-/-) in BRCA2+/- patients are defective in homologous recombination. The use of an inhibitor of a DNA repair enzyme alone to selectively kill a tumour, in the absence of an exogenous DNA-damaging agent, represents a new concept in cancer treatment.
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PMID:Specific killing of BRCA2-deficient tumours with inhibitors of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. 1582 66

The BRCA2 protein is involved in the maintenance of genomic stability through its key role in homologous recombination repair of DNA double strand breaks. Biallelic inactivation of BRCA2 leads to a defect in DNA repair and is associated with a chromosomal instability phenotype. Recent studies on familial breast cancer clusters revealed chromosomal rearrangements and higher rates of sister chromatid exchanges also in heterozygous BRCA2 mutation carriers. In the present study, lymphoblastoid cell lines of heterozygous BRCA2 mutation carriers and of wildtype relatives were compared with regard to BRCA2 mRNA and protein expression and capacity to repair DNA damage induced by gamma-irradiation and mitomycin C. BRCA2+/- cells showed lower amounts of the full-length BRCA2 protein compared to BRCA2+/+ cells. The kinetics of gamma-H2AX protein level revealed distinct defects in DNA double strand break repair in the BRCA2+/- cells. These results are indicative of a haploinsufficiency phenotype in BRCA2+/- cells, suggesting that reduced amounts of functional BRCA2 protein in BRCA2+/- carriers are insufficient for an efficient repair of DNA double strand breaks, a condition that could contribute to the impairment of genomic stability.
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PMID:Lower level of BRCA2 protein in heterozygous mutation carriers is correlated with an increase in DNA double strand breaks and an impaired DSB repair. 1644 46

We show that DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induce complex subcompartmentalization of genome surveillance regulators. Chromatin marked by gamma-H2AX is occupied by ataxia telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) kinase, Mdc1, and 53BP1. In contrast, repair factors (Rad51, Rad52, BRCA2, and FANCD2), ATM and Rad-3-related (ATR) cascade (ATR, ATR interacting protein, and replication protein A), and the DNA clamp (Rad17 and -9) accumulate in subchromatin microcompartments delineated by single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). BRCA1 and the Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 complex interact with both of these compartments. Importantly, some core DSB regulators do not form cytologically discernible foci. These are further subclassified to proteins that connect DSBs with the rest of the nucleus (Chk1 and -2), that assemble at unprocessed DSBs (DNA-PK/Ku70), and that exist on chromatin as preassembled complexes but become locally modified after DNA damage (Smc1/Smc3). Finally, checkpoint effectors such as p53 and Cdc25A do not accumulate at DSBs at all. We propose that subclassification of DSB regulators according to their residence sites provides a useful framework for understanding their involvement in diverse processes of genome surveillance.
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PMID:Spatial organization of the mammalian genome surveillance machinery in response to DNA strand breaks. 1661 11

The repair of DNA double-strand breaks involves the accumulation of key homologous recombination proteins in nuclear foci at the sites of repair. The organization of these foci in relation to non-chromatin nuclear structures is poorly understood. To address this question, we examined the distribution of several recombination proteins in subcellular fractions following treatment of HeLa cells with ionizing radiation and the crosslinking agent mitomycin C. The results showed association of Rad51, Rad54, BRCA1 and BRCA2, but not Rad51C, with the nuclear matrix fraction in response to double-strand breaks induction. The association of Rad51 with the nuclear matrix correlates with the formation of Rad51 nuclear foci as a result of DNA damage. Fractionation in situ confirmed that Rad51 foci remained firmly immobilized within the chromatin-depleted nuclei. Irs1SF cells that are unable to form Rad51 damage-induced nuclear foci did not show accumulation of Rad51 in the nuclear matrix. Similarly, no accumulation of Rad51 in the nuclear matrix could be observed after treatment of HeLa cells with the kinase inhibitor caffeine, which reduces formation of Rad51 foci. The results were compared to the distribution of the phosphorylated histone variant, gamma-H2AX. These data suggest a dynamic association and tethering of recombination proteins and surrounding chromatin regions to the nuclear matrix.
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PMID:Sub-nuclear localization of Rad51 in response to DNA damage. 1662 3

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by congenital abnormalities, progressive bone marrow failure, and cancer susceptibility. FA cells are hypersensitive to DNA crosslinking agents. FA is a genetically heterogeneous disease with at least 11 complementation groups. The eight cloned FA proteins interact in a common pathway with established DNA-damage-response proteins, including BRCA1 and ATM. Six FA proteins (A, C, E, F, G, and L) regulate the monoubiquitination of FANCD2 after DNA damage by crosslinking agents, which targets FANCD2 to BRCA1 nuclear foci containing BRCA2 (FANCD1) and RAD51. Some forms of hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] are implicated as respiratory carcinogens and induce several types of DNA lesions, including DNA interstrand crosslinks. We have shown that FA-A fibroblasts are hypersensitive to both Cr(VI)-induced apoptosis and clonogenic lethality. Here we show that Cr(VI) treatment induced monoubiquitination of FANCD2 in normal human fibroblasts, providing the first molecular evidence of Cr(VI)-induced activation of the FA pathway. FA-A fibroblasts demonstrated no FANCD2 monoubiquitination, in keeping with the requirement of FA-A for this modification. We also found that Cr(VI) treatment induced significantly more S-phase-dependent DNA double strand breaks (DSBs), as measured by gamma-H2AX expression, in FA-A fibroblasts compared to normal cells. However, and notably, DSBs were repaired equally in both normal and FA-A fibroblasts during recovery from Cr(VI) treatment. While previous research on FA has defined the genetic causes of this disease, it is critical in terms of individual risk assessment to address how cells from FA patients respond to genotoxic insult.
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PMID:FANCD2 monoubiquitination and activation by hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] exposure: activation is not required for repair of Cr(VI)-induced DSBs. 1689 75

We have recently described an involvement of H2AX into the Fanconi anemia (FA) BRCA pathway through recruitment of FA protein FANCD2 to the sites of stalled replication forks. We showed that BRCA1 mediates the recruitment of FANCD2 by gammaH2AX to damaged chromatin and cells deficient or depleted of H2AX exhibit an FA-like phenotype, including an excess of chromatid-type chromosomal aberrations and hypersensitivity to MMC. Here, we discuss a model for the FA pathway and how it could partially explain the common phenotypes of H2AX, BRCA2 and FA deficiencies.
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PMID:New roads to FA/BRCA pathway: H2AX. 1747 Oct 25

Tirapazamine (3-amino-1,2,4-benzotriazine-1,4-dioxide) is a promising hypoxia-selective cytotoxin that has shown significant activity in advanced clinical trials in combination with radiotherapy and cisplatin. The current study aimed to advance our understanding of tirapazamine-induced lesions and the pathways involved in their repair. We show that homologous recombination plays a critical role in repair of tirapazamine-induced damage because cells defective in homologous recombination proteins XRCC2, XRCC3, Rad51D, BRCA1, or BRCA2 are particularly sensitive to tirapazamine. Consistent with the involvement of homologous recombination repair, we observed extensive sister chromatid exchanges after treatment with tirapazamine. We also show that the nonhomologous end-joining pathway, which predominantly deals with frank double-strand breaks (DSB), is not involved in the repair of tirapazamine-induced DSBs. In addition, we show that tirapazamine preferentially kills mutants both with defects in XPF/ERCC1 (but not in other nucleotide excision repair factors) and with defects in base excision repair. Tirapazamine also induces DNA-protein cross-links, which include stable DNA-topoisomerase I cleavable complexes. We further show that gamma H2AX, an indicator of DNA DSBs, is induced preferentially in cells in the S phase of the cell cycle. These observations lead us to an overall model of tirapazamine damage in which DNA single-strand breaks, base damage, and DNA-protein cross-links (including topoisomerase I and II cleavable complexes) produce stalling and collapse of replication forks, the resolution of which results in DSB intermediates, requiring homologous recombination and XPF/ERCC1 for their repair.
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PMID:Homologous recombination is the principal pathway for the repair of DNA damage induced by tirapazamine in mammalian cells. 1817 18

Fanconi anemia (FA) predisposes to hematopoietic failure, birth defects, leukemia, and squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) and cervix. The FA/BRCA pathway includes 8 members of a core complex and 5 downstream gene products closely linked with BRCA1 or BRCA2. Precancerous lesions are believed to trigger the DNA damage response (DDR), and we focused on the DDR in FA and its putative role as a checkpoint barrier to cancer. In primary fibroblasts with mutations in the core complex FANCA protein, we discovered that basal expression and phosphorylation of ATM (ataxia telangiectasia mutated) and p53 induced by irradiation (IR) or mitomycin C (MMC) were upregulated. This heightened response appeared to be due to increased basal levels of ATM in cultured FANCA-mutant cells, highlighting the new observation that ATM can be regulated at the transcriptional level in addition to its well-established activation by autophosphorylation. Functional analysis of this response using gamma-H2AX foci as markers of DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) demonstrated abnormal persistence of only MMC- and not IR-induced foci. Thus, we describe a processing defect that leads to general DDR upregulation but specific persistence of DNA crosslinker-induced damage response foci. Underscoring the significance of these findings, we found resistance to DNA crosslinker-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in a TP53-mutant, patient-derived HNSCC cell line, whereas a lymphoblastoid cell line derived from this same individual was not mutated at TP53 and retained DNA crosslinker sensitivity. Our results suggest that cancer in FA may arise from selection for cells that escape from a chronically activated DDR checkpoint.
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PMID:Upregulated ATM gene expression and activated DNA crosslink-induced damage response checkpoint in Fanconi anemia: implications for carcinogenesis. 1822 51

Artesunate is a semisynthetic derivative from artemisinin, a natural product from the Chinese herb Artemisia annua L. It exerts antimalarial activity, and, additionally, artemisinin and its derivatives are active against cancer cells. The active moiety is an endoperoxide bridge. Its cleavage leads to the formation of reactive oxygen species and carbon-centered radicals. These highly reactive molecules target several proteins in Plasmodia, which is thought to result in killing of the microorganism. DNA damage induced by artemisinins has not yet been described. Here, we show that artesunate induces apoptosis and necrosis. It also induces DNA breakage in a dose-dependent manner as shown by single-cell gel electrophoresis. This genotoxic effect was confirmed by measuring the level of gamma-H2AX, which is considered to be an indication of DNA double-strand breaks (DSB). Polymerase beta-deficient cells were more sensitive than the wild-type to artesunate, indicating that the drug induces DNA damage that is repaired by base excision repair. irs1 and VC8 cells defective in homologous recombination (HR) due to inactivation of XRCC2 and BRCA2, respectively, were more sensitive to artesunate than the corresponding wild-type. This was also true for XR-V15B cells defective in nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) due to inactivation of Ku80. The data indicate that DSBs induced by artesunate are repaired by the HR and NHEJ pathways. They suggest that DNA damage induced by artesunate contributes to its therapeutic effect against cancer cells.
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PMID:Artesunate derived from traditional Chinese medicine induces DNA damage and repair. 1851 95

Chromokinesins are microtubule-motor molecules that possess chromatin binding activity and are important for mitotic and meiotic regulation. The chromokinesin-member Kif4A is unique in that it localizes to nucleus during interphase of the cell cycle. Kif4 deletion by gene targeting in mouse embryonic cells was known to associate with DNA damage response. However, its precise role in DNA damage or repair pathway is not clear. Here we report that Kif4A associates with BRCA2 in a biochemical identification and that the interaction is mediated by the Kif4A C-terminal cargo-binding domain and BRCA2 C-terminal conserved region. Upon nucleus-specific laser micro-irradiation, Kif4A was rapidly recruited to sites of DNA damage. Significantly, the depletion of Kif4A from cells by shRNA impaired the ionizing-radiation induced foci (IRIF) formation of Rad51, both quantitatively and qualitatively. In contrast, the IRIF of gamma-H2AX or NBS1 was largely intact. Moreover, Kif4A knockdown rendered cells hypersensitive to ionizing radiation in a colonogenic survival assay. We further demonstrated that Kif4A deficiency led to significantly decreased homologous recombination in an I-SceI endonuclease induced in vivo recombination assay. Together, our results suggest a novel role for a chromokinesin family member in the DNA damage response by modulating the BRCA2/Rad51 pathway.
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PMID:A novel role of the chromokinesin Kif4A in DNA damage response. 1860 78


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