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Mah LJ, Orlowski C, Ververis K, Vasireddy RS, El-Osta A, Karagiannis TC. Evaluation of the efficacy of radiation-modifying compounds using γH2AX as a molecular marker of DNA double-strand breaks. Genome Integr 2011; 2:3. [PMID: 21261999 PMCID: PMC3037297 DOI: 10.1186/2041-9414-2-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2010] [Accepted: 01/25/2011] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Radiation therapy is a widely used therapeutic approach for cancer. To improve the efficacy of radiotherapy there is an intense interest in combining this modality with two broad classes of compounds, radiosensitizers and radioprotectors. These either enhance tumour-killing efficacy or mitigate damage to surrounding non-malignant tissue, respectively. Radiation exposure often results in the formation of DNA double-strand breaks, which are marked by the induction of H2AX phosphorylation to generate γH2AX. In addition to its essential role in DDR signalling and coordination of double-strand break repair, the ability to visualize and quantitate γH2AX foci using immunofluorescence microscopy techniques enables it to be exploited as an indicator of therapeutic efficacy in a range of cell types and tissues. This review will explore the emerging applicability of γH2AX as a marker for monitoring the effectiveness of radiation-modifying compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li-Jeen Mah
- Epigenomic Medicine, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Christian Orlowski
- Epigenomic Medicine, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.,Epigenetics in Human Health and Disease, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Katherine Ververis
- Epigenomic Medicine, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Raja S Vasireddy
- Epigenomic Medicine, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.,Epigenetics in Human Health and Disease, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Assam El-Osta
- Epigenetics in Human Health and Disease, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Epigenomic Profiling Facility, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Tom C Karagiannis
- Epigenomic Medicine, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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Abstract
Radiation leaves a fairly characteristic footprint in biological materials, but this is rapidly all but obliterated by the canonical biological responses to the radiation damage. The innate immune recognition systems that sense "danger" through direct radiation damage and through associated collateral damage set in motion a chain of events that, in a tissue compromised by radiation, often unwittingly result in oscillating waves of molecular and cellular responses as tissues attempt to heal. Understanding "nature's whispers" that inform on these processes will lead to novel forms of intervention targeted more precisely towards modifying them in an appropriate and timely fashion so as to improve the healing process and prevent or mitigate the development of acute and late effects of normal tissue radiation damage, whether it be accidental, as a result of a terrorist incident, or of therapeutic treatment of cancer. Here we attempt to discuss some of the non-free radical scavenging mechanisms that modify radiation responses and comment on where we see them within a conceptual framework of an evolving radiation-induced lesion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kwanghee Kim
- Department of Radiation Oncology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - William H. McBride
- Department of Radiation Oncology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
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