Transcription-coupled repair is inducible in hamster cells

Filling gaps in translesion DNA synthesis in human cells

During DNA replication, forks may encounter unrepaired lesions that hamper DNA synthesis. Cells have universal strategies to promote damage bypass allowing cells to survive. DNA damage tolerance can be performed upon template switch or by specialized DNA polymerases, known as translesion (TLS) polymerases. Human cells count on more than eleven TLS polymerases and this work reviews the functions of some of these enzymes: Rev1, Pol η, Pol ι, Pol κ, Pol θ and Pol ζ. The mechanisms of damage bypass vary according to the lesion, as well as to the TLS polymerases available, and may occur directly at the fork during replication. Alternatively, the lesion may be skipped, leaving a single-stranded DNA gap that will be replicated later. Details of the participation of these enzymes are revised for the replication of damaged template. TLS polymerases also have functions in other cellular processes. These include involvement in somatic hypermutation in immunoglobulin genes, direct participation in recombination and repair processes, and contributing to replicating noncanonical DNA structures. The importance of DNA damage replication to cell survival is supported by recent discoveries that certain genes encoding TLS polymerases are induced in response to DNA damaging agents, protecting cells from a subsequent challenge to DNA replication. We retrace the findings on these genotoxic (adaptive) responses of human cells and show the common aspects with the SOS responses in bacteria. Paradoxically, although TLS of DNA damage is normally an error prone mechanism, in general it protects from carcinogenesis, as evidenced by increased tumorigenesis in xeroderma pigmentosum variant patients, who are deficient in Pol η. As these TLS polymerases also promote cell survival, they constitute an important mechanism by which cancer cells acquire resistance to genotoxic chemotherapy. Therefore, the TLS polymerases are new potential targets for improving therapy against tumors.

Dietary modulation of the biotransformation and genotoxicity of aflatoxin B(1)

Diet and its various components are consistently identified as among the most important 'risk factors' for cancer worldwide, yet great uncertainty remains regarding the relative contribution of nutritive (e.g., vitamins, calories) vs. non-nutritive (e.g., phytochemicals, fiber, contaminants) factors in both cancer induction and cancer prevention. Among the most potent known human dietary carcinogens is the mycotoxin, aflatoxin B(1) (AFB). AFB and related aflatoxins are produced as secondary metabolites by the molds Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus that commonly infect poorly stored foods including peanuts, pistachios, corn, and rice. AFB is a potent hepatocarcinogenic agent in numerous animal species, and has been implicated in the etiology of human hepatocellular carcinoma. Recent research has shown that many diet-derived factors have great potential to influence AFB biotransformation, and some efficiently protect from AFB-induced genotoxicity. One key mode of action for reducing AFB-induced carcinogenesis in experimental animals was shown to be the induction of detoxification enzymes such as certain glutathione-S-transferases that are regulated through the Keap1-Nrf2-ARE signaling pathway. Although initial studies utilized the dithiolthione drug, oltipraz, as a prototypical inducer of antioxidant response, dietary components such as suforaphane (SFN) are also effective inducers of this pathway in rodent models. However, human GSTs in general do not appear to be extensively induced by SFN, and GSTM1 - the only human GST with measurable catalytic activity toward aflatoxin B(1)-8,9-epoxide (AFBO; the genotoxic metabolite of AFB), does not appear to be induced by SFN, at least in human hepatocytes, even though its expression in human liver cells does appear to offer considerable protection against AFB-DNA damage. Although induction of detoxification pathways has served as the primary mechanistic focus of chemoprevention studies, protective effects of chemoprotective dietary components may also arise through a decrease in the rate of activation of AFB to AFBO. Dietary consumption of apiaceous vegetables inhibits CYP1A2 activity in humans, and it has been demonstrated that some compounds in those vegetables act as potent inhibitors of human CYP1A2 and cause reduced hCYP1A2-mediated mutagenicity of AFB. Other dietary compounds of different origin (e.g., constituents of brassica vegetables and hops) have been shown to modify expression of human hepatic enzymes involved in the oxidation of AFB. SFN has been shown to protect animals from AFB-induced tumors, to reduce AFB biomarkers in humans in vivo and to reduce efficiently AFB adduct formation in human hepatocytes, although it appears that this protective effect is the result of repression of human hepatic CYP3A4 expression, rather than induction of protective GSTs, at least in human hepatocytes. If this mechanism were to occur in vivo in humans, it would raise safety concerns for the use of SFN as a chemoprotective agent as it may have important implications for drug-drug interactions in humans. A dietary chemoprevention pathway that is independent of AFB biotransformation is represented by the potential for dietary components, such as chlorophyllin, to tightly bind to and reduce the bioavailability of aflatoxins. Chlorophyllin has been shown to significantly reduce genotoxic AFB biomarkers in humans, and it therefore holds promise as a practical means of reducing the incidence of AFB-induced liver cancer. Recent reports have demonstrated that DNA repair mechanisms are inducible in mammalian systems and some diet-derived compounds elevated significantly the gene expression of enzymes potentially involved in nucleotide excision repair of AFB-DNA adducts. However, these are initial observations and more research is needed to determine if dietary modulation of DNA repair is a safe and effective approach to chemoprevention of AFB-induced liver cancer.

In vivo treatment with 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) induces organ-specific alterations in in vitro repair of DNA pyridyloxobutylation

To investigate the mechanisms responsible for inter-organ differences in susceptibility to 4-methylnitrosamino-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK)-induced carcinogenesis, the objectives were to compare DNA repair activities of extracts from mouse lung and liver towards NNK-induced pyridyloxobutyl (POB) damage to plasmid DNA, and to determine if and the mechanism by which in vivo NNK treatment of mice alters DNA repair. Repair activity of POB adducts was three times greater in mouse liver than in mouse lung (P<0.05). Repair activities of lung extracts from mice 4 or 24 h post-NNK treatment were 30-45% those of control (P<0.05). Conversely, POB adduct repair was 2-3 times higher in liver extracts from NNK treated mice than in controls (4 h, 24 h, P<0.05). NNK treatment also decreased incision of POB adducts by 92% (4 h, P<0.05) in lung and increased incision by 169% (24 h, P<0.05) in liver. NNK decreased immunoreactive levels of the incision protein RPA in lung (P<0.05) 4 h post-treatment but increased immunoreactive lung RPA and XPB after 24 h (P<0.05). In liver, levels of immunoreactive proteins, XPA, XPB and ERCC1 were increased after NNK treatment (24 h, P<0.05). Binding of XPA and XPB from liver extracts to POB adducts increased following NNK treatment, while binding of XPA and XPB from lung decreased (4 h, 24 h). These results suggest that lower incision activity of nucleotide excision repair and NNK-mediated alterations in levels and activities of key incision proteins contribute to the relative susceptibility of mouse lung to NNK-induced carcinogenesis.

Increased expression of p53 enhances transcription-coupled repair and global genomic repair of a UVC-damaged reporter gene in human cells

Ultraviolet (UV) light-induced DNA damage is repaired by nucleotide excision repair, which is divided into two sub-pathways: global genome repair (GGR) and transcription-coupled repair (TCR). While it is well established that the GGR pathway is dependent on the p53 tumour suppressor protein in human cells, both p53-dependent and p53-independent pathways have been reported for TCR. In the present work, we investigated the role of p53 in both GGR and TCR of a UVC-damaged reporter gene in human fibroblasts. We employed a non-replicating recombinant human adenovirus, AdCA17lacZ, that can efficiently infect human fibroblasts and express the beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) reporter gene under the control of the human cytomegalovirus promoter. We examined host cell reactivation (HCR) of beta-gal expression for the UVC-treated reporter construct in normal fibroblasts and in xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and Cockayne syndrome (CS) fibroblasts deficient in GGR, TCR, or both. HCR was examined in fibroblasts that had been pre-infected with Ad5p53wt, which expresses wild-type p53, or a control adenovirus, AdCA18luc, which expresses the luciferase gene. We show that increased expression of p53 results in enhanced HCR of the UVC-damaged reporter gene in both untreated and UVC-treated cells for normal, CS-B (TCR-deficient), and XP-C (GGR-deficient), but not XP-A (TCR- and GGR-deficient) fibroblasts. These results indicate an involvement of p53 in both TCR and GGR of the UV-damaged reporter gene in human cells.

Aflatoxin B1-induced DNA damage and its repair

Aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1))-N(7)-guanine is the predominant adduct formed upon the reaction of AFB(1)-8,9-exo-epoxide with guanine residues in DNA. AFB(1)-N(7)-guanine can convert to the ring-opened formamidopyrimidine, or the adducted strand can undergo depurination. AFB(1)-N(7)-guanine and AFB(1)-formamidopyrimidine are thought to be predominantly repaired by nucleotide excision repair in bacteria, yeast and mammals. Although AFB(1)-formamidopyrimidine is removed less efficiently than AFB(1)-N(7)-guanine in mammals, both lesions are repaired with equal efficiencies in bacteria, reflecting differences in damage recognition between bacterial and mammalian repair systems. Furthermore, DNA repair activity and modulation of repair by AFB(1) seem to be major determinants of susceptibility to AFB(1)-induced carcinogenesis.

DNA damage induced nucleotide excision repair in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is the most versatile and universal pathway of DNA repair that is capable of repairing virtually any damages other than a double strand break (DSB). This pathway has been shown to be inducible in several systems. However, question of a threshold and the nature of the damage that can signal induction of this pathway remain poorly understood. In this study it has been shown that prior exposure to very low doses of osmium tetroxide enhanced the survival of wild type Saccharomyces cerevisiae when the cells were challenged with UV light. Moreover, it was also found that osmium tetroxide treated rad3 mutants did not show enhanced survival indicating an involvement of nucleotide excision repair in the enhanced survival. To probe this further the actual removal of pyrimidine dimers by the treated and control cells was studied. Osmium tetroxide treated cells removed pyrimidine dimers more efficiently as compared to control cells. This was confirmed by measuring the in vitro repair synthesis in cell free extracts prepared from control and primed cells. It was found that the uptake of active (32)P was significantly higher in the plasmid substrates incubated with extracts of primed cells. This induction is dependent on de novo synthesis of proteins as cycloheximide treatment abrogated this response. The nature of induced repair was found to be essentially error free. Study conclusively shows that NER is an inducible pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its induction is dependent on exposure to a threshold of a genotoxic stress.

Pre-UV-Treatment of Cells Results in Enhanced Host Cell Reactivation of a UV Damaged Reporter Gene in CHO-AA8 Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells but Not in Transcription-Coupled Repair Deficient CHO-UV61 Cells

We have used a non-replicating recombinant adenovirus, Ad5MCMVlacZ, which expresses the β-galactosidase reporter gene, to examine both constitutive and inducible repair of UV-damaged DNA in repair proficient CHO-AA8 Chinese hamster ovary cells and in mutant CHO-UV61 cells which are deficient in the transcription-coupled repair (TCR) pathway of nucleotide excision repair. Host cell reactivation (HCR) of β-galactosidase activity for UV-irradiated Ad5MCMVlacZ was significantly reduced in non-irradiated CHO-UV61 cells compared to that in non-irradiated CHO-AA8 cells suggesting that repair in the transcribed strand of the UV-damaged reporter gene in untreated cells utilizes TCR. Prior UV-irradiation of cells with low UV fluences resulted in a transient enhancement of HCR for expression of the UV-damaged reporter gene in CHO-AA8 cells but not in TCR deficient CHO-UV61 cells. These results suggest the presence of an inducible DNA pathway in CHO cells that results from an enhancement of TCR or a mechanism that involves the TCR pathway.

Enhanced host cell reactivation of a UV-damaged reporter gene in pre-UV-treated cells is delayed in Cockayne syndrome cells

We have used a non-replicating recombinant adenovirus, Ad5HCMVlacZ, which expresses the beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) reporter gene, to examine the time course of UV-inducible repair of UV-damaged DNA in human fibroblasts. Host cell reactivation (HCR) of beta-gal activity for UV-irradiated Ad5HCMVlacZ was examined in non-irradiated and UV-irradiated nucleotide excision repair (NER) proficient normal human fibroblasts, xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) group C fibroblasts which are defective in the global genomic repair (GGR) pathway of NER and Cockayne syndrome (CS) fibroblasts which are defective in the transcription coupled repair (TCR) pathway of NER. HCR was deficient in untreated XP-C and CS cells indicating that both TCR and GGR are involved in removal of photolesions from the transcribed strand of the reporter gene in unirradiated human cells as reported previously. Prior UV-irradiation of cells with low UV fluences resulted in a transient enhancement of HCR in normal and XP-C fibroblasts that reached a maximum when cells were infected at 25-35 h after UV. In contrast, UV-enhanced HCR was delayed in CS-B cells, reaching levels similar to that in normal cells only when cells were infected between 40 and 60 h after UV exposure. These results are consistent with a UV-induced up-regulation of GGR through a TCR dependent pathway in CS cells.

Susceptibility to aflatoxin B1-induced carcinogenesis correlates with tissue-specific differences in DNA repair activity in mouse and in rat

To investigate the mechanisms responsible for species- and tissue-specific differences in susceptibility to aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1))-induced carcinogenesis, DNA repair activities of nuclear extracts from whole mouse lung and liver and rat liver were compared, and the ability of in vivo treatment of mice with AFB(1) to alter repair of AFB(1)-DNA damage was determined. Plasmid DNA containing AFB(1)-N(7)-guanine or AFB(1)-formamidopyrimidine adducts were used as substrates for the in vitro determination of DNA repair synthesis activity, detected as incorporation of radiolabeled nucleotides. Liver extracts from CD-1 mice repaired AFB(1)-N(7)-guanine and AFB(1)-formamidopyrimidine adducts 5- and 30-fold more effectively than did mouse lung, and approximately 6- and 4-fold more effectively than did liver extracts from Sprague-Dawley rats. The susceptibility of mouse lung and rat liver to AFB(1)-induced carcinogenesis correlated with lower DNA repair activity of these tissues relative to mouse liver. Lung extracts prepared from mice treated with a single tumorigenic dose of 50 mg/kg AFB(1) i.p. and euthanized 2 hours post-dosing showed minimal incision and repair synthesis activities relative to extracts from vehicle-treated mice. Conversely, repair activity towards AFB(1)-N(7)-guanine damage was approximately 3.5-fold higher in liver of AFB(1)-treated mice relative to control. This is the first study to show that in vivo treatment with AFB(1) can lead to a tissue-specific induction in DNA repair. The results suggest that lower DNA repair activity, sensitivity of mouse lung to inhibition by AFB(1), and selective induction of repair in liver contribute to the susceptibility of mice to AFB(1)-induced lung tumorigenesis relative to hepatocarcinogenesis.

The interdependence of skin aging, skin cancer, and DNA repair capacity: a novel perspective with therapeutic implications

The human body is constantly exposed to exogenous and endogenous insults that threaten its genomic integrity and that lead to changes at the molecular, biochemical, and cellular levels. As a major interface between the environment and the internal milieu, our skin is especially subject to such events. Common insults include but are not limited to infectious agents, environmental pollutions and toxins, carcinogens, and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. It is estimated that there are thousands of DNA alterations in each cell daily. Therefore, if not efficiently repaired, our genome would rapidly be destroyed. This review focuses predominantly on UV-induced DNA damage in human skin, protective molecular responses to UV damage, and the consequences of these opposing forces for aging and photocarcinogenesis.

DNA oligonucleotide treatment corrects the age-associated decline in DNA repair capacity

Age-related decline in DNA repair capacity (DRC) is associated with decreased constitutive levels of p53 and other nucleotide excision repair proteins. To determine whether pretreatment of cells with small DNA oligonucleotides compensates for decreased DRC in the elderly, fibroblasts from donors of different ages were pretreated with thymidine dinucleotide (pTT), a 5' phosphorylated 9 base oligonucleotide (p9mer) or diluent alone for 48 h, then UV-irradiated with solar-simulated light. Western blot analysis revealed age-associated decreases of 40%-80% between newborn and old adult donor cells in the constitutive protein levels of p53, p21, XPA, RPA, ERCC1, and PCNA. Treatment with pTT or p9mer up-regulated these proteins by 200%-650% at 24, 48, and 72 h. Moreover, pretreatment with oligonucleotides significantly increased the removal rate of photoproducts as determined by reacting DNA with thymine dimer-specific antibodies: 40+/-5% vs. 20+/-9% and 15+/-11% remained after 24 h in diluent, pTT and p9mer treated cells, respectively. Oligonucleotide-treated adult cells removed thymine dimers at least as rapidly as diluent treated newborn cells, demonstrating that pTT and p9mer completely corrected the age-associated decrease in DRC. Our studies suggest that topical oligonucleotide treatment may enhance DRC in older adults and thus reduce the carcinogenic risk from solar UV irradiation in this age group.