Possible sertraline-induced extrapyramidal adverse effects in an adolescent

Sertraline-induced Hemichorea

Background

Hemichorea–hemiballism is a syndrome secondary to different etiologies. Drug-induced hemichorea is a rare syndrome related to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. To the best of our knowledge, no previous cases of hemichorea associated with sertraline have been reported.

Case Report

A 65-year-old female noticed hemichorea 1 week after initiation of sertraline. After extensive investigations, other causes of hemichorea were excluded. Hemichorea remitted after sertraline withdrawal.

Discussion

In our patient, temporal association and the negative clinical assessment supported a diagnosis of likely drug-induced involuntary movement. We hypothesized that enhanced serotonergic transmission in the ventral tegmental area or nigrostriatum may be involved in sertraline-induced hemichorea.

Identification of translationally controlled tumor protein in promotion of DNA homologous recombination repair in cancer cells by affinity proteomics

Translationally controlled tumor protein(TCTP) has been implicated in the regulation of apoptosis, DNA repair and drug resistance. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly defined. To better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying TCTP involved in cellular processes, we performed an affinity purification-based proteomic profiling to identify proteins interacting with TCTP in human cervical cancer HeLa cells. We found that a group of proteins involved in DNA repair are enriched in the potential TCTP interactome. Silencing TCTP by short hairpin RNA in breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells leads to the declined repair efficiency for DNA double-strand breaks on the GFP-Pem1 reporter gene by homologous recombination, the persistent activation and the prolonged retention of γH2AX and Rad51 foci following ionizing radiation. Reciprocal immunoprecipitations indicated that TCTP forms complexes with Rad51 in vivo, and the stability maintenance of Rad51 requires TCTP in MCF-7 cells under normal cell culture conditions. Moreover, inactivation of TCTP by sertraline treatment enhances UVC irradiation-induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells, and causes sensitization to DNA-damaging drug etoposide and DNA repair inhibitor olaparib. Thus, we have identified an important role of TCTP in promoting DNA double-stand break repair via facilitating DNA homologous recombination processes and highlighted the great potential of TCTP as a drug target to enhance conventional chemotherapy for cancer patients with high levels of TCTP expression.