No abstract

Double-strand breaks (DSBs) are the most deleterious DNA lesions, which, if left unrepaired, may have severe consequences for cell survival, as they lead to chromosome aberrations, genomic instability, or cell death. Various physical, chemical, and biological factors are involved in DSB induction. Cells respond to DNA damage by activating the so-called DNA damage response (DDR), a complex molecular mechanism developed to detect and repair DNA damage. The formation of DSBs triggers activation of many factors, including phosphorylation of the histone variant H2AX, producing γH2AX. Phosphorylation of H2AX plays a key role in DDR and is required for the assembly of DNA repair proteins at the sites containing damaged chromatin as well as for activation of checkpoints proteins which arrest the cell cycle progression. In general, analysis of γH2AX expression can be used to detect the genotoxic effect of different toxic substances. When applied to clinical samples from cancer patients, evaluation of γH2AX levels may allow not only to monitor the efficiency of anticancer treatment but also to predict of tumor cell sensitivity to DNA damaging anticancer agents and toxicity of anticancer treatment toward normal cells.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Multidrug resistance (MDR) remains a primary hindrance to curative cancer therapy. Thus, introduction of novel strategies to overcome MDR is of paramount therapeutic significance. Sequestration of chemotherapeutics in lysosomes is an established mechanism of drug resistance. Here, we show that MDR cells display a marked increase in lysosome number. We further demonstrate that imidazoacridinones (IAs), which are cytotoxic fluorochromes, undergo a dramatic compartmentalization in lysosomes because of their hydrophobic weak base nature. We hence developed a novel photoactivation-based pharmacological Trojan horse approach to target and eradicate MDR cancer cells based on photo-rupture of IA-loaded lysosomes and tumor cell lysis via formation of reactive oxygen species. Illumination of IA-loaded cells resulted in lysosomal photodestruction and restoration of parental cell drug sensitivity. Lysosomal photodestruction of MDR cells overexpressing the key MDR efflux transporters ABCG2, ABCB1 or ABCC1 resulted in 10- to 52-fold lower IC50 values of various IAs, thereby restoring parental cell sensitivity. Finally, in vivo application of this photodynamic therapy strategy after i.v. injection of IAs in human ovarian tumor xenografts in the chorioallantoic membrane model revealed selective destruction of tumors and their associated vasculature. These findings identify lysosomal sequestration of IAs as an Achilles heel of MDR cells that can be harnessed to eradicate MDR tumor cells via lysosomal photodestruction.

Triazoloacridone C-1305 is a novel inhibitor of DNA topoisomerase II, which exhibits potent antitumor activity toward solid tumors. In this study, antiproliferative action of C-1305 and its close analog C-1533 was investigated in nontransformed mouse fibroblasts and two mutant cell lines in which the PARP-1 gene was specifically disrupted. Unexpectedly, C-1305 very strongly affected proliferation of cells lacking poly(ADPribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1), whereas the action of less active compound C-1533 toward normal and PARP-1-negative cells was comparable. The IC 50 concentration of C-1305 determined for PARP-1 knockout cells was ϳ150-fold lower than that determined for cells with functional PARP-1. Both studied triazoloacridones exhibited very low direct cytotoxicity as evidenced by accumulation of 7-amino-actinomycin D, and only low levels of apoptosis were observed after a 24-h exposure to studied drugs. Analysis of DNA damage induced by C-1305 by the Comet assay showed that this drug induced very low levels of DNA strand breaks. C-1305 strongly affected cell cycle progression in normal and PARP-1 mutant cells and arrested both cell types in G 2 -M phase. However, the G 2 -M arrest induced by C-1305 was greatly prolonged in PARP-1-deficient cells as compared with normal fibroblasts. Together, these results show that mouse cells lacking PARP-1 are extremely sensitive to C-1305, a new topoisomerase II inhibitor. This is in striking contrast with previous reports in which PARP-1-deficient cells were shown to be resistant to classical topoisomerase II inhibitors. Our data also suggest that the PARP-1 status might be essential for the maintenance of the G 2 arrest induced by C-1305.

DNA topoisomerase I is a nuclear enzyme involved in transcription, recombination, and DNA damage recognition. Previous studies have shown that topoisomerase I interacts directly with the tumor-suppressor protein p53. p53 is a transcription factor that activates certain genes through binding to specific DNA sequences. We now report that topoisomerase I can be stimulated by both latent and activated wild-type p53 as well as by several mutant and truncated p53 proteins in vitro, indicating that sequence-specific DNAbinding and stimulation of topoisomerase I are distinct properties of p53. These assays also suggest that the binding site for topoisomerase I on p53 is between amino acids 302 and 321. In living cells, the interaction between p53 and topoisomerase I is strongly dependent on p53 status. In MCF-7 cells, which have wild-type p53, the association between the two proteins is tightly regulated in a spatial and temporal manner and takes place only during brief periods of genotoxic stress. In marked contrast, the two proteins are constitutively associated in HT-29 cells, which have mutant p53. These findings have important implications for both cellular stress response and genomic stability, given the ability of topoisomerase I to recognize DNA lesions as well as to cause illegitimate recombination.DNA topoisomerase I is a nuclear enzyme essential for most aspects of nucleic acid metabolism (1). The ability of topoisomerase I to relax supercoiled DNA through transient single-stranded DNA cleavage, strand passage, and religation is needed during transcription to relieve superhelical stress (2, 3). In addition, topoisomerase I serves as a modulator of transcriptional initiation through physical interaction with transcription factors such as the TATA box-binding protein, which is a constituent of the general transcription factor IID (TFIID) complex (4, 5). This property does not require DNA cleavage but is based on protein-protein interactions. Recent results show that topoisomerase I also possesses a proteinkinase activity, which is specific for serine residues of splicing factors containing an Arg-Ser motif. Phosphorylation of these splicing factors is believed to influence gene expression by altering the splice pattern (6, 7).Eukaryotic topoisomerase I is structurally, functionally, and evolutionarily related to site-specific recombinases (8). During catalysis, topoisomerase I forms a covalent DNA-protein complex with the 3Ј end of one DNA strand. This reaction intermediate can religate with either the 5Ј hydroxyl end of the cleaved strand or with a 5Ј hydroxyl end of a heterologous DNA molecule, resulting in recombinant DNA (9, 10). In yeast, increased topoisomerase I activity is accompanied by increased levels of illegitimate recombination, whereas treatment of mammalian cells with camptothecin and other topoisomerase I-directed antitumor drugs leads to sister chromatid exchange and chromosomal aberrations (11,12). This is most likely because camptothecin treatment results in accumulation of covalent ...