Topoisomerase II (Top2) is a ubiquitous nuclear enzyme that relieves torsional stress in chromosomal DNA during various cellular processes. Agents that target Top2, involving etoposide, doxorubicin, and mitoxantrone, are among the most effective anticancer drugs used in the clinic. Mammalian cells possess two genetically distinct Top2 isoforms, both of which are the target of these agents. Top2␣ is essential for cell proliferation and is highly expressed in vigorously growing cells, whereas Top2 is nonessential for growth and has recently been implicated in treatment-associated secondary malignancies, highlighting the validity of a Top2␣-specific drug for future cancer treatment; however, no such agent has been hitherto reported. Here we show that NK314, a novel synthetic benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloid, targets Top2␣ and not Top2 in vivo. Unlike other Top2 inhibitors, NK314 induces Top2-DNA complexes and double-strand breaks (DSBs) in an ␣ isoform-specific manner. Heterozygous disruption of the human TOP2␣ gene confers increased NK314 resistance, whereas TOP2 homozygous knock-out cells display increased NK314 sensitivity, indicating that the ␣ isoform is the cellular target. We further show that the absence of Top2 does not alleviate NK314 hypersensitivity of cells deficient in non-homologous end-joining, a critical pathway for repairing Top2-mediated DSBs. Our results indicate that NK314 acts as a Top2␣-specific poison in mammalian cells, with excellent potential as an efficacious and safe chemotherapeutic agent. We also suggest that a series of human knock-out cell lines are useful in assessing DNA damage and repair induced by potential topoisomerase-targeting agents. DNA topoisomerase II (Top2)2 is a ubiquitous nuclear enzyme that alters the topological structure of DNA and chromosomes through a transient DNA double-strand break (DSB) and subsequent religation of the DSB (1, 2). The enzyme has been implicated in many aspects of DNA metabolism, including DNA replication, repair, transcription, and chromosome condensation/segregation (1, 3). Top2 has been of considerable interest to human medicine, because it is an important target for cancer chemotherapy (4). Top2-targeting agents, involving etoposide, doxorubicin, and mitoxantrone, are among the most effective and widely used anticancer drugs in cancer chemotherapy (5, 6). These agents are referred to as "Top2 poisons," because they convert the essential enzyme into a highly cytotoxic DNA-damaging agent through the formation of "cleavage complex" (also called "cleavable complex"), in which a Top2-linked DNA strand-passing intermediate is stabilized, allowing the generation of a DSB (7,8).Mammalian cells possess two genetically distinct Top2 isoforms (9, 10). Despite their similar structural features (ϳ70% identity at the amino acid level) and biological properties, the two isoforms are differentially regulated and play different roles in living cells. Top2␣ is most abundantly expressed in rapidly growing tissues and its expression is cell cycle-regulated...
Interactions of Artemis with DNA Ligase IV and DNA-PKcs are required for efficient coding joint formation.
In higher animal cells, the principal limitation of gene-targeting technology is the extremely low efficiency of targeted integration, which occurs three to four orders of magnitude less frequently than random integration. Assuming that random integration mechanistically involves non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ), inactivation of this pathway should reduce random integration and may enhance gene targeting. To test this possibility, we examined the frequencies of random and targeted integration in NHEJ-deficient chicken DT40 and human Nalm-6 cell lines. As expected, loss of NHEJ resulted in drastically reduced random integration in DT40 cells. Unexpectedly, however, this was not the case for Nalm-6 cells, indicating that NHEJ is not the sole mechanism of random integration. Nevertheless, we present evidence that NHEJ inactivation can lead to enhanced gene targeting through a reduction of random integration and/or an increase in targeted integration by homologous recombination. Most intriguingly, our results show that, in the absence of functional NHEJ, random integration of targeting vectors occurs more frequently than non-targeting vectors (harboring no or little homology to the host genome), implying that suppression of NHEJ-independent random integration events is needed to greatly enhance gene targeting in animal cells.
Nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination (HR) are two major pathways for repairing DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs); however, their respective roles in human somatic cells remain to be elucidated. Here we show using a series of human gene-knockout cell lines that NHEJ repairs nearly all of the topoisomerase II- and low-dose radiation-induced DNA damage, while it negatively affects survival of cells harbouring replication-associated DSBs. Intriguingly, we find that loss of DNA ligase IV, a critical NHEJ ligase, and Artemis, an NHEJ factor with endonuclease activity, independently contribute to increased resistance to replication-associated DSBs. We also show that loss of Artemis alleviates hypersensitivity of DNA ligase IV-null cells to low-dose radiation- and topoisomerase II-induced DSBs. Finally, we demonstrate that Artemis-null human cells display increased gene-targeting efficiencies, particularly in the absence of DNA ligase IV. Collectively, these data suggest that DNA ligase IV and Artemis act cooperatively to promote NHEJ, thereby suppressing HR. Our results point to the possibility that HR can only operate on accidental DSBs when NHEJ is missing or abortive, and Artemis may be involved in pathway switching from incomplete NHEJ to HR.
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