Oxidative stress in cells can lead to accumulation of reactive oxygen species and oxidation of DNA precursors. Oxidized purine nucleotides can be inserted into DNA during replication and repair. The main pathway for correcting oxidized bases in DNA is base excision repair (BER), and in vertebrates DNA polymerase β (pol β) provides gap filling and tailoring functions. Here we report that the DNA ligation step of BER is compromised after pol β insertion of oxidized purine nucleotides into the BER intermediate in vitro. These results suggest the possibility that BER mediated toxic strand breaks are produced in cells under oxidative stress conditions. We observe enhanced cytotoxicity in oxidizing-agent treated pol β expressing mouse fibroblasts, suggesting formation of DNA strand breaks under these treatment conditions. Increased cytotoxicity following MTH1 knockout or treatment with MTH1 inhibitor suggests the oxidation of precursor nucleotides.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a widely used and effective therapy for hematopoietic malignant diseases and numerous other disorders. High-resolution human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotype frequency distributions not only facilitate individual donor searches but also determine the probability with which a particular patient can find HLA-matched donors in a registry. The frequencies of the HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, and -DQB1 alleles and haplotypes were estimated among 169,995 Chinese volunteers using the sequencing-based typing (SBT) method. Totals of 191 HLA-A, 244 HLA-B, 146 HLA-C, 143 HLA-DRB1 and 47 HLA-DQB1 alleles were observed, which accounted for 6.98%, 7.06%, 6.46%, 9.11% and 7.91%, respectively, of the alleles in each locus in the world (IMGT 3.16 Release, Apr. 2014). Among the 100 most common haplotypes from the 169,995 individuals, nine distinct haplotypes displayed significant regionally specific distributions. Among these, three were predominant in the South China region (i.e., the 20th, 31st, and 81sthaplotypes), another three were predominant in the Southwest China region (i.e., the 68th, 79th, and 95th haplotypes), one was predominant in the South and Southwest China regions (the 18th haplotype), one was relatively common in the Northeast and North China regions (the 94th haplotype), and one was common in the Northeast, North and Northwest China (the 40th haplotype). In conclusion, this is the first to analyze high-resolution HLA diversities across the entire country of China, based on a detailed and complete data set that covered 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. Specifically, we also evaluated the HLA matching probabilities within and between geographic regions and analyzed the regional differences in the HLA diversities in China. We believe that the data presented in this study might be useful for unrelated HLA-matched donor searches, donor registry planning, population genetic studies, and anthropogenesis studies.

Aim: Cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) is a polymorphic enzyme that is responsible for the metabolism of approximately 15% of clinically important drugs. The aim of this study was to assess the catalytic characteristics of 37 CYP2C9 allelic isoforms found in Chinese Han population on the metabolism of tolbutamide in vitro. Methods: The wild-type and 36 CYP2C9 variants were expressed in sf21 insect cells using a baculovirus-mediated expression system. Then the insect microsomes were prepared for assessing the metabolic characteristics of each variant toward the CYP2C9-specific drug substrate tolbutamide. Results: Of 36 allelic variants tested, the intrinsic clearance values of 2 allelic isoforms (CYP2C9.36 and CYP2C9.51) were much higher than the wild-type CYP2C9.1 protein, 3 allelic isoforms (CYP2C9.11, CYP2C9.56 and N418T) exhibited similar intrinsic clearance values as the wild-type enzyme, whereas the other 31 variants showed significantly reduced intrinsic clearance values, ranging from 0.08% to 66.88%, for tolbutamide. Conclusion: Our study provides the most comprehensive data concerning the enzymatic activity of the CYP2C9 variants that are present in the Chinese Han population, and our data suggest that most of the carriers of these alleles might be paid more attention when using CYP2C9 mediated drugs clinically.

This study provides the most comprehensive data concerning CYP2D6 polymorphisms in the Chinese Han population to date and increases the number of known alleles; these findings may greatly contribute to the development of personalized medicine for the Chinese Han population.

This study provides the most comprehensive data of CYP3A4 polymorphisms in Han Chinese population and detects the largest number of novel CYP3A4 alleles in one ethnic group.

Mitochondrial genome integrity is fundamental to mammalian cell viability. Since mitochondrial DNA is constantly under attack from oxygen radicals released during ATP production, DNA repair is vital in removing oxidatively generated lesions in mitochondrial DNA, but the presence of a strong base excision repair system has not been demonstrated. Here, we addressed the presence of such a system in mammalian mitochondria involving the primary base lesion repair enzyme DNA polymerase (pol) β. Pol β was localized to mammalian mitochondria by electron microscopic-immunogold staining, immunofluorescence co-localization and biochemical experiments. Extracts from purified mitochondria exhibited base excision repair activity that was dependent on pol β. Mitochondria from pol β-deficient mouse fibroblasts had compromised DNA repair and showed elevated levels of superoxide radicals after hydrogen peroxide treatment. Mitochondria in pol β-deficient fibroblasts displayed altered morphology by electron microscopy. These results indicate that mammalian mitochondria contain an efficient base lesion repair system mediated in part by pol β and thus pol β plays a role in preserving mitochondrial genome stability.

Cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) is one of the most widely investigated CYPs related to genetic polymorphisms and is responsible for one-quarter of the currently used clinical drugs. We previously detected 22 novel, non-synonymous, mutated sites in the Chinese population, but nothing is known about the functional effects of these mutations in terms of specific CYP2D6 substrates. In this study, wild-type CYP2D6, two common allelic variants and 22 newly reported CYP2D6 isoforms were transiently expressed in 293FT cells, and the enzymatic activities of these variants were systematically assessed using dextromethorphan and bufuralol as the probing substrates. Consequently, 19 and 21 allelic variants were found to exhibit significantly decreased enzymatic activities for dextromethorphan and bufuralol, respectively. Of 22 novel CYP2D6 variants, six allelic isoforms (CYP2D6.89, CYP2D6.92, CYP2D6.93, CYP2D6.96, E215K and R440C) exhibited absent or extremely reduced metabolic activities compared with those observed for the wild-type enzyme. Our in vitro functional data can be useful for CYP2D6 phenotype prediction and provide valuable information for the study of clinical impact of these newly found CYP2D6 variants in China.As one of the most important drug-metabolizing enzymes, cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) is responsible for approximately 25% of clinically used drugs including analgesics, antiarrhythmics, antiemetics, antipsychotics, antidepressants, beta-adrenergic blockers and chemotherapeutic/hormone replacement agents [1][2][3]. Similar to other P450 subfamily members, the CYP2D6 gene locus is also highly polymorphic across different ethnic populations and individuals [4]. To date, a total of 105 allelic variants are defined and described in the Human CYP Allele Nomenclature database (http://www.cypalleles.ki.se/cyp2d6.htm). These genetic variants can be associated with increased, decreased or abolished enzymatic functions, which results in differences of up to 30-to 40-fold changes in substrate drug clearance values. Consequently, these differences in CYP2D6 activity have been demonstrated to be prominent contributors to interindividual drug response variability [2,5,6].It has been reported that significant ethnic and geographic differences exist in CYP2D6 alleles [7,8]. For Eastern Asians, only 1-2% of individuals have been found to be poor metabolizers (PMs), and approximately 57% of the Chinese population are intermediate metabolizers (IMs) [9,10]. Polymorphic studies have revealed that the IM allele CYP2D6*10 is predominant in Asian populations with frequencies ranging from 30% to 50% [7,11]. In a recent large-scale, genetic screening study, we sequenced all nine exons of the CYP2D6 gene in 2129 unrelated Chinese individuals. As a result, 22 new nonsynonymous, mutated sites were found, and 12 of them were designated as novel alleles (*87-*93, *94A, *94B and *95-*98) by the Human CYP Allele Nomenclature Committee [12]. Considering the fact that there are more than 1.4 billion people living in the mainland ...

This study provides important data on the pattern of CYP2C19 polymorphisms in Chinese Han subjects, using the largest group of individuals. Furthermore, the study also detects the largest number of novel alleles in one population. These findings are of potential benefit to the development of personalized medicine for the Chinese Han population.