Germ line mutations in the mismatch repair (MMR) genes hMSH2 and hMLH1 account for approximately 98% of hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancers. In addition, there is increasing evidence for an involvement of MMR gene expression in the response of cells to UV-induced skin cancer. The link between MMR and skin cancer suggests an involvement of MMR gene expression in the response of skin cells to UV-induced DNA damage. In this report, we have used two reporter gene assays to examine the role of hMSH2 and hMLH1 in the repair of oxidative DNA damage induced by UVA light and DNA damage caused by methylene blue plus visible light (MB+VL). UVA and MB+VL produce 8-hydroxyguanines in DNA that are repaired by base excision repair (BER). AdHCMVlacZ is a replication-deficient recombinant adenovirus that expresses the beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) reporter gene under the control of the human cytomegalovirus (CMV) immediate-early promoter. We show a reduced host cell reactivation for beta-gal expression of UVA-treated and MB+VL-treated AdHCMVlacZ in hMSH2-deficient LoVo human colon adenocarcinoma cells compared to their hMSH2-proficient counterpart SW480 cells, but not in hMLH1-deficient HCT116 human colon adenocarcinoma cells compared to hMLH1-proficient HCT116-chr3 cells. We have also reported previously that enhanced expression of the undamaged AdHCMVlacZ reporter gene is induced by the pre-treatment of cells with lower levels of the DNA-damaging agent and to higher expression levels in transcription-coupled repair (TCR)-deficient compared to TCR-proficient cells. Here we show that pre-treatment of cells with UVA or MB+VL enhanced expression of the undamaged reporter gene to a higher level in LoVo compared to SW480 cells but there was little or no difference in HCT116 compared to HCT116-chr3 cells. These results suggest a substantial involvement of hMSH2 but little or no involvement of hMLH1 in the repair of UVA- and MB+VL-induced oxidative DNA damage by BER.
There is conflicting evidence for the role of the mismatch repair (MMR) genes hMLH1 and hMSH2 in the transcription-coupled repair (TCR) pathway of nucleotide excision repair. In the present work, we have examined the role of these MMR genes in nucleotide excision repair using two reporter gene assays. AdHCMVlacZ is a replication-deficient recombinant adenovirus that expresses the -galactosidase reporter gene under the control of the human cytomegalovirus immediate early promoter. We have reported previously a reduced host cell reactivation (HCR) for -galactosidase expression of UVC-irradiated AdHCMVlacZ in TCRdeficient Cockayne syndrome (CS) fibroblasts compared with normal fibroblasts, indicating that HCR depends, at least in part, on TCR. In addition, we have reported that UVC-enhanced expression of the undamaged reporter gene is induced at lower UVC fluences to cells and at higher levels after low UVC fluences in TCR-deficient compared with normal human fibroblasts, suggesting that persistent damage in active genes triggers increased activity from the human cytomegalovirus-driven reporter construct. We have examined HCR and UV-enhanced expression of the reporter gene in hMLH1-deficient HCT116 human colon adenocarcinoma cells and HCT116-chr3 cells (the MMR-proficient counterpart of HCT116) as well as hMSH2-deficient LoVo human colon adenocarcinoma cells and their hMSH2-proficient counterpart SW480 cells. We show a greater UV-enhanced expression of the undamaged reporter gene after low UVC exposure in HCT116 compared with HCT116-chr3 cells and in LoVo compared with SW480 cells. We show also a reduced HCR in HCT116 compared with HCT116-chr3 cells and in LoVo compared with SW480 cells. However, the reduction in HCR was less or absent when cells were pretreated with UVC. These results suggest that detection of an involvement of hMLH1 and hMSH2 in TCR is dependent on UVC (254 nm) fluence to cells.
The activities of the Vsr and MutH endonucleases of Escherichia coli are stimulated by MutL. The interaction of MutL with each enzyme is enhanced in vivo by 2-aminopurine treatment and by inactivation of the mutY gene. We hypothesize that MutL recruits the endonucleases to sites of DNA damage.
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