scholarly journals Disparate roles of ATR and ATM in immunoglobulin class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation

2006 ◽  
Vol 203 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Pan-Hammarström ◽  
Aleksi Lähdesmäki ◽  
Yaofeng Zhao ◽  
Likun Du ◽  
Zhihui Zhao ◽  
...  

Class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM) are mechanistically related processes initiated by activation-induced cytidine deaminase. Here, we have studied the role of ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related protein (ATR) in CSR by analyzing the recombinational junctions, resulting from in vivo switching, in cells from patients with mutations in the ATR gene. The proportion of cells that have switched to immunoglobulin (Ig)A and IgG in the peripheral blood seems to be normal in ATR-deficient (ATRD) patients and the recombined S regions show a normal “blunt end-joining,” but impaired end joining with partially complementary (1–3 bp) DNA ends. There was also an increased usage of microhomology at the μ-α switch junctions, but only up to 9 bp, suggesting that the end-joining pathway requiring longer microhomologies (≥10 bp) may be ATR dependent. The SHM pattern in the Ig variable heavy chain genes is altered, with fewer mutations occurring at A and more mutations at T residues and thus a loss of strand bias in targeting A/T pairs within certain hotspots. These data suggest that the role of ATR is partially overlapping with that of ataxia telangiectasia–mutated protein, but that the former is also endowed with unique functional properties in the repair processes during CSR and SHM.

2003 ◽  
Vol 198 (8) ◽  
pp. 1171-1178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Martin ◽  
Ziqiang Li ◽  
Diana P. Lin ◽  
Philip D. Bardwell ◽  
Maria D. Iglesias-Ussel ◽  
...  

Somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR) are initiated by activation-induced cytidine deaminase–mediated cytidine deamination of immunoglobulin genes. MutS homologue (Msh) 2−/− mice have reduced A-T mutations and CSR. This suggests that Msh2 may play a role in repairing activation-induced cytidine deaminase–generated G-U mismatches. However, because Msh2 not only initiates mismatch repair but also has other functions, such as signaling for apoptosis, it is not known which activity of Msh2 is responsible for the effects observed, and consequently, many models have been proposed. To further dissect the role of Msh2 in SHM and CSR, mice with a “knockin” mutation in the Msh2 gene that inactivates the adenosine triphosphatase domain were examined. This mutation (i.e., Msh2G674A), which does not affect apoptosis signaling, allows mismatches to be recognized but prevents Msh2 from initiating mismatch repair. Here, we show that, similar to Msh2−/− mice, SHM in Msh2G674A mice is biased toward G-C mutations. However, CSR is partially reduced, and switch junctions are more similar to those of postmeiotic segregation 2−/− mice than to Msh2−/− mice. These results indicate that Msh2 adenosine triphosphatase activity is required for A-T mutations, and suggest that Msh2 has more than one role in CSR.


2008 ◽  
Vol 205 (11) ◽  
pp. 2585-2594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin M. McBride ◽  
Anna Gazumyan ◽  
Eileen M. Woo ◽  
Tanja A. Schwickert ◽  
Brian T. Chait ◽  
...  

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is a mutator enzyme that initiates somatic mutation and class switch recombination in B lymphocytes by introducing uracil:guanine mismatches into DNA. Repair pathways process these mismatches to produce point mutations in the Ig variable region or double-stranded DNA breaks in the switch region DNA. However, AID can also produce off-target DNA damage, including mutations in oncogenes. Therefore, stringent regulation of AID is required for maintaining genomic stability during maturation of the antibody response. It has been proposed that AID phosphorylation at serine 38 (S38) regulates its activity, but this has not been tested in vivo. Using a combination of mass spectrometry and immunochemical approaches, we found that in addition to S38, AID is also phosphorylated at position threonine 140 (T140). Mutation of either S38 or T140 to alanine does not impact catalytic activity, but interferes with class switching and somatic hypermutation in vivo. This effect is particularly pronounced in haploinsufficient mice where AID levels are limited. Although S38 is equally important for both processes, T140 phosphorylation preferentially affects somatic mutation, suggesting that posttranslational modification might contribute to the choice between hypermutation and class switching.


Blood ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 120 (21) ◽  
pp. 1538-1538
Author(s):  
Aliki Xochelli ◽  
Fotini Marantidou ◽  
Evangelia Stalika ◽  
Lesley-Ann Sutton ◽  
Alba Navarro ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 1538 According to the WHO 2008 Classification, the cellular origin of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is traced to a peripheral B cell of the inner mantle zone, mostly of naïve pre-germinal center type. This notion, however, is seriously challenged by both the remarkable restrictions of the immunoglobulin gene repertoire in MCL and, furthermore, by the fact that the great majority of cases exhibit imprints of somatic hypermutation (SHM) in rearranged IGHV genes, ranging from (mostly) minimal to pronounced. These findings support an antigen-driven origin for MCL, at least for a substantial fraction of the entire cohort. Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is induced in B cells following contact with antigen and is critically implicated in both somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR). Although the available information about AID expression and in vivo CSR in MCL is limited and contradictory, at least some MCL cases have been reported to express AID and undergo ongoing CSR. With this in mind, here we investigated AID-mRNA isoform expression and isotype switch events in a large series of MCL cases and explored possible associations with IGHV gene repertoire and SHM status. Overall, 107 cases were included in the study and tumor-involved diagnostic tissue samples of different types were evaluated, including: fresh-frozen lymph nodes (LN, n=53), peripheral blood (PB, n=42), spleen (n=5), bone marrow biopsies (n=3) and other (n=4). The neoplastic lymphocytic infiltration ranged from 52–98% (median 80%). Thirty-five of 107 cases (32.7%) carried IGHV genes with 100% identity to the germline (GI) whereas the remaining 72 cases bore some imprint of SHM: in particular, 48/107 cases (44.9%) carried IGHV genes with 97–99.9% GI and, finally, 24/107 cases (22.4%) carried IGHV genes with <97% GI. In keeping with the literature, the IGHV gene repertoire of the present cohort was remarkably biased, with the IGHV3–21, IGHV4–34, IGHV3–23 and IGHV1–8 genes accounting for 55.1% of cases. Profiling of AID mRNA expression was performed by RQ-PCR for the full-length AID (AID-FL) as well as the most frequent splice variants, namely AID-ΔE4a (lacking the first 30 nucleotides from exon 4), and AID-ΔE4 (loss of the entire exon 4). AID transcript levels were calculated as the percentage of AID copy number divided by the copy number of the reference transcript (c-ABL). AID-FL transcripts were detected in 104/107 (97%) cases whereas the AID-ΔE4a and AID-ΔE4 splice variants were detected in 72/107 (67.3%) and 107/107 cases (100%), respectively. The median values for AID-FL, AID-ΔE4a and AID-ΔE4 transcripts were 4.45%, 0.133% and 0.918%, respectively. AID transcript levels varied between different cases by up to 5-log for AID-FL transcripts and 4-log for splice variants. Not unexpectedly, the median transcript levels in LN samples were higher (up to 1-log) compared to PB samples. A highly significant (p<0.001) association was noted between medium-to-high AID-FL transcript levels (AID-FL/ABL○1%) and IGHV GI 100%. Given the difference in tissue origin of our samples, we also performed a separate analysis for LN samples only and found that cases with 100% IGHV GI expressed high AID-FL transcript levels (AID-FL/ABL○10%) significantly (p=0.04) more frequently than cases carrying mutated IGHV genes. Isotype switch events were investigated in 41 cases: overall, 4 cases (9.7%), all with GI<100%, carried alternative tumor-derived Cγ (n=1) or Cα (n=3) transcripts. In conclusion, the present analysis documents AID expression in the vast majority of MCL, thus corroborating our previous hypothesis for antigen involvement in MCL ontogeny. Ongoing CSR events appear to be a feature of MCL, further supporting an activated status, at least for subset of cases. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2008 ◽  
Vol 364 (1517) ◽  
pp. 667-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uttiya Basu ◽  
Andrew Franklin ◽  
Frederick W Alt

The assembled immunoglobulin genes in the B cells of mice and humans are altered by distinct processes known as class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation, leading to diversification of the antibody repertoire. These two DNA modification processes are initiated by the B cell-specific protein factor activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID). AID is post-translationally modified by phosphorylation at multiple sites, although functional significance during CSR has been implicated only for phosphorylation at serine-38 (S38). Although multiple laboratories have demonstrated that AID function is regulated via phosphorylation at S38, the precise biological role of S38 phosphorylation has been a topic of debate. Here, we discuss our interpretation of the significance of AID regulation via phosphorylation and also discuss how this form of AID regulation may have evolved in higher organisms.


2007 ◽  
Vol 204 (8) ◽  
pp. 1989-1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Langerak ◽  
Anders O.H. Nygren ◽  
Peter H.L. Krijger ◽  
Paul C.M. van den Berk ◽  
Heinz Jacobs

B cells use translesion DNA synthesis (TLS) to introduce somatic mutations around genetic lesions caused by activation-induced cytidine deaminase. Monoubiquitination at lysine164 of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNAK164) stimulates TLS. To determine the role of PCNAK164 modifications in somatic hypermutation, PCNAK164R knock-in mice were generated. PCNAK164R/K164R mutants are born at a sub-Mendelian frequency. Although PCNAK164R/K164R B cells proliferate and class switch normally, the mutation spectrum of hypermutated immunoglobulin (Ig) genes alters dramatically. A strong reduction of mutations at template A/T is associated with a compensatory increase at G/C, which is a phenotype similar to polymerase η (Polη) and mismatch repair–deficient B cells. Mismatch recognition, monoubiquitinated PCNA, and Polη likely cooperate in establishing mutations at template A/T during replication of Ig genes.


2003 ◽  
Vol 987 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
ILMI OKAZAKI ◽  
KIYOTSUGU YOSHIKAWA ◽  
KAZUO KINOSHITA ◽  
MASAMICHI MURAMATSU ◽  
HITOSHI NAGAOKA ◽  
...  

Blood ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 101 (10) ◽  
pp. 4029-4032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Oppezzo ◽  
Françoise Vuillier ◽  
Yuri Vasconcelos ◽  
Gérard Dumas ◽  
Christian Magnac ◽  
...  

Abstract In B cells, somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR) depend on the activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) gene product, although the precise mode of action of AID remains unknown. Because some chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) B cells can undergo CSR without SHM, it constitutes a useful model to dissect AID function. In this work, we have studied AID expression, the presence of mutations in the preswitch μ DNA region, CSR, and the SHM in 65 CLL patients. Our results demonstrate that unmutated CLL B cells can constitutively express AID and that AID expression is associated with the presence of mutations in the preswitch region and in clonally related isotype-switched transcripts. They also demonstrate that in CLL without constitutive AID expression, AID induction on stimulation results in preswitch mutations and the CSR process. Our results show a dissociation between SHM and CSR in CLL and suggest that, in this disease, AID would require additional help for carrying out the SHM process.


2009 ◽  
Vol 206 (2) ◽  
pp. 477-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Schenten ◽  
Sven Kracker ◽  
Gloria Esposito ◽  
Sonia Franco ◽  
Ulf Klein ◽  
...  

Polζ is an error-prone DNA polymerase that is critical for embryonic development and maintenance of genome stability. To analyze its suggested role in somatic hypermutation (SHM) and possible contribution to DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair in class switch recombination (CSR), we ablated Rev3, the catalytic subunit of Polζ, selectively in mature B cells in vivo. The frequency of somatic mutation was reduced in the mutant cells but the pattern of SHM was unaffected. Rev3-deficient B cells also exhibited pronounced chromosomal instability and impaired proliferation capacity. Although the data thus argue against a direct role of Polζ in SHM, Polζ deficiency directly interfered with CSR in that activated Rev3-deficient B cells exhibited a reduced efficiency of CSR and an increased frequency of DNA breaks in the immunoglobulin H locus. Based on our results, we suggest a nonredundant role of Polζ in DNA DSB repair through nonhomologous end joining.


2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 815-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Durandy

Several genetic defects in class switch recombination, which lead to a hyper-IgM syndrome, have been described recently in humans. In addition to the well known role of CD40-ligand-CD40 interaction, these pathologies demonstrate definitively the requirement of CD40-mediated nuclear factor kB activation and the essential role of a recently described molecule, the activationinduced cytidine deaminase in an efficient humoral response, which includes class switch recombination and the production of high-affinity antibodies.


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