scholarly journals Determinants of Homologous Recombination Deficiency in Pancreatic Cancer

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 4716
Author(s):  
Max M. Wattenberg ◽  
Kim A. Reiss

Pancreatic cancer is a treatment-resistant malignancy associated with high mortality. However, defective homologous recombination (HR), a DNA repair mechanism required for high-fidelity repair of double-strand DNA breaks, is a therapeutic vulnerability. Consistent with this, a subset of patients with pancreatic cancer show unique tumor responsiveness to HR-dependent DNA damage triggered by certain treatments (platinum chemotherapy and PARP inhibitors). While pathogenic mutations in HR genes are a major driver of this sensitivity, another layer of diverse tumor intrinsic and extrinsic factors regulate the HR deficiency (HRD) phenotype. Defining the mechanisms that drive HRD may guide the development of novel strategies and therapeutics to induce treatment sensitivity in non-HRD tumors. Here, we discuss the complexity underlying HRD in pancreatic cancer and highlight implications for identifying and treating this distinct subset of patients.

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 3779-3785 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Henderson ◽  
J P Simons

In mammalian cells, the predominant pathway of chromosomal integration of exogenous DNA is random or illegitimate recombination; integration by homologous recombination is infrequent. Homologous recombination is initiated at double-strand DNA breaks which have been acted on by single-strand exonuclease. To further characterize the relationship between illegitimate and homologous recombination, we have investigated whether illegitimate recombination is also preceded by exonuclease digestion. Heteroduplex DNAs which included strand-specific restriction markers at each of four positions were generated. These DNAs were introduced into mouse embryonic stem cells, and stably transformed clones were isolated and analyzed to determine whether there was any strand bias in the retention of restriction markers with respect to their positions. Some of the mismatches appear to have been resolved by mismatch repair. Very significant strand bias was observed in the retention of restriction markers, and there was polarity of marker retention between adjacent positions. We conclude that DNA is frequently subjected to 5'-->3' exonuclease digestion prior to integration by illegitimate recombination and that the length of DNA removed by exonuclease digestion can be extensive. We also provide evidence which suggests that frequent but less extensive 3'-->5' exonuclease processing also occurs.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soichiro S. Ito ◽  
Yosuke Nakagawa ◽  
Masaya Matsubayashi ◽  
Yoshihiko M. Sakaguchi ◽  
Shinko Kobashigawa ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe anticancer agent, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), is typically applied in the treatment of various types of cancers because of its properties. Thought to be an inhibitor of the enzyme thymidylate synthase which plays a role in nucleotide synthesis, 5-FU has been found to induce single- and double-strand DNA breaks. The activation of ATR occurs as a reaction to UV- and chemotherapeutic drug-induced replication stress. In this study, we examined the effect of ATR inhibition on 5-FU sensitivity. Using western blotting, we found that 5-FU treatment led to the phosphorylation of ATR. Surviving fractions were remarkably decreased in 5-FU with ATR inhibitor (ATRi) compared to 5-FU with other major DNA repair kinases inhibitors. ATR inhibition enhanced induction of DNA double-strand breaks and apoptosis in 5-FU-treated cells. Using gene expression analysis, we found that 5-FU could induce the activation of intra-S checkpoint. Surprisingly, BRCA2-deficient cells were sensitive to 5-FU in the presence of ATRi. In addition, ATR inhibition enhanced the efficacy of 5-FU treatment, independent of non-homologous end-joining and homologous recombination repair pathways. Findings from the present study suggest ATR as a potential therapeutic target for 5-FU chemotherapy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 1818-1829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo C. Bohrer ◽  
Naomi Dicks ◽  
Karina Gutierrez ◽  
Raj Duggavathi ◽  
Vilceu Bordignon

Author(s):  
Alexander Smirnov ◽  
Veniamin Fishman ◽  
Anastasia Yunusova ◽  
Alexey Korablev ◽  
Irina Serova ◽  
...  

Abstract Mechanisms that ensure repair of double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs) are instrumental in the integration of foreign DNA into the genome of transgenic organisms. After pronuclear microinjection, exogenous DNA is usually found as a concatemer comprising multiple co-integrated transgene copies. Here, we investigated the contribution of various DSB repair pathways to the concatemer formation. We injected mouse zygotes with a pool of linear DNA molecules carrying unique barcodes at both ends and obtained 10 transgenic embryos with 1–300 transgene copies. Sequencing the barcodes allowed us to assign relative positions to the copies in concatemers and detect recombination events that occurred during integration. Cumulative analysis of approximately 1,000 integrated copies reveals that over 80% of them underwent recombination when their linear ends were processed by synthesis-dependent strand annealing (SDSA) or double-strand break repair (DSBR). We also observed evidence of double Holliday junction (dHJ) formation and crossing over during the concatemer formations. Sequencing indels at the junctions between copies shows that at least 10% of DNA molecules introduced into the zygotes are ligated by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). Our barcoding approach, verified with Pacific Biosciences Single Molecule Real-Time (SMRT) long-range sequencing, documents high activity of homologous recombination after DNA microinjection.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandeep Chakraborty

‘Prime-editing’ proposes to replace traditional programmable nucleases (CRISPR-Cas9) using a catalytically impaired Cas9 (dCas9) connected to a engineered reverse transcriptase, and a guide RNA encoding both the target site and the desired change. With just a ‘nick’ on one strand, it is hypothe- sized, the negative, uncontrollable effects arising from double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs) - translocations, complex proteins, integrations and p53 activation - will be eliminated. However, sequencing data pro- vided (Accid:PRJNA565979) reveal plasmid integration, indicating that DSBs occur. Also, looking at only 16 off-targets is inadequate to assert that Prime-editing is more precise. Integration of plasmid occurs in all three versions (PE1/2/3). Interestingly, dCas9 which is known to be toxic in E. coli and yeast, is shown to have residual endonuclease activity. This also affects studies that use dCas9, like base- editors and de/methylations systems. Previous work using hRad51–Cas9 nickases also show significant integration in on-targets, as well as off-target integration [1]. Thus, we show that cellular response to nicking involves DSBs, and subsequent plasmid/Cas9 integration. This is an unacceptable outcome for any in vivo application in human therapy.


Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
pp. 1115-1125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Xu ◽  
Thomas D Petes

Abstract Meiotic recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is initiated by double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs). Using two approaches, we mapped the position of DSBs associated with a recombination hotspot created by insertion of telomeric sequences into the region upstream of HIS4. We found that the breaks have no obvious sequence specificity and localize to a region of ~50 bp adjacent to the telomeric insertion. By mapping the breaks and by studies of the exonuclease III sensitivity of the broken ends, we conclude that most of the broken DNA molecules have blunt ends with 3′-hydroxyl groups.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Laura Cortesi ◽  
Claudia Piombino ◽  
Angela Toss

The homologous recombination repair (HRR) pathway repairs double-strand DNA breaks, mostly by BRCA1 and BRCA2, although other proteins such as ATM, CHEK2, and PALB2 are also involved. BRCA1/2 germline mutations are targeted by PARP inhibitors. The aim of this commentary is to explore whether germline mutations in HRR-related genes other than BRCA1/2 have to be considered as prognostic factors or predictive to therapies by discussing the results of two articles published in December 2020. The TBCRC 048 trial published by Tung et al. showed an impressive objective response rate to olaparib in metastatic breast cancer patients with germline PALB2 mutation compared to germline ATM and CHEK2 mutation carriers. Additionally, Yadav et al. observed a significantly longer overall survival in pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients with germline HRR mutations compared to non-carriers. In our opinion, assuming that PALB2 is a high-penetrant gene with a key role in the HRR system, PALB2 mutations are predictive factors for response to treatment. Moreover, germline mutations in the ATM gene provide a better outcome in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, being more often associated to wild-type KRAS. In conclusion, sequencing of HRR-related genes other than BRCA1/2 should be routinely offered as part of a biological characterization of pancreatic and breast cancers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prasun Chakraborty ◽  
Kevin Hiom

AbstractDouble stranded DNA Breaks (DSB) that occur in highly transcribed regions of the genome are preferentially repaired by homologous recombination repair (HR). However, the mechanisms that link transcription with HR are unknown. Here we identify a critical role for DHX9, a RNA helicase involved in the processing of pre-mRNA during transcription, in the initiation of HR. Cells that are deficient in DHX9 are impaired in the recruitment of RPA and RAD51 to sites of DNA damage and fail to repair DSB by HR. Consequently, these cells are hypersensitive to treatment with agents such as camptothecin and Olaparib that block transcription and generate DSB that specifically require HR for their repair. We show that DHX9 plays a critical role in HR by promoting the recruitment of BRCA1 to RNA as part of the RNA Polymerase II transcription complex, where it facilitates the resection of DSB. Moreover, defects in DHX9 also lead to impaired ATR-mediated damage signalling and an inability to restart DNA replication at camptothecin-induced DSB. Together, our data reveal a previously unknown role for DHX9 in the DNA Damage Response that provides a critical link between RNA, RNA Pol II and the repair of DNA damage by homologous recombination.


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