scholarly journals In Silico Investigation of the Biological Implications of Complex DNA Damage with Emphasis in Cancer Radiotherapy through a Systems Biology Approach

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (24) ◽  
pp. 7602
Author(s):  
Athanasia Pavlopoulou ◽  
Seyedehsadaf Asfa ◽  
Evangelos Gioukakis ◽  
Ifigeneia V. Mavragani ◽  
Zacharenia Nikitaki ◽  
...  

Different types of DNA lesions forming in close vicinity, create clusters of damaged sites termed as “clustered/complex DNA damage” and they are considered to be a major challenge for DNA repair mechanisms resulting in significant repair delays and induction of genomic instability. Upon detection of DNA damage, the corresponding DNA damage response and repair (DDR/R) mechanisms are activated. The inability of cells to process clustered DNA lesions efficiently has a great impact on the normal function and survival of cells. If complex lesions are left unrepaired or misrepaired, they can lead to mutations and if persistent, they may lead to apoptotic cell death. In this in silico study, and through rigorous data mining, we have identified human genes that are activated upon complex DNA damage induction like in the case of ionizing radiation (IR) and beyond the standard DNA repair pathways, and are also involved in cancer pathways, by employing stringent bioinformatics and systems biology methodologies. Given that IR can cause repair resistant lesions within a short DNA segment (a few nm), thereby augmenting the hazardous and toxic effects of radiation, we also investigated the possible implication of the most biologically important of those genes in comorbid non-neoplastic diseases through network integration, as well as their potential for predicting survival in cancer patients.

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 2073
Author(s):  
Beate Köberle ◽  
Sarah Schoch

Cisplatin is one of the most commonly used drugs for the treatment of various solid neoplasms, including testicular, lung, ovarian, head and neck, and bladder cancers. Unfortunately, the therapeutic efficacy of cisplatin against colorectal cancer is poor. Various mechanisms appear to contribute to cisplatin resistance in cancer cells, including reduced drug accumulation, enhanced drug detoxification, modulation of DNA repair mechanisms, and finally alterations in cisplatin DNA damage signaling preventing apoptosis in cancer cells. Regarding colorectal cancer, defects in mismatch repair and altered p53-mediated DNA damage signaling are the main factors controlling the resistance phenotype. In particular, p53 inactivation appears to be associated with chemoresistance and poor prognosis. To overcome resistance in cancers, several strategies can be envisaged. Improved cisplatin analogues, which retain activity in resistant cancer, might be applied. Targeting p53-mediated DNA damage signaling provides another therapeutic strategy to circumvent cisplatin resistance. This review provides an overview on the DNA repair pathways involved in the processing of cisplatin damage and will describe signal transduction from cisplatin DNA lesions, with special attention given to colorectal cancer cells. Furthermore, examples for improved platinum compounds and biochemical modulators of cisplatin DNA damage signaling will be presented in the context of colon cancer therapy.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaja Milanowska ◽  
Kristian Rother ◽  
Janusz M. Bujnicki

DNA is continuously exposed to many different damaging agents such as environmental chemicals, UV light, ionizing radiation, and reactive cellular metabolites. DNA lesions can result in different phenotypical consequences ranging from a number of diseases, including cancer, to cellular malfunction, cell death, or aging. To counteract the deleterious effects of DNA damage, cells have developed various repair systems, including biochemical pathways responsible for the removal of single-strand lesions such as base excision repair (BER) and nucleotide excision repair (NER) or specialized polymerases temporarily taking over lesion-arrested DNA polymerases during the S phase in translesion synthesis (TLS). There are also other mechanisms of DNA repair such as homologous recombination repair (HRR), nonhomologous end-joining repair (NHEJ), or DNA damage response system (DDR). This paper reviews bioinformatics resources specialized in disseminating information about DNA repair pathways, proteins involved in repair mechanisms, damaging agents, and DNA lesions.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1050 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jehad F. Alhmoud ◽  
John F. Woolley ◽  
Ala-Eddin Al Moustafa ◽  
Mohammed Imad Malki

DNA damage is well recognized as a critical factor in cancer development and progression. DNA lesions create an abnormal nucleotide or nucleotide fragment, causing a break in one or both chains of the DNA strand. When DNA damage occurs, the possibility of generated mutations increases. Genomic instability is one of the most important factors that lead to cancer development. DNA repair pathways perform the essential role of correcting the DNA lesions that occur from DNA damaging agents or carcinogens, thus maintaining genomic stability. Inefficient DNA repair is a critical driving force behind cancer establishment, progression and evolution. A thorough understanding of DNA repair mechanisms in cancer will allow for better therapeutic intervention. In this review we will discuss the relationship between DNA damage/repair mechanisms and cancer, and how we can target these pathways.


2003 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. 1275-1287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro A. Romero ◽  
Stephane R. Gross ◽  
Ke-Yi Cheng ◽  
Noriko K. Goldsmith ◽  
Herbert M. Geller

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerarda van de Kamp ◽  
Tim Heemskerk ◽  
Roland Kanaar ◽  
Jeroen Essers

The superior dose distribution of particle radiation compared to photon radiation makes it a promising therapy for the treatment of tumors. However, the cellular responses to particle therapy and especially the DNA damage response (DDR) is not well characterized. Compared to photons, particles are thought to induce more closely spaced DNA lesions instead of isolated lesions. How this different spatial configuration of the DNA damage directs DNA repair pathway usage, is subject of current investigations. In this review, we describe recent insights into induction of DNA damage by particle radiation and how this shapes DNA end processing and subsequent DNA repair mechanisms. Additionally, we give an overview of promising DDR targets to improve particle therapy.


Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 1665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Carusillo ◽  
Claudio Mussolino

DNA is the source of genetic information, and preserving its integrity is essential in order to sustain life. The genome is continuously threatened by different types of DNA lesions, such as abasic sites, mismatches, interstrand crosslinks, or single-stranded and double-stranded breaks. As a consequence, cells have evolved specialized DNA damage response (DDR) mechanisms to sustain genome integrity. By orchestrating multilayer signaling cascades specific for the type of lesion that occurred, the DDR ensures that genetic information is preserved overtime. In the last decades, DNA repair mechanisms have been thoroughly investigated to untangle these complex networks of pathways and processes. As a result, key factors have been identified that control and coordinate DDR circuits in time and space. In the first part of this review, we describe the critical processes encompassing DNA damage sensing and resolution. In the second part, we illustrate the consequences of partial or complete failure of the DNA repair machinery. Lastly, we will report examples in which this knowledge has been instrumental to develop novel therapies based on genome editing technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1333
Author(s):  
Ricardo I. Peraza-Vega ◽  
Mahara Valverde ◽  
Emilio Rojas

Understanding the regulation of DNA repair mechanisms is of utmost importance to identify altered cellular processes that lead to diseases such as cancer through genomic instability. In this sense, miRNAs have shown a crucial role. Specifically, miR-27b-3 biogenesis has been shown to be induced in response to DNA damage, suggesting that this microRNA has a role in DNA repair. In this work, we show that the overexpression of miR-27b-3p reduces the ability of cells to repair DNA lesions, mainly double-stranded breaks (DSB), and causes the deregulation of genes involved in homologous recombination repair (HRR), base excision repair (BER), and the cell cycle. DNA damage was induced in BALB/c-3T3 cells, which overexpress miR-27b-3p, using xenobiotic agents with specific mechanisms of action that challenge different repair mechanisms to determine their reparative capacity. In addition, we evaluated the expression of 84 DNA damage signaling and repair genes and performed pathway enrichment analysis to identify altered cellular processes. Taken together, our results indicate that miR-27b-3p acts as a negative regulator of DNA repair when overexpressed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (02) ◽  
pp. 80-89
Author(s):  
Blanca De Unamuno Bustos ◽  
Natalia Chaparr´´o Aguilera ◽  
Inmaculada Azorín García ◽  
Anaid Calle Andrino ◽  
Margarita Llavador Ros ◽  
...  

Actinic keratosis (AKs) are part of the cancerization field, a region adjacent to AKs containing subclinical and histologically abnormal epidermal tissue due to Ultraviolet (UV)-induced DNA damage. The photoproducts as consequence of DNA damage induced by UV are mainly cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs). Fernblock® demonstrated in previous studies significant reduction of the number of CPDs induced by UV radiation. Photolyases are a specific group of enzymes that remove the major UV-induced DNA lesions by a mechanism called photo-reactivation. A monocentric, prospective, controlled, and double blind interventional study was performed to evaluate the effect of a new medical device (NMD) containing a DNA-repair enzyme complex (photolyases, endonucleases and glycosilases), a combination of UV-filters, and Fernblock® in the treatment of the cancerization field in 30 AK patients after photodynamic therapy. Patients were randomized into two groups: patients receiving a standard sunscreen (SS) andpatients receiving the NMD. Clinical, dermoscopic, reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) and histological evaluations were performed. An increase of AKs was noted in all groups after three months of PDT without significant differences between them (p=0.476). A significant increase in the number of AKs was observed in SS group after six (p=0.026) and twelve months of PDT (p=0.038); however, this increase did not reach statistical significance in the NMD group. Regarding RCM evaluation, honeycomb pattern assessment after twelve months of PDT showed significant differences in the extension and grade of the atypia in the NMD group compared to SS group (p=0.030 and p=0.026, respectively). Concerning histopathological evaluation, keratinocyte atypia grade improved from baseline to six months after PDT in all the groups, with no statistically significant differences between the groups. Twelve months after PDT, p53 expression was significantly lower in the NMD group compared to SS group (p=0.028). The product was well-tolerated, with no serious adverse events reported. Our results provide evidence of the utility of this NMD in the improvement of the cancerization field and in the prevention of the development of new AKs.  


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 504
Author(s):  
Takayuki Saitoh ◽  
Tsukasa Oda

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable plasma cell malignancy characterized by genomic instability. MM cells present various forms of genetic instability, including chromosomal instability, microsatellite instability, and base-pair alterations, as well as changes in chromosome number. The tumor microenvironment and an abnormal DNA repair function affect genetic instability in this disease. In addition, states of the tumor microenvironment itself, such as inflammation and hypoxia, influence the DNA damage response, which includes DNA repair mechanisms, cell cycle checkpoints, and apoptotic pathways. Unrepaired DNA damage in tumor cells has been shown to exacerbate genomic instability and aberrant features that enable MM progression and drug resistance. This review provides an overview of the DNA repair pathways, with a special focus on their function in MM, and discusses the role of the tumor microenvironment in governing DNA repair mechanisms.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 479
Author(s):  
Pavel Vodicka ◽  
Ladislav Andera ◽  
Alena Opattova ◽  
Ludmila Vodickova

The disruption of genomic integrity due to the accumulation of various kinds of DNA damage, deficient DNA repair capacity, and telomere shortening constitute the hallmarks of malignant diseases. DNA damage response (DDR) is a signaling network to process DNA damage with importance for both cancer development and chemotherapy outcome. DDR represents the complex events that detect DNA lesions and activate signaling networks (cell cycle checkpoint induction, DNA repair, and induction of cell death). TP53, the guardian of the genome, governs the cell response, resulting in cell cycle arrest, DNA damage repair, apoptosis, and senescence. The mutational status of TP53 has an impact on DDR, and somatic mutations in this gene represent one of the critical events in human carcinogenesis. Telomere dysfunction in cells that lack p53-mediated surveillance of genomic integrity along with the involvement of DNA repair in telomeric DNA regions leads to genomic instability. While the role of individual players (DDR, telomere homeostasis, and TP53) in human cancers has attracted attention for some time, there is insufficient understanding of the interactions between these pathways. Since solid cancer is a complex and multifactorial disease with considerable inter- and intra-tumor heterogeneity, we mainly dedicated this review to the interactions of DNA repair, telomere homeostasis, and TP53 mutational status, in relation to (a) cancer risk, (b) cancer progression, and (c) cancer therapy.


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