Review:DNA-damage response network at the crossroads of cell-cycle checkpoints, cellular senescence and apoptosis

Tissue homeostasis requires a carefully-orchestrated balance between cell proliferation, cellular senescence and cell death. Cells proliferate through a cell cycle that is tightly regulated by cyclin-dependent kinase activities. Cellular senescence is a safeguard program limiting the proliferative competence of cells in living organisms. Apoptosis eliminates unwanted cells by the coordinated activity of gene products that regulate and effect cell death. The intimate link between the cell cycle, cellular senes- cence, apoptosis regulation, cancer development and tumor responses to cancer treatment has become eminently apparent. Extensive research on tumor suppressor genes, oncogenes, the cell cycle and apoptosis regulatory genes has revealed how the DNA damage-sensing and -signaling pathways, referred to as the DNA-damage response network, are tied to cell proliferation, cell-cycle arrest, cellular senescence and apoptosis. DNA-damage responses are complex, involving “sensor” proteins that sense the damage, and transmit signals to “transducer” proteins, which, in turn, convey the signals to numerous “effector” proteins implicated in specific cellular pathways, including DNA repair mechanisms, cell-cycle checkpoints, cellular senescence and apoptosis. The Bcl-2 family of proteins stands among the most crucial regulators of apoptosis and performs vital functions in deciding whether a cell will live or die after cancer chemotherapy and irradiation. In addition, several studies have now revealed that members of the Bcl-2 family also interface with the cell cycle, DNA repair/recombination and cellular senescence, effects that are generally distinct from their function in apoptosis. In this review, we report progress in understanding the molecular networks that regulate cell-cycle checkpoints, cellular senescence and apoptosis after DNA damage, and discuss the influence of some Bcl-2 family members on cell-cycle checkpoint regulation.

Dual activities of a silencing information regulator complex in yeast transcriptional regulation and DNA-damage response

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae silencing information regulator(SIR)complex contains up to four proteins,namely Sir1,Sir2,Sir3,and Sir4.While Sir2 encodes a NAD-dependent histone deacetylase,other SIR proteins mainly function as structural and scaffold components through physical interaction with various proteins.The SIR complex displays different conformation and composition,including Sir2 homotrimer,Sir1-4 heterotetramer,Sir2-4 heterotrimer,and their derivatives,which recycle and relocate to different chromosomal regions.Major activities of the SIR complex are transcriptional silencing through chromosomal remodeling and modulation of DNA double-strand-break repair pathways.These activities allow the SIR complex to be involved in mating-type maintenance and switching,telomere and subtelomere gene silencing,promotion of nonhomologous end joining,and inhibition of homologous recombination,as well as control of cell aging.This review explores the potential link between epigenetic regulation and DNA damage response conferred by the SIR complex under various conditions aiming at understanding its roles in balancing cell survival and genomic stability in response to internal and environmental stresses.As core activities of the SIR complex are highly conserved in eukaryotes from yeast to humans,knowledge obtained in the yeast may apply to mammalian Sirtuin homologs and related diseases.

The involvement of XPC protein in the cisplatin DNA damaging treatment-mediated cellular response

Recognition of DNA damage is a critical step for DNA damage-mediated cellular response. XPC is an important DNA damage recognition protein involved in nucleotide excision repair (NER). We have studied the XPC protein in cisplatin DNA damaging treatment-mediated cellular response. Comparison of the microarray data from both normal and XPCdefective human fibroblasts identified 861 XPC-responsive genes in the cisplatin treatment (with minimum fold change≥1.5).The cell cycle and cell proliferation-related genes are the most affected genes by the XPC defect in the treatment. Many other cellular function genes, especially the DNA repair and signal transduction-related genes, were also affected by the XPC defect in the treatment. To validate the microarray data, the transcription levels of some microarray-identified genes were also determined by an RT-PCR based real time PCR assay. The real time PCR results are consistent with the microarray data for most of the tested genes, indicating the reliability of the microarray data. To further validate the microarray data, the cisplatin treatment-mediated caspase-3 activation was also determined. The Western blot hybridization results indicate that the XPC defect greatly attenuates the cisplatin treatment-mediated Caspase-3 activation. We elucidated the role of p53 protein in the XPC protein DNA damage recognition-mediated signaling process. The XPC defect reduces the cisplatin treatment-mediated p53 response. These results suggest that the XPC protein plays an important role in the cisplatin treatment-mediated cellular response. It may also suggest a possible mechanism of cancer cell drug resistance.

Role of c-Abl in the DNA damage stress response

c-Abl has been implicated in many cellular processes including differentiation, division, adhesion, death, and stress response. c-Abl is a latent tyrosine kinase that becomes activated in response to numerous extra- and intra-cellular stimuli. Here we briefly review the current knowledge about c-Abl involvement in the DNA-damage stress response and its implication on cell physiology.

MHC class Ⅰ-independent activation of virtual memory CD8 T cells induced by chemotherapeutic agent-treated cancer cells

Cancer cells can evade immune recognition by losing major histocompatibility complex(MHC)class Ⅰ.Hence,MHC class Ⅰ-negative cancers represent the most challenging cancers to treat.Chemotherapeutic drugs not only directly kill tumors but also modulate the tumor immune microenvironment However,it remains unknown whether chemotherapy-treated cancer cells can activate CD8 T cells independent of tumor-derived MHC class Ⅰ and whether such MHC class Ⅰ-independent CD8 T-cell activation can be exploited for cancer immunotherapy.Here,we showed that chemotherapy-treated cancer cells directly activated CD8 T cells in an MHC class Ⅰ-independent manner and that these activated CD8 T cells exhibit virtual memory(VM)phenotypes.Consistently,in vivo chemotherapeutic treatment preferentially increased tumor-infiltrating VM CD8 T cells.Mechanistically,MHC class Ⅰ-independent activation of CD8 T cells requires cell-cell contact and activation of the PI3K pathway.VM CD8 T cells contribute to a superior therapeutic effect on MHC class Ⅰ-deficient tumors.Using humanized mouse models or primary human CD8 T cells,we also demonstrated that chemotherapy-treated human lymphomas activated VM CD8 T cells independent of tumor-derived MHC class Ⅰ.In conclusion,CD8 T cells can be directly activated in an MHC class Ⅰ-independent manner by chemotherapy-treated cancers,and these activated CD8 T cells may be exploited for developing new strategies to treat MHC class Ⅰ-deficient cancers.

STUDY OF MUTAGENESIS OF GENOTOXIC AGENTS AT LOW DOSE WITH PARVOVIRUS/ HUMAN CELL DETECTING SYSTEM

Although several tens of detecting systems have since been established to test the environmental mutagens and carcinogens, each of them inevitably possesses its limitation for application. This study describes a newly developed system, the parvovirus/human cell system.The autonomous parvovirus H-1 contains a linear single-stranded DNA