Cytogenetic Instability in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Survivors

Contemporary anticancer therapies have largely improved the outcome for children with cancer, especially for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Actually, between 78% and 85% of patients achieve complete remission and are alive after 5 years of therapy completion. However, as cure rates increase, new concerns about the late effects of genotoxic treatment emerge, being the risk of developing secondary neoplasias, the most serious life-threatening rising problem. In the present paper, we describe and review the cytogenetic findings in peripheral lymphocytes from ALL survivors, and discuss aspects associated to the occurrence of increased chromosome rearrangements in this growing cohort

Effects of E2F1 and HEB (Transcription Factors Predicted by In Silico Analysis) Silencing in Glioblastoma Cells Irradiated with Gamma-Rays.

O glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) é um dos tumores mais letais e a radioterapia permanece como um dos principais tratamentos. Novas estratégias são necessárias para coibir a resistência ao tratamento, como o silenciamento de fatores de transcrição (FTs). Nossa hipótese é a de que FTs associados a listas de genes diferencialmente expressos, os quais foram selecionados para linhagens de GBM irradiadas, ou comparando amostras de GBM à amostras de tecido cerebral, possam fornecer alvos moleculares que aumentariam a morte das células tumorais, quando silenciados. Foram analisadas a proliferação, morte e ciclo celular, além da formação e diferenciação de neuroesferas, utilizando, em quase todas as etapas, a citometria de fluxo. Os FTs HEB e E2F1, cujas funções principais estão relacionadas à neurogênese e proliferação celular, foram selecionados a partir das análises in silico de GBM irradiados ou não, ou de GBMs comparados a amostras de cérebro normal, respectivamente. Esses FTs encontram-se expressos em linhagens U87, astrócitos primários e neuroesferas provenientes das mesmas, analisadas por Western blot. O silenciamento de HEB e E2F1 na linhagem U87, de forma geral, reduziu a proliferação, induziu morte celular e diminuiu a porcentagem de células em G0/ G1, em pelo menos um dos tempos analisados (24, 48 e 72h) em relação ao grupo transfectado com a sequência scrambled. O silenciamento de HEB e E2F1 reduziu o número de neuroesferas quando comparadas às células transfectadas com a sequência scrambled. Possivelmente, a capacidade anti-proliferativa do silenciamento dos FTs HEB e E2F1 observada no cultivo em monocamada da U87, possam atuar na capacidade de formação de neuroesferas e, consequentemente, podem ter um papel na manutenção das células tronco do GBM. O silenciamento não alterou a radiorresistência da U87 cultivada em monocamada, com exceção dos efeitos do silenciamento de E2F1 em 24 h, em que houve radioproteção. A irradiação não reduziu o número de neuroesferas silenciadas para HEB em comparação ao grupo não irradiado, mas reduziu o número de células presentes nas neuroesferas, indicando uma possível atuação de HEB na resposta à irradiação em neuroesferas, fato este nunca antes descrito. O silenciamento de E2F1 não interferiu na resposta das neuroesferas à radiação. A expressão de CD133 avaliada oito dias após a dissociação das células silenciadas para E2F1 e HEB, cultivadas em meio de diferenciação, foram superiores ao do grupo scrambled, indicando uma possível diminuição na diferenciação celular. O silenciamento dos dois FTs não atuou na seleção positiva de CD133+ após a irradiação, como observado no grupo das neuroesferas transfectadas com a sequência scrambled e irradiadas, comparado às não irradiadas. Assim, E2F1 e HEB mostraram-se alvos interessantes no sentido de reduzir a proliferação, tanto em células U87 cultivadas em monocamada quanto em neuroesferas.Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most lethal tumors, and radiation therapy remains one of the main treatments. New strategies are needed to suppress typical GBM treatment resistance and transcription factors (TFs) silencing seems to be a promising strategy. Our hypothesis is that TFs associated with lists of differentially expressed genes which were selected for irradiated compared to shamirradiated GBM cell lines, or GBM samples compared to brain tissue samples, could provide molecular targets that are supposed to increase tumor cell death when they are silenced. We analyzed proliferation, cell death and cell cycle progression, besides the formation and differentiation of neurospheres, using several analyses by flow cytometry. The TFs HEB and E2F1, whose primary functions are related to neurogenesis and cell proliferation, were selected from in silico analysis of GBM irradiated or sham-irradiated GBMs and GBM samples compared with normal brain samples, respectively. These TFs were found expressed in U87 GBM cell line, and primary astrocytes, as well as in neurospheres derivated from both, as analyzed by Western blot. Silencing of E2F1 and HEB in U87 cells, reduced proliferation, induced cell death and decreased the percentage of cells at G0/G1 (24, 48 or 72h) compared to the scrambled sequence transfected group. HEB and E2F1 silencing reduced the number of neurospheres when compared to cells transfected with scrambled sequence. Possibly, the anti-proliferative ability of silencing of HEB and E2F1 TFs observed in monolayer culture of U87, may act in neurospheres forming capacity and therefore may play a role in the maintenance of GBM stem cells. In our experiments, gene silencing did not alter the radio-resistance of U87 grown in monolayer. Irradiation did not reduce the number of neurospheres silenced for HEB compared to non-irradiated group, but reduced the number of cells present in neurospheres, indicating a possible role of HEB in response to ionizing irradiation in neurospheres, a fact that was not described yet. The silencing of E2F1 in neurospheres did not affect the response to irradiation. The expression of CD133, as assessed at eight days after the dissociation of cells silenced for E2F1 and HEB (cultured in differentiation culture media), was superior compared with the scrambled group, indicating a possible decrease in cell differentiation. The silencing of both TFs did not influence the positive selection of CD133 after irradiation, as observed in the group of neurospheres transfected with scrambled sequence, and irradiated compared to nonirradiated. Thus, E2F1 and HEB proved to be interesting targets for decreasing proliferation in both U87 cells grown as monolayer or neurospheres

Effect of dose and dose rate of gamma irradiation on the formation of micronuclei in bone marrow cells isolated from whole‐body‐irradiated mice

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Oxidative Stress Levels and DNA Repair Kinetics in Senescent Primary Human Fibroblasts Exposed to Chronic Low Dose Rate of Ionizing Radiation

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