Prevention of DNA Replication Stress by CHK1 Leads to Chemoresistance Despite a DNA Repair Defect in Homologous Recombination in Breast Cancer

Chromosomal instability not only has a negative effect on survival in triple-negative breast cancer, but also on the well treatable subgroup of luminal A tumors. This suggests a general mechanism independent of subtypes. Increased chromosomal instability (CIN) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is attributed to a defect in the DNA repair pathway homologous recombination. Homologous recombination (HR) prevents genomic instability by repair and protection of replication. It is unclear whether genetic alterations actually lead to a repair defect or whether superior signaling pathways are of greater importance. Previous studies focused exclusively on the repair function of HR. Here, we show that the regulation of HR by the intra-S-phase damage response at the replication is of overriding importance. A damage response activated by Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related-checkpoint kinase 1 (ATR-CHK1) can prevent replication stress and leads to resistance formation. CHK1 thus has a preferred role over HR in preventing replication stress in TNBC. The signaling cascade ATR-CHK1 can compensate for a double-strand break repair error and lead to resistance of HR-deficient tumors. Established methods for the identification of HR-deficient tumors for Poly(ADP-Ribose)-Polymerase 1 (PARP1) inhibitor therapies should be extended to include analysis of candidates for intra-S phase damage response

BRCA1 mislocalization leads to aberrant DNA damage response in heterozygous ABRAXAS1 mutation carrier cells

Peer reviewe

Non-catalytic Roles for XPG with BRCA1 and BRCA2 in Homologous Recombination and Genome Stability

XPG is a structure-specific endonuclease required for nucleotide excision repair, and incision-defective Xpg mutations cause the skin cancer-prone syndrome xeroderma pigmentosum. Truncating mutations instead cause the neurodevelopmental progeroid disorder Cockayne syndrome, but little is known about how XPG loss results in this devastating disease. We identify XPG as a partner of BRCA1 and BRCA2 in maintaining genomic stability through homologous recombination (HRR). XPG depletion causes DNA double-strand breaks, chromosomal abnormalities, cell-cycle delays, defective HRR, inability to overcome replication fork stalling, and replication stress. XPG directly interacts with BRCA2, RAD51, and PALB2, and XPG depletion reduces their chromatin binding and subsequent RAD51 foci formation. Upstream in HRR, XPG interacts directly with BRCA1. Its depletion causes BRCA1 hyper-phosphorylation and persistent chromatin binding. These unexpected findings establish XPG as an HRR protein with important roles in genome stability and suggest how XPG defects produce severe clinical consequences including cancer and accelerated aging

Cdc45 is limiting for replication initiation in humans

Cdc45 is an essential protein that together with Mcm2-7 and GINS forms the eukaryotic replicative helicase CMG. Cdc45 seems to be rate limiting for the initial unwinding or firing of replication origins. In line with this view, Cdc45-overexpressing cells fired at least twice as many origins as control cells. However, these cells displayed an about 2-fold diminished fork elongation rate, a pronounced asymmetry of replication fork extension, and an early S phase arrest. This was accompanied by H2AX-phosphorylation and subsequent apoptosis. Unexpectedly, we did not observe increased ATR/Chk1 signaling but rather a mild ATM/Chk2 response. In addition, we detected accumulation of long stretches of single-stranded DNA, a hallmark of replication catastrophe. We conclude that increased origin firing by upregulated Cdc45 caused exhaustion of the single-strand binding protein RPA, which in consequence diminished the ATR/Chk1 response; the subsequently occurring fork breaks led to an ATM/Chk2 mediated phosphorylation of H2AX and eventually to apoptosis

PARP1 inhibition radiosensitizes HNSCC cells deficient in homologous recombination by disabling the DNA replication fork elongation response.

There is a need to develop new, more efficient therapies for head and neck cancer (HNSCC) patients. It is currently unclear whether defects in DNA repair genes play a role in HNSCCs' resistance to therapy. PARP1 inhibitors (PARPi) were found to be "synthetic lethal" in cancers deficient in BRCA1/2 with impaired homologous recombination. Since tumors rarely have these particular mutations, there is considerable interest in finding alternative determinants of PARPi sensitivity. Effectiveness of combined irradiation and PARPi olaparib was evaluated in ten HNSCC cell lines, subdivided into HR-proficient and HR-deficient cell lines using a GFP-based reporter assay. Both groups were equally sensitive to PARPi alone. Combined treatment revealed stronger synergistic interactions in the HR-deficient group. Because HR is mainly active in S-Phase, replication processes were analyzed. A stronger impact of treatment on replication processes (p = 0.04) and an increased number of radial chromosomes (p = 0.003) were observed in the HR-deficient group. We could show that radiosensitization by inhibition of PARP1 strongly correlates with HR competence in a replication-dependent manner. Our observations indicate that PARP1 inhibitors are promising candidates for enhancing the therapeutic ratio achieved by radiotherapy via disabling DNA replication processes in HR-deficient HNSCCs

Dual PI3K/mTOR Inhibitor NVP-BEZ235 Leads to a Synergistic Enhancement of Cisplatin and Radiation in Both HPV-Negative and -Positive HNSCC Cell Lines

The standard of care for advanced head and neck cancers (HNSCCs) is radiochemotherapy, including cisplatin. This treatment results in a cure rate of approximately 85% for oropharyngeal HPV-positive HNSCCs, in contrast to only 50% for HPV-negative HNSCCs, and is accompanied by severe side effects for both entities. Therefore, innovative treatment modalities are required, resulting in a better outcome for HPV-negative HNSCCs, and lowering the adverse effects for both entities. The effect of the dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor NVP-BEZ235 on a combined treatment with cisplatin and radiation was studied in six HPV-negative and six HPV-positive HNSCC cell lines. Cisplatin alone was slightly more effective in HPV-positive cells. This could be attributed to a defect in homologous recombination, as demonstrated by depleting RAD51. Solely for HPV-positive cells, pretreatment with BEZ235 resulted in enhanced cisplatin sensitivity. For the combination of cisplatin and radiation, additive effects were observed. However, when pretreated with BEZ235, this combination changed into a synergistic interaction, with a slightly stronger enhancement for HPV-positive cells. This increase could be attributed to a diminished degree of DSB repair in G1, as visualized via the detection of γH2AX/53BP1 foci. BEZ235 can be used to enhance the effect of combined treatment with cisplatin and radiation in both HPV-negative and -positive HNSCCs

NUCKS1 is a novel RAD51AP1 paralog important for homologous recombination and genome stability

NUCKS1 (nuclear casein kinase and cyclin-dependent kinase substrate 1) is a 27 kD chromosomal, vertebrate-specific protein, for which limited functional data exist. Here, we demonstrate that NUCKS1 shares extensive sequence homology with RAD51AP1 (RAD51 associated protein 1), suggesting that these two proteins are paralogs. Similar to the phenotypic effects of RAD51AP1 knockdown, we find that depletion of NUCKS1 in human cells impairs DNA repair by homologous recombination (HR) and chromosome stability. Depletion of NUCKS1 also results in greatly increased cellular sensitivity to mitomycin C (MMC), and in increased levels of spontaneous and MMC-induced chromatid breaks. NUCKS1 is critical to maintaining wild type HR capacity, and, as observed for a number of proteins involved in the HR pathway, functional loss of NUCKS1 leads to a slow down in DNA replication fork progression with a concomitant increase in the utilization of new replication origins. Interestingly, recombinant NUCKS1 shares the same DNA binding preference as RAD51AP1, but binds to DNA with reduced affinity when compared to RAD51AP1. Our results show that NUCKS1 is a chromatin-associated protein with a role in the DNA damage response and in HR, a DNA repair pathway critical for tumor suppression