Partial complementation of the DNA repair defects in cells from xeroderma pigmentosum groups A, C, D and F but not G by the denV gene from bacteriophage T4

Endonuclease V (denV) from bacteriophage T4 was examined for its ability to complement the DNA repair defect in xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) cells from complementation groups A, C, D, F and G. The denV gene was introduced into SV40-transformed normal and XP cells using a retroviral vector. Expression of denV resulted in partial correction of UV sensitivity and increased host cell reactivation (HCR) of a UV-damaged reporter gene for XP cells from groups A, C and D, but not those from group G. Expression of denV in XP-F cells resulted in enhanced HCR of a UV-damaged reporter but did not affect UV sensitivity. The observed partial complementation is thought to reflect denV-mediated repair of cyclobutane-pyrimidine dimers (CPD), and is incomplete as denV does not recognize other UV-induced lesions, and may not even efficiently remove all CPD. As XP-F cells are believed to retain near-normal levels of CPD repair in the bulk of the genome, we believe that the disparity in the ability of denV to complement the repair deficiency in these cells results from an increased rate, but not level, of CPD repair. Furthermore, we suggest that the lack of correction in the XP-G cells examined results from an inability to process denV-incised CPD by the base excision repair pathway, as has been suggested for cells from the related genetic disorder, Cockayne syndrome. Expression of denV in repair proficient normal cells also resulted in increased HCR of the UV-damaged reporter construct, possibly arising from an increased rate of CPD repair in these cells.     

Photoprotection by topical DNA repair enzymes: molecular correlates of clinical studies

A new approach to photoprotection is to repair DNA damage after UV exposure. This can be accomplished by delivery of a DNA repair enzyme with specificity to UV-induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers into skin by means of specially engineered liposomes. Treatment of DNA-repair-deficient xeroderma pigmentosum patients or skin cancer patients with T4N5 liposome lotion containing such DNA repair liposomes increases the removal of DNA damage in the first few hours after treatment. In these studies, a DNA repair effect was observed in some patients treated with heat-inactivated enzyme. Unexpectedly, it was discovered that the heat-inactivated T4 endonuclease V enzyme refolds and recovers enzymatic activity. These studies demonstrate that measurements of molecular changes induced by biological drugs are useful adjuvants to clinical studies.     

CYCLOBUTANE DIMERS AND (6-4)PHOTOPRODUCTS IN HUMAN CELLS ARE MENDED WITH THE SAME PATCH SIZES

The size of excision repair patches corresponding to excision of (6-4) pyrimidine-pyrimidone photoproducts and (5-5, 6-6) cyclobutane dimers have been independently determined by using bromodeoxyuridine substitution and density increases in isopycnic gradients of small DNA fragments. The two classes of photoproducts were distinguished by using (a) a xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) revertant cell line that excises (6-4) photoproducts normally, but does not excise cyclobutane dimers from bulk DNA or from an actively transcribed sequence; (b) an XP cell line containing the denV gene of bacteriophage T4, which repairs only cyclobutane dimers by a unique glycosylase mechanism, and (c) normal cells analyzed during time intervals in which cyclobutane dimer repair is the main repair process in action. The patch sizes for the two lesions were similar under all conditions and were estimated to be approximately 30-40 bases. These values are slightly large than corresponding estimates for Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae but close to estimates from in vitro experiments with human cell extracts. The size of 30 bases may consequently be very close to the actual distance between cleavage sites made on either side of a photoproduct during repair.     

PYRIMIDINE DIMER SITES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DAUGHTER DNA STRANDS IN UV-IRRADIATED HUMAN FIBROBLASTS

Abstract. Pyrimidine dimer sites associated with the newly-synthesized DNA were detected during post-replication repair of DNA in UV-irradiated human fibroblasts. These pyrimidine dimer sites were inferred from a decrease in the molecular weight of pulse-labelled DNA after treatment with an extract of Micrococcus luteus containing UV-specific endonuclease activity. In DNA synthesized immediately after irradiation the frequency of these daughter strand dimer sites was 7–20% of that in the parental DNA. Such sites were found in fibroblasts from normal donors and from xeroderma pigmentosum patients (with defects in excision-repair or post-replication repair). They were excised from the DNA of normal cells. As the time between UV-irradiation and pulse-labelling was increased, the frequency of dimer sites associated with the labelled DNA decreased. If the pulse-label was delivered 6 h after irradiation of normal cells or excision-defective xeroderma pigmentosum cells, no dimer sites were detected in the labelled DNA. It has usually been assumed that daughter-strand dimer sites were the result of recombinational exchanges. The assay procedure used in these experiments and in similar experiments of others did not distinguish between labelled DNA containing pyrimidine dimers within the labelled section, and labelled DNA which did not contain pyrimidine dimers but was attached to unlabelled DNA which did contain dimers. The latter structures would arise during normal replication immediately following UV-irradiation of mammalian cells. Calculations are presented which suggest that a significant proportion and conceivably all of the dimer sites associated with the daughter strands may have arisen in this way, rather than from recombinational exchanges as has been generally assumed.     

COMPARISON OF PHAGE T4 denV ENDONUCLEASE V AND M. Luteus UV-DNA ENDONUCLEASE BY SEROLOGY AND DNA HYBRIDIZATION

Abstract Antibodies were raised in rabbits against purified endonuclease V, the product of the bacteriophage T4 denV gene, which incises DNA at the site of UV-induced pyrimidine dimers. These antibodies cross-reacted with the purified UV-DNA endonuclease from M. luteus in both enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western assays. However, no sequence similarity was detected between the denV gene and M. luteus DNA by hybridization. The two endonucleaes are remarkably similar in enzymatic activity, and their antigenic similarities have been preserved despite differences in their DNA sequences.     

THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND WAVELENGTH ON PRODUCTION AND PHOTOLYSIS OF A UV-INDUCED PHOTOSENSITIVE DNA LESION WHICH IS NOT REPAIRED IN XERODERMA PIGMENTOSUM VARIANT CELLS

Abstract— Ultraviolet light causes a type of damage to the DNA of human cells that results in a DNA strand break upon subsequent irradiation with wavelengths around 300 nm. This DNA damage disappears from normal human fibroblasts within 5 h, but not from pyrimidine dimer excision repair deficient xeroderma pigmentosum group A cells or from excision proficient xeroderma pigmentosum variant cells. The apparent lack of repair of the ultraviolet light DNA damage described here may contribute to the cancer prone nature of xeroderma pigmentosum variant individuals. These experiments show that the same amount of damage was produced at 0^°C and 37^°C indicating a photodynamic effect and not an enzymatic reaction. The disappearance of the photosensitive lesions from the DNA is probably enzymatic since none of the damage was removed at 0^°C. Both the formation of the lesion and its photolysis by near ultraviolet light were wavelength dependent. An action spectrum for the formation of photosensitive lesions was similar to that for the formation of pyrimidine dimers and(6–4) photoproducts and included wavelengths found in sunlight. The DNA containing the lesions was sensitive to wavelengths from 304 to 340 nm with a maximum at 313 to 317 nm. This wavelength dependence of photolysis is similar to the absorption and photolysis spectra of the pyrimidine(6–4) photoproducts     

The phototumorigenic fluoroquinolone lomefloxacin photosensitizes pyrimidine dimer formation in human keratinocytes in vitro

The fluoroquinolone antibiotic lomefloxacin is phototoxic, photogenotoxic, photomutagenic and photosensitizes tumorigenesis in mouse skin. We have used T4 endonuclease V to demonstrate that lomefloxacin photosensitizes pyrimidine dimer formation in a human keratinocyte line (HaCaT). A possible mechanism for this effect would be triplet-triplet energy transfer. However, there is indirect evidence that the lomefloxacin triplet yield is very low, making this reaction less likely. The finding that lomefloxacin photosensitizes production of highly mutagenic pyrimidine dimers correlates with its ability to initiate skin tumor formation in mice. Until the potential of other fluoroquinolones to photosensitize dimer formation is explored it may be unadvisable to prescribe these antibiotics to patients with defective DNA repair capacity (e.g. xeroderma pigmentosum).     

REDUCED REPAIR OF NON-DIMER PHOTOPRODUCTS IN A GENE TRANSFECTED INTO XERODERMA PIGMENTOSUM CELLS

Abstract— 4ells from patients with the sun sensitive cancer-prone disease, xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) have defective repair of UV damaged DNA with reduced excision of the major photoproduct, the cyclobutane type pyrimidine dimer. Other (non-dimer) photoproducts, have recently been implicated in UV mutagenesis. Utilizing an expression vector host cell reactivation assay, we studied UV damaged transfecting DNA that was treated by in vitro photoreactivation to reverse pyrimidine dimers while not altering other photoproducts. We found that the reduced expression of a UV damaged transfecting plasmid in XP complementation group A cells is only partially reversed by photoreactivation. E. coli photolyase treatment of pSV2catSVgpt exposed to 100 or 200 J m⁻² of 254 nm radiation removed 99% of the T4 endonuclease V sensitive sites. Transfection of XP12BE(SV40) cells with photoreactivated pSV2catSVgpt showed residual inhibition corresponding to 25 to 37% of the lethal hits to the cat gene. This residual inhibition corresponds to the fraction of non-dimer photoproducts induced by UV. This result implies that XP12BE(SV40) cells do not repair most of the non-dimer photoproducts in DNA.     

LETHALITY AND THE INDUCTION AND REPAIR OF DNA DAMAGE IN FAR, MID OR NEAR UV-IRRADIATED HUMAN FIBROBLASTS: COMPARISON OF EFFECTS IN NORMAL, XERODERMA PIGMENTOSUM AND BLOOM'S SYNDROME CELLS

Abstract Using normal human fibroblasts we have determined the ability of far (254 nm), mid (310 nm) or near (365 nm) UV radiation to: (i) induce pyrimidine dimers (detected as UV endonuclease sensitive sites) and DNA single-strand breaks (detected in alkali); (ii) elicit excision repair, monitored as unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS); and (iii) reduce colony-forming ability. Unscheduled DNA synthesis studies were also performed on dimer excision-defective xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) cells, and the survival studies were extended to include XP and Bloom's syndrome (BS) strains. UV-induced cell killing in normal, BS and XP cells was found to relate to an equivalent dimer load per genome after 254 or 310 nm exposure, whereas at 365 nm the lethal effects of non-dimer damage appeared to predominate. Lethality could not be correlated with DNA strand breakage at any wavelength. The two XP strains examined showed the same relative UDS repair deficiency at the two shorter wavelengths in keeping with a predominant role for pyrimidine dimer repair in the expression of UDS. However, UDS was not detected in 365 nm UV-irradiated normal and XP cells despite dimer induction; this effect was due to the inhibition of DNA repair functions since 365 nm UV-irradiated normal cells showed reduced capacity to perform UDS subsequent to challenge with 254 nm UV radiation.
In short, the near UV component of sunlight apparently induces biologically important non-dimer damage in human cells and inhibits DNA repair processes, two actions which should be considered when assessing the deleterious actions of solar UV.     

SENSITIZATION OF ULTRAVIOLET-IRRADIATED Escherichia coli K-12 BY DIFFERENT AGARS: INHIBITION OF A rec AND exr GENE-DEPENDENT BRANCH OF THE uvr GENE-DEPENDENT EXCISION-REPAIR PROCESS

Abstract— A plaque assay for adenovirus 2 on normal human fibroblasts has been developed and used to measure the survival of ultraviolet-irradiated virus on six human fibroblast cell lines. When four xeroderma pigmentosum cell lines were used as viral hosts, an average of one lethal event per virus in the viral population was made with 10, 15, 62, and 78 J m^-2 respectively, while using two normal cell lines as hosts, 197 and 205 J m^-2 were required to inflict the same damage. These differences are attributed to the known repair deficiency of xeroderma pigmentosum cells, and are discussed in the light of previous data obtained using other animal viruses.     

ACTION OF HYDROGEN PEROXIDE ON HUMAN FIBROBLAST IN CULTURE

Abstract— Human fibroblasts in culture lose the capacity of proliferating when exposed to hydrogen peroxide in the concentration range of 1 to 10 μ M . The toxicity of H₂O₂ to xeroderma pigmentosum cells (XP12RO). defective in excision repair of lesions produced by UV-irradiation, was about twice as high as to cells proficient in excision repair (VA13). This compound produces single-strand breaks in intracellular DNA but not in purified DNA. These breaks are in situ physical discontinuities rather than alkali-labile bonds, and their generation occurs at the same extent at 4°C and 37° indicating that they are not produced by an endonuclease. The results favor the hypothesis that H₂O₂ reacts in the cell producing a radical species which brings about the formation of DNA single-strand breaks. These breaks are effectively repaired by both XP12RO and VA13 fibroblasts. The possible reason for the lethality of H₂O₂ is discussed.     

Self‐assembled Lipid Nanoparticles for Ratiometric Codelivery of Cisplatin and siRNA Targeting XPF to Combat Drug Resistance in Lung Cancer

DNA damage repair through the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway is one of the major reasons for the decreased antitumor efficacy of platinum‐based anticancer drugs that have been widely applied in the clinic. Inhibiting the intrinsic NER function may enhance the antitumor activity of cisplatin and conquer cisplatin resistance. Herein, we report the design, optimization, and application of a self‐assembled lipid nanoparticle (LNP) system to simultaneously deliver a cisplatin prodrug together with siRNA targeting endonuclease xeroderma pigmentosum group F (XPF), a crucial component in the NER pathway. The LNP is able to efficiently encapsulate both the platinum prodrug and siRNA molecules with a tuned ratio. Both platinum prodrug and XPF‐targeted siRNA are efficiently carried into cells and released; the former damages DNA and the latter specifically downregulates both mRNA and protein levels of XPF to potentiate the platinum drug, leading to enhanced expression levels of apoptosis markers and improved cytotoxicity in both cisplatin‐sensitive and ‐resistant human lung cancer cells. Our results demonstrate an effective approach to utilize a multi‐targeted nanoparticle system that can specifically silence an NER‐related gene to promote apoptosis induced by cisplatin, especially in cisplatin‐refractory tumors.     

REPAIR OF THYMINE DIMERS AND (6–4) PHOTOPRODUCTS IN GROUP A XERODERMA PIGMENTOSUM CELL LINES HARBORING A TRANSFERRED NORMAL CHROMOSOME 9

Transfer of a normal chromosome 9 into a xeroderma pigmentosum (XP)-A cell line partially restored its DNA repair activity. XP-A cell lines harboring a transferred chromosome were much more UV-resistant than parental XP-A cells but still more UV-sensitive than normal cells. The amount of UV-induced unscheduled DNA synthesis was only one-third of that in normal cells. The repair of thymine dimers and (6-4) photoproducts in these cell lines was analyzed by using monoclonal antibodies raised against them. Although these XP-A cell lines carrying a normal chromosome 9 could repair (6-4) photoproduct with a little lower efficiency than normal cells, the repair of thymine dimers was completely absent in these cells. The present results suggest a gene-dosage effect in DNA excision repair mechanisms in human cells or a rather complicated mechanism which involves two or more pathways.     

INCREASED LEVELS OF UNSCHEDULED DNA SYNTHESIS IN UV-IRRADIATED HUMAN FIBROBLASTS PRETREATED WITH SODIUM BUTYRATE

Pretreatment of growing normal and xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) human fibroblasts with sodium butyrate at concentrations of 5-20 m M results in increased levels of DNA repair synthesis measured by autoradiography after exposure of the cells to 254 nm UV radiation in the fluence range 0-25 J/m². The phenomenon manifests as an increased extent and an increased initial rate of unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS). This experimental result is not due to an artifact of autoradiography related to cell size. Xeroderma pigmentosum cells from complementation groups A, C, D and E and XP variant cells all exhibit increases in the levels of UV-induced UDS in response to sodium butyrate proportional to those observed with normal cells. These UDS increases associated with butyrate pretreatment correlate with demonstrable changes in intracellular thymidine pool size and suggest that sodium butyrate enhances uptake of exogenous radiolabeled thymidine during UV-induced repair synthesis by reducing endogenous levels of thymidine.     

EFFICIENCY OF REPAIR OF PYRIMIDINE DIMERS AND PSORALEN MONOADDUCTS IN NORMAL AND XERODERMA PIGMENTOSUM HUMAN CELLS

Abstract —Repair of DNA damage produced by ultraviolet light or 5-methylisopsoralen in normal and xeroderma pigmentosum human cells involves many similar steps. Aphidicolin and cytosine arabinoside block repair of both kinds of damage with similar efficiency, indicating that DNA polymerase a has a major role in repair for these lesions. In xeroderma pigmentosum cells of various complementation groups, the relative efficiency of excision repair for both ultraviolet- and 5-methylisopsoralen-induced damage was group A < C < D, indicating a close resemblance between both kinds of lesions in relation to the repair deficiencies in these groups. At high doses, the maximum rate of repair of damage by ultraviolet light was about twice that for methylisopsoralen damage, possibly because ultraviolet-induced damage forms a substrate that is more readily recognized and excised than that of the psoralen adducts. Differences in the structural distortions to DNA caused by these kinds of damage could be detected using single strand specific nucleases which excised dimers but not 5-MIP adducts from double strand DNA.     

Nucleotide excision repair proteins rapidly accumulate but fail to persist in human XP-E (DDB2 mutant) cells

The xeroderma pigmentosum (XP-E) DNA damage binding protein (DDB2) is involved in early recognition of global genome DNA damage during DNA nucleotide excision repair (NER). We found that skin fibroblasts from four newly reported XP-E patients with numerous skin cancers and DDB2 mutations had slow repair of 6-4 photoproducts (6-4PP) and markedly reduced repair of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD). NER proteins (XPC, XPB, XPG, XPA and XPF) colocalized to CPD and 6-4PP positive regions immediately (<0.1 h) after localized UV irradiation in cells from the XP-E patients and normal controls. While these proteins persist in normal cells, surprisingly, within 0.5 h these repair proteins were no longer detectable at the sites of DNA damage in XP-E cells. Our results indicate that DDB2 is not required for the rapid recruitment of NER proteins to sites of UV photoproducts or for partial repair of 6-4PP but is essential for normal persistence of these proteins for CPD photoproduct removal.     

UV-DNA Damage in Mouse and Human Cells Induces the Expression of Tumor Necrosis Factor α

Ultraviolet light induces the expression of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) in many mammalian cells. We have examined the signal for this induction in a human DNA repair-deficient cell line carrying a transgene composed of the murine TNF regulatory sequences fused to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) structural gene. When compared by fluence, UVC was a more efficient inducer of CAT than was UVB, but they were equivalent inducers when compared by the frequency of cyclobutyl pyrimidine dimers produced by each source. Further, treatment of UV-irradiated cells with the prokaryotic DNA repair enzyme T4 endonuclease V in-creased the level of repair of dimers and concomitantly reduced CAT gene expression. Membrane-bound TNFα expression was increased by UV and reduced by repair of dimers. Finally, in the TNFcat transgene system, DNA damage directly to the cell with the transgene was required as cocultivation of unirradiated TNFcat cells with UV-irradiated cells did not increase CAT activity. These results show that DNA damage is a signal for the induction of TNFa gene expression in mouse and human cells.