Transcription-Induced DNA Double Strand Breaks: Both Oncogenic Force and Potential Therapeutic Target?
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Published OnlineFirst March 8, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-2044 Clinical Cancer Molecular Pathways Research Transcription-Induced DNA Double Strand Breaks: Both Oncogenic Force and Potential Therapeutic Target? Michael C. Haffner, Angelo M. De Marzo, Alan K. Meeker, William G. Nelson, and Srinivasan Yegnasubramanian Abstract An emerging model of transcriptional activation suggests that induction of transcriptional programs, for instance by stimulating prostate or breast cells with androgens or estrogens, respectively, involves the formation of DNA damage, including DNA double strand breaks (DSB), recruitment of DSB repair proteins, and movement of newly activated genes to transcription hubs. The DSB can be mediated by the class II topoisomerase TOP2B, which is recruited with the androgen receptor and estrogen receptor to regulatory sites on target genes and is apparently required for efficient transcriptional activation of these genes. These DSBs are recognized by the DNA repair machinery triggering the recruitment of repair proteins such as poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1), ATM, and DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK). If illegitimately repaired, such DSBs can seed the formation of genomic rearrangements like the TMPRSS2- ERG fusion oncogene in prostate cancer. Here, we hypothesize that these transcription-induced, TOP2B- mediated DSBs can also be exploited therapeutically and propose that, in hormone-dependent tumors like breast and prostate cancers, a hormone-cycling therapy, in combination with topoisomerase II poisons or inhibitors of the DNA repair components PARP1 and DNA-PK, could overwhelm cancer cells with transcription-associated DSBs. Such strategies may find particular utility in cancers, like prostate cancer, which show low proliferation rates, in which other chemotherapeutic strategies that target rapidly proliferating cells have had limited success. Clin Cancer Res; 17(12); 1–7. Ó2011 AACR. Background damage and repair (5–12). For instance, unbiased proteo- mics approaches as well as candidate protein analyses have The prevailing reductionist view of transcription has shown that proteins such as Ku70, Ku80, poly(ADP-ribose) been challenged by mounting recent evidence suggesting polymerase 1 (PARP1), DNA-dependent protein kinase that induction of transcription involves profound and (DNA-PK), and class II topoisomerase (TOP2B) can be dynamic changes in genome organization and structure. associated with transcription factors including androgen In this emerging view, hundreds of transcription factors receptor (AR) and upstream stimulating factor 1 and can and cofactors are present at locally high concentrations in bind to regulatory elements of target genes upon activation "transcription factories" in the nucleus (1). Induction of of transcription (9, 12). Inhibition of the catalytic function widespread transcriptional changes, for example during of several of these proteins results in an impaired induction hormonal stimulation of hormone-responsive cells, can of transcriptional programs, suggesting a crucial role for result in large-scale alterations in genome organization DNA repair in transcriptional regulation. Among these, arising from movement of different target gene loci and TOP2B is especially interesting because it has been shown distal regulatory elements to these transcriptional hubs, by numerous recent reports to be associated with multiple establishing cell type–specific expression patterns (1–4). nuclear hormone receptors and transcription factors and In addition, recent reports have shown that efficient has also been shown to be bound to promoters and induction of transcriptional programs by a wide array of enhancers of newly transcribed genes (5, 6, 11, 12). Inter- nuclear hormone receptors and other transcription factors estingly, TOP2B catalytic activity appears to be required for involves the recruitment of several factors involved in DNA efficient transcriptional initiation and may be involved in the establishment of complex chromosomal conforma- tional changes during activation of transcription (5, 6, Authors' Affiliation: Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, 12, 13). Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland The two human class II topoisomerases, TOP2A and Corresponding Author: Srinivasan Yegnasubramanian, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1650 Orleans Street, CRB2, Rm 145, TOP2B, can resolve DNA topologic constraints by passing Baltimore, MD 21231. Phone: 410-502-3425; Fax: 410-502-9817; E-mail: one DNA segment through a transient DNA double strand [email protected] break (DSB) in another segment, in an ATP-dependent doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-2044 fashion (14). In addition to being able to resolve super- Ó2011 American Association for Cancer Research. helical tension introduced by under- or overwinding of the www.aacrjournals.org 1 Downloaded from clincancerres.aacrjournals.org on October 1, 2021. © 2011 American Association for Cancer Research. Published OnlineFirst March 8, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-2044 Haffner et al AR DHT DNA double strand break DHT AR TOP2B AR DHT TOP2B DHT AR POLII Ku70 Ku80 DNA-PK PARP1 ATM Other Repair Proteins?? ROS Fork collision Dietary carcinogens Repair, movement to Repair infidelity transcription hubs, and active transcription Persistent DSBs Senescence Illegitimate repair Apoptosis Formation of structural rearrangements Genomic instability © 2011 American Association for Cancer Research Figure 1. An emerging model suggests that efficient induction of transcriptional programs can involve the generation of DSBs and perhaps other DNA damage, repair of these breaks via recruitment of DNA repair proteins, and large-scale movement of genes and regulatory elements to transcriptional hubs, in which transcription (co)factors are present at high local concentration. These events are illustrated for induction of transcriptional programs by AR. Upon transcriptional activation, AR associates with TOP2B and binds to AR target sites. DNA repair proteins including Ku70, Ku80, PARP1, ATM, DNA-PK, and possibly other DNA repair enzymes also get recruited to these sites. TOP2B can mediate DSBs in associated DNA. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), perhaps generated during AR signaling, dietary carcinogens, and collision with the replication or transcription forks can transform these transient breaks into frank DSBs. Persistence of these breaks can result in induction of cellular senescence and apoptosis. Illegitimate repair of these breaks can lead to the formation of structural rearrangements. Such pathways are likely at work for other induced transcriptional programs, including those mediated by ER, RAR, and AP1. DNA double helix, the class II topoisomerases are uniquely that TOP2B may be involved in resolving topologic con- able to resolve higher order topologic constraints, such as straints arising from movement of chromosomal segments tangles and knots. TOP2A and TOP2B are encoded by during transcriptional induction. Such a role for TOP2B in separate genes, and although they show a high degree of transcriptional initiation would be analogous to the sequence homology, they differ significantly in their expres- requirement of TOP2A in resolving topologic constraints sion patterns and cellular functions (14, 15). Whereas associated with DNA replication and chromosomal segre- TOP2A is almost exclusively expressed in proliferating cells, gation. where it is required for resolution of topologic constraints Using an elegant assay that allows site-specific labeling of arising during replication and chromosomal segregation, DSBs, Ju and colleagues showed that, during transcriptional TOP2B can be expressed throughout the cell cycle in divid- activation by the estrogen receptor (ER), transient DSBs are ing and nondividing cells (14, 16, 17). Given the recent generated at regulatory elements of ER-regulated genes (6). findings of its association with transcription factors and its This finding was further independently corroborated for catalytic activity at gene regulatory sites, we can speculate other signaling pathways including the AR (Fig. 1; refs. 5, 2 Clin Cancer Res; 17(12) June 15, 2011 Clinical Cancer Research Downloaded from clincancerres.aacrjournals.org on October 1, 2021. © 2011 American Association for Cancer Research. Published OnlineFirst March 8, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-2044 Targeting Transcription-Induced DSBs for Cancer Therapy 6, 12). Induction of these transient DSBs, tracked with the Regardless of their role in transcriptional regulation, it is recruitment of TOP2B to these sites and targeted depletion of clear that the generation of DNA damage, particularly the TOP2B, dramatically reduced DSB generation, suggesting generation of DSBs, during induction of transcriptional that these transcription-associated DSBs were mediated by programs, may represent a critical vulnerability for cells. TOP2B. Interestingly, these DSBs were recognized by the DSB DSBs play a major role in carcinogenesis: On one hand, repair machinery. The DSB recognition proteins Ku70 and unresolved DSBs can lead to cell cycle arrest, senescence, Ku80, for instance, have been shown to bind together with and apoptosis; and on the other hand, if illegitimately nuclear hormone receptors at target sites (6, 8–10, 12). repaired, such transcription-induced DSBs can seed the Furthermore, the DSB repair–associated protein PARP1 formation of genomic rearrangements, amplifications, and the kinases DNA-PK and ATM were also found