The broad long-term goal of this project is to elucidate the molecular basis of cell cycle checkpoint responses to Polycyclic Aryl-Hydrocarbon (PAH)-induced DNA damage. Cell cycle checkpoints are important tumor suppressive mechanisms that are frequently abrogated in human cancers. Loss of tumor-suppressive checkpoints can play a causal role in the initiation and progression of malignancies. Additionally, cell cycle checkpoints can be exploited therapeutically to treat human tumors. Therefore, a knowledge of checkpoint regulation will further our understanding of mechanisms of tumorigenesis and will impact our ability to treat human cancers.
The specific aims of this work are threefold: (1) To test the hypothesis that an ATM and/or ATR-mediated signaling pathway elicits Chkl phosphorylation and S-phase arrest in response to aryl-hydrocarbons. (2) To test the hypothesis that Chkl substrate proteins are downstream effectors of PAH-induced S-phase arrest. (3) To test the hypothesis that Radl7 and the Radl/Rad9/Husl protein complex mediate DNA damage signaling and cell cycle responses to aryl-hydrocarbons. These studies will test the mechanisms of activation of Chkl by DNA damage signals (SA 1 ). We will also identify the effectors of Chkl signaling that are responsible for PAH-induced S-phase arrest (SA 2). Furthermore, we will test the roles of the putative DNA damage-sensors Rad17, Rad1, Rad9, and Hus1 in regulation of Chkl activity and S-phase arrest (SA 3). We will use 'loss of function' strategies to perturb putative DNA damage signaling pathways in cultured cell lines. These strategies include expression of mutant dominant-negative proteins and the use of cell lines from transgenic animals. We will test the effects of the resulting perturbations on signal transduction pathways and cell cycle responses to PAHs. These experiments will identify novel tumor-suppressive checkpoint control mechanisms that protect against environmental carcinogens. The signaling pathways identified by our studies represent potential new targets for the rational design of chemotherapies to manipulate checkpoint control. Such drugs could be exploited to prevent and treat human cancers.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01ES009558-05A1
Application #
6424592
Study Section
Chemical Pathology Study Section (CPA)
Program Officer
Packenham, Joan P
Project Start
1998-08-01
Project End
2007-07-31
Budget Start
2002-08-01
Budget End
2003-07-31
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$326,000
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston University
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
604483045
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02118
Gao, Yanzhe; Mutter-Rottmayer, Elizabeth; Zlatanou, Anastasia et al. (2017) Mechanisms of Post-Replication DNA Repair. Genes (Basel) 8:
Yang, Yang; Gao, Yanzhe; Mutter-Rottmayer, Liz et al. (2017) DNA repair factor RAD18 and DNA polymerase Pol? confer tolerance of oncogenic DNA replication stress. J Cell Biol 216:3097-3115
Zlatanou, A; Sabbioneda, S; Miller, E S et al. (2016) USP7 is essential for maintaining Rad18 stability and DNA damage tolerance. Oncogene 35:965-76
Gao, Yanzhe; Mutter-Rottmayer, Elizabeth; Greenwalt, Alicia M et al. (2016) A neomorphic cancer cell-specific role of MAGE-A4 in trans-lesion synthesis. Nat Commun 7:12105
Durando, Michael; Tateishi, Satoshi; Vaziri, Cyrus (2013) A non-catalytic role of DNA polymerase ? in recruiting Rad18 and promoting PCNA monoubiquitination at stalled replication forks. Nucleic Acids Res 41:3079-93
Yang, Yang; Durando, Michael; Smith-Roe, Stephanie L et al. (2013) Cell cycle stage-specific roles of Rad18 in tolerance and repair of oxidative DNA damage. Nucleic Acids Res 41:2296-312
Barkley, Laura R; Palle, Komaraiah; Durando, Michael et al. (2012) c-Jun N-terminal kinase-mediated Rad18 phosphorylation facilitates Pol? recruitment to stalled replication forks. Mol Biol Cell 23:1943-54
Whitehurst, Christopher B; Vaziri, Cyrus; Shackelford, Julia et al. (2012) Epstein-Barr virus BPLF1 deubiquitinates PCNA and attenuates polymerase ? recruitment to DNA damage sites. J Virol 86:8097-106
Williams, Stacy A; Longerich, Simonne; Sung, Patrick et al. (2011) The E3 ubiquitin ligase RAD18 regulates ubiquitylation and chromatin loading of FANCD2 and FANCI. Blood 117:5078-87
Palle, Komaraiah; Vaziri, Cyrus (2011) Rad18 E3 ubiquitin ligase activity mediates Fanconi anemia pathway activation and cell survival following DNA Topoisomerase 1 inhibition. Cell Cycle 10:1625-38

Showing the most recent 10 out of 24 publications