Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Genomic instability”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 433 records · Page 24Linked to original sources

Genomic instability and tissue expression of angiogenic growth factors in sporadic colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Chromosomal instability evidenced by a loss of heterozygosity (LOH) is implicated as a predictor of poor survival in patients with colorectal cancer, whereas microsatellite instability (MSI) is associated with improved survival rates. We investigated the relationship between tumor expression of angiogenic growth factors and genomic alterations in colorectal cancer. METHODS: Two genotypes, LOH and MSI, determined by microsatellite markers in the 4 cancer-related chromosomes 2p, 3p, 17p, and 18q, were analyzed in 73 patients with colorectal cancer. The tumor-specific expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) were quantified, and the interleukin-6 network also was evaluated. RESULTS: MSI-positive neoplasms showed a lesser expression of both tumor growth factors and interleukin-6. In contrast, LOH-positive neoplasms showed a greater expression of HGF and a lesser expression of interleukin-1-receptor antagonist. MSI neoplasms were correlated with favorable prognosis in agreement with previous findings. CONCLUSIONS: The suppressed production of angiogenic growth factors in MSI cancers partly might explain the better prognosis in MSI-positive patients. The interleukin-6 network, which upregulates production of vascular endothelial growth factor and HGF, might be involved in this mechanism.

Adult↗

Expression of cyclins A, E and topoisomerase II alpha correlates with centrosome amplification and genomic instability and influences the reliability of cytometric S-phase determination.

BACKGROUND: The progression of normal cells through the cell cycle is meticulously regulated by checkpoints guaranteeing the exact replication of the genome during S-phase and its equal division at mitosis. A prerequisite for this achievement is synchronized DNA-replication and centrosome duplication. In this context the expression of cyclins A and E has been shown to play a principal role. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated a correlation between centrosome amplification, cell cycle fidelity and the level of mRNA and protein expression of cyclins A and E during the part of the cell cycle defined as G1-phase by means of DNA content based histogram analysis. It is shown that the normal diploid breast cell line HTB-125, the genomically relatively stable aneuploid breast cancer cell line MCF-7, and the genomically unstable aneuploid breast cancer cell line MDA-231 differ remarkably concerning both mRNA and protein expression of the two cyclins during G1-phase. In MDA-231 cells the expression of e.g. cyclin A mRNA was found to be ten times higher than in MCF-7 cells and about 500 times higher than in HTB-125 cells. Topoisomerase II alpha showed high mRNA expression in MDA compared to MCF-7 cells, but the difference in protein expression was small. Furthermore, we measured centrosome aberrations in 8.4% of the MDA-231 cells, and in only 1.3% of the more stable aneuploid cell line MCF-7. MDA cells showed 27% more incorporation of BrdU than reflected by S-phase determination with flow cytometric DNA content analysis, whereas these values were found to be of the same size in both HTB-125 and MCF-7 cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that the breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-231, although both DNA-aneuploid, differ significantly regarding the degree of cell cycle disturbance and centrosome aberrations, which partly could explain the different genomic stability of the two cell lines. The results also question the reliability of cytometric DNA content based S-phase determination in genomically unstable tumor cell populations.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗

Low intake of calcium, folate, nicotinic acid, vitamin E, retinol, beta-carotene and high intake of pantothenic acid, biotin and riboflavin are significantly associated with increased genome instability--results from a dietary intake and micronucleus index survey in South Australia.

The aim of this study was to determine the association between dietary intake, determined using a food frequency questionnaire, and genome damage in lymphocytes measured using the micronucleus (MN) assay. The study, performed on 190 healthy individuals (mean age 47.8 years, 46% males), also examined whether a supplementation with beta-carotene, vitamins C and E along with zinc (ACEZn), in a randomized trial for 6 months, improves genome stability. Multivariate analysis of baseline data showed that (1) the highest tertile of intake of vitamin E, retinol, folic acid, nicotinic acid (preformed) and calcium is associated with significant reductions in MN frequency, i.e. -28, -31, -33, -46 and -49%, respectively (P < 0.005) relative to the lowest tertile of intake and (2) the highest tertile of intake of riboflavin, pantothenic acid and biotin was associated with significant increases in MN frequency, i.e. +36% (P = 0.054), +51% (P = 0.021), and +65% (P = 0.001), respectively, relative to the lowest tertile of intake. Mid-tertile beta-carotene intake was associated with an 18% reduction in MN frequency (P = 0.038); however, the highest tertile of intake (>6400 microg/day) resulted in an 18% increment in MN frequency. Supplementation with ACEZn significantly reduced the MN index by 13% (P = 0.038). The study also showed interactive additive effects such as the protective effect of increased calcium intake (-46%) and the exacerbating effect of riboflavin (+42%) on increased genome damage caused by low folate intake. The results from this study illustrate the strong impact of a wide variety of micronutrients and their interactions on genome health, depending on the level of intake.

Adult↗

Genomic instability in Chinese hamster cells after exposure to X rays or alpha particles of different mean linear energy transfer.

Evidence has accumulated that radiation induces a transmissible persistent destabilization of the genome, which may result in effects arising in the progeny of irradiated but surviving cells. An enhanced death rate among the progeny of cells surviving irradiation persists for many generations in the form of a reduced plating efficiency. Such delayed reproductive death is correlated with an increased occurrence of micronuclei. Since it has been suggested that radiation-induced chromosomal instability might depend on the radiation quality, we investigated the effects of alpha particles of different LET by looking at the frequency of delayed micronuclei in Chinese hamster V79 cells after cytochalasin-induced block of cell division. A dose-dependent increase in the frequency of micronuclei was found in cells assayed 1 week postirradiation or later. Also, there was a persistent increase in the frequency of dicentrics in surviving irradiated cells. Moreover, we found an increased micronucleus frequency in all of the 30 clones isolated from individual cells which had been irradiated with doses equivalent to either one, two or three alpha-particle traversals per cell nucleus. We conclude that the target for genomic instability in Chinese hamster cells must be larger than the cell nucleus.

Alpha Particles↗

High-resolution analysis of chromosomal breakpoints and genomic instability identifies PTPRD as a candidate tumor suppressor gene in neuroblastoma.

Although neuroblastoma is characterized by numerous recurrent, large-scale chromosomal imbalances, the genes targeted by such imbalances have remained elusive. We have applied whole-genome oligonucleotide array comparative genomic hybridization (median probe spacing 6 kb) to 56 neuroblastoma tumors and cell lines to identify genes involved with disease pathogenesis. This set of tumors was selected for having either 11q loss or MYCN amplification, abnormalities that define the two most common genetic subtypes of metastatic neuroblastoma. Our analyses have permitted us to map large-scale chromosomal imbalances and high-level amplifications at exon-level resolution and to identify novel microdeletions and duplications. Chromosomal breakpoints (n = 467) generating imbalances >2 Mb were mapped to intervals ranging between 6 and 50 kb in size, providing substantial information on each abnormality. For example, breakpoints leading to large-scale hemizygous loss of chromosome 11q were highly clustered and preferentially associated with segmental duplications. High-level amplifications of MYCN were extremely complex, often resulting in a series of discontinuous regions of amplification. Imbalances (n = 540) <2 Mb long were also detected. Although the majority (78%) of these imbalances mapped to segmentally duplicated regions and primarily reflect constitutional copy number polymorphisms, many subtle imbalances were detected that are likely somatically acquired alterations and include genes involved with tumorigenesis, apoptosis, or neural cell differentiation. The most frequent microdeletion involved the PTPRD locus, indicating a possible tumor suppressor function for this gene.

Cell Line, Tumor↗

Inactivation of the SR protein splicing factor ASF/SF2 results in genomic instability.

SR proteins constitute a family of pre-mRNA splicing factors now thought to play several roles in mRNA metabolism in metazoan cells. Here we provide evidence that a prototypical SR protein, ASF/SF2, is unexpectedly required for maintenance of genomic stability. We first show that in vivo depletion of ASF/SF2 results in a hypermutation phenotype likely due to DNA rearrangements, reflected in the rapid appearance of DNA double-strand breaks and high-molecular-weight DNA fragments. Analysis of DNA from ASF/SF2-depleted cells revealed that the nontemplate strand of a transcribed gene was single stranded due to formation of an RNA:DNA hybrid, R loop structure. Stable overexpression of RNase H suppressed the DNA-fragmentation and hypermutation phenotypes. Indicative of a direct role, ASF/SF2 prevented R loop formation in a reconstituted in vitro transcription reaction. Our results support a model by which recruitment of ASF/SF2 to nascent transcripts by RNA polymerase II prevents formation of mutagenic R loop structures.

Actins↗

Regulation of the DNA replication fork: a way to fight genomic instability.

DNA replication is a complex mechanism that functions due to the coordinated interplay of many factors. In the last few years, numerous studies have suggested that DNA replication factors are closely implicated in several DNA transaction events that maintain the integrity of the genome. Therefore, DNA replication fork factors have to be considered as part of a general process that aims to protect and replicate the genome in order to allow correct functioning of a cell and its eventual daughter cells. This is illustrated by the numerous factors that have a well-defined function at the DNA replication fork, but also play crucial roles in different DNA repair pathways such as base excision repair, nucleotide excision repair, double-strand break repair, and mismatch repair. Moreover, several of the replisome proteins have also been shown to be essential in sensing and transducing DNA damages through the checkpoint cascade pathways, including the recently characterised alternative clamps and clamp-loaders. In this review we present DNA replication factors that are involved in different DNA transaction and checkpoint regulation pathways, with emphasis on the link between DNA replication and maintenance of genomic stability.

Cell Cycle Proteins↗

Expression of Rap 1 suppresses genomic instability of H-ras transformed mouse fibroblasts.

Among the multiple genetic changes that occur during cancer progression are the activation of proto-oncogenes and the inactivation or loss of genes encoding tumor suppressors. The potential roles for these genes in the perturbation of genome stability continues to be of major interest. We have previously shown that conditional expression of H-ras in NIH3T3 cells increases genetic instability in these cells, rendering them more permissive to gene amplification and to the generation of chromosome aberrations which can be induced within a single cell cycle. In the present study we show that genetic instability induced by H-ras expression can be suppressed by co-expression of Rap 1, a Ras-related tumor suppressor gene. An NIH3T3 cell line transformed with activated human H-ras was transfected with Rap 1. Expression of the Rap 1 gene reverted the transformed cells to a flat morphology. The reverted cells reestablished contact inhibition of growth and lost the capacity to form colonies in soft agar. These cells were subsequently studied for the role of Rap 1 on the suppression of genomic instability induced by oncogenic H-ras. Cells transformed with H-ras manifest an increase in methotrexate resistance as measured by an increase in Dhfr gene amplification. Cells which concommitantly express Rap 1 showed reduced levels of methotrexate resistance as well as reduction of gene amplification capacity. Furthermore fluorescent-in-situ hybridization (FISH) with a pancentromeric mouse probe showed that elevated levels of chromosome aberrations in cells expressing H-ras were also suppressed after co-expression of Rap 1.

3T3 Cells↗

Spontaneous mutations in digestive tract of old mice show tissue-specific patterns of genomic instability.

In an attempt to evaluate the possible role of mutations in the age-dependent increase of tumor incidence, we studied the mutational burden that accumulates in the aging process in different parts of the digestive tract in mice. The mutations were monitored in lacZ genes integrated in the mouse genome. The digestive tract was divided into the esophagus, stomach, proximal, medial, and distal part of the small intestine, and the colon. Epithelial tissues were separated from these tissues with the exception of the esophagus, in which case the whole tissue was examined. At a young age, the mutant frequencies as well as the molecular nature of the mutations were similar among the tissues examined. In old age, on the other hand, mutant frequencies were elevated to different degrees among the tissues; they were high in the small intestine and colon, intermediate in the stomach, and low in the esophagus. The molecular characteristics of the mutations also revealed distinct tissue-specificity; there were elevated rates of a small deletion mutation in the esophagus, G:C to T:A transversion in the proximal small intestine, and multiple mutations in the distal small intestine and colon. The results indicate that different parts of the digestive tract suffer from different kinds of mutational stress in the aging process. The nature of the multiple mutations suggests the presence of a mutator phenotype based on an imbalance in deoxyribonucleotide pools.

Aging↗

From polyploidy to aneuploidy, genome instability and cancer.

Polyploidy is a frequent phenomenon in the eukaryotic world, but the biological properties of polyploid cells are not well understood. During evolution, polyploidy is thought to be an important mechanism that contributes to speciation. Polyploid, usually non-dividing, cells are formed during development in otherwise diploid organisms. A growing amount of evidence indicates that polyploid cells also arise during a variety of pathological conditions. Genetic instability in these cells might provide a route to aneuploidy and thereby contribute to the development of cancer.

Aneuploidy↗

Viral carcinogenesis and genomic instability.

Oncogenes encoded by human tumor viruses play integral roles in the viral conquest of the host cell by subverting crucial and relatively non-redundant regulatory circuits that regulate cellular proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and life span. Human tumor virus oncoproteins can also disrupt pathways that are necessary for the maintenance of the integrity of host cellular genome. Some viral oncoproteins act as powerful mutator genes and their expression dramatically increases the incidence of host cell mutations with every round of cell division. Others subvert cellular safeguard mechanisms intended to eliminate cells that have acquired abnormalities that interfere with normal cell division. Viruses that encode such activities can contribute to initiation as well as progression of human cancers.

Cell Transformation, Viral↗

When R-Loops Go Awry: Genome Instability and Neurological Diseases.

The basic structure of DNA is a double helix formed by base pairing between complementary strands. However, during transcription, RNA hybridizes with the template DNA, whereas the complementary DNA strand becomes displaced and remains unpaired. This process forms a DNA-RNA hybrid structure known as an R-loop; similar structures can also occur in a non-co-transcriptional manner. In recent years, R-loops have been reported to be involved in various cellular functions. However, when not properly regulated, they can compromise genomic DNA stability. R-loops play roles in gene expression, DNA replication, and transcription termination. Dysregulation of R-loop homeostasis has been implicated in various human diseases, including neurological diseases. In this review, we discuss the physiological and pathological roles of R-loops, their related regulatory mechanisms controlling their formation and resolution, and their association with neurological diseases.

Humans↗