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 631 records · Page 35Linked to original sources

Genomic instability in mice lacking histone H2AX.

Higher order chromatin structure presents a barrier to the recognition and repair of DNA damage. Double-strand breaks (DSBs) induce histone H2AX phosphorylation, which is associated with the recruitment of repair factors to damaged DNA. To help clarify the physiological role of H2AX, we targeted H2AX in mice. Although H2AX is not essential for irradiation-induced cell-cycle checkpoints, H2AX-/- mice were radiation sensitive, growth retarded, and immune deficient, and mutant males were infertile. These pleiotropic phenotypes were associated with chromosomal instability, repair defects, and impaired recruitment of Nbs1, 53bp1, and Brca1, but not Rad51, to irradiation-induced foci. Thus, H2AX is critical for facilitating the assembly of specific DNA-repair complexes on damaged DNA.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Inverted DNA repeats: a source of eukaryotic genomic instability.

While inverted DNA repeats are generally acknowledged to be an important source of genetic instability in prokaryotes, relatively little is known about their effects in eukaryotes. Using bacterial transposon Tn5 and its derivatives, we demonstrate that long inverted repeats also cause genetic instability leading to deletion in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Furthermore, they induce homologous recombination. Replication plays a major role in the deletion formation. Deletions are stimulated by a mutation in the DNA polymerase delta gene (pol3). The majority of deletions result from imprecise excision between small (4- to 6-bp) repeats in a polar fashion, and they often generate quasipalindrome structures that subsequently may be highly unstable. Breakpoints are clustered near the ends of the long inverted repeats (< 150 bp). The repeats have both intra- and interchromosomal effects in that they also create hot spots for mitotic interchromosomal recombination. Intragenic recombination is 4 to 18 times more frequent for heteroalleles in which one of the two mutations is due to the insertion of a long inverted repeat, compared with other pairs of heteroalleles in which neither mutation has a long repeat. We propose that both deletion and recombination are the result of altered replication at the basal part of the stem formed by the inverted repeats.

Base Sequence↗

The role of genomic instabilities in affecting treatment responses of colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common tumors worldwide. The knowledge gained on its biology and molecular changes is helping us to choose the best chemotherapeutic treatment. Two different pathways, i.e. the chromosomal and microsatellite instabilities, give the same result but with totally different biological behaviors. In fact, the response to treatment with 5-FU or platinum compounds is dramatically different in both settings. In the future, the use of these compounds should require molecular testing of the specimen prior to treatment.

Antineoplastic Agents↗

Genomic instability in the type II TGF-beta1 receptor gene in atherosclerotic and restenotic vascular cells.

Cells proliferating from human atherosclerotic lesions are resistant to the antiproliferative effect of TGF-beta1, a key factor in wound repair. DNA from human atherosclerotic and restenotic lesions was used to test the hypothesis that microsatellite instability leads to specific loss of the Type II receptor for TGF-beta1 (TbetaR-II), causing acquired resistance to TGF-beta1. High fidelity PCR and restriction analysis was adapted to analyze deletions in an A10 microsatellite within TbetaR-II. DNA from lesions, and cells grown from lesions, showed acquired 1 and 2 bp deletions in TbetaR-II, while microsatellites in the hMSH3 and hMSH6 genes, and hypermutable regions of p53 were unaffected. Sequencing confirmed that these deletions occurred principally in the replication error-prone A10 microsatellite region, though nonmicrosatellite mutations were observed. The mutations could be identified within specific patches of the lesion, while the surrounding tissue, or unaffected arteries, exhibited the wild-type genotype. This microsatellite deletion causes frameshift loss of receptor function, and thus, resistance to the antiproliferative and apoptotic effects of TGF-beta1. We propose that microsatellite instability in TbetaR-II disables growth inhibitory pathways, allowing monoclonal selection of a disease-prone cell type within some vascular lesions.

Arteriosclerosis↗

Chromosome breaks and genomic instability.

Tumorigenesis is known to result from multiple genetic changes. Although endogenous and environmental insults can damage DNA, cellular mechanisms exist to repair various forms of damage or to kill those cells irreparably damaged. Hence, the accumulation of numerous genetic changes that would lead to cancer in normal cells is extremely rare. Nevertheless, disruption of a DNA repair pathway has the potential to expedite tumorigenesis by resulting in a cell that is hypermutable. Multiple pathways exist to repair the various forms of DNA damage that can cause mutagenesis. Recent studies have demonstrated a key role for homologous recombination in DNA repair, in particular in the repair chromosomal double-strand breaks. This review summarizes those studies and discusses how disruption of homologous recombination pathways can create genetic instability.

Animals↗

[Genomic instability and neurodegenerative disease].

The discovery of unstable DNA sequences as the cause of genetic disease is a fascinating new area in human genetics, raising a number of important questions addressing the understanding of both the mechanisms and the effects of this new type of mutation. Trinucleotide repeat expansion mutations have been identified in a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), fragile X syndrome (FRAXA and FRAXE), myotonic dystrophy (DM), Huntington's disease (HD), spinocerebellar ataxia types 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 (SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, SCA7), dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA), Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) and autosomal dominant pure spastic paraplegia (ADPSP). They have been traced to genetic variation in the length of (CTG)n/(CAG)n, (CGG)n/(CCG)n, or (GAA)n/(TTC)n triplet repeats in DNA. In normal individuals these loci contain a short length of triplet repeats (usually 5-40), which is polymorphic within the population. Increases in the lengths of the translated triplet repeats to 40-100 are associated with disease symptoms, whereas the untranslated triplet repeats to 200-3000 are associated with the disease. We concentrated on repeat expansions in myotonic dystrophy. In this symposium, we outline the molecular aspects of myotonic dystrophy including DNA diagnosis and anticipation, and review the similarities and differences among these triplet repeat diseases.

Humans↗

Genomic instability and target gene mutations in colon cancers with different degrees of allelic shifts.

Two grades (high and low) of microsatellite instability (MSI) are known, depending on the number of mutated markers and the amount of allelic shifts. Forty-two colorectal tumors, previously found to have high-degree MSI at dinucleotidic repeat loci, were revisited with BAT26, a mononucleotide marker, and the number of shifted bases were counted. Seven tumors, all with local stages at diagnosis, had < or =6-bp deletions and consistently displayed shorter shifts also with other intronic mononucleotide markers. Analysis of mononucleotide tracts in the coding regions of MSH3, MSH6, BAX, and TGFbetaRII in the groups with large (>6 bp) and short (< or =6 bp) allelic shifts showed specific patterns of involvement for the individual genes: TGFbetaRII displayed a uniformly high rate of mutations, while MSH3, MSH6, and BAX were less frequently altered in tumors with short shifts. Our findings suggest that microsatellite instability arises gradually, evenly involving loci with similar features of length and repetition. However, target genes have a specific timing of mutation in this process: TGFbetaRII is involved in the early phases, while BAX and MSH6 are frequently associated with big size shifts and tumors with more advanced stages.

Alleles↗

[Genomic instability analysis in hereditary cancer syndrome].

The discovery of microsatellite instability (MSI) and its association to hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) in 1993 gave rise to a new criterion in tumor biology. By using five microsatellite markers, colorectal carcinomas (CRC) may be classified either as high frequency-MSI (MSI-H) if two or more of the five markers show instability, or as low frequency-MSI (MSI-L)/microsatellite stable (MSS) if one or less shows instability. MSI-H tumors which comprise about 15% of total CRC show distinctive clinicopathologic features: proximal colon location, mucinous and undifferentiated histology, presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, and a less aggressive clinical course. Mismatch repair gene mutations, transcription loss of a mismatch repair gene associated with promoter region hypermethylation, or loss of imprinting have been proposed as some of the causes for MSI.

Chromosome Mapping↗

[Mechanisms of DNA repair disorders in human cells. Genome instability in lymphocytes of patients with myopathy related to DNA repair disorders].

Increased level of cytogenetic damages was observed in lymphocytes of 10 patients with muscular dystrophy (Duchenne, Erba, Landuzi--Degerin). Analysis of DNA repair synthesis revealed inhibition of this process in lymphocytes of 10 patients observed. On the other hand, decreased reactivation of vaccinia virus and increased level of virus mutagenesis induced by 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide and bleomycin was noted in the experiments with lymphocytes of 3 patients observed.

4-Nitroquinoline-1-oxide↗

p53 abnormalities and genomic instability in primary human breast carcinomas.

Abnormalities in the p53 tumor suppressor gene have been shown to affect cell cycle control and lead to genetic instability in cell lines of murine and human origin. We have examined genetic instability in 183 primary human breast carcinomas with and without p53 abnormalities. Mutation analysis was performed by constant denaturant gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing, and abnormal protein expression was examined by immunohistochemical staining methods. Genetic instability was studied by detection of gene amplification, allelic loss, karyotype analysis, and fluorescent in situ hybridization. We found a significant association between p53 abnormalities and genetic instability detected by these methods.

Breast Neoplasms↗

Genomic instability in colorectal cancer: relationship to clinicopathological variables and family history.

Recent reports have suggested that one or more genes may cause replication errors (RER) during colorectal tumorigenesis. Additional alleles are seen in the tumors when analyzing random microsatellite loci. We have studied seven dinucleotide repeat loci, located on seven different chromosomes, by use of polymerase chain reaction amplification and denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. We found that 16.5% (40 of 243) colorectal cancers showed RER at one or several loci (RER+). This includes 31% (4 of 13) among cases with a strong positive family history according to previously published criteria and 17% (35 of 207) among cases with no history of familial cancer. Interestingly, no significant association was found between RER+ tumors and a general familial clustering of cancer. Microsatellite instability was significantly associated with DNA diploid status of the tumor (P < 0.001), with the location of the tumor in the proximal colon (P < 0.001), and with poorly differentiated tumor phenotype (P < 0.001). Patients with RER+ at > or = 2 loci tumors had an increased survival (P = 0.05). We further analyzed 84 breast cancers and 86 male germ cell cancers using the same seven markers. None of the tumors were RER+, indicating that this phenomenon may be specific to certain types of tumors.

Adult↗