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[Genomic instability and male infertility].

Knowledge of the human genome has opened the genomic era. The genome instability, its causes and the possible consequences especially about fertility start to be understood. This instability can be observed on chromosome structure but also on genes. Different chromosomes rearrangements involved in infertility including translocations and Y chromosome deletions are described. The Y chromosome is a model of instability, and this instability is the source of its evolution. All those rearrangements are the results of illegitimate recombinations between homologous sequences. On genes we find punctual and dynamic mutations, polymorphisms and epigenetic abnormalities. They all are the results of ADN replication mistakes not corrected by the cellular machine. This machinery is the guardian of the genome integrity and in case of abnormality the programmed cellular death is induced. The knowledge of all these instability mechanisms is essential to appreciate the risk for the offspring after intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Indeed we go round physiological barriers without a complete understanding of the mechanisms involved. Thus, this is an important challenge for research teams but also for all assisted reproduction centers, dealing with ART. Genome is unstable - the very basis of its evolution. But this is also the cause of mistakes with pathological consequences like infertility and mental retardation.

Chromosomes, Human, Y↗

Diet, lifestyle, and genomic instability in the North Carolina Colon Cancer Study.

OBJECTIVE: Microsatellite instability (MSI) is one form of genomic instability that occurs in 10% to 20% of sporadic colon tumors and almost all hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancers. However, little is known about how environmental factors (e.g., diet) may influence MSI in sporadic colon cancer. METHODS: We used data from a population-based case-control study in North Carolina (486 colon cancer cases and 1,048 controls) to examine associations of diet (total energy, macronutrients, micronutrients, and food groups) with MSI. In-person interviews elicited information on potential colon cancer risk factors, and a previously validated food frequency questionnaire adapted to include regional foods was used to assess diet over the year before diagnosis or interview date. MSI was classified as MSI-high (MSI-H) and MSI-low or microsatellite stable (MSI-L/MSS). Multivariate logistic regression models estimated energy-adjusted and non-energy-adjusted odds ratios (OR). RESULTS: Ten percent of the cases (n = 49) had MSI-H tumors (29% African American). The strongest associations between diet and MSI were observed in case-control comparisons: there was a robust inverse association between MSI-H status and beta-carotene [OR, 0.4; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.2-0.9] and positive associations with energy-adjusted refined carbohydrates (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 0.9-5.4) and non-energy-adjusted read meat intake (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 0.9-4.2). Compared with controls, MSI-L/MSS tumors were statistically significantly associated with energy-adjusted vitamin C, vitamin E, calcium, dietary fiber, and dark green vegetables and positively associated with total energy intake (all Ps for trend < 0.05). In case-case comparisons, no dietary factors were significantly differently related to MSI-H compared with MSI-L/MSS tumors. CONCLUSION: Refined carbohydrate and red meat consumption may promote development of MSI-H tumors, whereas beta-carotene may be associated with lower risk.

Adult↗

Bystander effects, adaptive response and genomic instability induced by prenatal irradiation.

The developing human embryo and fetus undergo very radiosensitive stages during the prenatal development. It is likely that the induction of low dose related effects such as bystander effects, the adaptive response, and genomic instability would have profound effects on embryonic and fetal development. In this paper, I review what has been reported on the induction of these three phenomena in exposed embryos and fetuses. All three phenomena have been shown to occur in murine embryonic or fetal cells and structures, although the induction of an adaptive response (and also likely the induction of bystander effects) are limited in terms of when during development they can be induced and the dose or dose-rate used to treat animals in utero. In contrast, genomic instability can be induced throughout development, and the effects of radiation exposure on genome instability can be observed for long times after irradiation including through pre- and postnatal development and into the next generation of mice. There are clearly strain-specific differences in the induction of these phenomena and all three can lead to long-term detrimental effects. This is true for the adaptive response as well. While induction of an adaptive response can make fetuses more resistant to some gross developmental defects induced by a subsequent high dose challenge with ionizing radiation, the long-term effects of this low dose exposure are detrimental. The negative effects of all three phenomena reflect the complexity of fetal development, a process where even small changes in the timing of gene expression or suppression can have dramatic effects on the pattern of biological events and the subsequent development of the mammalian organism.

Animals↗

Aberrant expression of cell-cycle regulator cyclin D1 in breast cancer is related to chromosomal genomic instability.

To account for the accumulation of genomic alterations required for tumor progression, it has been suggested that the genomes of cancer cells are unstable and that this instability results from defective mutators (the "mutator phenotype" theory). To examine the hypothesis that abnormal cell-cycle regulators act as the mutators contributing to genomic instability, the present study, based on primary tumor tissues from 71 patients with breast cancer, was performed to determine whether there was an association between aberrant expression of cell-cycle regulators (cyclin A, cyclin D1, cyclin E, RB1, p21, and p27) and chromosomal instability. Comparative genomic hybridization was used to measure chromosomal changes, reflecting genomic instability in individual tumors, whereas immunohistochemistry was used to detect aberrant expression of cell-cycle regulators. Overexpression of cyclin D1 was found to be significantly correlated with increased chromosomal instability (defined as harboring more than 7 chromosomal changes), with 63% of tumors overexpressing and 27% of tumors not overexpressing, with cyclin D1 showing chromosomal instability (P < 0.05). Interestingly, this relationship was independent of cell outgrowth (as detected by the proliferation marker Ki-67) and was particularly significant in tumors not expressing p27 or in tumors with detectable RB1. These results suggest that cyclin D1 plays an alternative role in the regulation of genomic stability.

Adult↗

Genomic instability and cancer.

Tumorigenesis can be viewed as an imbalance between the mechanisms of cell-cycle control and mutation rates within the genes. Genomic instability is broadly classified into microsatellite instability (MIN) associated with mutator phenotype, and chromosome instability (CIN) recognized by gross chromosomal abnormalities. Three intracellular mechanisms are involved in DNA damage repair that leads to mutator phenotype. They include the nucleotide excision repair (NER), base excision repair (BER) and mismatch repair (MMR). The CIN pathway is typically associated with the accumulation of mutations in tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. Defects in DNA MMR and CIN pathways are responsible for a variety of hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes including hereditary non-polyposis colorectal carcinoma (HNPCC), Bloom syndrome, ataxia-telangiectasia, and Fanconi anaemia. While there are many genetic contributors to CIN and MIN, there are also epigenetic factors that have emerged to be equally damaging to cell-cycle control. Hypermethylation of tumor suppressor and DNA MMR gene promoter regions, is an epigenetic mechanism of gene silencing that contributes to tumorigenesis. Telomere shortening has been shown to increase genetic instability and tumor formation in mice, underscoring the importance of telomere length and telomerase activity in maintaining genomic integrity. Mouse models have provided important insights for discovering critical pathways in the progression to cancer, as well as to elucidate cross talk among different pathways. This review examines various molecular mechanisms of genomic instability and their relevance to cancer.

Animals↗

Unscheduled polyploidy synergizes with oncogenic mutations to enhance genome instability and tumorigenesis.

Polyploid Giant Cancer Cells (PGCCs) occur across multiple cancer types and are associated with therapy resistance, genome instability, disease progression, and metastasis. PGCCs can grow through endocycles, a variant cell cycle of alternating Growth (G) and DNA Synthesis (S) phases without cell division. Unlike programmed endocycles that occur during normal tissue development, PGCCs switch from mitotic cycles to unscheduled endocycles in response to stress. PGCCs can subsequently return to error-prone divisions which generate aneuploid daughter cells that contribute to disease progression. However, the regulation of PGCC cell cycles and contributions to cancer are still being defined. Filling this knowledge gap will lead to the development of improved cancer therapies. In this study, we used a molecular-genetic system in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster to examine how oncogenes interact with unscheduled endocycles in vivo. We found that several oncogenes promote bypass of an endocycle arrest, resulting in increased polyploid cell size and DNA content. The extent of this increased growth was dependent on the type of oncogenic mutation. When these polyploid cells returned to division, RasG12V promoted continued divisions of polyploid daughter cells with elevated genome instability. RasG12V expression during transient endocycles and subsequent divisions also induced expression of a matrix metalloprotease and a Wnt pathway ligand. Importantly, RasG12V with transient endocycles enhanced the growth of large, neoplastic tumors. These findings indicate that oncogenic mutations can synergize with transient, unscheduled endocycles to promote tumorigenesis with important broader implications for cancer prognosis and therapies.

Animals↗

Involvement of telomere dysfunction in the induction of genomic instability by radiation in scid mouse cells.

To determine the effects of a defect in NHEJ on the induction of genomic instability by radiation, we investigated X-ray-induced delayed chromosomal aberrations such as dicentrics and fragments in scid mouse cells. We found that radiosensitive scid mouse cells are more susceptible than wild-type mouse cells to the induction of delayed chromosomal aberrations when the cells are exposed to an equivalent survival dose of X-rays. Telomere FISH analysis revealed that radiation enhances the induction of telomeric fusions where telomeric sequences remain at the fused position (tel+ end-fusions), suggesting that radiation induces telomere dysfunction. Moreover, formation of the tel+ end-fusions was found to be enhanced in scid mouse cells, suggesting that DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) plays a role in telomeric stabilization. Thus, the present study suggests that a cause of genomic instability is telomere dysfunction induced by radiation and that a defect in DNA-PKcs enhances the telomeric destabilization.

Animals↗

SGS1, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae homologue of BLM and WRN, suppresses genome instability and homeologous recombination.

The Escherichia coli gene recQ was identified as a RecF recombination pathway gene. The gene SGS1, encoding the only RecQ-like DNA helicase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was identified by mutations that suppress the top3 slow-growth phenotype. Relatively little is known about the function of Sgs1p because single mutations in SGS1 do not generally cause strong phenotypes. Mutations in genes encoding RecQ-like DNA helicases such as the Bloom and Werner syndrome genes, BLM and WRN, have been suggested to cause increased genome instability. But the exact DNA metabolic defect that might underlie such genome instability has remained unclear. To better understand the cellular role of the RecQ-like DNA helicases, sgs1 mutations were analyzed for their effect on genome rearrangements. Mutations in SGS1 increased the rate of accumulating gross chromosomal rearrangements (GCRs), including translocations and deletions containing extended regions of imperfect homology at their breakpoints. sgs1 mutations also increased the rate of recombination between DNA sequences that had 91% sequence homology. Epistasis analysis showed that Sgs1p is redundant with DNA mismatch repair (MMR) for suppressing GCRs and for suppressing recombination between divergent DNA sequences. This suggests that defects in the suppression of rearrangements involving divergent, repeated sequences may underlie the genome instability seen in BLM and WRN patients and in cancer cases associated with defects in these genes.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

The interplay of epigenetic remodelling and transposon-mediated genomic instability in ageing and longevity.

Ageing and age-related diseases are the result of complex biological processes that progressively cause deterioration of cellular and tissue function. Among the key hallmarks of ageing are epigenetic alterations and genomic instability, both of which are closely interconnected and significantly contribute to the ageing process. The epigenome, encompassing both DNA and histone modifications, regulates gene expression and maintains genomic integrity throughout life. With age, these regulatory systems become dysregulated, leading to genome-wide changes in chromatin structure, histone modifications and the reactivation of transposable elements (TEs). TEs, typically silenced in heterochromatic regions, become active in aged cells, contributing to genomic instability, mutagenesis, inflammation and metabolic disruption. Despite their significant implications, the role of TEs in the ageing process remains underexplored, and the interplay between epigenomic remodelling and TE activity remains poorly understood. In this review, we explore the molecular mechanisms underlying epigenetic alterations and TE reactivation during ageing, the impact of these changes on genomic stability and the potential therapeutic interventions targeting this interplay. By deciphering the role of epigenetic modifications and TE derepression in the ageing process, we aim to highlight novel avenues for anti-ageing and pro-longevity strategies.

Aging↗

Genomic instability of the DYZ1 repeat in patients with Y chromosome anomalies and males exposed to natural background radiation.

We assessed genomic instability of 3.4 kb DYZ1 repeat arrays in patients encompassing prostate cancer (PC), cases of repeated abortion (RA) and males exposed to natural background radiation (NBR) using real-time PCR and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Normal males showed DYZ1 copies ranging from 3000 to 4300, RA, 0-2237; PC, 550; and males exposed to NBR, 1577-5700. FISH showed organizational variation of DYZ1 in these samples substantiating the data obtained from real-time PCR. Of the 10 RA samples, 7 were found to be affected of which, 5 showed deletion of 265 bp from nt 25 to 290 and 773 bp from 1347 to 2119 and 2 showed deletion of 275 bp from nt 3128 to 3402. Copy number variation of DYZ1 in these males correlated with genetic constrains/anomalies. Although precise mechanisms of genomic instability of DYZ1 remains unclear, we construe that this repeat plays a critical role in maintaining the structural integrity of the Y chromosome, possibly by absorbing the load of mutations. This may be used as a marker system to analyze genetic integrity of the DYZ1 repeat array(s) across the spectrum of patients.

Abortion, Induced↗

Genomic instability in oral squamous cell carcinoma: relationship to betel-quid chewing.

Genomic instability in repeated DNA sequences is exhibited by a variety of cancer types, including oral squamous cell carcinoma. Exposure to carcinogenic compounds may further increase the instability. We have used Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (Inter-SSR) PCR methodology to detect genetic alterations in 37 oral cancer patients who had chewed betel-quid. Thirty-eight percent of DNA from tumors had genomic alterations in the sequences flanked by (CA)(8) and (GT)(8) repeats. Patients with tumor DNAs harboring genomic alterations had a two-fold higher consumption of betel-quid than patients without alterations in tumor DNA. Matched normal and tumor DNAs were also screened for microsatellite instability where four patients (10.8%) showed alterations in at least one microsatellite marker but there was no relationship between this phenotype and betel-quid chewing. These data indicate that exposure to carcinogens present in the betel-quid may contribute to genomic instability detected by inter-SSR PCR in a subset of oral tumors.

Adult↗

Heavy metals of relevance to human health induce genomic instability.

Heavy metals used in medical prostheses or present in water supplies or tobacco can build up in tissues and blood and are well known to produce toxic effects. Normally, legislative controls on the levels of these substances are determined by reference to the acute toxicity data. This paper shows that cadmium and nickel can produce delayed effects in human cells in vitro, which are characteristic of genomic instability. The effects occur even at levels where no acute toxic effects can be demonstrated. Genomic instability can be demonstrated by persistent induction of cytogenetic abnormalities and delayed cell death in progeny of cells many generations after exposure. Formerly, this syndrome has only been definitively proven to occur following irradiation, but in these experiments cell populations exposed for only 1 or 24 hours were expanded over several months, involving eight passages, and the yield of chromosomal aberrations and cell loss due to lethal mutations did not decrease. The consequences of this genomic instability are not yet known but it is possible that many of the systemic symptoms associated with exposure to low concentrations of these metals could involve delayed expression of cellular damage. It is also clear that these effects cannot be predicted from acute toxicity data.

Cadmium↗

Bystander-mediated genomic instability after high LET radiation in murine primary haemopoietic stem cells.

Communication between irradiated and unirradiated (bystander) cells can result in responses in unirradiated cells that are similar to responses in their irradiated counterparts. The purpose of the current experiment was to test the hypothesis that bystander responses will be similarly induced in primary murine stem cells under different cell culture conditions. The experimental systems used here, co-culture and media transfer, are similar in that they both restrict communication between irradiated and bystander cells to media borne factors, but are distinct in that with the media transfer technique, cells can only communicate after irradiation, and with co-culture, cells can communication before, during and after irradiation. In this set of parallel experiments, cell type, biological endpoint, and radiation quality and dose, were kept constant. In both experimental systems, clonogenic survival was significantly decreased in all groups, whether irradiated or bystander, suggesting a substantial contribution of bystander effects (BE) to cell killing. Genomic instability (GI) was induced under all radiation and bystander conditions in both experiments, including a situation where unirradiated cells were incubated with media that had been conditioned for 24h with irradiated cells. The appearance of delayed aberrations (genomic instability) 10-13 population doublings after irradiation was similar to the level of initial chromosomal damage, suggesting that the bystander factor is able to induce chromosomal alterations soon after irradiation. Whether these early alterations are related to those observed at later timepoints remains unknown. These results suggest that genomic instability may be significantly induced in a bystander cell population whether or not cells communicate during irradiation.

Animals↗

Genomic instability induced by mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae POL1.

Mutations of chromosome replication genes can be one of the early events that promote genomic instability. Among genes that are involved in chromosomal replication, DNA polymerase alpha is essential for initiation of replication and lagging-strand synthesis. Here we examined the effect of two mutations in S. cerevisiae POL1, pol1-1 and pol1-17, on a microsatellite (GT)(16) tract. The pol1-17 mutation elevated the mutation rate 13-fold by altering sequences both inside and downstream of the (GT)(16) tract, whereas the pol1-1 mutation increased the mutation rate 54-fold by predominantly altering sequences downstream of the (GT)(16) tract in a RAD52-dependent manner. In a rad52 null mutant background pol1-1 and pol1-17 also exhibited different plasmid and chromosome loss phenotypes. Deletions of mismatch repair (MMR) genes induce a differential synergistic increase in the mutation rates of pol1-1 and pol1-17. These findings suggest that perturbations of DNA replication in these two pol1 mutants are caused by different mechanisms, resulting in various types of mutations. Thus, mutations of POL1 can induce a variety of mutator phenotypes and can be a source of genomic instability in cells.

Chromosomes↗

The presence of p53 mutations in human osteosarcomas correlates with high levels of genomic instability.

The p53 gene is a critical tumor suppressor that is inactivated in a majority of cancers. The central role of p53 in response to stresses such as DNA damage, hypoxia, and oncogene activation underlies this high frequency of negative selection during tumorigenic transformation. Mutations in p53 disrupt checkpoint responses to DNA damage and result in the potential for destabilization of the genome. Consistent with this, p53 mutant cells have been shown to accumulate genomic alterations in cell culture, mouse models, and some human tumors. The relationship between p53 mutation and genomic instability in human osteosarcoma is addressed in this report. Similar to some other primary human tumors, the mutation of p53 correlates significantly with the presence of high levels of genomic instability in osteosarcomas. Surprisingly, osteosarcomas harboring an amplification of the HDM2 oncogene, which inhibits the tumor-suppressive properties of p53, do not display high levels of genomic instability. These results demonstrate that the inactivation of p53 in osteosarcomas directly by mutation versus indirectly by HDM2 amplification may have different cellular consequences with respect to the stability of the genome.

DNA, Neoplasm↗

Recombination hot spot of hepatitis B virus genome binds to members of the HMG domain protein family and the Y box binding protein family; implication of these proteins in genomic instability.

OBJECTIVE: Previously we hypothesized that the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is enhanced by genomic instability induced by the integrated hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA. Using an in vitro recombination assay, we showed that a subgenomic fragment of HBV DNA designated 15AB (nt1855-1914) is indispensable for in vitro recombination, and also showed the existence of 15AB binding protein. On the assumption that the 15AB binding protein may be a candidate cellular recombinogenic protein which accelerates genomic instability and hepatocarcinogenesis, we tried to isolate it by southwestern screening. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: We obtained several positive clones including mouse upstream binding factor (UBF) and DNA binding protein A (dbpA). UBF belongs to an HMG domain protein family and dbpA belongs to a Y box binding protein family. 15AB binding seemed to be mediated by the conserved DNA binding domains in these families, because other members in the families such as HMG1 and YB-1 also bound to 15AB. We report them here because several documents have already suggested the possible association of these families and DNA recombination.

Animals↗

Spontaneous and radiation-induced genomic instability in human cell lines differing in cellular TP53 status.

Structural chromosomal rearrangements are commonly observed in tumor karyotypes and in radiation-induced genomic instability. Here we report the effects of TP53 deficiency on karyotypic stability before and after irradiation using related cells and clones differing in cellular TP53 status. The parental cell line, TK6, is a TP53 wild-type human B-lymphoblastoid line with a highly stable karyotype. In the two TK6 derivatives used here, TP53 has been inactivated by biochemical means (expression of HPV16 E6; TK6-5E) or genetic means (allelic inactivation; NH32). Biochemical inactivation of TP53 (TK6-5E) had little effect on the spontaneous karyotype, whereas allelic inactivation of TP53 (NH32) resulted in a modest increase in spontaneous karyotypic instability. After 2 Gy gamma irradiation, the number of unstable clones derived from TP53-deficient cells was significantly elevated compared to the TP53 wild-type counterpart. Extensively destabilized clones were common after irradiation in the set of clones derived from NH32 cells, and one was observed in the set of TK6-5E clones; however, they were never observed in TK6-derived clones. In two of the irradiated NH32 clones, whole chromosomes or chromosome bands were preferentially involved in alterations. These results suggest that genomic instability may differ both quantitatively and qualitatively as a consequence of altered TP53 expression. Some of the results showing repeated and preferential chromosome involvement in aberrations support a model in which instability may be driven by cis mechanisms.

Aneuploidy↗

Chromosome division figures reveal genomic instability in tumorigenesis of human colon mucosa.

A variety of chromosomal gains and losses has been detected with comparative genomic hybridization during tumorigenesis in the colon mucosa. The aim of this investigation was to corroborate increasing genomic instability and to elucidate those lesions in which the record from comparative genomic hybridization has remained unexpectedly negative. Replicate paraffin-embedded samples were investigated in detail using image microphotometry. Crucial to the recent approach was the fact that the histological compartments were exactly matched and that the single-cell measurements were highly accurate (CV at 0.05). Feulgen DNA was quantified in interphase nuclei and chromosome division figures, which were found in all cases of high-grade dysplasia and, with increased frequency, of colon carcinoma. The genomic imbalance in chromosome division figures was quantified by the sensitive 4.5 c exceeding rate (where c is the haploid genome equivalent), which was also positive in cases with a negative record from comparative genomic hybridization. The DNA content of chromosome division figures was measured with a mean 4.5 c exceeding rate of 25.8 +/- 4.4% standard error in 12 cases of high-grade dysplasia and of 62.1 +/- 7.1% in colon carcinoma (16 cases). The chromosome division figures were considered to be the first morphological manifestation of genomic instability attending precancerous conditions in the colon. Telophase-like chromosome division figures with unequal amounts of DNA in their hemispheres revealed gross somatic mutations before clonal selection.

Adenoma↗