Inhibition of non-homologous end joining in Fanconi Anemia cells results in rescue of survival after interstrand crosslinks but sensitization to replication associated double-strand breaks Journal Article


Authors: Eccles, L. J.; Bell, A. C.; Powell, S. N.
Article Title: Inhibition of non-homologous end joining in Fanconi Anemia cells results in rescue of survival after interstrand crosslinks but sensitization to replication associated double-strand breaks
Abstract: When Fanconi Anemia (FA) proteins were depleted in human U2OS cells with integrated DNA repair reporters, we observed decreases in homologous recombination (HR), decreases in mutagenic non-homologous end joining (m-NHEJ) and increases in canonical NHEJ, which was independently confirmed by measuring V(D)J recombination. Furthermore, depletion of FA proteins resulted in reduced HR protein foci and increased NHEJ protein recruitment to replication-associated DSBs, consistent with our observation that the use of canonical NHEJ increases after depletion of FA proteins in cycling cells. FA-depleted cells and FA-mutant cells were exquisitely sensitive to a DNA-PKcs inhibitor (DNA-PKi) after sustaining replication-associated double strand breaks (DSBs). By contrast, after DNA interstrand crosslinks, DNA-PKi resulted in increased survival in FA-deficient cells, implying that NHEJ is contributing to lethality after crosslink repair. Our results suggest FA proteins inhibit NHEJ, since repair intermediates from crosslinks are rendered lethal by NHEJ. The implication is that bone marrow failure in FA could be triggered by naturally occurring DNA crosslinks, and DNA-PK inhibitors would be protective. Since some sporadic cancers have been shown to have deficiencies in the FA-pathway, these tumors should be vulnerable to NHEJ inhibitors with replication stress, but not with crosslinking agents, which could be tested in future clinical trials. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.
Keywords: homologous recombination; fanconi anemia; non-homologous end joining; double strand break repair; interstrand crosslinks
Journal Title: DNA Repair
Volume: 64
ISSN: 1568-7864
Publisher: Elsevier Inc.  
Date Published: 2018-04-01
Start Page: 1
End Page: 9
Language: English
DOI: 10.1016/j.dnarep.2018.02.003
PROVIDER: scopus
PUBMED: 29459202
PMCID: PMC6054796
DOI/URL:
Notes: Article -- Export Date: 1 March 2018 -- Source: Scopus
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  1. Simon Nicholas Powell
    331 Powell
  2. Laura Jayne Eccles
    4 Eccles
  3. Andrew Carmen Bell
    15 Bell