CUL4A abrogation augments DNA damage response and protection against skin carcinogenesis - PubMed (original) (raw)

CUL4A abrogation augments DNA damage response and protection against skin carcinogenesis

Liren Liu et al. Mol Cell. 2009.

Abstract

It is intuitively obvious that the ability of a cell to repair DNA damage is saturable, either by limitation of enzymatic activities, the time allotted to achieve their function, or both. However, very little is known regarding the mechanisms that establish such a threshold. Here we demonstrate that the CUL4A ubiquitin ligase restricts the cellular repair capacity by orchestrating the concerted actions of nucleotide excision repair (NER) and the DNA damage-responsive G1/S checkpoint through selective degradation of the DDB2 and XPC DNA damage sensors and the p21/CIP1/WAF1 checkpoint effector. We generated Cul4a conditional knockout mice and observed that skin-specific Cul4a ablation dramatically increased resistance to UV-induced skin carcinogenesis. Our findings reveal that wild-type cells do not operate at their full DNA repair potential, underscore the critical role of CUL4A in establishing the cellular DNA repair threshold, and highlight the potential augmentation of cellular repair proficiency by pharmacological CUL4A inhibition.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1. Generation of floxed and null Cul4a alleles in mice

A, Genomic structure of the Cul4a gene and the targeted alleles. LoxP sites (filled arrowheads) were introduced into the intron regions flanking exons 17–19 of the targeting construct for homologous recombination in ES cells. Frt recombination sites (open arrowheads) were engineered for removal of the neomycin selection marker by germline Flp expression following crossbreeding with ACT-FLPe transgenic mice. Arrows, PCR primers (F, R1, R2) for genotyping; bars, 5′ and 3′ probes for Southern blotting. B, Southern blotting of ES clones. DNA was digested with restriction enzymes and hybridized to the probes as indicated in (A). +/+, wild-type; f/+, floxed heterozygous allele. C, PCR genotyping of tail DNA from the indicated wild-type (+), floxed (f) and null Cul4a (−) alleles. D, Western blotting of dissected tissues and MEF cells derived from Cul4a+/+ and _Cul4a_−/− mice. “*”, non-specific species. E, Deletion of exons 17–19 of Cul4a abrogates the ability of CUL4A(Δ) to recruit RBX1. 293T cells were transiently transfected with the indicated plasmids. Binding of MYC-tagged CUL4A or CUL4A(Δ) to FLAG-tagged RBX1 was assessed by co-immunoprecipitation (α-MYC) and Western blotting with the respective antibodies.

Figure 2

Figure 2. The published Cul4a knockout mice by Li et al. inadvertently deleted the essential Pcid2 gene located adjacent to Cul4a on the complementary strand

A, Schematic diagram of the Cul4a knockout allele by Li et al. that deletes both Cul4a and Pcid2. The DNA fragment between the broken lines denotes the deleted genomic fragment (Li et al., 2002) that spans both the first exon of Cul4a and the promoter and transcription initiation site of Pcid2. B–C, Silencing of Pcid2 by lentiviral shRNAs resulted in rapid loss of cell viability. Primary wild-type MEF cells were infected with one of two lentiviral shRNAs (shPcid2-1 and shPcid2-2), scrambled shPcid2 (scm-Pcid2), or mocked-infected for 48 hours, and evaluated for Pcid2 mRNA levels by real-time qPCR. Cell growth was evaluated by counting cell numbers at 2, 3, and 4 days following lentiviral infection.

Figure 3

Figure 3. CUL4A controls the stability of DDB2, XPC and p21

A, Increased DDB2 and p21 levels in _Cul4a_−/− skin, as determined by Western blotting. B, Accumulation of endogenous DDB2, p21 and XPC protein in primary _Cul4a_−/−, Cul4bk/d and _Cul4a_−/− Cul4bk/d MEFs compared to Cul4af/f MEFs. Cul4af/f and _Cul4a_−/− MEFs were infected with FUGW lentivirus containing either shRNA for mouse _Cul4b (sh_-Cul4b) or scramble control (scm-Cul4b) and subjected to Western blotting with indicated antibodies. k/d, knockdown. C–D, Pulse-chase and cyclohexamide chase analysis to determine the half-life of endogenous DDB2 and p21 in _Cul4a_−/− and Cul4af/f MEFs. The percentage of p21 remaining was graphed on a logarithmic scale at the time points indicated. CHX, cyclohexamide. E, CUL4A deficiency impaired XPC ubiquitination post-UV. HCT116 cells were infected with lentiviral shCUL4A or control FUGW for 48 hours, UV irradiated at 10J/m2 and harvested at the indicated time points. The chromatin-bound extracts were prepared and subjected to immunoblotting with the indicated antibodies. Native and neddylated CUL4A species were indicated. H3, histone H3.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Loss of CUL4A enhanced UV-DDB and NER activities, and reinforced the UV-responsive G1/S checkpoint to ensure genomic integrity

A, UV-DDB activity of Cul4af/f and _Cul4a_−/− MEFs was determined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. “B”, DDB-DNA complex. B, GGR activities of CPD and 6-4PP removal were measured in primary _Cul4a_−/− (ko-4a scm-4b), Cul4bk/d (f/f-4a sh-4b), and control Cul4af/f (f/f-4a scm-4b) MEFs. ko, knockout; k/d, knockdown; scm, scramble. The data represent the mean and standard deviation of three experiments, with each sample point performed in triplicate. C, Primary MEFs of the indicated genotypes were synchronized, UV-irradiated and collected at the indicated time points for [3H]-thymidine incorporation assay. D, GGR for removal of CPDs was measured in primary wild-type, _Cul4a_−/−, and _Cul4a_−/− _p21_−/− MEFs as described in Fig. 4C. E, Micronuclei formation in wild-type, _Cul4a_−/−, _p21_−/− and _Cul4a_−/− _p21_−/− MEFs, as measured by staining with DAPI at 48 hours post-UV. Error bars represent standard deviations of 3 independent experiments.

Figure 5

Figure 5. Skin-specific Cul4a knockout mice are resistant to UV-B-induced skin carcinogenesis

A, Kaplan-Meier curve of the onset of squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) in mice of indicated genotypes after chronic UV-B exposure. Skin-specific Cul4af/f K14-CreERTAM mice (n=13) remained SCC-free, while Cul4af/f (n=19) littermates developed SCC between 27 to 48 weeks after daily UV-B exposure (log-rank test, P<0.00001). B–F, Physical, histopathological and immunohistochemical examination of a UV-B-induced SCC from a representative Cul4af/f mouse. The tumor is a typical SCC, as revealed by H&E staining ((C) and (D)) and positive immunostaining of the basal epidermal marker p63 (counter stained with DAPI in (E) and (F)).

Fig. 6

Fig. 6. Proposed role of CUL4A in establishing threshold for DNA repair and tumor suppression

A, CUL4A ubiquitin ligase coordinately suppresses the NER and the G1/S DNA damage checkpoint pathways through targeted degradation of DDB2, XPC, and p21 respectively. B, CUL4A abrogation elevates NER capacity and G1/S DNA damage checkpoint response beyond the threshold attainable in wild-type cells.

Comment in

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