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| Author(s): |
Guilherme Francisco
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Medicina (FM/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2015-02-20 |
| Examining board members: |
Roger Chammas;
João Pedreira Duprat Neto;
Carlos Frederico Martins Menck;
Jose Antonio Sanches Junior
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| Advisor: | Roger Chammas |
| Abstract | |
The repair of genomic lesions plays a critical role in the suppression of malignant transformation. For melanoma, a type of skin cancer, lesions caused by UV are responsible for the acquisition of the malignant phenotype. The nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway has an important role in the repair of these lesions and XPC protein in one of its main active agents in lesion recognition. While mutations in XPC predispose to Xeroderma Pigmentosum, modulations in XPC function may play critical role in the acquisition of UV mutations in sporadic melanomas. The modulation may occur either by transcriptional activity, protein interaction or also by genetic factors that may interfere with their expression and / or activity. To understand the role of the transcription in modulating the DNA repair exerted by XPC, we verified the role of p53 in this context. Comparing cells lines with different p53 functional status after UVB injury, the results indicated its role regarding the differences in sensitivity, expression of repair proteins and DNA repair kinetics of CPD lesions. Moreover, we characterized the expression of proteins involved in apoptosis and the activation of caspase 3/7, besides the analysis of the expression of reactive oxygen species produced after UVB exposure. Such molecules suggested a pró-survival effect after UVB exposure due to results observed after neutralization. Regarding the modulation of XPC by its main partner, hHR23B, we verified its role in the biology of melanoma. HHR23B expression analysis in tissue samples series of nevus, primary melanoma and metastases showed critical heterogeneity stainning, especially in nevi and primary melanomas samples. Results indicated that hHR23B play a role in XPC stability and accumulation, altering the efficiency of DNA repair to UVB injury. Knocking-down of hHR23B by siRNA modulated cell death after UVB by decreasing its rate, but the long-term survival has not been demonstrated so. The knocking-down of hHR23B also affected sensitivity to some chemotherapeutic agents. Regarding the possible genetic effects in the XPC modulation, we verified the role of existing genetic polymorphisms inside the gene. Analysis of allele-specific expression of K939Q polymorphism did not suggest differences in expression related to these polymorphic variants. Finally, it was tested that the role p53 and NER may have on the response to cisplatin. Using the same cell lines used for the response to UVB, it was found that, in contrast, cells having functional activity of p53 showed greater sensitivity to chemotherapy. This sensitivity was not directly related to expression of DNA repair proteins such as XPC and ERCC1, although XPC has shown to be related to the sensitivity when using siRNA. In addition, the restoration of p53 activity by use of viral vectors or by HDM-2 inhibitors, such as nutlin-3, proved to be effective in order to increase the sensitivity to chemotherapy. Overall, the results demonstrate the role of different factors that may modulate the activity of DNA repair against UVB and chemotherapy, especially with regard to p53-hHR23B-XPC axis, selecting them as major players in the understanding of the melanoma biology regarding the processes of carcinogenesis, progression and chemoresistance (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 10/16901-9 - p53-hHR23B-XPC axis in DNA repair modulation in melanomas: Evidences to carcinogenic, progression and chemoresistnce process. |
| Grantee: | Guilherme Francisco |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |